Brave Men and Women | Page 2

LITERATURE.--THE PRINTING PRESS--THE FLOOD OF IMPURE AND LOATHSOME LITERATURE, ETC.

CHAPTER XX.
SATISFIED.--AND OTHER POEMS

CHAPTER XXI.
HEROES OF SCIENCE.--MICHAEL FARADAY--SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS--M. PASTEUR

CHAPTER XXII.
MY UNCLE TOBY.--ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CREATIONS OF A GREAT GENIUS

CHAPTER XXIII.
STEPHEN GIRARD.--THE NAPOLEON OF MERCHANTS--HIS LIFE SUCCESSFUL, AND YET A FAILURE

CHAPTER XXIV.
DISAPPOINTMENTS.--PLEASURE AFTER PAIN--PAIN AFTER PLEASURE

CHAPTER XXV.
THE THREE KINGS.--AN OLD STORY IN A NEW LIGHT

CHAPTER XXVI.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.--THE HEROINE OF THE CRIMEA

CHAPTER XXVII.
SHY PEOPLE.--HAWTHORNE--WASHINGTON, IRVING, AND OTHERS--MADAME RECAMIER

CHAPTER XXVIII.
JOHN MARSHALL.--IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY--His MARRIAGE--LAW LECTURES--AT THE BAR--His INTELLECTUAL POWERS--ON THE BENCH

CHAPTER XXIX.
A NOBLE MOTHER.--How SHE TRAINED HERSELF, AND EDUCATED HER BOYS

CHAPTER XXX.
THE CARE OF THE BODY.--WHAT DR. SARGENT, OF THE HARVARD GYMNASIUM, SAYS ABOUT IT--POINTS FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND PUPILS

CHAPTER XXXI.
SAINT CECILIA.--THE PATRONESS OF MUSIC--MYTHS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC--ITS RELATION TO WORK AND BLESSEDNESS

CHAPTER XXXII.
THOMAS DE QUINCEY.--A LIFE OF WONDER AND WARNING

CHAPTER XXXIII.
A VISION OF TIME.--NEW YEAR'S EVE

CHAPTER XXXIV.
JOHN BUNYAN.--FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

CHAPTER XXXV.
MADAME ROLAND.--THE MOST REMARKABLE WOMAN OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION--THE IPHIGENIA OF FRANCE

CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHEERFUL AND BRAVE.--THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON--SIR WALTER RALEIGH--XENOPHON--C?SAR--NELSON, ETC.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
HAROLD.--THE LAST SAXON KING OF ENGLAND

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
PETER COOPER.--THE LESSONS OF A LONG AND USEFUL LIFE

CHAPTER XXXIX.
ILLUSIONS.--"THEREFORE TRUST TO THY HEART AND WHAT THE WORLD CALLS ILLUSIONS"

CHAPTER XL.
PHILLIPS BROOKS.--At Home

CHAPTER XLI.
ST. JOHN AND THE ROBBER.--A LEGEND OF THE FIRST CENTURY

CHAPTER XLII.
JOHN PLOUGHMAN AGAIN.--THE PITH AND MARROW OF CERTAIN OLD PROVERBS

CHAPTER XLIII.
HENRY WILSON.--FROM THE SHOEMAKER'S BENCH TO THE CHAIR OF VICE-PRESIDENT

CHAPTER XLIV.
JOAN OF ARC.--THE PEASANT MAIDEN WHO DELIVERED HER COUNTRY AND BECAME A MARTYR IN ITS CAUSE

CHAPTER XLV.
THE SONG OF WORK.--MANY PHASES AND MANY EXAMPLES

CHAPTER XLVI.
ALVAN S. SOUTHWORTH.--CROSSING THE NUBIAN DESERT

CHAPTER XLVII.
A FORBIDDEN TOPIC.--WHICH SOME PEOPLE PERSIST IN INTRODUCING

CHAPTER XLVIII.
IDA LEWIS WILSON.--THE GRACE DARLING OF AMERICA

CHAPTER XLIX.
RACHEL JACKSON.--THE WIFE OF OUR SEVENTH PRESIDENT

CHAPTER L.
DISCONTENTED GIRLS.--ONE PANACEA FOR THEM--AND ONE REFUGE

CHAPTER LI.
THE VOICE IN RAMAH.--"RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN, AND WOULD NOT BE COMFORTED BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT"

CHAPTER LII.
LA FAYETTE.--THE FRIEND AND DEFENDER OF LIBERTY ON TWO CONTINENTS

CHAPTER LIII.
LYDIA SIGOURNEY.--THE LESSON OF A USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE

CHAPTER LIV.
OLD AGE AND USEFULNESS.--THE GLORY OF BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN

CHAPTER LV.
RHYMES AND CHIMES.--SUITABLE FOR AUTOGRAPH ALBUMS
* * * * *

I.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
(BORN 1706--DIED 1790.)
HIS FAME STILL CLIMBING TO HEAVEN--WHAT HE HAD DONE AT FIFTY-TWO--POOR RICHARD'S ADDRESS.
The late Judge Black was remarkable not only for his wit and humor, which often enlivened the dry logic of law and fact, but also for flashes of unique eloquence. In presenting a certain brief before the United States Supreme Court he had occasion to animadvert upon some of our great men. Among other things he said, as related to the writer by one who heard him: "The colossal name of Washington is growing year by year, and the fame of Franklin is still climbing to heaven," accompanying the latter words by such a movement of his right hand that not one of his hearers failed to see the immortal kite quietly bearing the philosopher's question to the clouds. It was a point which delivered the answer. In the life of every great man there is likewise a point which delivers the special message which he was born to publish to the world. Biography is greatly simplified when it confines itself chiefly to that one point. What does the reader, who has his own work to do, care for a great multitude of details which are not needed for the setting of the picture? To the point is the cry of our busy life.
Benjamin Franklin is here introduced to the reader
AT FIFTY-TWO.
What had he done at that age to command more than ordinary respect and admiration?
I. Born in poverty and obscurity, in which he passed his early years; with no advantages of education in the schools of his day, after he entered his teens; under the condition of daily toil for his bread; he had carried on, in spite of all obstacles, the process of self-education through books and observation, and become in literature and science, as well as in the practical affairs of every-day life, the best informed man in America.
II. Apprenticed to a printer in his native Boston, at thirteen; a journeyman in Philadelphia at seventeen; working at the case in London at nineteen; back to the Quaker City, and set up for himself at twenty-six; he had long since mastered all the details of a great business, prepared to put his hand to any thing, from the trundling of paper through the streets on a wheel-barrow to the writing of editorials and pamphlets, and had earned for himself a position as the most prosperous printer and publisher in the colonies.
III. Retired from active business at forty-six, considering that he had already earned and saved enough to supply his reasonable wants for the rest of his life; fired with ambition to do something for the advancement of science; he had now for six years given himself to philosophical investigation and experiment, among other things demonstrated