Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | Page 2

[Illustration: B. Franklin From an engraving by J. Thomson from the
original picture by J. A. Duplessis]
[Illustration: B. Franklin's signature]
INTRODUCTION
We Americans devour eagerly any piece of writing that purports to tell
us the secret of success in life; yet how often we are disappointed to
find nothing but commonplace statements, or receipts that we know by
heart but never follow. Most of the life stories of our famous and
successful men fail to inspire because they lack the human element that
makes the record real and brings the story within our grasp. While we
are searching far and near for some Aladdin's Lamp to give coveted
fortune, there is ready at our hand if we will only reach out and take it,
like the charm in Milton's Comus,
"Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain Treads on it daily
with his clouted shoon;"
the interesting, human, and vividly told story of one of the wisest and
most useful lives in our own history, and perhaps in any history. In
Franklin's Autobiography is offered not so much a ready-made formula
for success, as the companionship of a real flesh and blood man of
extraordinary mind and quality, whose daily walk and conversation will
help us to meet our own difficulties, much as does the example of a
wise and strong friend. While we are fascinated by the story, we absorb
the human experience through which a strong and helpful character is

building.
The thing that makes Franklin's Autobiography different from every
other life story of a great and successful man is just this human aspect
of the account. Franklin told the story of his life, as he himself says, for
the benefit of his posterity. He wanted to help them by the relation of
his own rise from obscurity and poverty to eminence and wealth. He is
not unmindful of the importance of his public services and their
recognition, yet his accounts of these achievements are given only as a
part of the story, and the vanity displayed is incidental and in keeping
with the honesty of the recital. There is nothing of the impossible in the
method and practice of Franklin as he sets them forth. The youth who
reads the fascinating story is astonished to find that Franklin in his
early years struggled with the same everyday passions and difficulties
that he himself experiences, and he loses the sense of discouragement
that comes from a realization of his own shortcomings and inability to
attain.
There are other reasons why the Autobiography should be an intimate
friend of American young people. Here they may establish a close
relationship with one of the foremost Americans as well as one of the
wisest men of his age.
The life of Benjamin Franklin is of importance to every American
primarily because of the part he played in securing the independence of
the United States and in establishing it as a nation. Franklin shares with
Washington the honors of the Revolution, and of the events leading to
the birth of the new nation. While Washington was the animating spirit
of the struggle in the colonies, Franklin was its ablest champion abroad.
To Franklin's cogent reasoning and keen satire, we owe the clear and
forcible presentation of the American case in England and France;
while to his personality and diplomacy as well as to his facile pen, we
are indebted for the foreign alliance and the funds without which
Washington's work must have failed. His patience, fortitude, and
practical wisdom, coupled with self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of
his country, are hardly less noticeable than similar qualities displayed
by Washington. In fact, Franklin as a public man was much like

Washington, especially in the entire disinterestedness of his public
service.
Franklin is also interesting to us because by his life and teachings he
has done more than any other American to advance the material
prosperity of his countrymen. It is said that his widely and faithfully
read maxims made Philadelphia and Pennsylvania wealthy, while Poor
Richard's pithy sayings, translated into many languages, have had a
world-wide influence.
Franklin is a good type of our American manhood. Although not the
wealthiest or the most powerful, he is undoubtedly, in the versatility of
his genius and achievements, the greatest of our self-made men. The
simple yet graphic story in the Autobiography of his steady rise from
humble boyhood in a tallow-chandler shop, by industry, economy, and
perseverance in self-improvement, to eminence, is the most remarkable
of all the remarkable histories of our self-made men. It is in itself a
wonderful illustration of the results possible to be attained in a land of
unequaled opportunity by following Franklin's maxims.
Franklin's fame, however, was not confined to his own country.
Although he lived in a century notable