PART IV

on his own hook: for himself. | take-offs: here, almanac jokes.

From giving advice to himself he fell to giving advice to others, not in an objectionable manner, but in a friendly, practical way, in which he would try results with his companions.

Even when he was "sowing his wild oats" in London, 5 he would sandwich some good between his careless acts. He showed his fellow-workmen how they could save money and improve their health by stopping their beer-drinking; and he kept himself poor by helping a heedless comrade-printer, who had come to London 10 with Franklin because he loved him.

When he was really in business on his own hook, one of his earliest business ventures was putting good advice to good use by bringing out each year the little pamphlet known as "Poor Richard's Almanac."

Besides the monthly calendar that all almanacs have, and a lot of comic rhymes and take-offs, he had recipes and cures, and, sprinkled in between, some of the wise thoughts and helpful sayings that set people to thinking, and which they always remembered.

You know many of them by heart yourself. Perhaps you have said them, never thinking who wrote them or why they were written.

"Early to bed and early to rise

Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

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That is one of them. You know it, do you not? and you know very well what it means.

"God helps those that help themselves" was another of his sayings; and here I add a number, any one of 5 which you can easily understand, and all of which are full of wisdom, wit, and helpfulness. Read these:

"Well done is better than well said."

"Each year some vicious habit rooted out

In time might make the worst man good throughout.'

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When you befriend, forget it."

"Have you somewhat to do to-morrow? Do it to-day.”

"Quarrels never could last long,

If on one side only lay the wrong."

Make haste slowly."

"The things which hurt, instruct."

"A slip of the foot you may soon recover,

But a slip of the tongue you may never get over."

"When you are good to others you are best to yourself."

"If your riches are yours, why don't you take them to the other world?"

""Tis more noble to forgive and more manly to despise than to revenge an injury."

"It is not leisure that is not used."

"Haste makes waste."

"Virtue and a trade are a child's best portion."

"The cat in gloves catches no mice."

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There never was a good knife made of bad steel."

"Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to 5 learn."

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Plough deep while sluggards sleep,

And you shall have corn to sell and to keep.".

"One To-day is worth two To-morrows."

You would be surprised to know how much these 10 simple, homely sayings helped people. For twentyfive years Franklin published "Poor Richard's Almanac." Thousands of copies were sold; and, in those days of few books, there were many humble homes in which only two books were owned, the 15 Bible and "Poor Richard's Almanac."

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Tell the wise sayings in "Poor | 3. What two books did most

But Franklin did more than write wise things; he did them. Almost the first thing he did when he got to work again in Philadelphia, after his hard times in London, was to start among his fellow-workmen and 5 companions a society for mutual improvement. He called it the Junto. It was little more than a boy's club at first; but it kept alive for more than forty years, and was of real and lasting benefit to its members, to the town, to the province, and to America. 10 It began as a sort of mutual improvement society; that is, these young fellows met every Friday night, and tried to say or do something that should be of benefit to their fellow-members. They would talk over all the things that were happening about them, and see what 15 good might be gained, or how things might be improved.

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They had a list of questions which each member of the club had to answer in one way or another. Some of these questions will give you an idea of what was done in Franklin's boys' club:

"Do you know of a fellow-citizen who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise or imitation; or who has lately committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?

"What new story have you heard agreeable for telling 25 in conversation?

"Have you or any of your acquaintances been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?

"Do you think of anything at present in which the

Junto may be serviceable to mankind, to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?

"Do you know of any deserving young beginner, lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto in any way to encourage?

"Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?

"Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure?

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"What benefits have you lately received from any 10 man not present?

"Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?

There were other questions besides these, but you 15 can see from these I have copied down what the idea of the club was. Every boy had to do something

tell a story, sing a song, speak a piece, read an essay; while in the summer they would have swimming or wrestling or jumping matches "across the river," and 20 once a year they would have a dinner.

For a long time there were only a dozen members. They would admit no more; and, as the most of them worked at their trades, folks sometimes called the Junto the "Leather-Apron Club." At their meetings, 25 too, they would have discussions and debates on all sorts of questions; "Which is best, to make a friend of a wise and good man that is poor, or of a rich man