Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1864-06-25

responsibility ana Toll; yet We many-per
hapS o majorty--of bis countrymen had a
more vivid and even higher appreciation Of
The services of Morgan or Marion, Stark OF
Putnam, than of his.
Franklin, like New England, loved Lib
erty, and rsked his oil for it; and, while
totterlng on the brink of the grave, at The
ripe age OF eighiy-lhree, his voice was for
me last time raised in behalf Of the Hall
Million OF our countrymen most iniuuitous.
E,y, shameiully held in bondage after the tri
umphant close Of our seven wears, struggle
for the rights Of Human Nature Yet
never was man or race less Justly liable to
the reproach of fauaticism than be aud the
stock whence he sprang He neither euvi.
ed, nor hated, nor sought 10 injure the
South or the shareholders; ON the contrary,
he sought to rescue aud save them FROM the
woe which their glaring inconsistency and
injustice were surely though slowly prepar-
ing. But bis modest and deferential peri.
ton to the FIRST Federal Congress that some
measure be tuken looking to the ultimate
removal OF our National shame and peril
was met by South Carolina aud Georgia
with menaces that any such action as be
suggested would imperil The Union; so it
was forborue We are now reapiug
bloody harvest from the seed then sowu
and learning, at a terrible cost, that inioui
ty is always perilous; that ouly in absolute
righteousness is there absolute safety.
The Yankee has been painted by bis foes
as at once superslitious aud skeptical, ser.
vile and truculeut, fanatical aud sordid,
The slave Of his avarice, and the life long
dupe Of his groundless pr,j-idices New
England does not answer her defamers: if
she chose 10 do so, she need only point to
the statue of her Franklin. This tenth
ch'd OF Que of her poor shopkeepers, this
graduate ouly of Que of her commonest
schools. this penniless runaway apprentice,
Who was called in ufter.fe to play great
part in the greatest affairs OF his country,
aud who, throughout his ripper years was on
terms OF intimacy with ROYAL governors,
ministers of stale, world famed philosophers,
illustriLus warriors, princes, aud kIngs, was
he fuvorte Of every circle, be peer of the
proudest, the beloved friend of the noblesl;
never criuging. never fawning, aud never
having 10 stand on tiptoe 10 look straight
into the eyes Of the most exalted. Or
cheerful, sunny temperament be emineutly
terved his country, thi ough his personal
ascendancy over Others, as rome other than
a great man could have done; but by no
unworthy act, 10y no compromise of the
proper diguity of his position, was this as.
cendaucy achieved; but by simple manli
ness, by Unaffected kiDdliuoss Of nature, by
what the French term bon hOmmie He
was loug the most innueucial and popular
parsonage in Paris, simply because in that
great capital he was the foremost and truest
man.
Frankin's iuccssant inculcations OF thrift,
frugaIi;y, and saving, have been rcprehend.
ed 10y .ome Us teudlDg TO render his coun
trymen soIdd-to exsggerate he Importance
OF money getting. l canno, deem this crit
icism just Osteutation and dissipation are
The twin vices that most formidably beset
US A frightful proportion Of our cleverest
young men III his day died the fools death
of the drunkard aud lhe Jebauchee. Now,
money citing, of itself, may be of small &C
count or Ot you pIease) undesrabIe; but
thrift is powerful antid DE to dissipation.
Tue youth who, in his first year Of inde-
pendence, has faithfully labored three hun
dred days, and has saved aud invested half
his earnings, is pretty safe hencetor,h
against the wees which lead most directly
down toperdition. Thrift, TO the lowly-
born, is the lowest round in the ladder
which rises through independence to phil
authropy and beuefceuce- hold, there
fore, that F'anklin's nculcations of frugai
ty were wholeSome-that they confronted a
prevalent aud perllous tendency tha
their perliuence and worth are not yet ex
hausted. We need selection Of Poor
Richards maxims posted up in our school.
rooms aud nsc. ibed over our fresideS to-
day; and this need is likely 10 make itself
more sensiby felt ere we are much older.
But enough. With all his faults, our
country has produced very few men whose
services, character, and Influences, he could
so III afford to spare AS her printer embas
sador, Benz jamn Franklin.