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 Benjamin Franklin. 
 
Ubc Ifbroofebeet 
 
 A Monthly Magazine for Proofreaders, Printers 
 and all Literary Workers. 
 
 The only periodical of its kind in the world. Its contents 
 are of value not only to Proofreaders and Printers, but to every' 
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 wares. It is aggressive and progressive, bound by no cast-iron 
 rules, but seeking for the best of everything in its line. 
 
 AS A REFERENCE-BOOK. 
 
 Each issue of THE PROOFSHEET contains more or less 
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 PROOFREADERS' SOCIETIES. 
 
 As far as possible, THE PROOFSHEET publishes notes of 
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 cultivate an esprit du corps among Proofreaders and to elevate 
 Proofreading to its proper position, as a profession. 
 
 AS A HELPER 
 
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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Peiiit d'apivs Nature pour la Famille. 
 
 Expose au Salon de 177;t. 
 [Reproduclioii frniii au cuf^raviiii,' iiflcr I)viplc<si>" nniiiting. J 
 
/C^x,^ ^.^-^ 
 
 YFICAL AMKHK AX, 
 
 l]Ei\JAMlN FRANKLm. 
 
 An Address delivered before the Old-Time Printers' AssociaUon 
 of Chicago, January 17, A. D. IS'.m;, 
 
 By JOSEPH MEDILL, 
 
 Editor of the Chicago Tribxine. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 THE BEN FRANKLIN COMPANY. 
 
 1896. 
 

 Co|>yrii;lit. 1S!)(!. by 
 
 'III; i:i:n i'kaxkijx coMrANV. 
 
 »ift of 
 
 Sflm-el H..y Kaaffmann 
 
 26 MAR 190/ 
 
IMIIUSIIKirs l»HKFA('K. 
 
 The foUowin^^ address was delivered on a fitting 
 occasion and before an appropriate audience — at the 
 celebration of the one hundred and ninetieth anniver- 
 sary of the birtli of Franklin, by the Old-Time Print- 
 ers' Association of Chicago, a body of veterans at the 
 case and the press. The address has l)ut one fault : 
 it is too brief to do /kII justice to a life so useful and 
 nolik' as Franklin's. r)ut 'Sir. Medill himself says of 
 it, in a note to the pul)lislit'r: "I have tried to crowd 
 into a small space enough to show what a wonderful 
 man l-'raiil^Hii was; how many-sided or multifohl his 
 mind was; how nearly an universal genius he was ; 
 to show that his was a great mind in many directions. 
 I wish to have the pamtlet tell enough about him to 
 arouse a curiosity on the part of young men which 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 will cause them to read more about this remarkable 
 man." 
 
 Heartily sympathizing with Mr. Medill's view of 
 Franklin's life and character, — which he is commem- 
 orating in enduring bronze, — the publisher has put 
 the address in pt'i-manent and attractive form, hoping 
 by its circulation to stimulate young men to a more 
 thorough study of the life and teachings of the great 
 printer, diplomat, filosofer and patriot, and thereby 
 aid in perpetuating his influence for good. 
 
 :\ray, 189G. 
 
 
FKANKLIN AT TWENTY. 
 [From Parton's l^ife of Fiauklin.] 
 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Mv Old-Time Pkinter Friends: 
 
 We are assembled here this evening to celebrate 
 till' liiitliday of the printer's patron saint, the immor- 
 tal In'iijaniin Franklin, who tirst saw the light of day 
 in ]3oston January 17, 1701), being one hundred and 
 ninety years ago. Queen Anne then reigned over the 
 British empire, and her great general, Marlborough, 
 was leading her soldiers to a series of victories over 
 the armies of France. 
 
 It is imi)()ssi])k' for me to make an address de- 
 scribing Franklin's life and career within the limits of 
 the brief time that I can claim from your patience. He 
 performed too many beneficial, worthy and remark- 
 able artions, and gave the world too many useful, 
 noltli' and wise thoughts' to even catalog them in the 
 time at my disposal. Since history has recorded 
 human actions and ideas who has performed more 
 beneficial \\or]< for mankind? Who has added more 
 to the stock of human knowledge than Franklin? 
 Who has done more for human liberty or for the sons 
 of toil, in rendering the lives of the common people 
 ha])pier or tlieir lot more endurable, than Benjamin 
 
10 HENMAMIN I'KANKl.lX. 
 
 Franklin '? He was born into the ranks of the lianl- 
 working masses, and he sympathized deeply with the 
 lives of toil and deprivation which they must lead and 
 endure. He devoted his own life to the amelioration 
 and improvement of theirs. He was the great and 
 beneficent schoolmaster of the poor and lowly, and 
 never ceased to sympatliize with them and to espouse 
 their cause till death closed his wonderful career. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin was the tenth and youngest 
 son of Josiali Franklin, who gave to him the name of 
 the Jewish patriarch's youngest son, Benjamin. Dr. 
 Franklin was able to trace his family in England back 
 through a line of farmers and mechanics to the time 
 of King Henry the Eighth, and beyond that period 
 into France, where it was lost in the hoary depths of 
 time. 
 
 Franklin discovered, while in I'jUgland, tliat ten 
 generations of his ancestors in the direct line were 
 freeholders ; that for three hundred years the Frank- 
 lin family owned a farm of forty acres at Ecton ; that 
 the oldest son was heir and learned the blacksmith 
 trade and usually took the youngest son as an appren- 
 tice. The other sons were taught to be carpenters, 
 masons, shoemakers, tallow-chandlers, or to learn 
 other village trades ; but the blacksmiths led and 
 controlled all the rest of the Franklins, probably be- 
 cause they could strike the hardest knockdown blows. 
 
 A remarkable coincidence may be stated in this 
 connection on the authority of one of Franklin's biog- 
 rafers, viz., that the family from which (4(,'orge Wash- 
 ington descended and Franklin's family were for many 
 
Ills .\NCi;sTI!Y. 11 
 
 generations near nri^lihors in lluuhind. The Wash- 
 ington family was of the kniglits and nobility. A 
 Franklin bhu-ksmith may have often tightened a rivet 
 in the armor or placed a shoe upon the horse of a 
 Washington, or dotted his cap to a Washington riding 
 l)ast his ancestral forge. But, until Postmaster ]3en 
 Franklin of Pennsylvania met Col. George Washing- 
 ton of Virginia in the camp of Gen. Braddock in 1755, 
 the two families had run their several ways without 
 association. 
 
 I5ut they became well af(|uainted in subsequent 
 years. They served together in the ih'st convention 
 of the colonies, assembled in Philadelphia to consult 
 on measures for mutual defense against British tyr- 
 anny. Franklin remained with that body to help 
 franu' the Declaration of Independence, and Wash- 
 ington withdrew from it to take command in chief of 
 the revolutionary forces. They met again twelve years 
 later in the convention of 1787, held in the same city, 
 to frame a national constitution, over which Wash- 
 ington presided and Franklin served on ten of its 
 committees. It is the same constitution, with a few 
 subsecjuent amendments, under which we live. 
 
 Without the courage and genius of the great 
 Washington the Revolution \\ould have collapsed on 
 the battlelield. Without the persuasive, masterly 
 diplomacy of the great Franklin in obtaining money, 
 Heets and troops from France freedom's cause would 
 have perished, in spite of the heroic efforts of the 
 Father of His Country. The utmost talents of both 
 were indispensable to the glorious victory achieved. 
 
12 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 They Avere the complements of each other in estab- 
 lishing the new, free Nation. 
 
 The P'ranquelins of France claimed relationship 
 with him when he was ambassador to that country. 
 He exhibited several French traits of character, such 
 as humor with gravity, in his writings ; pleasantry 
 with seriousness ; fancy with good sense. He took 
 an optimistic rather than a pessimistic view of human 
 future progress and happiness. But from his mater- 
 nal side he inherited liis grave, solid, steadfast Anglo- 
 Saxon characteristics. He never became discouraged ; 
 never surrendered to obstacles ; never got rattled ; 
 but calmly fought on to victory. 
 
 I have said Franldin was the patron saint of the 
 printers — he was a "past master" of all branches of 
 the business. He was an inventor, and added im- 
 provements to every part of the printer's art. 
 
 You are all familiar with the story of his refusal 
 to adopt his father's trade of a tallow-chandler, but 
 he selected the more effective and congenial art of 
 dispelling darkness by diffusing light into the minds of 
 mankind through the medium of types, ink and i)aper. 
 He served as an apprentice under his l)rother James 
 in Boston, on the Ncir Kii<il<ni<I Coiininf, which he 
 once edited while his l)rother served a month's sen- 
 tence in jail for reflecting mildly on the local govern- 
 ment's tardiness in lifting out a ship to go in pursuit 
 of a pirate vessel which was preying on the commerce 
 of Boston. The pig-headed council decided this was 
 "a high affront to the government," and ordered the 
 sheriff to commit James Franklin to the Boston jail ! 
 
BENJAMIN FllANKLlN. 
 
 From Chnp)>el's Paintiii<:. 
 
HIS APPRENTICESHIP. 15 
 
 Benjamin ^^as then a lad under seventeen years, but 
 managed, in the few weeks lie ran the Courant, to 
 make it, as someone says, "the first sensation news- 
 paper issued in New En<j:land." The Couraut re- 
 doubled its attacks on the council while his brother 
 James lay in prison, assailing the tyrants in argu- 
 ment, satire, verse and squib. Benny "roasted" the 
 insolent, oppressive government for months after his 
 brother James had emerged from jail. The boy was 
 indiunant and exasperated at its grossly tyrannical 
 assauh on the liberty of the press. He trebled the 
 circuhition of the Couraut hy attacking it, and he car- 
 ried iiul)lic sentiment with him by storm. During his 
 long life afterward he was an invincible defender of 
 the liberty of the press. This episode in Franklin's 
 early career conspicuously showed he possessed the 
 stuff in him which makes a successful journalist. 
 
 He remained in the Boston Courant office until 
 there was nothing more of the printer's trade to be 
 there learned, and, suliering personal alnise from his 
 unappreciative brother, he tells us in his admirable 
 autobiografy and in his humorous maimer how he 
 ran away — "skipped" — from his brother's office sev- 
 eral years before his apprenticeship had expired, and 
 "tramped" to the "City of Brotherly Love," stop- 
 ping en route at New York long enough to learn it 
 was then overstocked with printer journeymen — there 
 being half a dozen or so, the place containing six 
 thousand or seven thousand quaint inhabitants, li\dng 
 on crooked, narrow streets, with the gables of the 
 dwflliuu's facing them. The language spoken was 
 
16 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 mostly Dutch, and the street signs ^vel•e also in 
 Dutch. 
 
 Arriving in Philadelphia with a few shillings in 
 his pocket, weary, footsore and hungry, he bought 
 some baker's rolls ; walked along the middle of the 
 street, gazing into endows and munching his bread, 
 wdiile his future wife looked and laughed at the rustic 
 young fellow as he passed by. He wet the dry bread 
 with a cup of river water, and followed a stream of 
 Quakers going to their meeting-house to w^orship in 
 silence. There he fell asleep from fatigue, and a 
 friendly Quaker awakened him and showed the boy 
 Franklin to a cheap lodging-house. He looked about 
 for work at his trade ; soon found employment ; lived 
 frugally ; avoided intoxicants ; saved his wages ; read 
 every useful book he could l)orrow ; but books other 
 than dogmatic were few and far between, in those 
 days, in Philadelphia. 
 
 During this journeyman period of his life he 
 made the personal acquaintance of the governor of 
 the province. Sir William Keith, who professed to 
 take a great fancy to the thoughtl-il, industrious, 
 intelligent young fellow, and proposed to loan him 
 sufficient capital to set him up in the printing busi- 
 ness. He had Franklin make out a complete sched- 
 ule of the things needed, and caused him to sail to 
 London to select the outfit, promising to forward 
 drafts for payment. There he perfidiously left the 
 eighteen-year-old boy to shift for himself. Keith was 
 a frothy, ])opularity-liunting demagog, rarely per- 
 forming his ])ronnses. He soon played out. 
 
HIS STAY IN LONDON. 17 
 
 Franklin, bearing nothing from Gov. Keith, 
 discovered that he had been victimized and was a 
 friendless stranger in a great city. But be was full 
 of self-reliance and soon got employment at low 
 wages. He remained in London nearly two years. 
 He acquired skill in his trade and became a first-class 
 printer. He read many useful books ; made several 
 valuable acquaintances and some bad ones, and at 
 last concluded to return to America. 
 
 Suppose he had elected to remain in England, 
 what a change it would have made in the future his- 
 tory of bis country ! For himself he would have 
 become a leading pul)lisher in London; perhaps a 
 memlier of Parliament and of the learned societies, 
 for he was of the kind of men who can not l)e kept 
 down, but are born to rise. But a wise Providence 
 W'hich "shapes our ends, rough hew them hoAV we 
 will," sent him back to his native land, where his 
 genius was afterward devoted to creating a free and 
 independent repuhlic among the nations of the earth. 
 
 Soon after liis return from London to Philadel- 
 phia he orgauizt'il a nunil)er of his fellow workiugmen, 
 selecting tlu'm carefully, into a secret society called 
 the ".Imito." Its i)ur])ose was the improvement of its 
 meui iters in virtue, knowledge and usefulness, and to 
 exercise the united influence of the meml)ers on the 
 city for its moral and niatt'rial welfare. He remained 
 a menii)er of the celebrated Junto for forty years. It 
 accoui])lished an immense amount of good in the city 
 and was of great nuitual henetit to its members in 
 their business affairs. 
 
18 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Franklin's ambition Avas to own and edit a news- 
 paper. He soon founded the Pennsylvania Gazette, 
 which was a success from the first issue, and in a few 
 years became a leading journal in the Colonies and a 
 very profitable investment to liimself. He added a 
 l)ook and stationery store and established "Poor 
 lUchard's Almanac," which quickly became so popu- 
 lar that his presses could hardly fill the orders for it. 
 It was a serio-comic almanac, inculcating political 
 economy in humorous language and captivating epi- 
 grammatic maxims. Nothing gave him more reputa- 
 tion in these early days than his almanac, which 
 quickly circulated over all the Colonies and was re- 
 printed in Great Britain and was copiously quoted in 
 France and Germany. 
 
 " Poor Pilchard " taught the necessity of frugality, 
 industry and temperance, in a pleasing, captivating 
 way. While he made all classes of readers smile or 
 laugh at what seemed comical, he managed to plant 
 moral maxims or valuable truths in their minds, which 
 would grow and make them richer, bettor and happier 
 people. 
 
 The echoes of Franklin's i)roveri)ial tilosofy, 
 taught in "Poor Eichard," are still in our ears, one 
 hundred and fifty years after they were first uttered. 
 They were still fresh in my boyhood time. Ho"\v often 
 my father, Avho was a farmer, used to say to me, 
 "My son, remember -what 'Poor Pdchard' says," 
 when he wanted me to go to bed early and get up 
 before sunrise: "'Early to bed and early to rise 
 makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.'" Some- 
 
BENJAMIN FliANKLIN. 
 Nt' a Boston, dans la uouvelle Angleterre, le 17 Jauv. 1706. 
 
 Honneur du nonveau monde et rhumauite, 
 
 Ce sage amiable et vrais los guide et les ^claire; 
 
 Coninie un autre Mentor, il cache ii I'oeil vulgar. 
 
 Sou.s les traits d'un luortel, uiie divinite. 
 
 Par M. Feutfij. 
 
 Duplessis piti.rif Pdrisiis 777s'. Cherillet sculpait. 
 
 Tire du Cabinet de M. Le Ray Chaunu)iit & Cic. 
 
 [Reproiluced from an old steel en<.'ravini,',] 
 
HIS m.\i;i;ia(;e. 21 
 
 times I would reply that I had ratlier sleep longer in 
 the morning, even if I lost some of the wisdom. 
 Another maxim he was fond of quoting, showing the 
 neeessity of hard toil, was "An empty mealsack can 
 not stand aloui-." Another, "A penny saved is worth 
 nuuv than a penny earned;" another, "Forewarned 
 is forearmed, except to fools." He was fond of quot- 
 ing one from Hudil)ras, whi(di he credited to "Poor 
 llichard," and which is often ascrilied to Solomon's 
 Proverhs, that " Sparing the rod spoils the child," l)ut 
 wliicdi I de(dined to accei)t, though he often impressed 
 it upon iiie ill a \ery striking manner. 
 
 Not long after his return from London Franklin 
 married Miss Delxn-ah Read, the girl who laughed at 
 his singular a i)pi'arance as he walked along the middle 
 of Market street eating his roll of l)read, carrying one 
 under each arm and staring into the windows, on his 
 first ai)pearance hi Philadelphia. They lived happily 
 together as man and wife for more than forty years — 
 working hard in the earlier period to get on in the 
 world. She took care of the shop and accounts and 
 housekeeping, while he toiled early and late — often 
 l»u ruing the midnight oil at the case or press to get 
 out a ])iece of work when pr(miised. He was a great 
 stickler for punctuality. He always tried to do a 
 good job, and charged fair prices; he never over- 
 charged anybody, never cheated anyone, in all his 
 life. He carried a clean conscience with him under 
 all circumstances. 
 
 Franklin prospered in "basket and store." He 
 becanu' popular with jU'ople ; they patronized his 
 
22 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 publications and Jiis store ; they heaped offices on 
 him, both legislative and executive. They had him 
 appointed postmaster-general, and quartermaster, 
 and colonel during the French war. They consulted 
 him upon every sul)ject, and his advice prevailed ; 
 everything came his way. As postmaster-general he 
 increased the number and speed of the trips ; cheap- 
 ened the postage greatly ; evolved order out of confu- 
 sion and made the department yield handsome profits 
 where it had previously l)een conducted at a serious 
 loss. He was successful in all things he undertook, 
 because he applied reflection and methodical industry. 
 
 If ever there was a self-taught man Franklin was 
 that man. Without aid from any seat of learning he 
 received honornry degrees from Yale and Harvard for 
 his tihwolical eminence and discoveries in electricity. 
 The British Royal Society, which at first ignored his 
 remarkable electrical achievements, afterward elected 
 him a meml)er without charging him admission fees. 
 Oxford and Edinburgh conferred upon him their aca- 
 demical degrees. The French were first to appreciate 
 his iilosolical efforts, the Germans next and then the 
 Italiiins and the English. 
 
 I'rankHn could not l)e ])ersuaded to extend his 
 autobiografy beyond his fifty-first year. He only 
 wiote out those portions of his life which he thought 
 were unknown or had attracted little or no public 
 attention. Hence, what he wrote is a mere fragment 
 of his great life. But no autol)iografy ever written 
 in any language equals it in styh' and charm of com- 
 position. 
 
A BUSY TWENTY YEAES. 23 
 
 This middle period, or active, pushing and busi- 
 ness part, of Franklin's life comprised but twenty 
 years. His education, obtained when a lad at a Bos- 
 ton primary school, was very scanty — emliracing but 
 little more than the "three K's." But he was always 
 absorbing knowledge thereafter. During these twenty 
 years devoted to active business Franklin managed 
 to spare time to acquire what was then more than 
 equivalent to a good classical education, though he 
 never put his foot in a college except as a visitor. 
 He learned to read and to speak French, to read 
 Spanish and Italian, and obtained a fair elementary 
 knowledge of Latin. He went as far in mathematics 
 as he thought would be of any value to him. He read 
 ancient and modern history, and every iilosofical 
 and scientific work he could lay hands upon ; he 
 made a study of political economy, and banking, and 
 paper money, and wrote essays on them. He became 
 the founder of the University of Pennsylvania and of 
 the American Philosophical Society. 
 
 At the end of those twenty busy and useful years 
 he had acquired what he deemed an ample compe- 
 tence, which yielded about §12,000 a year, and he 
 resolved to retire from business and politics and 
 devote the remainder of his life to filosofy and sci- 
 ence. He had already made part of those electrical 
 discoveries which filled Europe Avith his name and 
 fame. This was in 1748, when Franklin was only 
 forty-two years of age. He had already invented the 
 Franklin hand-press and the Franklin stove, which 
 latter comfortablv heated houses and saved enormous 
 
24 BENJAMIN FKANKLIN. 
 
 quantities of fuel. He discovered the cause of and a 
 cure for smoky chimneys ; he impressed on the people 
 the sanitary value of ventilation of sleeping-rooms, and 
 told them how to avoid colds and the diseases arising 
 therefrom. He showed cities llo^^ to sewer, \)'i\\e and 
 clean their streets and furnish water through pipes, 
 all in the most economical way. He was the hrst to 
 suggest the idea of savings-l>anks, which have done so 
 much to aid in the formation of frugal hal)its and to 
 augment the nation's wealth. He invented a street- 
 lamp with such ventilation as would prevent sooting 
 up. He invented the lightning-rod, ^\ith shar}) points, 
 for the protection of property. He introduced a paid 
 police and lire department into Philadelphia, which 
 was coi)ied l)y other cities. He founded the system of 
 pulilic circulating libraries, of which there are now 
 thousands in Anglo-American cities and towns. He 
 discovered and explained why oil spreads on water 
 and calms and smooths the waves. He discovered that 
 storms run hackward from the place of beginning, 
 instead of forward, as was supposed, the same as 
 water in a mill-race when the gate is opened. He 
 was the first to make ohservations on the (iulf Stream, 
 and liis cliart of it, ])ul)lislied one hundrt'd and twelve 
 years ago, still forms the basis of tlu- charts now in use. 
 He devised a system of reformed orthografy which if 
 adojited would have greatly shorti'Ued and simplified 
 the spelhngs of the English language, and therehy 
 promoted immensely the ditfusion of education and 
 l\Uo\vledge among the masses; liut the inveteracy of 
 babit defeated bis l)eneliceiit purpose and millions 
 
From the Original Painting, by Duplessis. in the Metro- 
 politan Museum of Art. New York. 
 
HIS ELECTRICAL DISCOVERIES. 27 
 
 have lived and died poor spellers, to be laughed at, 
 ridiculed and jeered by the comparative few who have 
 ever mastered the absurdities, intricacies and anom- 
 alies of our hotch-potch orthografy. His mind seemed 
 capable of penetrating and unfolding every mystery. 
 Franklin was first brought into contact with the 
 mysterious substance called electricity in 1746. He 
 immediately began making experiments into its prop- 
 erties and nature, and soon discovered that it exists 
 everywhere ; that it moves from a positive to a nega- 
 tive pole, and has great affinity for iron and copper. 
 By experiments he discovered electrical attraction and 
 repulsion. He came to the conclusion, through pro- 
 found reasoning, that the electricity that was produced 
 in the Leyden jar was of the same substance and 
 nature as lightning from a thunder-storm, and pro- 
 ceeded to prove it by his celebrated experiment with 
 the kite. When the thunder-storm broke over Phila- 
 delphia he went out on the open common and sent up 
 his kite into the heavens, with a bright pointed rod 
 attached to it and a hempen cord "with a metallic key 
 at the other end ; and then calmly faced death. The 
 kite rose liigh into the down-pouring rain, amidst the 
 crashing thunder and forked lightning. There he 
 courageously stood, with his son beside him, watching 
 the string till he saw the hempen fibers move ; then 
 he touched his knuckle to the key, knowing that he 
 might be struck dead at the instant. The lightning 
 sparks crackled and leaped to his fingers harmlessly. 
 He charged his Leyden jars with the fluid and proved 
 to the world the truth of his theory that lightning was 
 
28 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the same as electricity. In previous experiments with 
 electricity he had received shocks which had stunned 
 and almost killed him. With this personal knowledge 
 of its power it required nerve to tamper with a flash 
 of lightning which could rend a great tree or kill a 
 thousand men at a single shock. 
 
 Franklin's leisure for scientific investigations was 
 cut short by the political necessities of his country, 
 and he was transferred to diplomatic fields, first for 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia and Massachusetts 
 to London, and next for the thirteen revolted prov- 
 inces to Paris. Had he not been diverted from Ids 
 electrical studies and experiments where might he not 
 have pushed his discoveries ? He might have invented 
 the telegraf or the telefone. It is difficult to set limits 
 to the analyzing power of such a brain as he pos- 
 sessed with the start he had gained in the electrical 
 field, as he Avas just reaching his greatest thinking 
 powers of mind when he was put into the public serv- 
 ice of his country. 
 
 Jefferson is credited with writing the most capti- 
 vating sentences of the Declaration of Independence ; 
 but in Franldin's brain was born, twenty-two years 
 l)revioiisly, a conception of a union of all the colonies, 
 though acknowledging allegiance to Great Britain at 
 the outset. He says, in liis autobiografy, that in 
 June, 1754, when war with France was apprehended, 
 a convention of commissioners from all the colonies 
 w'as ordered to be held at Albany to there meet the 
 Six Nations and to confer with those friendly Indian 
 tribes concerning the best means of defending their 
 
UNION OF THE roLONIKS. 29 
 
 country and the colonies a<j[ainst the French and the 
 hostile Indians. He was one of the four commis- 
 sioners sent from Pennsylvania. 
 
 lie goes on to relate that he "projected and drew 
 a i)lan for the union of all the colonies under one gov- 
 (•runu'nt so far as might be necessary for defense and 
 important general purposes." He placed his project, 
 he says, before several gentlemen of the greatest 
 knowledge in public affairs, and, having fortitied his 
 ojunion by their approbation of his scheme, he ven- 
 tured to lay it before the congress. The new plan 
 was discussed for a numl)er of days. It was then 
 voted unanimously a union of the colonies should be 
 established. A committee of one member from each 
 colony was ai)pointed to consider several plans of 
 union whicli had been introduced as substitutes for 
 or amendments to Franklin's. After full considera- 
 tion the Franklin plan was reported back and adopted 
 by the congress. By his plan the General Govern- 
 ment was to l)e administered by a President-General 
 apiiointed by the Crown, and a grand legislative coun- 
 cil, or Senate, which was to l)e chosen l)y the legisla- 
 tures of the several colonial states. The scheme of 
 union was remarkably similar to that by which the 
 states were afterward united into a Nation. 
 
 Tliis l)old idea, which was wrought out in detail 
 by its author, was submitted l)y the convention to the 
 U'gishitures of all the colonics and to the British 
 Government for its sanction. Franklin says in En- 
 gland it was judged to have too much democracy in 
 it, \Jiilc nianv members of the colonial assemblies 
 
30 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 thought it contained too much prerogative. The Brit- 
 ish Cal)inet and Parhament saw this scheme would 
 speedily create a republic, and hence "sat down on 
 it." It was a remarkable advance to^Nard an inde- 
 pendent, self-governing nation, which was achieved 
 after a long and bloody war twenty-nine years subse- 
 quently. 
 
 And it is a singular fact that the same Franklin 
 twenty-two years later helped to draft and signed the 
 Declaration of Independence. He aided in framing 
 the government under which the war was fought, and 
 finally was elected a delegate from Pennsylvania to 
 the convention of 1787, which framed the constitution 
 and which was presided over by George Washington. 
 That constitution, with some amendments, is the one 
 under which we live to-day. Franklin was then 
 eighty-one years old, and when the great work was 
 completed his health was better than when he began 
 this last of his great labors. The excitement and im- 
 portance of the business kept him up. 
 
 The project of a convention to frame a stronger 
 government for this country originated in the fertile 
 mind of Alexander IIamilt(m several years previously, 
 and ripened slowly and was only adopted after much 
 pulilic discussion and six years' delay, during which 
 time the aged Dr. Franklin ^\as president of a Society 
 for Political Inquiries, wliich met in a large room in 
 his own house and listened to Aveekly papers and 
 essays on the all-imiiortant question of a l)etter and 
 stronger government and constitution, wliich the 
 grand old sage earnestly advocated. 
 
TIIK WAR J-.KGIN. 33 
 
 Fiimlly the dt'lefrates Averc chosen and met in 
 Pliiladflphiu. AVasliinuton at lirst declined to attend, 
 and was reluctant by reason of his private affairs. 
 There A\as great opposition in the country by the 
 state-sovereignty men to making a national constitu- 
 tion. If Washington and Fnmldin had refused to 
 attend, the scheme would undoubtedly have proven 
 abortive. The vast intluence of those two greatest 
 men of the period saved it, and an indissoluble Na- 
 tion was created. One writer says the awful dignity 
 of \\'asliington in the chair and the contagious good- 
 temper of Franklin on the floor and the vast influence 
 of both out of doors saved the constitution from rejec- 
 tion by the jealous states in the ratification. 
 
 I now a])proach the most important service that 
 Franklin rendered to his country in his long and hon- 
 orable career. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence had been sent 
 forth and the last political tie connecting England to 
 the colonii'S was severed, and the seven years' war 
 began. Washington had lost the battle of Brooklyn, 
 and bis broken militia had retreated out of New York, 
 u]) the Hudson River, and linaily across it into New 
 Jersey, with great loss of men and nninitions of war. 
 The scarcity of small arms, and annnunition, and 
 artillery, and money stared Congress in the face. 
 Silas Deane, of Connecticut, had been sent to France 
 to feel of that nation as to what aid it might render 
 the eause of the patriots. Arthur Lee was chosen to 
 assist him. The French (Joverinnent flatly refused to 
 espouse the Uevolutionary cause or give any aid, pub- 
 
34 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 licly. it hud no faith that the cohmics possessed the 
 unity, cohesion or resources to win their independ- 
 ence of Great Britain. An enthusiastic Frenchman 
 named M. de Beaumarchais, who had some intluence 
 at court, managed to induce the government to fur- 
 nish him secretly with a milhon doUars, which he, 
 under the guise of a trader or merchant, invested in 
 mihtary munitions and supplies and shipped from 
 French ports to America. But spies of Great Britain 
 in France soon found out what was being done and 
 made an uproar about it, and this small source of 
 assistance was peremptorily cut oft' by the French 
 Government, who disavowed his acts. 
 
 Previous negotiations of Benjamin Franklin and 
 John Adams with Lord Howe, at New York, who 
 offered pardon to the insurgents and certain trade 
 concessions, had failed to eft'ect a peace. Franklin 
 insisted on Britain's acknowledgment of America's 
 independence. No agreement could be made and the 
 war continued ; but the American cause was becom- 
 ing more gloomy every day. It was at this time that 
 Thomas Paine wrote his "ximerican Crisis," begin- 
 ning with the famous words, " These are the times 
 that try men's souls." Strong help from France, 
 however, was indispensable. The commissioners sent 
 there had made no headway in ol)taining it. The 
 Congress in despair turned to Dr. Franklin and per- 
 suaded the old man, then turning into his seventy- 
 first year, to undertake the all-imi)ortant mission. If 
 he failed in securing the help of France the cause of 
 independence was lost beyond hope. 
 
TllK MISSION TO FRANCE. 35 
 
 Fi-aiikliii iTiiclic'd Paris lutf in the fall of 1776 
 and set himself at work to be agreeable to the king 
 and his cabinet. He rapidly added to his knowledge 
 of the French tongue. lie joined the scientific and 
 lilosofical societies. The fame of his discoveries in 
 electricity had preceded liim there, and helped his 
 mission greatly with the learned classes and the court. 
 The maxims of " Poor Richard " were household words 
 in French families. Franklin ^\as looked upon as a 
 sage and filosofer like those of Greece and Eome. 
 
 In his bland and benign manner he pressed his 
 way into the confidence of the most intiuential men 
 of France. He persuaded them that the contest 
 in America was more than a rebellion ; that it had 
 become a revolution ; that the revolted colonies were 
 almost able to achieve their independence without any 
 outside assistance, and that, with the aid of France, 
 short work would be made of England. He pressed 
 on the king and his ministers that now was France's 
 golden opportunity to "get even" with her old foe; 
 to cripple her power and to win back territory lost in 
 the last war with England. If not now taken advan- 
 tage of such a chance would never return. If the 
 seceding colonies were conquered or coaxed back to 
 Britain they might help mightily in any future wars 
 against P' ranee. But if France helped them now to 
 achieve their independence they would ever be grate- 
 ful and show it in their commerce and other ways 
 which would be of great benefit to France. Now was 
 the time to strike the blow that would cripple this 
 hereditary enemy, " perfidious Albion," and revenge 
 
36 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 France for the loss of its Canadian possessions a few 
 years before. 
 
 Franklin poured these ideas and arguments into 
 the ears of the king, his court, his generals and admi- 
 rals, and the merchants, manufacturers and bankers. 
 He worked incessantly and persuasively, and gained 
 ground continuously. The news of Washington's fine 
 victory over the British at Trenton helped him greatly 
 at the French court, and he made the most of it. His 
 good humor, courteous manners, persuasive argu- 
 ments won the day for the desperate, struggling Ameri- 
 can cause. He induced France at first to privately 
 lend considerable money to America, and to run in 
 shiploads of muskets, ammunition, and artillery. 
 And soon afterward he persuaded the king to decdare 
 war against Great Britain. After that money and 
 munitions of war reached Congress in large quanti- 
 ties and the tide began to turn against the Pnitish. 
 These were followed by squadrons of warships, and 
 finally by brigades of French soldiers. A strong 
 French tieet bottled up the British army at Yorktown, 
 and a division of French troops, joining with ^^'asll- 
 ington's army, made an assault on the British force. 
 It surrendered to Washington and the war was prac- 
 tically over, and independence was won. Withont tlie 
 powerful aid given by the Freiudi indi'pendenee could 
 not have l)een achieved ; without the diplomatic gen- 
 ius of Fi'anl\lin the Frencli would not have declared 
 war on England to help the Americans. 
 
 The next great work Franklin was emi)loyed by 
 his country to perform was to negotiate a treaty ot 
 
TREATY WITH KXCiLAND. 37 
 
 peace with sore, sulky, stul)l)oni ]jritaiii, and ho 
 aeiiuitted hiniscll" with an al)ility and success that 
 liavu ht'un the admiration of statesmen and diplomats 
 from that time to this. No other American could 
 have accomplished as much as he did. He almost 
 persuaded the British government to cede its Canadian 
 possessions to the United States. If he had pressed 
 the point just a little harder he would have succeeded, 
 But he was not aware of how near he was to accom- 
 plishing his darling object. 
 
 He then returned home full of years and honors, 
 standing head and shoulders higher than all other 
 Americans, save Washington alone. As before stated, 
 he finished and crowned his manifold wcn'ks for his 
 countrymen in helping to frame that wonderful con- 
 stitution wiiich Gladstone calls the greatest and most 
 l)erfeet i)iece of constructive statesmanship ever coined 
 from the l)rain of man. 
 
 The birthdays of but few men are annually cele- 
 brated or commemorated after their contemi)oraries 
 are dead. Whose in this country but Washington's 
 and Franklin's? Even Hamilton and Jefferson, 
 statesmen of the highest rank, seldom have their 
 hirthdays celebrated, while Franklin's is perennially 
 commemorated by his admiring countrymen. His 
 fame dims not under the corroding tootli of time. His 
 thoughts are the common property of all civilized 
 lands. His maxims and sayings are still household 
 words. His iHimerous utilitarian inventions were 
 given to his eountry without patent or fee, the reason 
 being he was so nuich indebted, he said, to preceding 
 
38 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 generations tor their inventions he could only repay 
 by bestowing his own inventions without i)atents on 
 his generation and on posterity. 
 
 In conclusion, I believe I am warranted in declar- 
 ing the printer craft of America has given to man- 
 kind one of the greatest men who ever lived, the 
 immortal Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He had a brain 
 which penetrated, comprehen(h'd and investigated all 
 subjects which could be made to yield benefit to his 
 countrymen and the human race. He spent his life 
 in doing good, without a particle of selfishness in 
 his motives. He was the greatest mental luminary 
 of his age. All his uttered thoughts and public actions 
 tended to instruct, enlighten and better the condition 
 of his fellow man, especially the poor and the weak. 
 
 When we pass from time to eternity we may see 
 the revered Wasliington sitting on high Olympus 
 among the immortal gods, and benign Franklin may 
 be found walking in the academic groves conversing 
 with the shades of the sages and scientists, the tilos- 
 ofers and tilanthropists of all ages. 
 
SO)IK UOm) >VOin)S ABOITTHE THOOFSHEET. 
 
 It is €i tirst-class assistant in every respect, and fills a long- 
 felf want. T. W. Richardson. Foreman Times, Roanoke, Vu. 
 
 Besides the valuable reading-matter it contains, it commends 
 itself to my eye as a thinjr of Ix^-nity in the typografical line; 'tis 
 a joy tt) look at its pages. — Mrs. K. II. Ihirnz, Neiv York. 
 
 One of the most spicy little magazines that reaches this office 
 is The Pboofsheet, a monthly publication, devoted to the inter- 
 ests of proofreaders. It is full of good reading-matter, news and 
 literature, and should be read by every proofreader. — The Union 
 Printer and American Craft.'^nKni. 
 
 The Puoofsheet is a valued publication that reaches this 
 office monthly. It is printed for proofreaders and its menu is 
 always rich and varied. This interesting little journal is issued 
 for $1 per year, and gives for this outlay a generous supply of 
 instruction and entertainment. To proofreaders it is invalu- 
 able.-- A/issomjh" Editor. 
 
 The Pkoofsheet is a little monthly, published by the Ben 
 Franklin Company, of Chicago, devoted to all matters appertain- 
 ing to the duties of the proofreader. The typewriter operator 
 sliould be as well informed as to correct methods of spelling, 
 punctuation, syllabifying, paragrafing, capitalizing as is the most 
 critical proofreader t)r compositor, and he will find the same 
 kind and as large of measure of benefit in the careful study of 
 such a publication as The Ppoofsheet as will a member of the 
 special class for which it is designed. — Phottngrajihie Magazine. 
 
TAI/C TUp RPQT 'f '""' ti'kfs a litcr.irv iournal -a .iimriial 1o 
 ' "'*^ I nt DE.O I . ket'i) him -'pisled" aii.l •■ up t.. date" on all 
 matters DfciintMil litcratmc why not TAKE THK UESTr .lOlIX G. WHIT- 
 TIEK says tliat '•TliK HKST ami ablest literary paper in the country" is 
 
 TMB DIAL, 
 
 \ S('iiii-}liiiiilil) Jmiriiiil iif l.itiTiirv I'riticisiii. Hisrussidn iiiitl Information. 
 
 "THE 15EST ■■ is also the clieapest s2.(in a year. HM) for six months. 
 
 Thk Dial was established in 1880. It is iiot local or sectional. Its writers 
 are from everyj)art of the country, includin-; Presidents or Professors of over 
 tliirty American collet;es and universities. Its circulation and influence are 
 national. It is "indispensable to tlie student, tlie educator, the book-buyer, 
 and to all persons of literary tastes." A six months" trial makes a permanent 
 ■f^ubscribiu-. :il.-) Wabash avenue. Chicago. 
 
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 to week, so that parties using them are sure to reach the 
 entire trade in these lines and to waste no postage-stamps in 
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