Smyrna times., 1870-07-27
mise T //u 10 e eOMS.
The Late Benjamin Franklin.

tomorrow well.-B. Fl '''' W tue III" AFTER
This party was one Of those persons whom
| they call philosophers. He was horn twins. be-
ing born simultaneously in two diff rent houses
In the City OF Boston. These houses remain
unto this day, and have signs upon them word
ed In accordance with the facts. The sions
are considered well enough to have. though
not necessary, because the inhabitants noint
out the two birthpaces to the stranger anyhow.
and sometimes as often as several times in the
same day. The subject of this memoir was of
vicious disposition, and early proStituted his
talents to the invention of maxims and
aphorisms calculated to infict suffering upon
the rising generation of all subsequent ages.
Ills simplest acts also, were contrived with a
view to their being held up for the emulation
! OF boys tOrcvcr-boys who might otherwise
have been happy. 1t was in this spirit that
ne became the son Of a sOap-boiler and. proba
bly,, Tor 10 other reason than that the efforts of
al! future boys who tried to be anything might
be looked upon with suspicion unles, they were
the sons Of soap-boilcrs. With maleyolepce
which is without parallel in history, he would
work all day and then sit up nights and let on
to be studying algebra by the light of smould-
erlng fire, 50 that all the boys might have TO
do that also, or else have BENJAMIN Franklin
thrown up to them. Not satisfied with these
proceedings, he had fashion of living wholly
on bread and water, and studying astronomy
at meal tlmc-a thing which has brought affiic-
ton to millions of boys, since, whose fathers
had read FrankIin's pcrnicious biography.
His maXlms were tull of animosity toward
boys Nowadays u boy cannot follow out a
single natural instinct without tumbing over
some OF those everlasting aphOrisms, and hear
ing from franklin Oh the spot. If he buys
Two cents wrth OF peanuts, his father says,
" Remember what Franklin has said, my son
a IS > i
the comfort is all gone out of those pc?nuts.
1t he wants to spin his top when he is done
work; his father quotes, Procrastination is
the thief of time. If be does virtuous ac-
tl0n, he never gets anything for it. because
/ rtue IS lts own reward" :" And that boy
is bounded to death, and robbed OF his natural
rest because Franklin said once in one of his
inspired flights Of malignity,
Make aman healthy and wealthy and wise"
Asi it were any object to boy to be healthy,
and wealthy, and wise on such terms. The sor,
low that that maxim has cost me through nv
, parents experimenting me with it, tongue can
not tell. The legitimate result is my present
, state OF general debility, ndigencc, and menta
, alteration. My parents used to have me VI
! before 0 clock in the morning, sometimes
f when | was a boy If they had let me take
my natural rest, where would have been now
: heeplng store, no doubt and respected by all
!. And what an adrOit old adventurer the sub
Ject OF this memoir was In order to get ;
chance to fly his kite on Sunday, he used tC
hang key on the string and let on to be fish
ing for lighting and guilelcss public woulc
go home chirping about the wisdom ant
the genius" of the hoary Sabbath breaker
lie invented stove that would smoke yOul
head off in five hours by the clock II
|. He was always proud of telling how he entered
Philadelphia for the first time, with nothing
= III the world but two shllings in his pocket anC
four rolls of bread under his arm. But really
g when you come to examine it critically it wa,
$ nothing. Any body could have done it:
X
Benjamin Franklin did great many notabl,
things for his country, and made her youn4
name to be hOnOrcd in many lands as the moth
er of such a son. 1t is not the idea of thi,
memoir to ignore that or cover itup. No; tn,
simple idea of it is to snub those pretentiOu
maxms of his, which he worked up with
great show of originality out of truisms tha
had become wearisOme platitudes as early a.
the dispersion from Babel; and also to snul
c his stove, and his military inspirations, his un
scemy cndeavOr to make himself cOnspcuou,
when he entered Philadelphia and his hyin!
his kite and fooling away his time in all sort
: of such ways when he ought to have beer
j., foregoing for soap fat, or constructing candles
: ! merely desire to do away with somewhat O
the prevalent calamitous idea among h, a Is O
families that Franklin acquired his great genius
by working for nothing, studying by moonlight
and getting up in the night instead of waiting
till morning like Christian, and that this pro
granme, rigidly inflicted, will make Franklil
Of every fathers fool. 1t is time these gentle
men were finding out that these execrable &c
ccntricities of instinct and conduct are only tn,
er6icnccs of genius, not the creators of it,
wish had been the father of my parents Ions
enough to make them comprehend this truth
and thus prepare them to let their son have al
easier time of it. When | was child | bat
to boil soap, notwithstanding my father wa
wealthy, and had to get up early and stud,
geometry at breakfast, and pcddIc my owl
poetry, and do everything just as Franklin did
I in the solemn hope that | would be Il FRANKLIN
I. some day. And here am -Mtrk Tuato /,
y The GdLdry jor JHiy.