or four years he had likewise bought, intending him for a compositor, of whom more presently, and David Harry, a country boy, whom he had taken apprentice. I soon perceived that the intention of engaging me at wages so much higher than he had been used to give, was to have these raw, cheap hands formed through me, and as soon as I had instructed them, then they being all article to him, he should be able to do without me. I went on, however, very cheerfully, put his printing house in order, which had been in great confusion, and brought his hands by degree to mind their business and to do it better. It was an odd thing to find an Oxford scholar in the situation of a bought servant. He was not more than eighteen years of age, and gave me this account of himself, that he was born in Gloucester, educated at grammar school there, had been distinguished among the scholars, for some apparent superiority in performing his part, when they exhibited plays, belonged to the Whitty Club there, and had written some pieces in prose and verse, which were printed in the Gloucester newspaper. Thence he was sent to Oxford, where he continued about a year, but not well satisfied, wishing of all things to see London, and become a player. At length, receiving his quarterly allowance of fifteen guineas, instead of discharging his debts, he walked out of town, hid his gown in a fruze bush, and footed it to London, where, having no friend to advise him, he fell into bad company, soon spent his guineas, found no means of being introduced among the players, grew necessitous, wanded his clothes, and wanted bread. Walking the street very hungry and not knowing what to do with himself, a crimps bill was put into his hand. Begin footnote. A crimp was the agent of a shipping company. Crimps were sometimes employed to decoy men into such a service, as is here mentioned. End of footnote. Offering immediate entertainment and encouragement to such as would bind themselves to serve in America, he went directly, signed the indenture, was put into the ship, and came over, never writing a line to acquaint his friends, what was become of him. He was lively, witty, good-natured, and a pleasant companion, but idle, thoughtless, and imprudent to the last degree. John the Irishman soon ran away, with the rest I began to live very agreeably, for they all respected me the more, as they found Chimer incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learned to something daily. We never worked on Saturday, that being Chimer Sabbath, so I had two days for reading. My acquaintance with the ingenious people in the town increased. Chimer himself treated me with great civility and apparent regard, and nothing now made me uneasy but my debt to Vernon, which I was yet unable to pay, being hitherto but a poor economist. He, however, kindly made no demand of it. Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no letter-founder in America. I had seen types cast at James in London, but without much attention to the matter. However, I now contrived a mold, made use of the letters we had as punch-ons, struck the matrices in lead, and thus supplied, in a pretty tolerable way, all the deficiencies. I also engraved several things on occasion. I made the ink, I was warehouseman, and everything, and in short, quite a factotum. But, however serviceable I might be, I found that my services became every day of less importance, as the other hands improved in the business, and when Chimer paid my second quarter's wages, he let me know that he felt them too heavy, and thought I should make an abatement. He grew by degree less civil, put on more of the master frequently found fault, was captious, and seemed ready for an outbreak. I went on, nevertheless, with a good deal of patience, thinking that his encumbered circumstances were partly the cause. At length a trifle snapped our connection. For the great noise happening near the courthouse, I put my head out of the window to see what was the matter. Chimer, being in the street, looked up and saw me, called out to me in a loud voice and angry tone, to mind my business, adding some reproachful words that netted me the more for their publicity, all of the neighbors, who were looking out on the same occasion, being witness how I was treated. He came up immediately into the printing house, continued the quarrel high words passed on both sides. He gave me a quarter's warning. We had stipulated, expressing a wish that he had not been obliged so long a warning. I told him his wish was unnecessary, for I would leave him that instant, and so taking my hat walked out of doors, desiring Meredith, whom I saw below, to take care of some things I left and bring them to my lodgings. Meredith came accordingly in the evening, when we talked to my affair over. He had conceived great regard for me, and was very unwilling that I should leave the house, while he remained in it. He dissuaded me from returning to my native country, which I began to think of. He reminded me that Chimer was in debt for all he possessed, that his creditors began to be uneasy, that he kept his shop miserably, sold often without profit for ready money, and often trusted without keeping accounts. That he must therefore fail, which would make a vacancy I might profit of. I objected my want of money. He then let me know how his father had a high opinion of me, and from some discourse that had passed between them, he was sure he would advance money to set me up, if I would enter into partnership with him. My time, says he, will be out with Chimer in the spring. By that time we may have our present types in from London. I am sensible, I am no workman. If you like it, your skill in the business shall be set against the stock I furnish, and we will share the profits equally. The provision was agreeable, and I consented. His father was in town and approved of it. The more as he saw I had great influence with his son, had prevailed on him to abstain long from dram-drinking, and he hoped might break him of that wretched habit entirely. When we came to be so closely connected, I gave an inventory to the father who carried it to a merchant. The things were sent for. The secret was to be kept until they should arrive, and in the meantime I was to get work, if I could, at the other printing house. But I found no vacancy there, and so remained idle a few days, while Chimer, on a prospect of being employed to print some paper money in New Jersey, which would require cuts in various types, that I only could supply an apprehending Bradford might engage me and get the job from him, sent me a very civil message, that old friend should not part for a few words, the effect of sudden passion, and wishing me to return. Meredith persuaded me to comply, as it would give more opportunity for his improvement under my daily instruction. So I returned, and we went on more smoothly than for some time before. The New Jersey job was obtained. I contrived a copper plate pressed for it, the first that had been seen in the country. I cut several ornaments and checks for the bills. We went together to Burlington, where I executed the holes to satisfaction, and he received so large a sum for the work, as to be enabled thereby to keep his head much longer above water. At Burlington I made an acquaintance, with many principal people of the province. Several of them had been appointed by the Assembly's committee to attend the press, and take care that no more bills were printed than the law directed. They were, therefore, by turns, constantly with us, and generally he who attended, brought with him a friend or two for company. My mind, having been much more improved by reading than Chimers, I supposed it was for that reason my conversation seemed to be more valued. They had me to their houses, introduced me to their friends, and showed me much civility.  We continued there near three months, and by the time I could reckon among my acquired friends, Judge Allen, Samuel Bustill, the secretary of the province, Isaac Pearson, Joseph Cooper, and several of the Smiths, members of the Assembly, and Isaac DeKow, the surveyor general. The latter was a shrewd, sagacious old man who told me that he began for himself when young, by willing clay for brickmakers, learned to write after he was of age, carried the chain for surveyors who taught him surveying, and he now, by his industry, acquired a good estate, and says he, I foresee that you will soon work this man out of his business, and make a fortune in it at Philadelphia. He had not, then, the least intimation of my intention to set up there or anywhere. These friends were afterwards of great use to me, as I occasionally was, to some of them. They all continued their regard for me as long as they lived. Before I enter upon my public appearance in business, it may be well to let you know the then state of my mind with regard to my principles and morals, that you may see how far those influenced the future events of my life. My parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the dissenting way. But I was scarce fifteen when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of revelation itself. Some books against deism fell into my hands. They were said to be the substance of sermons preached by Boyle's lecturers. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them, for the arguments of the deists which were quoted to be refuted appeared to me much stronger than the refutations. In short, I soon became a thorough deist. My arguments perverted some others, particularly Collins and Routh, but each of them having afterwards wronged me greatly without the least compunction and recollecting keysed conduct toward me. Who was another free thinker? And my own towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me great trouble, I began to suspect that this doctrine, though it might be true, was not very useful. My London pamphlet, which had, for its motto, these lines of Dryden, whatever is, is right, though her blind man sees but a part of the chain, the nearest link his eyes not carried to the equal beam that poses all above. And from the attributes of God his infinite wisdom, goodness, and power concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world, and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existed, appeared now not so clever a performance as I once thought it, and I doubted whether some error had not insinuated itself unperceived into my argument, so as to inflict all that follows as is common in metaphysical reasonings. I grew convinced that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life, and I formed written resolutions which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such, but I entertained an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own natures. All the circumstances of things being considered, and this persuasion with the kind hand of Providence, or some other guardian angel, or accidental favorable circumstances and situations, are altogether preserved me through this dangerous time of youth, and the hazardous situations I was sometimes in among strangers, remote from the eye, and advance of my father, without my willful, gross immorality, or injustice that might have been expected from my want of religion. I say willfully because the instances I have mentioned had something of necessity in them, from my youth, inexperience, and the naivety of others. I had, therefore, a tolerable character to begin the world with. I valued it properly, and determined to perceive it. We had not been long returned to Philadelphia before the new types arrived from London. We settled with Chimer, and left him by his consent before he heard of it. We found a house to hire near the market and took it, to lessen the rent, which was then twenty-four pounds a year, though I have since known it to let for seventy. We took in Thomas Godfrey, a glazier and his family, who were to pay a considerable part of it to us, and we bored with them. We had scarce opened our letters and put our press in order, before George House, an acquaintance of mine, brought a countryman to us whom he had met in the street inquiring for a printer. All our cash was now expended in the variety of particulars. We had been obliged to procure, and this countryman's five shillings, being our first fruits, and coming so seasonably, gave me more pleasure than any crown I have ever since earned, and the gratitude I felt toward House has made me often more ready than perhaps I should otherwise have been to assist young beginners, that are croakers in every country, always boating its ruin. Such a one then lived in Philadelphia, a person of note, an elderly man, with a wise look and a very grave manner of speaking, his name was Samuel Mickel. This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopped one day at my door and asked me if I was the young man who had lately opened a new printing house. Being answered in the affirmative, he said he was sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertaking, and the expense would be lost, for Philadelphia was a sinking place, that people already half bankrupt or near being so, all appearances to the contrary, such as new buildings and the rise of rents, being to his certain knowledge fallacious, for they were in fact among the things that would soon ruin us. And he gave me a detail of misfortunes now existing, or that were soon to exist, that he left me half melancholy, had I known him before I engaged in this business, probably I should never have done it. This man continued to live in this decaying place, and to decline in the same strain, refusing for many years to buy a house there, because all was going to destruction. And at last I had the pleasure of seeing him give five times as much for one, as he might have bought it for when he first began his croaking. I should have mentioned before, that in the autumn of the preceding year I had farmed most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which was called the junto. We met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of morals, politics, or natural philosophy, to be discussed by the company, and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute or desire of victory, and to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions or direct contradictions were after some time made contraband and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties. The first members were Joseph Brynthnoll, a copier of deeds for the scrivener, a good-natured, friendly middle-aged man, a great lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some that was tolerable. Very ingenious in many of the little nick-a-naves and of sensible conversation. Thomas Godfrey, a self-taught mathematician, great in his way and afterwards inventor of what is now called Hadley's Quadrant. But he knew little out of his way, and was not a pleasing companion, as like most great mathematicians I have met with he expected universal precision in everything said, or was forever denying or distinguishing upon trifles, to the disturbance of all conversation. He soon left us. Nicholas Skull, a surveyor, afterwards a surveyor general who loved books and sometimes made a few verse. William Parsons bred a shoemaker, but loving reader had acquired a considerable share of mathematics which he first studied with a view to astrology that he afterwards laughed at it. He also became surveyor general. William Mogridge, a joiner, a most exquisite mechanic and a solid sensible man. Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb I have characterized before. Robert Grace, the young gentleman of some fortune, generous, lively, and witty, a lover of punning and of his friends. And William Coleman, then a merchant's clerk about my age who had the coolest, clearest head and best heart and the exactest morals of almost any man I ever met with. He became afterwards a merchant of great note and one of our provincial judges. Our friendship continued without interruption to his death, upwards of forty years, and the club continued almost as long and was the best school of philosophy, morality, and politics that then existed in the province for our queries, which were read the week preceding their discussions, put us upon reading with attention upon the several subjects that we might speak more to the purpose, and there too we acquired better habits of conversation, everything being studied in our rules, which might prevent our distinguishing each other. From hence the long continuance of the club I shall have frequent occasions to speak further of hereafter. But by giving this account of it here is to show something of the interest I had, every one of these exerting themselves in recommending business to us. Barenthal particularly procured us from the Quakers the printing forty sheets of their history, the rest being to be done by Chimer, and upon this we worked exceedingly hard, for the price was low, it was a folio pro patria size in pica with long printer notes. I composed of it a sheet a day and Meredith worked it off at press, and it was often eleven at night and sometimes later, before I had finished my distribution for the next day's work. For the little jobs set in by our other friends now and then put us back, but so determined I was to continue doing a sheet a day of the folio that one night when having imposed my forms I thought my days work over, one of them by accident was broken and two pages reduced to pi. I immediately distributed and composited all over again before I went to bed, and this industry, visible to our neighbors began to give us character and credit. Particularly I was told that mention being made of the new printing office at the merchants every night club. The general opinion was that it must fail, there being already two printers in the place. Chimer and Bradford, Dr. Baird, whom you and I saw many years after at his native place, St. Andrews in Scotland, gave a contrary opinion. For the industry of that, Franklin says he is superior to anything I ever saw of the kind. I see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is at work again before his neighbors are out of bed. This struck the rest and we soon had offers from one of them to supply us with stationery, but as yet we did not choose to engage in shop business. I mentioned this industry, and more particularly, and the more freely though, it seems to be talking in my own praise, but those of my posterity who shall read it may know the use of that virtue when they see its effects in my favor throughout this relation. George Webb, who had found a female friend that lent him wherewith to purchase his time of Chimer, now came to offer himself as a journeyman to us. We could not then employ him, but I foolishly let him know, as a secret, that I soon intended to be in a newspaper, and might then have worked for him. My hopes of success, as I told him, were founded on this, that the then only newspaper printed by Bradford was a paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no way entertaining, and yet was profitable to him. I therefore thought a good paper would scarcely fail of good encouragement. I requested Webb not to mention it, but he told it to Chimer, who immediately, to be beforehand with me, published proposals for printing one himself on which Webb was to be employed. I resented this, and to counteract them, as I could not yet begin our paper. I wrote several pieces of entertainment for Bradford's paper under the title of The Busy Body, which Brentonall continued some months. But this means the attention of the public was fixed on that paper, and Chimer's proposals, which we burlesque and ridiculed, were disregarded. He began his paper, however, and after carrying it on three-quarters of a year, with at most only ninety subscribers, he offered it to me for a trifle. And I, having been ready some time to go on with it, took it in hand directly, and it proved, in a few years, extremely profitable to me. I perceived that I am apt to speak in the singular number, though our partnership still continued. The reason may be that, in fact, the whole management of the business lay upon me. Meredith was no compositor, a poor pressman, and seldom sober. My friends lamented my connection with him, but I was to make the best of it. Our first papers made a quite different appearance from any before in the province, a better type and better printed, but some spirited remarks of my writing, on the dispute then going on between Governor Burnett and the Massachusetts Assembly, struck the principal people, occasioned the paper, and the manager of it to be talked of, and in a few weeks brought them all to be our subscribers. The example was followed by many, and our number went on growing continually. This was one of the first good effects of my having learnt a little scribble. Another was that the leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the hands of one who could also handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me. Radford still printed the votes and laws and other public business. He had printed an address of the House to the Governor in a coarse, blundering manner. We reprinted it elegantly and correct and sent out to every member. They were sensible to the difference. It strengthened the hands of our friends in the House, and they voted us their printers for the year ensuing. Among my friends in the House, I must not forget Mr. Hamilton, before mentioned, who was then returned from England, and had a seat in it. He interested himself for me strongly in that instance, as he did in many others afterwards, continuing his patronage until his death. Mr. Vernon about this time put me in mind of the debt I owed him, but did not press me. I wrote him an ingenious letter of acknowledgement, craved his forbearance a little longer, which he allowed me, and as soon as I was able I paid the principal with interest and many thanks, so that erratum was in some degree corrected. But now another difficulty came upon me which I had never the least reason to expect. Mr. Marra's father, who was to have paid for our printing house, according to the expectations given me, was able to advance only one hundred pounds of currency, which had been paid, and a hundred more was due to the merchant, who grew impatient and sued us all. We gave bail, but saw that if the money could not be raised in time, the suit must soon come to judgment and execution, and our hopeful prospects must with us be ruined, as the press and letters must be sold for payment, perhaps at half price. In this distress, two true friends, whose kindness I have never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remember anything, came to me separately, unknown to each other, and without any application from me, offering each of them to advance me all the money that should be necessary to enable me to take the whole business upon myself, if that should be practicable. But they did not like my continuing the partnership with Meredith, who, as they said, was often seen drunk in the streets, and playing at low games and ale houses, much to our discredit. These two friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace. I told them I could not propose a separation, while any prospect remained of the Meredith's fulfilling their part of our agreement, because I thought myself under great obligation to them, for what they had done, and would do, if they could. But if they finally failed in their performance and our partnership must be dissolved, I should then think myself at liberty to accept the assistance of my friends. Thus the matter rested for some time. When I said to my partner, perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you have undertaken in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for you and me, what he would for you alone. If that is the case, tell me, and I will resign the holes to you and go about my business. No, said he. My father has really been disappointed, and is really unable, and I am unwilling to distress him further. I see this is a business, I am not fit for it. I was bred a farmer, and it was a folly in me to come to town, and put myself at 30 years of age and apprentice to learn a new trade. Many of our Welch people are going to settle in North Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclined to go with them and follow my old employment. But you may find friends to assist you, if you will take the debts of the company upon you, return to my father the hundred pounds he has advanced, pay my little personal debts, and give me thirty pounds and a new saddle.  I agreed to this proposal. It was drawn up in writing, signed and sealed immediately. I gave him what he demanded, and he went soon after to Carolina, from which he sent me next year two long letters containing the best account that had been given of that country, the climate, the soil, husbandry, etc. For in those matters he was very judicious. I printed them in the papers, and they gave great satisfaction to the public. As soon as he was gone I recurred to my two friends, and because I would not give an unkind preference to either, I took half of what each had offered and I wanted of one, and half of the other, paid off the company's debts, and went on with a business in my own name, advertising that the partnership was dissolved. I think it was in or about the year seventeen twenty-nine. Chapter 8 Business Success and First Public Service About this time there was a cry among the people for more paper money, only fifteen thousand pounds being extant in the province, and that soon to be sunk. The wealthy inhabitants opposed any addition being against all paper currency, from an apprehension that it would depreciate as it had done in New England to the prejudice of all creditors. We had discussed this point in our junta, where I was on the side of an addition being persuaded that the first small sum struck in seventeen twenty-three had done much good by increasing the trade, employment, and number of inhabitants in the province. Since I now saw all the old houses inhabited, and many new ones building, whereas I remembered well that when I first walked about the streets of Philadelphia eating my roll, I saw most of the houses on Walnut Street between second and front streets with bills on their doors to be let, and many likewise in Chestnut Street, and other streets which made me think the inhabitants of the city were deserting it one after another. Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it entitled The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency. It was well received by the common people in general, but the rich men disliked it, for it increased and strengthened the clamor for more money, and they, happening to have no writers among them that were able to answer it, their opposition slackened, and the point was carried by a majority in the house. My friends there, who conceived I had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by employing me in printing the money, a very profitable job, and a great help to me. This was another advantage gained by my being able to write. The utility of this currency became by time and experience so evident as never afterward to be much disputed, so that it grew soon to fifty-five thousand pounds, and in seventeen thirty-nine to eighty thousand pounds, since which it rose during war to upwards of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds. Trade, building, and inhabitants all the while increased, though I now think there are limits beyond which the quantity may be hurtful. Begin footnote. Paper money is a promise to pay its face value in gold or silver, when a state or nation issues more such promises than there is likelihood of its being able to redeem the paper representing the promises depreciates in value. Before the success of the colonies and the revolution was assured, it took hundreds of dollars of their paper money to buy a pair of boots. End footnote. I soon after obtained, through my friend Hamilton, the printing of the Newcastle paper money, another profitable job, as I then thought it, small things appearing great to those in small circumstances. And these, to me, were really great advantages, as they were great encouragements. He procured for me also the printing of the laws and votes of the government, which continued in my hand as long as I followed the business. I now opened a little stationery shop. I had in it blanks of all sorts. The correctest that ever appeared among us, being assisted in that by my friend, Breneth Nall. I had also paper, parchment, chapman's books, etc. One White Marsh, a compositor I had known in London, an excellent workman, now came to me and worked with me continuously and diligently, and I took an apprentice, the son of Aquila Rose. I began gradually to pay off the debt I was under for the printing house. In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I dressed plainly. I was seen in no places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting. A book, indeed, sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was seldom. Snugged and gave no scandal. And to show I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchased at the stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow, thus being esteemed as an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought. The merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom, others proposed supplying me with books. I went on swimmingly. In the meantime, Kheimer's credit and business declining daily. He was at last forced to sell his printing house to satisfy his creditors. He went to Barbados and there lived some years in very poor circumstances. His apprentice, David Harry, whom I had instructed while I worked with him, set up in his place at Philadelphia, having bought his materials. I was at first apprehensive of a powerful rival in Harry, as his friends were very able and had a good deal of interest. I therefore proposed a partnership to him, which he fortunately, for me, rejected with scorn. He was very proud, dressed like a gentleman, lived expensively, took much diversion and pleasure abroad, ran in debt, and neglected his business, upon which all business left him, and finding nothing to do, he followed Kheimer to Barbados, taking the printing house with him. There this apprentice employed his former master as a journeyman, they quarreled often. Harry went continually behind hand, and at length was forced to sell his types and return to his country work in Pennsylvania. The person that bought them employed Kheimer to use them, but in a few years he died. There remained now no competitor with me in Philadelphia, but the old one, Bradford, who was rich and easy, did a little printing now and then by straggling hands, but was not very anxious about the business. However, he kept the post office, it was imagined he had better opportunities of obtaining news. His paper was thought a better distributor of advertisements than mine, and therefore had many more, which was a profitable thing to him, and a disadvantage to me, for though I did indeed receive and send papers by the post, yet the public opinion was otherwise, for what I did send was by bribing the writers, who took them privately, Bradford being unkind enough to forbid it, which occasioned some resentment on my part, and I thought so meanly of him for it, that when I afterward came into his situation I took care never to imitate it. I had Heather to continue to board with Godfrey, who lived in part of my house with his wife and children, and had one side of the shop for his glazers business, though he worked little, being always absorbed in his mathematics. Mrs. Godfrey projected a match for me with a relation's daughter, took opportunities of bringing us often together, till a serious courtship on my part ensued, the girl being in herself very deserving. The old folks encouraged me by continual invitations to supper, and by leaving us together, till at length it was time to explain. Mrs. Godfrey managed our little treaty. I let her know that I expected as much money with their daughter as would pay off my remaining debt for the printing house, which I believe was not then above a hundred pounds. She brought me word they had no such sum to spare. I said they might mortgage their house in the loan office. The answer to this, after some days, was that they did not approve the match, that on inquiry of Bradford they had been informed the printing business was not a profitable one. The types would soon be worn out, and more wanted, that S. Kimer and D. Harry had failed one after the other, and I should probably soon follow them, and therefore I was forbidden the house, and the daughter shut up. Whether this was a real change of sentiment, or only artifice, on a supposition of our being too far engaged in affection to retract, and therefore that we should steal a marriage, which would leave them at liberty to give or withhold what they pleased, I know not, but I suspect the latter, resented it, and went no more— Mrs. Godfrey brought me afterwards some more favorable accounts of their disposition, and would have drawn me on again, but I declared absolutely my resolution to have nothing more to do with that family. This was resented by the Godfrey's. We differed, and they removed, leaving me the whole house, and I resolved to take no more inmates. But this affair, having turned my thoughts to marriage, I looked round me and made overtures of acquaintances in other places, but soon found that, the business of a printer being generally thought a poor one, I was not to expect money with a wife, unless with such a one as I should not otherwise think agreeable. A friendly correspondence, as neighbors and old acquaintances, had continued between me and Mrs. Reed's family, who all had a regard for me from the time of my first lodging in their house. I was often invited there, and consulted in their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of service. I pitied poor Miss Reed's unfortunate situation, who was generally dejected, seldom cheerful, and avoided company. I considered my giddiness and inconsistency when in London, as a great degree the cause of her unhappiness, though the mother was good enough to thank the fault more her own than mine, as she had prevented our marrying before I went thither, and persuaded the other match in my absence. Our mutual affection was revived, but there was now great objections to our union. The match was indeed looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be living in England, but this could not easily be proved because of the distance, and though there was a report of his death, it was not certain. Then, though it should be true, he had left many debts, which his successor might be called upon to pay. We ventured, however, over all these difficulties. And I took her to wife. September 1, 1730 None of the inconveniences happened that we had apprehended. She proved a good and faithful helpmate. Assisted me much by attending the shop. We throve together, and have ever mutually endeavored to make each other happy. Thus I corrected that great erratum as well as I could. Begin footnote. Mrs. Franklin survived her marriage over forty years. Franklin's correspondence abounds with evidence that their union was a happy one. We are grown old together, and if she has any faults I am so used to them that I don't perceive them. The following is a stanza from one of Franklin's own songs written for the junta. Of their clois and phyllises, poets may I sing my plain country Joan.  End of footnote. About this time our club meeting, not at a tavern, but in a little room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that purpose, a proposition was made by me that, since our books were often referred to in our discotations upon the queries, it might be convenient for us to have them together, where we met that upon occasion they might be consulted, and by thus clubbing our books to a common library we should, while we like to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if we each owned the whole. It was liked and agreed to, and we filled one end of the room with such books as we could best spare. The number was not so great as we expected, and though they had been of great use, yet some inconveniences occurring for want of due care of them. The collection, after about a year, was separated, and each took his books home again. And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into the form by our great scrivener, Brockton, and, by the help of my friends in the Junta, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company was to continue. We afterwards obtained a charter, the company being increased to one hundred, thus the mother of all the North American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It has become a great thing itself, and continually increasing. These libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent, and most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made through the colonies in defense of their privileges. Thus far was written with the intention expressed in the beginning, and therefore contains several little family anecdotes of no importance to others. What follows was written many years after, in compliance with the advice contained in these letters, and accordingly intends for the public. The affairs of the revolution occasioned the interruption. Begin footnote. Here the first part of the autobiography written at Twyford in 1771 ends. The second part, which follows, was written in passing in 1784. After this memorandum, Franklin inserted letters from Abel James and Benjamin Vaughn, urging him to continue his autobiography. End of footnote. It is sometimes since I received the above letters, but I have been too busy till now to think of complying with the requests they contain. It might too be much better done. If I were at home among my papers, which would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates, but my return being uncertain, and having just now a little leisure, I will endeavor to recollect and write what I can. If I live to get home, it may be corrected and improved. Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not whether an account is given of the means I used to establish the Philadelphia Public Library, which, from a small beginning, is now become so considerable, though I remember to have come down to near the time of that transaction. I will therefore begin here an account of it which may be struck out if found to have been already given. At the time I established myself in Philadelphia. There was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia, the printers were indeed stationers. They sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school books. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from England, and members of the Junta had each a few. We had left the alehouse where we first met and hired a room to hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences, but become a common benefit each of us being at liberty to borrow, such as he wished to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contended us. Finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed to render the benefit from books more common by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch from the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skillful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockton, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed, by which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books in an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor that I was not able, with great industry, to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported, the library was opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations, reading became fashionable, and our people, having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries. When we were about to sign the above mentioned articles, which were to be binding on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brockton the scrivener said to us, you are young men, but it is scarcely probable that any of you will live to see the expiration of the term fixed in this instrument. A number of us however are yet living, but the instrument was after a few years rendered null by a charter that incorporated and gave perpetuity to the company. The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the subscriptions made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting oneself as the proposer of any useful project that might be supposed to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's neighbors, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that project. I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight and stated it was a scheme of a number of friends who requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after practiced it on such occasions, and from my frequent successes can heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity will afterward be amply repaid if it remains a while uncertain to whom the merit belongs. Someone more vain than yourself will be encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to you justice by plucking those assumed feathers and restoring them to their right owner. The library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repaired in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me. Reading was the only amusement I allowed myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolics of any kind, and my industry and my business continued as indefatagable as it was necessary. I was indebted for my printing house, I had a young family coming on to be educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers who were established in the place before me. My circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My original habits of frugality continued, and my father having among his instructions to me when a boy frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon. Seeest, though a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encouraged me, though I did not think that I should ever literally stand before kings. Which, however, has since happened, for I have stood before five and even had the honor of sitting down with one, the king of Denmark, to dinner. We have an English proverb that says, he that would thrive must ask his wife. It was lucky for me that I had one as much disposed to industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me cheerfully, in my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle servants. Our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long time break and milk, no tea. And I ate it out of a tupini-earthen porager with a pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families and make progress in spite of principle being called one morning to breakfast I founded in a china bowl with a spoon of silver. They had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and it cost her the enormous sum of three and twenty shillings, for which she had no excuse or apology to make, but that she thought her husband deserved a silver spoon and a china bowl as well as any of his neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and china in our house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increased, augmented it gradually to several hundred pounds in value. I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian and thought some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation, etc., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect. Sunday being my study day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the deity that he made the world and governed it by his providence. That the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man, that our souls are immortal, and that all crime will be punished and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I esteemed the essentials of every religion, and being to be found in all the religions we had in our country. I respected them all, though with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mixed with other articles, which without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality served principally to divide us and made us unfriendly to each other. This respect to all, with an opinion that the worst had some good effects, induced me to avoid all discourse that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his own religion, and as our providence increased in people and new places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary contribution, my might for such purpose, whatever might be the sect, was never refused. Though I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of its propriety and its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He used to visit me sometimes as a friend and admonished me to attend his administrations, and I was now and then prevailed on to do so, once for five Sundays successfully. Had he been, in my opinion, a good preacher, perhaps I might have continued, notwithstanding the occasion I had for this Sunday's leisure in my course of study, but his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments or explanations of the particular doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforced, their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens. At length he took for his text that verse of the fourth chapter of Philippians, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any virtue or any praise, think on these things. And I imagined in a sermon on such a text, he would not miss of having some morality, but he confined himself to the five points only, as meant by the apostle, Vs. 1, keeping hold of the Sabbath day, 2, being diligent in reading the holy scriptures, 3, attending duly the public worship, 4, partaking of the sacrament, 5, paying a due respect to God's ministers. These might be all good things, but as they were not the kind of good things that I expected from that text, I disparate of ever meeting with them from any other, was disgusted and attended his preaching no more. I had some years before composed a little liturgy or form of prayer for my own private use, Vs. 1728, entitled Articles of Belief and Active Religion. I returned to the use of this and went no more to the public assemblies. My conduct might be blamable, but I leave it without attempting further to excuse it, my present purpose being to relate facts and not to make apologies for them. End of Chapter 8. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Chapter 9. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Frank Woodward Pine, Chapter 9. Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection. It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time. I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company, might lead me into, as I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found that I had undertaken a task more difficult than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another. Habit took the advantage of inattention. Inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded at length that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping, and that the contrary habits must be broken and good ones acquired and established before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform, resistitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method. In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalog more or less numerous as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarious and ambition. I proposed to myself for the sake of clearness to use rather more names and fewer ideas annexed to each than a few names with more ideas, and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and I annexed to each a short precept which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning. These names of virtues with their precepts were one, temperance, eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation, two, silence, speak not but what may benefit others or yourself, avoid trifling conversation, three, order, let all your things have their place, let each part of your business have its time, four, resolution, resolve to perform what you ought, perform without fail what you resolve, five, frugality, make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i.e. waste nothing, six, industry, lose no time, be always employed in something useful, cut off all unnecessary actions, seven, sincerity, use no hurtful deceit, think innocently and justly, and if you speak, speak accordingly, eight, justice, wrong done by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty, nine, moderation, avoid extremes for bear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve, ten, cleanliness, tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation, eleven, tranquility, be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable, twelve, chastity, thirteen, humility, imitate Jesus and Socrates. My intention being to acquire the attitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once but to fix it on one of them at a time and when I should be master of that then to proceed to another and so on till I should have gone through the thirteen and as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others I arrange them with that in view as they stand above. Temperance first as it tends to produce that coolness and clearness of head which is so necessary when constant vigilance has to be kept up and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquired and established, silence would be more easy and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue and therefore wishing to break the habit I was getting into of prattling, punning and joking which only made me acceptable to trifling company I gave silence the second place this and the next order I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies resolution once become habitual would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues frugality and industry freeing me from my remaining debt and producing affluence and independence would make more easily the practice of sincerity and justice etc etc conceiving then that agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his golden verses daily examination would be necessary I contrived the following method for conducting that examination I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues I ruled each page with red ink so as to have seven columns one for each day of the week marking each column with a letter for the day I crossed these columns with 13 red lines marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues on which line and in its proper column I might mark by a little black spot every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day footnote Pythagoras was a famous Greek philosopher who lived about 582 to 500 BC the golden verses here ascribed to him are probably of later origin the time which he recommends for this work is about even or bedtime that we may conclude the action of the day with the judgment of conscience making the examination of our convention an evening song to God and a footnote I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively thus in the first week my great guard was to avoid every the least offense against temperance leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance only marking every evening the faults of the day thus if in the first week I could keep my first line marked T clear of spots I supposed the habit of that virtue so much strengthened and its opposite weakened that I might venture extending my attention to include the next and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots proceeding thus to the last I would go through a course complete in 13 weeks and four courses in a year and like him who having a garden to weed does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once which would exceed his reach and his strength but works on one of the beds at a time and having accomplished the first proceeds to a second so I should have I hoped the encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in virtue by clearing successively my lines of their spots till at the end by a number of courses I should be happy in viewing a clean book after a 13 weeks daily examination this my little book had for its motto these lines from Addison's cattle here will I hold if there is a power above us and that there is all nature cries allowed through all her works he must delight in virtue and that which he delights in must be happy another from Cicero oh philosophy guide of life oh searcher out of virtue and exterminator of vice one day spent well and in accordance with thy precepts is worth any mortality of sin Tusculean inquiries book five another of the Proverbs of Solomon speaking of wisdom or virtue length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honor her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace and conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it to this end I formed the following little prayer which was prefixed to my tables of examination for daily use oh powerful goodness bountiful father merciful guide increasing me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest strengthen my resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates except my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me I used also sometimes a little prayer which I took from Thompson's poems peace father of light and life thou good supreme oh teach me what is good teach me thyself save me from folly vanity and vice from every low pursuit and fill my soul with knowledge conscious peace and virtue pure sacred substantial never fading bliss the precept of order requiring that every part of my business should have its allotted time one page of my little book contained the following scheme employed for the 24 hours of a natural day five rise wash and address six powerful goodness contrive day's business and take the resolution of the day seven prosecute the present study and breakfast the morning question what good shall I do this day nine work twelve noon read or overlook my accounts and at dying three work evening six put things in their places supper music or diversion or conversation evening question what good have I done today nine examination of the day night ten sleep I entered upon the execution of this plan for self-examination and continued it with occasional intermissions for some time I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish to avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little book which by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new ones in a new course became full of holes I transferred my tables and precepts to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book on which the lines were drawn with red ink that made a durable stain and on those lines I marked my faults with a black lead pencil which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge after a while I went through one course only in a year and afterward only one in several years till at length I omitted them entirely being employed in voyages and business abroad with the multiplicity of affairs that interfered but I always carried my little book with me my scheme of order gave me the most trouble and I found that though it might be practicable or a man's business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time that of a German printer for instance it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master who must mix with the world and often receive people of business at their own hour order to with regard to places for things papers etc. I found extremely difficult to acquire I had not been early accustomed to it and having an exceeding good memory I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method this article therefore cost me so much painful attention and my faults in it vexed me so much and I made so little progress in amendment and had such frequent relapses that I was almost ready to give up the attempt and content myself with a faulty character in that respect like the man who in buying an axe for a smith my neighbor desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge the smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel he turned while the smith pressed the broad face of the axe hard and heavily on the stone which made the turning of it very fatiguing the man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went on and at length would take his axe as it was without further grinding no said the smith turn on turn on we shall have it right by and by as yet it is only speckled yes says the man but I think I like a speckled axe best and I believe this may have been the case with many who having for one of some such means as I employed found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue have given up the struggle and concluded that a speckled axe was best for something that pretended to be reason was every now and then suggested to me that such extreme nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind of fulpery in morals which if it were known it would make me ridiculous that a perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself to keep his friends in continents footnote professor McMaster tells us that when Franklin was American agent in France his lack of business order was a source of annoyance to his colleagues and friends strangers who came to see him were amazed to behold papers of the greatest importance scattered in the most careless way over the table and floor and footnote in truth I found myself incorrigible with respect to order and now I am grown old and my memory bad I feel very sensibly the want of it but on the whole though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious obtaining but fell far short of it yet I was by the endeavor a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies though they never reached the wished for excellence of those copies their hand is mended by the endeavor and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible it may be well my posterity should be informed that to this little artifice with the blessing of God their ancestor owed the constant felicity of his life down to his seventy ninth year in which this is written what reverses may attend the remainder is in the hand of providence but if they arrive the reflection on past happiness enjoyed ought to help his bearing them with more resignation to temperance he ascribes his long continued health and what is still left to him of a good constitution to industry and frugality the early easiness of his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen and obtained for him some degree of reputation among the learned sincerity and justice the confidence of his country and the honorable employees it conferred upon him and to the joint influence of the whole mass of the virtues even in the imperfect state he was able to acquire them all that evenness of temper and that cheerfulness in conversation which makes his company still sought for and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance i hope therefore that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit footnote while there can be no question that franklin's moral improvement and happiness were due to the practice of these virtues yet most people will agree that we shall have to go back of his plan for the impelling motive to a virtuous life franklin's own suggestion that the scheme smacks of folpery in morals seems justified woodrow wilson well puts it men do not take fire from such thoughts unless something deeper which is missing here shines through them what may have seemed to the 18th century a system of morals seems to us nothing more vital than a collection of the precepts of good sense and sound conduct what redeems it from pettiness in this book is the scope of power and of usefulness to be seen in franklin himself who set these standards up in all seriousness and candor for his own life sigalations chapter five for the christian plan of moral perfection end footnote it will be remarked that though my scheme was not holy without religion there was in it no mark of any of the distinguishing tenants of any particular sect i had purposely avoided them for being fully persuaded of the utility and excellency of my method and that it might be serviceable to people in all religions and intending some time or other to publish it i would not have anything in it that should prejudice anyone of any sect against it i proposed writing a little comment on each virtue in which i would have shown the advantages of possessing it and the mischiefs attending to its opposite vice and i should have called my little book the art of virtue because it would have shown the means and manner of obtaining virtue which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to be good that does not instruct and indicate the means but is like the apostles man of verbal charity who only without showing to the naked and hungry how or where they might clothe or victual extorted them to be fed and clothed james chapter two verses fifteen and sixteen footnote nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as virtue and footnote but it so happened that my intention of writing and publishing this comment was never fulfilled i did indeed from time to time put down short hints of the sentiments reasonings etc to be made use of in it some of which i have still by me but the necessary close attention to private business in the earlier part of my life and public business sense have occasioned my postponing it for it being connected to my mind with a great and extensive project that required the whole man to execute and which an unforeseen succession of employees prevented my attending to it has hitherto remained unfinished in this piece it was my design to explain and enforce this doctrine that vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden but forbidden because they are hurtful the nature of man alone considered that it was therefore everyone's interest to be virtuous who wished to be happy even in this world and i should from this circumstance they're being always in the world a number of rich merchants nobility states and princes who have need of honest instruments for the management of their affairs and such being so rare have endeavored to convince young persons that no qualities were so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity my list of virtues contained at first but twelve but a quicker friend having kindly informed me that i was generally thought proud that my pride showed itself frequently in conversation that i was not content in being in the right when discussing any point but was overbearing and rather insolent of which he convinced me by mentioning several instances i determined endeavoring to cure myself if i could of this vice or folly among the rest and i added humility to my list giving an extensive meaning to the word i cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue but i had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it i made it a rule to forbear all direct contradictions to the sentiments of others and all positive assertion of my own i even forbid myself agreeably to the old laws of arjun to the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fixed opinion such as certainly undoubtedly etc and i adopted instead of them i conceive i apprehend or i imagine a thing to be so and so or it so appears to me at present when another asserted something that i thought an error i denied myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition and in answering i began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right but in the present case there appeared or seemed to me some differences etc i soon found the advantage of this change in my manner the conversations i engaged in went more pleasantly the modest way in which i proposed my opinions procured them a reddier exception and less contradictions i had less mortifications when i was found to be in the wrong and i more easily prevailed with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when i happened to be in the right and this mode which i am first put on with some violence to natural inclination became at length so easy and so habitual to me that perhaps for these 50 years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escaped me and to this habit after my character of integrity i think it principally owing that i had early so much weight with my fellow citizens when i proposed no institutions or alterations in the old and so much influence in public councils when i became a member for i was but a bad speaker never eloquent subject to much hesitation in my choice of words hardly correct in language and yet i generally carried my points in reality there is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride disguise it struggle with it beat it down stifle it mortify it as much as one pleases it is still alive and will every now and then peep out and show itself you will see it perhaps often in this history for even if i could conceive that i had completely overcome it i should probably be proud of my humility thus far written at passe 1784 footnote i am now about to ride at home august 1788 but cannot have the help expected from my papers many of them being lost in the war i have however found the following this is a marginal memorandum end of footnote having mentioned a great and extensive project which i had conceived it seemed proper that some account should be here given of that project and its object its first rise in my mind appeared in the following little paper accidentally preserved these observations on my reading history in library may 19th 1731 that the great affairs of the world the wars revolutions etc are carried on and affected by parties that the view of these parties is their present general interest or what they take to be such that the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion that while a party is carried on a general design each man has his particular private interest in view that as soon as a party has gained its general point each member becomes intent upon his particular interest which thwarting others breaks that party into divisions and occasions more confusion that few in public affairs act from a mere view of good of their country whatever they may pretend and though their actions bring real good to their country yet men primarily considered that their own and their country's interest was united and did not act from a principle of benevolence that few still in public affairs act with a view to the good of mankind there seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising a united party for virtue by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body to be governed by suitable good and wise rules which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to than common people are to common laws i at present think that whoever attempts this a right and is well qualified cannot fail a pleasing god and of meeting with success bf revolving this project in my mind as to be undertaken here after when my circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure i put down from time to time on pieces of paper such thoughts as occurred to me respecting it most of these are lost but i found one purporting to be the substance of an intended creed containing as i thought the essentials of every known religion and being free of everything that might shock the professors of any religion i expressed in these words fees that there is one god who made all things that he governs the world by his providence that he ought to be worshiped by adoration prayer and thanksgiving but that the most acceptable service of god is doing good to man that the soul is immortal and that god will certainly reward virtue and punish vice either here or hereafter my ideas at that time were that the sect should be begun and spread at first among young and single men only that each person to be initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed but should have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks examination and practice of the virtues as in the before mentioned model that the existence of such a society should be kept a secret till it was become considerable to prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons but that the members should each of them search among his acquaintances for ingenious well-disposed use to whom with prudent caution the scheme should be gradually communicated that the members should engage to afford their advice assistance and support to each other in promoting one another's interests businesses and advancement in life that for distinction we should be called the society of the free and easy free as being by the general practice and habit of the virtues free from the dominion of vice and particularly by the practice of industry and frugality free from debt which exposes a man to confinement and a species of slavery to his creditors this is as much as I can now recollect of the project except that I communicated it in parts to two young men who adopted it with some enthusiasm but my then narrow circumstances and the necessity I was under of sticking close to my business occasioned my postponing the further prosecution of it at that time and my multifarious occupations public and private induced me to continue postponing so that it has been omitted till I have no longer strength or activity left sufficient for such an enterprise though I am still of opinion that it was a practicable scheme and might have been very useful by forming a great number of good citizens and I was not discouraged by the seeming magnitude of the undertaking as I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes and accomplish great affairs among mankind if he first forms a good plan and cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention makes the execution of that same plan his soul study and business end of chapter nine the autobiography of benjamin franklin chapter 10 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the autobiography of benjamin franklin edited by frank woodworth pine chapter 10 poor richards almanac and other activities in 1732 I first published my almanac under the name of Richard Saunders it was continued by me about 25 years commonly called poor richards almanac I endeavored to make it both entertaining and useful and it accordingly came to be in such demand that I reaped considerable profit from it vending annually near ten thousand and observing that it was generally read scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it I considered it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people who bought scarcely any other books I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality as the means of procuring wealth and thereby securing virtue it being more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly as to use here one of those proverbs it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright begin footnote the almanac at that time was a kind of periodical as well as a guide to natural phenomena and the weather franklin took his title from poor robin a famous English almanac and from Richard Saunders a well-known almanac publisher and a footnote these proverbs which contained the wisdom of many ages and nations I assembled and formed into a connected discourse prefixed to the almanac of 1757 as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an auction the bringing all these scattered councils thus into a focus enabled them to make greater impression the peace being universally approved was copied in all the newspapers of the continent reprinted in britain on a broad side to be struck up in houses two translations were made of it in french and great numbers watched by the clergy and gentry to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants in pennsylvania as it discouraged useless expense in foreign superfluities some thought it had its share of influence in producing that growing plenty of money which was observable for several years after its publication I considered my newspaper also as another means of communicating instruction and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from the spectator and other moral writers and sometimes published little pieces of my own which had been first composed for reading in our junto of these are a socratic dialogue tending to prove that whatever might be is parts and abilities a vicious man could not properly be called a man of sense and a discourse on self-denial showing that virtue was not secure till its practice became a habit and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations these may be found in the papers about the beginning of 1735 in the conduct of my newspaper I carefully excluded all libeling and personal abuse which is of late years become so disgraceful to our country whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind and the writers pleaded as they generally did the liberty of the press and that a newspaper was like a stagecoach in which anyone who could pay had a right to a place my answer was that I would print the piece separately if desired and the author might have as many copies as he pleased to distribute himself but that I would not take upon me to spread his detraction and that having contracted with my subscribers to furnish them with what might be either useful or entertaining I could not fill their papers with private altercations in which they had no concern without doing them manifest injustice now many of our printers make no scruple of gratifying the malice of individuals by false accusations of the fairest characters among ourselves augmenting animosity even to the producing of duels and are moreover so indiscreet as to print scruilless reflections on the government of neighboring states and even on the conduct of our best national allies which may be attended with the most pernicious consequences these things I mentioned as a caution to young printers and that they may be encouraged not to pollute their presses and disgrace their profession by such infamous practices but refuse steadily as they may see by my example that such a course of conduct will not on the whole be injurious to their interests in 1733 I sent one of my journeymen to charleston south carolina where a printer was wanting I furnished him with the press and letters on an agreement of partnership by which I was to receive one third of the profits of the business paying one third of the expense he was a man of learning and honest but ignorant in matters of account and though he sometimes made me remittances I could get no account from him nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived on his decease the business was continued by his widow who being born and bred in holland where as I have been informed the knowledge of accounts makes a part of female education she not only sent me as clear a state as she could find of the transactions past but continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterwards and manage the business with such success that she not only brought up reputably a family of children but as the expiration of the term was able to purchase of me the printing house and establish her son in it I mentioned this affair chiefly for the sake of recommending that branch of education for our young females as likely to be of more use to them and their children in case of widowhood then either music or dancing by preserving them from losses by imposition of crafty men and enabling them to continue perhaps a profitable mercantile house with established correspondence till a son has grown up fit to undertake and go on with it to the lasting advantage and enriching of the family about the year 1734 there arrived among us from Ireland a young Presbyterian preacher named Hemphill who delivered with a good voice and apparently extemporar most excellent discourses which drew together considerable numbers of different persuasions who joined in admiring them among the rest I became one of his constant herers his sermons pleasing me as they had little of the dog medical kind but inculcated strongly the practice of virtue or what in the religious style are called good works those however of our congregation who considered themselves as orthodox Presbyterians disapproved his doctrine and were joined by most of the old clergy who arraigned him of heterodoxy before the Synod in order to have him silenced I became his zealous partisan and contributed all I could to raise a party in his favor and we combatted for him a while with such hopes of success there was much scribbling pro and con upon the occasion and finding that though an elegant preacher he was but a poor writer I lent him my pen and wrote for him two or three pamphlets and one piece in the Gazette of April 1735 those pamphlets as is generally the case with controversial writings though eagerly read at the time were soon out of vogue and I questioned whether a single copy of them now exists during the contest an unlucky occurrence hurt his cause exceedingly one of our adversaries having heard him preach a sermon that was much admired thought he had somewhere read the sermon before or at least a part of it on search he found the part quoted at length and one of the British reviews from a discourse of Dr. Foster's this detection gave many of our party disgust who accordingly abandoned his cause and occasioned our more speedy discomforture in the Synod I stuck by him however as I rather approved his giving us good sermons composed by others and bad ones of his own manufacture though the latter was the practice of our common teachers he afterward acknowledged to me that none of those he preached were his own adding that his memory was such as enabled him to retain and repeat any sermon after one reading only on our defeat he left us in search elsewhere of better fortune and I quitted the congregation never joining it after though I continued many years my subscription for the support of its ministers I had begun in 1733 to study languages I soon made myself so much a master of the French as to be able to read the books with ease I then undertook the Italian an acquaintance who was also learning it used often to tempt me to play chess with him finding this took up too much of the time I had to spare for study I had length refused to play anymore unless on this condition that the victor in every game should have a right to impose a task either in parts of the grammar to be got by a heart or in translations etc which tasks the vanquished was to perform upon honor before our next meeting as we played to pretty equally with us beat one another into that language I afterwards with a little painstaking acquired as much of the Spanish as to read their books also I have already mentioned that I had only one year's instruction in a latin school and that when very young after which I neglected that language entirely but when I had attained an acquaintance with the French Italian and Spanish I was surprised to find on looking over a latin testament that I understood so much more of that language than I had imagined which encouraged me to apply myself again to the study of it and I met with more success as those preceding languages had greatly smoothed my way from these circumstances I have thought that there is some inconsistency in our common mode of teaching languages we are told that it is proper to begin first with latin and having acquired that it will be more easy to attain those modern languages which are derived from it and yet we do not begin with the greek in order more easily to acquire the latin it is true that if you can clamber and get to the top of a staircase without using the steps you will more easily gain them in descending but certainly if you begin with the lowest you will more easily ascend to the top and I would therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the education of our youth whether since many of those who begin with the latin quit the same after spending some years without having made any great proficiency and what they have learned become almost useless so that their time has been lost it would not have been better to have begun with the french proceeding to the italian etc for though after spending of the same time they should quit the study of languages and never arrive at the latin they would however have acquired another tongue or two that being in modern use might be serviceable to them in the common life begin footnote the authority of franklin the most eminently practical man of his age in favor of reversing the study of the dead languages till the mind has reached a certain maturity is confirmed by the confession of one of the most eminent scholars of any age our seminaries of learning says given do not exactly correspond with the precept of a spartan king that the child should be instructed in the arts which will be useful to the man since a finished scholar may emerge from the head of west minster or eaten in total ignorance of the business and conversation of english gentlemen in the latter end of the eighteenth century but these schools may assume the merit of teaching all that they pretend to teach the latin and greek languages into footnote after ten years absence from boston and having become easy in my circumstances i made a journey thither to visit my relations which i could not sooner well afford in returning i called at newport to see my brother then settled there with his printing house our former differences were forgotten and our meeting was very cordial and affectionate he was fast declining in his health and requested of me that in case of his death which he apprehended it not far distant i would take home his son then but ten years of age and bring him up to the printing business this i accordingly performed sending him a few years to school before i took him into the office his mother carried on the business till he was grown up when i assisted him with an assortment of new types those of his father's being in a manner worn out thus it was that i made my brother ample amends for the service i had deprived him of by leaving him so early in 1736 i lost one of my sons a fine boy of four years old by the smallpox taken in the common way i long regretted bitterly and still regret that i had not given it to him by inoculation this i mentioned for the sake of parents who omit that operation on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it my example showing that the regret may be the same either way and that therefore the safer should be chosen our club the hyunto was found so useful and afforded such satisfaction to the members that several were desirous of introducing their friends which could not well be done without exceeding what we had settled as a convenient number v's 12 we had from the beginning made it a rule to keep our institution a secret which was pretty well observed the intention was to avoid applications of improper persons for admittance some of whom perhaps we might find it difficult to refuse i was one of those who were against any addition to our number but instead of it made in writing a proposal that every member separately should endeavor to form a subordinate club with the same rules respecting queries etc and without informing them of the connection to the hyunto the advantages proposed were the improvement of so many more young citizens by the use of our institutions our better acquaintance with the general statements of the inhabitants on any occasion as the hyunto member might propose what queries we should desire and was to report that the hyunto what passed in his separate club the promotion of our particular interest in business by more extensive recommendation and the increase of our influence in public affairs and our power of doing good by spreading through the several clubs the sentiment of the hyunto this project was approved and every member undertooks to form his club but they did not all succeed five or six only were completed which were called by different names as the vine the union the band etc they were useful to themselves and afforded us a good deal of amusement information and instruction besides answering in some considerable degree our views of influencing the public opinion on particular occasions of which I shall give some instances in course of time as they happen my first promotion was my being chosen in 1736 clerk of the general assembly this choice was made that year without opposition but the year following when I was again proposed the choice like that of the members being annual a new member made a long speech against me in order to favor some other candidate I was however chosen which was the most agreeable to me as besides the pay for the immediate services clerk the place gave me a better opportunity of keeping up an interest among the members which secured to me the business of printing the votes laws paper money and other occasional jobs for the public that on the whole were very profitable I therefore did not like the opposition of this new member who was a gentleman of fortune and education with talents that were likely to give him in time great influence in the house which indeed afterwards happened I did not however aim at gaining his favor by paying any servile respect to him but after some time took this other method having heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and curious book I wrote a note to him expressing my desire of perusing that book and requesting he would do me the favor of lending it to me for a few days he sent it immediately and I returned it in about a week with another note expressing strongly my sense of the favor when we next met in the house he spoke to me which he had never done before and with great civility and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions so that we became great friends and our friendship continued to his death this is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned which says he that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged and it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove than to resent return and continue immacable proceeding in 1737 colonel spotwood late governor of Virginia and then postmaster general being dissatisfied with the conduct of his deputy in philadelphia respecting some negligence in rendering and in exactitude of his accounts took from him the commission and offered it to me I accepted it readily and found it a great advantage for though the salary was small it facilitated the correspondence that improved my newspaper increased the number demanded as well as the advertisements to be inserted so that it came to afford me a considerable income my old competitors newspaper declined proportionately and I was satisfied without retaliating his refusal while postmaster to permit my papers being carried by the writers thus he suffered greatly from his neglect in new accounting and I mentioned it as a lesson to those young men who may be employed in managing affairs for others that they should always render accounts and make remittances with great clearness and punctuality the character of observing such a conduct is the most powerful of all recommendations to new employments and increase of business end of chapter 10 the autobiography of benjamin franklin chapter 11 this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org the autobiography of benjamin franklin edited by frank woodworth pine chapter 11 interest in public affairs I began now to turn my thoughts a little to public affairs beginning however with small matters the city watch was one of the first things that I conceived to want regulation it was managed by the constables of the respective wards in turn the constable warned a number of housekeepers to attend him for the night those who chose never to attend paid him six shillings a year to be excused which was supposed to be for hiring substitutes but was in reality much more than was necessary for that purpose and made the constable ship a place of profit and the constable for a little drink often got such ragamuffins about him as a watch that respectable housekeepers did not choose to mix with walking the rounds too was often neglected and most of the nights spent in tippling I there upon wrote a paper to be read in tuto representing these irregularities but insisting more particularly on the inequality of the six shillings tax of the constables respecting the circumstances of those who paid it since a poor widow housekeeper all whose property to be guarded by the watch did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds paid as much as the wealthiest merchant who had thousands of pounds worth of goods in his stores on the whole I proposed as a more effectual watch the hiring of proper men to serve constantly in that business and as a more equitable way of supporting the charge the levying of attacks that should be proportioned to the property this idea being approved by the junta was communicated to the other clubs but as a rising in each of them and though the plan was not immediately carried into execution yet by preparing the minds of people for the change it paved the way for the law obtained a few years after when the members of our clubs were grown into more influence about this time I wrote a paper first to be read in junta but it was afterward published on the different accidents and carelessnesses by which houses were set on fire with cautions against them and means proposed to avoiding them this was much spoken of as a useful piece and gave rise to a project which soon followed it of forming a company for the more readily extinguishing of fires and mutual assistance in removing and securing of goods when in danger associates in this scheme were presently found amounting to 30 our articles of agreement obliged every member to keep always in good order and fit for use a certain number of leather buckets with strong bags and baskets for packing and transporting of goods which were to be brought to every fire and we agreed to meet once a month and spend the social evening together in discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to us upon the subjects of fires as might be useful in our conduct on such occasions the utility of this institution soon appeared and many more desiring to be admitted than we thought convenient for one company they were advised to form another which was accordingly done and this went on one new company being formed after another till they became so numerous as to include most of the inhabitants who were men of property and now at the time of my writing this though upwards of 50 years since its establishment that which I first formed called the union fire company still subsists and flourishes though the first members are all deceased but myself and one who is older by a year than I am the small fines that have been paid by members for absence at a monthly meeting have been applied to the purchase of fire engines ladders firehooks and other useful implements for each company so that I question whether there is a city in the world better provided with the means of putting a stop to the beginning conflagrations and in fact since these institutions the city has never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time and the flames have often been extinguished before the house in which they began has been consumed in 1739 arriving among us from Ireland the Reverend Mr. Whitfield who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant preacher he was at first permitted to preach in some of our churches but the clergy taking a dislike to him soon refused him their pulpits and he was obliged to preach in the fields the multitudes of all sects and denominations that attended his sermons were enormous and it was matter of speculation to me who was one of the number to observe the extraordinary influence of his oratory on his hearers and how much they admired and respected him not withstanding his common abuse of them by assuring them that they were naturally half beast and half devils it was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants first being thoughtless or indifferent about religion it seemed as if all the world were going religious so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street begin footnote george whitfield 1714 to 1770 a celebrated english clergyman and pulpit orator one of the founders of methodism and footnote and it being found inconvenient to assemble in the open air subject to its inclemancies the building of a house to meet in was no sooner proposed and persons appointed it to receive contributions but sufficient sums were soon received to procure the ground and erect the building which was 100 feet long and 70 broad about the size of west minster hall and the work was carried on with such spirit as to be finished in a much shorter time and could have been expected both house and grounds were vested in trustees expressly for the use of any preacher of any religious persuasion who might desire to say something to the people at philadelphia the design in building not being to accommodate any particular sect but the inhabitants in general so that even if the mufti of constant noble were to send a missionary to preach muhammadism to us he would find a pulpit at his service begin footnote a part of the palace of west minster now forming the vestibule to the houses of parliament in london and footnote mr. whitfield in leaving us went preaching all the way through the colonies to georgia the settlement of that province had lately been begun but instead of being made with hardy industrious husband men accustomed to labor the only people fit for such an enterprise it was with families of broken shopkeepers and other insolvent debtors many of indolent and idle habits taken out of the jails who being set down in the woods unqualified for clearing land and unable to endure the hardships of a new settlement perished in numbers leaving many helpless children unprovided for the site of their miserable situation inspired the benevolent heart of mr. whitfield with the idea of building an orphan house there in which they might be supported and educated returning northward he preached up this charity and made large collections for his eloquence had a wonderful power over the hearts and purses of his heroes of which i myself was an instant i did not disapprove of the design but as georgia was then destitute of materials and workmen and was proposed to send them from philadelphia at a great expense i thought it would have been better to have built the houses here and brought the children to it thus i advised but he was resolute in his first project rejected my council and i therefore refused to contribute i happened soon after to attend one of his sermons in the course of which i perceived he intended to finish with a collection and i silently resolved he should get nothing from me i had in my pocket a handful of copper money three or four silver dollars and five pistols in gold as he proceeded i began to soften and concluded to give the coppers another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that and determined to give the silver and he finished so admirably that i emptied my pocket wholly into the collector's dish gold and all at this sermon there was also one of our club who being of my sentiments respecting the building in georgia and suspecting a collection might be intended had by precaution emptied his pockets before he came from home toward the conclusion of the discourse however he felt a strong desire to give and applied to a neighbor who stood near him to borrow some money for the purpose the application was unfortunately made to perhaps the only man in the company who had the firmness not to be affected by the preacher his answer was at any other time friend hopkins and i would lend it the freely but not now for these seems to be out of thy right senses some of mr. woodfield's enemies affected it to support that he would apply these collections to his own private emilient but i who was intimately acquainted with him being employed in printing his sermons and journals etc never had the least suspicion of his integrity but am to this day decidedly of opinion that he was in all his conduct a perfectly honest man and me thinks my testimony in his favor ought to have the more weight as we had no religious connection he used indeed sometimes to pray for my conversion but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard ours was a mere civil friendship sincere on both sides and lasted to his death the following instance will show something of the terms on which we stood upon one of his arrivals from england at boston he wrote to me that he should come soon to philadelphia but knew not where he could lodge when there as he understood his old friend and host mr. bennesey was removed to germantown my answer was you know my house if you can make shift with its scanty accommodations you will be most heartily welcome he replied that if i made the kind offer for christ's sake i should not miss a reward and i returned don't let me be mistaken it was not for christ's sake but for your sake one of our common acquaintances to cautiously remarked that knowing it to be the custom of the saints when they receive any favor to shift the burden of the obligation from off their shoulders and place it in heaven i was contrived to fix it on earth the last time i saw mr. whitfield was in london when he consulted me about his orphan house concern and his purpose of appropriating to the establishment of a college he had a loud and clear voice and articulated his words and sentences so perfectly that he might be heard and understood at a great distance especially as his auditors however numerous observed the most exact silence he preached one evening from the top of the courthouse steps which are in the middle of market street and on the west side of second street which crosses it at right angles both streets were filled with his hearers to a considerable distance being amongst the hindmost in market street i had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard by retiring backwards down the street towards the river and i found his voice distinct until i came near front street where some noise in that street obscured it imagining then a semicircle of which my distance would be the radius and that it were filled with auditors to each of whom i allowed two square feet i computed that he might well be heard by more than 30 000 thus reconciled me to the newspaper accounts of his having preached to 25 000 people in the fields and to the ancient histories of generals haranguing whole armies of which i had sometimes doubted by hearing him often i came to distinguish easily between sermons newly composed and those which he had often preached in the course of his travels his delivery of the latter was so improved by frequent repetitions that every accent every emphasis every modulation of voice was so perfectly well turned and well placed that without being interested in the subject one could not help being pleased with the discourse a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music this is an advantage itinerant preachers have over those who are stationary as the latter cannot well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals his writing and printing from time to time gave great advantage to his enemies unguarded expressions and even erroneous opinions delivered in preaching might have been afterward explained or qualified by supposing others that might have accompanied them or they might have been denied but littera scripta men a critics attacked his writing violently and with so much appearance of reason as to diminish the number of his vote trees and prevent their increase so that i am of opinion if he had never written anything he would have left behind him a much more numerous and important sect and his reputation might in that case have been still growing even after his death as there being nothing of his writing on which to found a censure and give him a lower character his proselytes would be left at liberty to feign for him as great a variety of excellence as their enthusiastic admiration might wish him to have possessed my business it was now continually augmenting and my circumstances growing daily easier my newspaper having become very profitable as being for a time almost the only one in this and the neighboring provinces i experienced to the truth of the observation that after getting the first hundred pound it is more easy to get the second money itself being of a profitable nature the partnership at carolina having succeeded i was encouraged to engage in others and to promote several of my workmen who had behaved well by establishing them with printing houses in different colonies on the same terms with that in carolina most of them did well being enabled at the end of our term six years to purchase the types of me and go on working for themselves by which meant several families were raised partnerships often finishing quarrel but i was happy in this that mine were all carried on and ended amicably owing i think a good deal to the precaution of having very explicitly settled in our articles everything to be done by or expected from each partner so that there was nothing to dispute which precaution i would therefore recommend to all who enter into partnerships for whatever esteem partners may have for and confidence in each other at the time of the contract little jealousies and disgusts may arise with ideas of inequality in the care and burden of the business etc which are attended often with breach of friendship and of connection perhaps with lawsuits and other disagreeable consequences end of chapter 11 the autobiography of benjamin franklin chapter 12 this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org the autobiography of benjamin franklin edited by frank woodworth pine chapter 12 defense of the province i had on the whole abundant reason to be satisfied with my being established in pennsylvania there were however two things that i regretted there being no provision for defense nor for a complete education of youth no militia or any college i therefore in 1743 drew up a proposal for establishing an academy and at that time thinking the reverend mr peters who was out of employ a fit person to superintend such an institution i communicated the project to him but he having more profitable views in the service of the proprietaries which succeeded declined the undertaking and not knowing another at that time suitable for such a trust i let the scheme lie a wild dormant i succeeded better than next year 1744 in proposing and establishing a philosophical society the paper i wrote for that purpose will be found among my writings when collected with respect to defense spain having been several years at war against great britain and being at length joined by france which brought to us great danger and the labored and long continued endeavor of our governor thomas to prevail with our quicker assembly to pass a militia law and make other provisions for the security of the province having proved abortive i determined to try what might be done by a voluntary association of people to promote this i first wrote and published a pamphlet entitled plain truth in which i stated our defenseless situation in strong lights with the necessity of union and discipline for our defense and promised to propose in a few days an association to be generally signed for that purpose the pamphlet had a sudden and surprising effect i was called upon for the instrument of association and having settled the draft of it with a few friends i appointed a meeting of the citizens in the large building before mentioned the house was pretty full i had prepared a number of printed copies and provided pins and ink dispersed all over the room i harangued them a little on the subject read the paper and explained it and then distributed the copies which were eagerly signed not the least objection being made when the company separated and the papers were collected we found about 1200 hands and other copies being dispersed in the country the subscribers amounted at length to upwards of 10 000 these all furnished themselves as soon as they could with arms formed themselves into companies and regiments chose their officers and met every week to be instructed in the manual exercise and other parts of military discipline the women by subscription among themselves provided silk colors which they presented to the companies painted with different devices and mottos which i supplied the officers of the companies composing the philadelphia regiment being met chose me for their colonel but conceiving myself unfit i declined that station and recommended mr. laurence a fine person and a man of influence who was accordingly appointed i then proposed a lottery to defray the expense of building a battery below the town and furnishing it with canon it filled expeditiously and the battery was soon erected with merlin's being framed of logs and filled with earth we bought some old canon from boston but these not being sufficient we wrote to england for more soliciting at the same time our proprietaries for the assistance though without much expectation of obtaining it meanwhile colonel laurence william ellen ellen taylor esquire and myself were sent to new york by the associators commissioned to borrow some canon of governor clinton he first refused us preemptorily but at dinner with his council where there was great drinking of madera wine as the custom of that place then was he softened by degrees and said he would lend us six after a few more bumpers he advanced to ten and at length he very good naturally conceded 18 they were fine canon 18 pounders with their carriages which were soon transported and mounted on our battery where the associators kept a nightly guard while the war lasted and among the rest i regularly took my turn of duty there as a common soldier my activity in these operations was agreeable to the governor and council they took me into confidence and i was consulted by them in every measure where in their concurrence was thought useful to the association calling in the aid of religion i proposed to them the proclaiming a fast to promote reformation and implore the blessing of heaven on our undertaking they embraced the motion but as it was the first fast ever thought of in the province the secretary had no precedent from which to draw the proclamation my education in new england where a fast is proclaimed every year was here of some advantage i drew it in the accustomed to style it was translated into german printed in both languages and divulged through the province this gave the clergy of the different sex an opportunity of influencing their congregation to join in the association and it would probably have been general among all but quakers if the peace had not soon intervened begin footnote william penn's agents sought recruits for the colony of pennsylvania in the low countries of germany and there are still in eastern pennsylvania many germans inaccurately called pennsylvania dutch many of them use a germanized english end of footnote it was thought by some of my friends that by my activity in these affairs i should offend that sect and thereby lose my interest in the assembly of the province where they formed a great majority the young gentleman who had likewise some friends in the house and wished to succeed me as their clerk acquainted me that it was decided to displace me at the next election and he therefore in goodwill advised me to resign as more consistent with my honor than being turned out my answer to him was that i had read or heard of some public man who had made it a rule never to ask for an office and never to refuse one when offered to him i approve says i of his rule and will practice it with a small addition i shall never ask never refuse nor ever resign an office if they will have my office of clerk to dispose of to another they shall take it from me i will not by giving it up lose my right of some time or other making reprisals on my adversaries i heard however no more of this i was chosen again unanimously as usual at the next election possibly as they disliked my late intimacy with the members of council who had joined the governors in all the disputes about military preparations with which the house had long been harassed they might have been pleased if i would voluntarily have left them but they did not care to displace me on account merely of my zeal for the association and they could not well give another reason indeed i had some cause to believe that the defense of the country was not disagreeable to any of them provided they were not required to assist in it and i found that a much greater number of them than i could have imagined though against offensive war were clearly for the defensive my pamphlets pro and con were published on the subject and some by good quakers in favor of defense which i believe convinced most of their younger people a transaction in our fire company gave me some insight into their prevailing sentiments it had been supposed that we should encourage the scheme for building a battery by laying out the present stock then about 60 pounds in tickets of the lottery by our rules no money could be disposed of till the next meeting after the proposal the company consisted of 30 members of which 22 were quakers and eight only of other persuasions we ate punctuously attended the meetings but though we thought that some of the quakers would join us we were by no means sure of a majority only one quaker mr. james morris appeared to oppose the measure he expressed much sorrow that it had ever been proposed as he said friends were all against it and it would create such discord as might break up the company we told him that we saw no reason for that we were the minority and if friends were against the measure and out voted us we must and should agreeably to the usage of all societies submit when the hour for business arrived and was moved to put to the vote he allowed we might then do it by the rules but as he could assure us that a number of members had intended to be present for the purpose of opposing it it would be but candid to allow a little time for their appearing while we were disputing this a waiter came to tell me two gentlemen below desired to speak with me i went down and found they were two of our quicker members they told me there were eight of them assembled at a tavern just by and that they were determined to come and vote with us if there should be occasion which they hoped would not be the case and desired we should not call for their assistance if we could do without it as they're voting for such a measure might embroil them with their elders and friends being thus secure of a majority i went up and after a little seeming hesitation agreed to a delay of another hour this mr morris allowed to be extremely fair not one of his opposing friends appeared at which he expressed great surprise and at the expiration of the hour we carried the resolution eight to one and as of the 22 quickers eight were ready to vote with us and thirteen by their absence manifested that they were not inclined to oppose the measure i afterward estimated the proportion of quickers sincerely against the defense as one to twenty one only for these were all regular members of that society and in good reputation among them and had due notice of what was proposed at that meeting the honorable and learned mr. logan who had always been of that sect was one who wrote an address to them declaring his approbation of defensive war and supporting his opinion by many strong arguments he put into my hand sixty pounds to be laid out in lottery tickets for the battery with directions to apply what prize might be drawn wholly to that service he told me the following anecdote of his old master william penn respecting defense he came over from england when a young man with that proprietary and as his secretary it was wartime and their ship was chased by an armed vessel supposed to be an enemy their captain prepared for defense but told william penn and his company of quickers that he did not expect their assistance and they might retire into the cabin which they did except james logan who chose to stay upon deck and was quartered to a gun the supposed enemy proved a friend and there was no fighting but when the secretary went down to communicate the intelligence william penn rebuked him severely for staying upon deck and undertaking to assist in defending the vessel contrary to the principles of friends especially as it had not been required by the captain this reproof being before all the company piqued the secretary who answered i being my servant why did the not order me to come down but he was willing enough that i should stay and help to fight the ship when they thought there was danger begin footnote james logan 1674 to 1751 came to america with william penn in 1699 and was the business agent for the penn family he bequathed his valuable library preserved at his county seat senton to the city of philadelphia end footnote my being many years in the assembly the majority of which were constantly quickers gave me frequent opportunities of seeing the embarrassment given them by their principle against war whenever application was made to them by order of the crown to grant aids for military purposes they were unwilling to offend government on the one hand by a direct refusal and their friends the body of the quakers on the other by compliance contrary to their principles hence a variety of evasions to avoid complying and modes of disguising the compliance when it became unavoidable the common mode at last was to grant money under the phrase of its being for the king's use and never to inquire how it was applied but if the demand was not directly from the crown that phrase was found not so proper and some other was to be invented as when powder was wanting i think it was for the garrison at lewisburg and the government of new england solicited a grant of some from pennsylvania which was much urged on the house by governor thomas they could not grant money to buy powder because that was an ingredient of war but they voted and aid to new england of 3 000 pounds to be put into the hands of the governor and appropriated it for the purchase of bread flour wheat or other grain some of the council desires of giving the house still further embarrassment advised the governor not to accept provision as not being the thing he had demanded but he replied i shall take the money i understand very well their meaning other grain is gunpowder which he accordingly bought and they never objected to it it was an allusion to this fact that when in our fire company we feared the success of our proposal in favor of the lottery and i had said to my friend mr sing one of our members if we fail let us move the purchase of a fire engine with the money the quickers can have no objection to that and then if you nominate me and i you as a committee for that purpose ruled by a great gun which is certainly a fire engine i see says he you have improved by being so long in the assembly your equivocal project would be just a match for their wheat or other grain these embarrassments that the quicker suffered from having established and published it as one of their principles that no kind of war was lawful and which being once published they could not afterwards however they might change their mind easily get rid of reminds me of what i think a more prudent conduct in another sect among us that of the dunkers i was acquainted with one of its founders michael welfare soon after it appeared he complained to me that they were grievously collimated by the zealots of other persuasions and charged with the abominable principles and practices to which they were utter strangers i told him this had always been the case with new sex and that to put a stop to such abuse i imagined it might be well to publish the articles of their belief and the rules of their discipline he said it had been proposed among them but not agreed to for this reason when we were first drawn together as a society he said it had pleased god to enlighten our minds so far as to see some doctrines which we once esteemed to truce were errors and that others which we had esteemed errors were real truths from time to time he has been pleased to afford us further light and our principles have been improving and our errors diminishing now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this progression and at the perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge and we fear that if we should once print our confession of faith we should feel ourselves as if bound and confirmed by it and perhaps be unwilling to receive further improvement and our successors still more so as conceiving what we their elders and founders have done to be something sacred never to be departed from this modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history of mankind every other sect supposing itself in possession of all truth and that those who differ are so far in the wrong like a man traveling in foggy weather those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog as well as those behind him and also the people in the fields on each side but near him all appears clear though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them to avoid this kind of embarrassment the Quakers have of late years been gradually declining the public service in the Assembly and in the Magistry choosing rather to quit their power than their principle in order of time I should have mentioned before that having in 1742 invented an open stove for the better warming of rooms and at the same time saving fuel as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering I made a present of the model to Mr Robert Grace one of my early friends who having an iron furnace found the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing as they were growing in demand to promote that demand I wrote and published pamphlet entitled an account of the new invented Pennsylvania Fireplaces wherein their construction and manner of operation is particularly explained their advantages above every other method of warming rooms demonstrated and all objections that had been raised against the use of them answered and obviated etc this pamphlet had a good effect governor Thomas was so pleased with the construction of this stove as described in it that he offered to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of years but I declined it from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions fees that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours and thus we should do freely and generously begin footnote the franklin stove is still in use warwick furnace chester county pennsylvania across the shishko river from putts dam into footnote an iron monger in london however assumed a good deal of my pamphlet and working it up into his own and making some small changes in the machine which rather hurt its operation cut a patent for it there and made as I was told a little fortune by it and this is not the only instance of patents taken out for my inventions by others though not always with the same success which I never contested as having no desire of profiting by patents myself and hating disputes the use of these fireplaces in very many houses both of this and the neighboring colonies has been and is a great saving of wood to the inhabitants end of chapter 12 the autobiography of benjamin frankland chapter 13 this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org the autobiography of benjamin franklin edited by frank woodworth pine chapter 13 public services and duties 1749 to 1753 peace being concluded and the association business therefore at an end I turned my thoughts again to the affair of establishing an academy the first step I took was to associate in design of a number of active friends to whom the schoonto furnished a good part the next was to write and publish a pamphlet entitled proposals relating to the education of youth in Pennsylvania this I distributed among the principal inhabitants gratis and as soon as I could suppose their minds a little prepared by the perusal of it I set on foot a subscription for opening and supporting an academy it was to be paid in quotas yearly for five years by so dividing it I judged the subscription might be larger and I believe it was so amounting to no less if I remember right than five thousand pounds in the introduction to these proposals I stated their publication not as an act of mine but of some public spirited gentlemen avoiding as much as I could according to my usual rule the presenting myself to the public as the author of any scheme for their benefit the subscribers to carry the project into immediate execution chose out of their numbers 24 trustees and appointed mr. Francis then attorney general and myself to draw up constitutions for the government of the academy which being done and signed a house was hired masters engaged and the schools opened I think in the same year 1749 begin footnote trench Francis uncle of Sir Philip Francis emigrated from England to Maryland to become attorney for Lord Baltimore he removed to Philadelphia and was attorney general of Pennsylvania from 1741 to 1755 he died in Philadelphia august 16th 1758 end footnote the scholars increasing fast the house was soon found too small and we were looking out for a piece of ground properly situated with intention to build when provenance drew to our way a large house already built which with a few alterations might well serve our purpose this was the building before mentioned erected by the hearers of mr. Whitfield and was obtained for us in the following manner it is to be noted that the contributions to this building being made by people of different sects care was taken