Franklin's Autobiography Part 18

He that can travel well a-foot keeps a good horse.

He is no clown that drives the plow, but he that doth clownish things.

NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS

Though he did not consider himself a man of letters, Franklin was throughout his long life a writer. His writing was incidental to his business as a journalist and statesman. He also corresponded widely with various cla.s.ses of people. Fortunately many of these writings have been preserved, and from these and the _Autobiography_ a number of valuable lives have been written. The student will find pleasure in referring to the Franklin volumes of the American Statesmen Series and of the American Men of Letters Series. The three volume life by Mr.

John Bigelow and the one volume, _The Many-sided Franklin_, by Paul Leicester Ford, will supply the years of Franklin's life not included in his autobiography, the writing of which was several times interrupted by public business of the greatest importance, and finally cut short by the long illness that preceded his death.

Read the pages devoted to Franklin in Brander Matthews' _Introduction to American Literature_. Matthews says of him, "He was the first great American--for Washington was twenty-six years younger." "He was the only man who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with England, and the Const.i.tution under which we still live."

As you read Franklin's pages be on the alert for material to support Mr. Matthews' statement, "Franklin was the first of American humorists, and to this day he has not been surpa.s.sed in his own line."

Will one of you report to the cla.s.s on "Franklin's Humor"?

Franklin was far in advance of his times on many questions. In 1783, when concluding the Treaty of Peace with England, he tried to secure the adoption of a clause protecting the property of non-belligerents in subsequent wars. England would not accept this advanced idea, but Frederick II of Prussia agreed to it, and since that time all civilized governments have united in embodying it in the Law of Nations.

Franklin was one of the first and, in proportion to his means, one of the greatest of American philanthropists. He said that he had "a trick for doing a deal of good with a little money." In lending some money to one who had applied to him for a.s.sistance, he instructed the borrower to pa.s.s it on to some one else in distress as soon as he could afford to repay it. "I hope it may thus go through many hands, before it meets with a knave that will stop its progress."

Mr. Bigelow's Life of Franklin reproduces the philosopher's exact spelling. He was one of the early spelling reformers. See his "Pet.i.tion of the Letter Z," p. 116, _The Many-sided Franklin_.

(_In the following notes the numerals refer to the pages of the text._)

=Page 17.= "Ecton, in Northamptonshire." In 1657 George Washington's grandfather emigrated to Virginia from this same English county.

"Franklin, ... an order of people." Do you recall one of the t.i.tles of Cedric, the Saxon, in Scott's _Ivanhoe_?

=27.= Notice his judgment regarding controversy. It will be profitable, from time to time, to consider his remarks as throwing light on the subject, "Franklin, a Manager of Men."

=28.= Read carefully the paragraph opening with a reference to _The Spectator_, and using Franklin's method, reproduce that paragraph.

Apply this method to other good English selections and try to adapt it to your translations from other languages.

As you read Franklin's account of his self-education, ask yourself what quality it is in the student that gives best a.s.surance of final success in securing a real education.

=34.= Is Franklin's use of the word "demeaned" good?

=37.= In his reference to Bunyan and Defoe, Franklin proves himself one of the first critics to recognize those writers as the fathers of the modern novel.

=38.= "Our acquaintance continued as long as he lived." Few men have placed a higher value on friends than did Franklin. He took the trouble necessary to make friends and to keep them.

=61.= Read parts of Young's _Night Thoughts_.

=77.= Carefully observe the plan of the Junto and its subordinate branches, and consider the value of such organizations for yourself and friends. By referring to Bigelow's Life of Franklin, Vol. I, p, 185, you will find detailed information concerning the rules of the Junto.

=81.= Years later, while in London in 1773, Franklin showed his ability with his pen and put through a successful journalistic hoax.

He published in _The Public Advertiser_ what was for a time accepted by many as an authentic edict of the King of Prussia. In this the king held that the English were German colonists settled in Britain, and that they should be taxed for the benefit of the Prussian coffers.

What claims were the English making in 1773? By looking through other lives of Franklin, you may find an account of another literary hoax by which he helped the American cause.

=86.= Franklin's original determination to secure money with his wife should be judged by the standards of his time.

=89.= Beginning with the establishment of the Philadelphia public library, keep a list of Franklin's plans and achievements for the public good.

=92.= The high honors accorded to Franklin by foreign nations have never been extended to any other American, with the possible exception of Theodore Roosevelt.

=101.= "Address Powerful Goodness." Thomas Paine submitted the ma.n.u.script of his _Age of Reason_ to Franklin for criticism. Franklin advised him to burn it and concluded, "If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be _without it_?"

A facsimile of Franklin's motion for prayers in the Federal Convention of 1787, when agreement on the Const.i.tution seemed hopeless, will be found on page 168 of _The Many-sided Franklin_. The convention, though much given to acting on Franklin's advice, was all but unanimous in defeating this motion.

=111.= Franklin's boyhood debate on the subject of the education of young women is reflected here as a settled conviction.

=113.= The great scholar and historian, Gibbon, agreed with Franklin concerning the languages.

=115.= "Inoculation." Will you volunteer to make a report to the cla.s.s on inoculation and vaccination? The two combine in making one of the most interesting chapters in the history of medical science.

=117.= You will be interested in comparing the constable's watch of ragam.u.f.fins with the watch in Shakespeare's _Much Ado About Nothing_.

=118.= In many towns and cities there is much of interest connected with the fire department. "The History of Our Fire Department," "Fire Fighting," and many other subjects may suggest themselves to you for written or oral reports. Possibly some one in the cla.s.s may be able to tell in this connection how Cra.s.sus, the friend of Julius Caesar, gained a great part of his wealth.

=119.= Have you read of the work of Whitefield and his a.s.sociates in England? See "The Methodist Movement" in Halleck's _History of English Literature_, or in some good English history.

=132.= Your cla.s.smates will be interested in a report on the Franklin stove. Make some simple drawings to ill.u.s.trate its principles.

=141.= Find out definitely what system of street cleaning prevails in your home town. Write a feature article on that system, as if for a magazine. Some member of the cla.s.s who has a camera will secure ill.u.s.trations for you. Also write an editorial for a newspaper, an editorial inspired by the disclosures of the feature article.

=175.= Will several of you take up the subject of "Franklin's Electrical Experiments" and make reports to the cla.s.s?

=185.= Notice Franklin's alertness in suggesting the application of scientific methods to practical affairs. Do you think that Emerson's definition of "genius" as given in the first paragraph of his essay on "Self-Reliance" can be justly applied to Franklin?

You will be interested in following Franklin's experiments in determining the value of oil in stilling the waves, and also his investigations of the Gulf Stream and of the nature of storms. He asked, "What signifies philosophy that does not apply to some use?"

Yet he had a wonderful imagination back of his practical nature.

Emerson says that the chief use of a book is to inspire. On this basis how do you rank the _Autobiography_ in usefulness?