Brave Men and Women | Page 7

Thus the old gentleman ended his harangue. The people heard it, and
approved the doctrine, and immediately practiced the contrary, just as if

it had been a common sermon; for the auction opened, and they began
to buy extravagantly. I found the good man had thoroughly studied my
Almanac, and digested all I had dropped on these topics during the
course of twenty-five years. The frequent mention he made of me must
have tired any one else; but my vanity was wonderfully delighted with
it, though I was conscious that not a tenth part of the wisdom was my
own which he ascribed to me; but rather the gleanings that I had made
of the sense of all ages and nations. However, I resolved to be the better
for the echo of it; and, though I had at first determined to buy stuff for a
new coat, I went away, resolved to wear my old one a little longer.
Reader, if thou wilt do the same, thy profit will be as great as mine. I
am, as ever, thine to serve thee,
RICHARD SAUNDERS.
This quaint address made a brilliant hit. It was at once printed on large
sheets, framed, and hung up in cottages in England, as well as in this
country. It was also translated into French, Spanish, and modern Greek.
At the present day, however, it is not often met with, except in the
author's collected works, or in fragments; and the young reader,
especially, will be thankful to find it here in full.
* * * * *

II.
DEFENSE OF A GREAT MAN.
WAS DR. FRANKLIN MEAN?--JAMES PARTON'S ANSWER.
A man of no enviable notoriety is reported to have spoken of Dr.
Franklin as "hard, calculating, angular, unable to comprehend any
higher object than the accumulation of money." Not a few people who
profess much admiration for Franklin in other respects seem to think
that in money matters there was something about him akin to meanness.
To correct this false impression and show "how Franklin got his money,
how much he got, and what he did with it," one of his recent

biographers is called up in his defense, and to the question, "Was Dr.
Franklin mean?" here is
JAMES PARTON'S ANSWER.
I will begin with the first pecuniary transaction in which he is known to
have been concerned, and this shall be given in his own words:
"When I was a child of seven years old my friends, on a holiday, filled
my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys
for children, and, being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met
by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave
all my money for one."
That was certainly not the act of a stingy, calculating boy.
His next purchase, of which we have any knowledge was made when
he was about eleven years old; and this time, I confess, he made a much
better bargain. The first book he could ever call his own was a copy of
Pilgrim's Progress, which he read and re-read until he got from it all so
young a person could understand. But being exceedingly fond of
reading, he exchanged his Pilgrim's Progress for a set of little books,
then much sold by peddlers, called "Burton's Historical Collections," in
forty paper-covered volumes, containing history, travels, tales, wonders,
and curiosities, just the thing for a boy. As we do not know the market
value of his Pilgrim's Progress, we can not tell whether the poor
peddler did well by him or the contrary. But it strikes me that that is not
the kind of barter in which a mean, grasping boy usually engages.
His father being a poor soap-and-candle maker, with a dozen children
or more to support or assist, and Benjamin being a printer's apprentice,
he was more and more puzzled to gratify his love of knowledge. But
one day he hit upon an expedient that brought in a little cash. By
reading a vegetarian book this hard, calculating Yankee lad had been
led to think that people could live better without meat than with it, and
that killing innocent animals for food was cruel and wicked. So he
abstained from meat altogether for about two years. As this led to some
inconvenience at his boarding-house, he made this cunning proposition

to his master:
"Give me one-half the money you pay for my board and I will board
myself."
The master consenting, the apprentice lived entirely on such things as
hominy, bread, rice, and potatoes, and found that he could actually live
upon half of the half. What did the calculating wretch do with the
money? Put it into his money-box? No; he laid it out in