Benjamin Franklin was born poor, but nothing could keep him ignorant.
His genius and strong will were wealth enough for any man. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer.
At the same time--perhaps a little later--he used to sell his own ballads in the streets of Boston.
At twenty-one years of age he was a master printer in Philadelphia, in his shop on Market Street. He had been at school in Boston for two years, but after the age of ten he had been obliged to teach himself: he was too poor to spend even those early years in a schoolhouse. Yet he learned without such helps as schools and schoolmasters afford. He studied Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and German, and lived to hear two continents call him the greatest philosopher of his time.
He discovered that lightning and electricity are the same, and taught men how to guard their houses against the thunder-bolt. To his great mind it seemed that all things came alike: no invention was too simple, and no idea too lofty. Whatever had to be done was worth doing in the best and simplest way: that was the ruling principle of Benjamin Franklin"s life.
He was an earnest and fearless patriot, always on the side of the people and their rights. His strong will, his cool manner, and his bold spirit made him an enemy not to be scorned by England. "What used to be the pride of the Americans?" asked a member of the English Parliament in 1776. And Franklin, then pleading the cause of the colonies before the House of Commons, replied, "To indulge in the fashions and wear the manufactures of Great Britain."
The Englishman, sure that Franklin would be less ready to answer, continued: "What is now their pride?" And in a flash the old philosopher of threescore and ten said, "To wear their old clothes over again till they can make new ones." Years had not broken the strong will or dulled the sharp wit.
His efforts to secure for the Americans the aid of France can never be forgotten by the American people. Burgoyne"s surrender made the French believe that the patriots" cause was worthy of a.s.sistance, but it is quite certain that the eloquence of Dr. Franklin, as the French people called the Great American, had opened the way for all that followed.
Whatever favor he met with in society, whatever honor he received, whatever fame he acquired at home or abroad, he turned all to account for the good of his country.
SELECTION XXII
GIVE ME THE PEOPLE
Some love the glow of outward show, The shine of wealth, and try to win it: The house to me may lowly be, If I but like the people in it.
What"s all the gold that glitters cold, When linked to hard and haughty feeling?
Whate"er we"re told, the n.o.blest gold Is truth of heart and honest dealing.
A humble roof may give us proof That simple flowers are often fairest; And trees whose bark is hard and dark May yield us fruit, and bloom the rarest.
There"s worth as sure among the poor As e"er adorned the highest station; And minds as just as theirs, we trust, Whose claim is but of rank"s creation.
Then let them seek, whose minds are weak, Mere fashion"s smile, and try to win it: The house to me may lowly be, If I but like the people in it.
_Charles Swain_.
LESSON LXVII
n.o.bILITY REWARDED
A rich man, feeling himself growing old, called his three sons around him and said: "I am resolved to divide my goods equally among you. You shall each have your full share, but there is one thing which I have not included in the share of any one of you. It is this costly diamond which you see in my hand. I will give it to that one of you who shall earn it by the n.o.blest deed. Go, therefore, and travel for three months; at the end of that time we will meet here again, and you shall tell me what you have done."
The sons departed accordingly, and traveled three months, each in a different direction. At the end of that time they returned; and all came together to their father to give an account of their journey.
The eldest son spoke first. He said: "On my journey a stranger entrusted to me a great number of valuable jewels, without taking any account of them. Indeed, I was well aware that he did not know how many the parcel contained. One or two of them would never have been missed, and I might easily have enriched myself without fear of detection. But I did no such thing; I gave back the parcel exactly as I had received it. Was not this a n.o.ble deed?"
"My son," said the father, "simple honesty cannot be called n.o.ble. You did what was right, and nothing more. If you had acted otherwise, you would have been dishonest, and your deed would have shamed you. You have done well, but not n.o.bly."
The second son now spoke. He said: "As I was traveling on my journey one day, I saw a poor child playing by the edge of a lake; and, just as I rode by, it fell into the water, and was in danger of being drowned.
I immediately dismounted from my horse, and, wading into the water, brought it safe to land. All the people of the village where this occurred can bear witness of the deed. Was it not a n.o.ble action?"
"My son," replied the old man, "you did only what was your duty, and you could hardly have left the innocent child to die without making an effort to save it. You, too, have acted well, but not n.o.bly."
Then the third son came forward to tell his tale. He said: "I had an enemy, who for years has done me much harm and sought to take my life.
One evening, during my late journey, I was pa.s.sing along a dangerous road which ran beside the summit of a steep cliff. As I rode cautiously along, my horse started at sight of something lying in the road. I dismounted to see what it was, and found my enemy lying fast asleep on the very edge of the cliff. The least movement in his sleep, and he must have rolled over, and would have been dashed to pieces on the rocks below. His life was in my hands. I drew him away from the edge, and then woke him, and told him to go on his way in peace."
Then the old man cried out, in a transport of joy: "Dear son, the diamond is thine; for it is a n.o.ble and G.o.dlike thing to help the enemy, and to reward evil with good."
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE--1776.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
_The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America_.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to a.s.sume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature"s G.o.d ent.i.tle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are inst.i.tuted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to inst.i.tute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his a.s.sent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pa.s.s Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his a.s.sent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pa.s.s other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pa.s.s others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his a.s.sent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a mult.i.tude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to hara.s.s our People, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our const.i.tution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his a.s.sent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: