The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-17
\ NOTABLE ANNIVERSARY.

There are so many anniversaries or great men and events that the busy man of tho world may be pardonei if he forgets some of them. Neverthe- less this day Is ono that should be kept in mind for it marks the two-hun- dredth anniversary of the birth of Ben- jamin Franklin--in some respects the greatest among all the great men who helped to launch a new government among the nations of the earth. He lacked the brilliancy of Hamilton. the astute and the military genius of Wash ington, but whatever he may nave lacked in these respects ne made up in many ways. In sound judgment. in power of reasoning. in calm philoso- phy. in keen insight into character and motives he was not surpassed py any public man of his day, as he was not surpassed in patriotism and in his devotion to the infant nation which he helped to bring into existence
 Like many other men whose names arc written high on the scroll of fame he began life in poverty and ooscarity. His parents were so poor that they were forced to take him out of school at ten years of age and put him to work first with his father and then as an apprentice in his brothers printing ofice, and from that early date his education was such as his own ef- forts procured for him In some re- spects his poverty and his early depen dance on, his own powers were good for him. They taught him the philoso- phy of content. the necessity of econo- my and temperance and the advantages of self-reiiance. Had he been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth and reared in the lap of luxury it is at least possible that he would have had no part in the great events which he so helped to shape and to guide to success.
 Even as they boy printer he began l to lay the foundations or the fame which was to make him known and re- spected throughout the civilized world I When, at the early age of seventeen he ran away from Boston and went almost penniless, to Philadelphia he practically emancipated himself and be- came his own master. His quaint phil osophy found expression at an early age. for he was but twenty-six when he began the publication of Poor 1 Richards Almanac" a work which at once became popular and had an i'm mense circulation for that time. Among the many bencfactions and inventions which he gave to the world without pecuniary benefit to himself may be mention the following:
 He founded the first high school of the State, which before hls death de, veloped into the present University ol Pennsylvania. It was through nlt great Influence in supporting pr. Bono 1 that the Philadelphia Hospital was es, debating society which. he had estab- | iished, was founded by his active man. agement the Philadelphia Library, tht first circulating, library, in Amerlcs | from which books could be taken tt 1 the homes of the readers-the parenl of thousands of circulating libraries al over the land. ,.k,, | things and sought no personal gaii from them. The Franklin stove Whfcf he devised, and upon which he reL9 to accept a patent. bet anne the stahoart stove among our foretatners. He i oG yised what the oculists today cal ! Franklin lenses-bi-focal glasSes-coin bining in one pair of spectacIes iont distance and reading lenses; hs stuo ,1t how to avoid them, and published pam phlet on his discoveries. His eiectrlea | exneriments are familiar to students
 srsnrb Sf kaaowledge aS maGe his l Ixnoyn. long before the revolution, II European as well as in American sclen tific societies. and long before tne W%s % | cloud grew black on the horizon, tn' farmer and 1aborer in England as wei l as fin America read the wise maxlfns O l Poor Richard" and knew and re spected it's author.
 It Is not necessary to write a his tory of Franklin as a statesman an' diplomat for history has done him pu
 iustice in that respect, and to write al
 that might be said of him, and to hi credit would be to write book
 whether we regard him as patrio'
 as a humanitarian or as a statesman
 we must write in his praise. As
 counsellor among his fellowmen, as
 shaper of the destinies of new natloi as a diplomat among the rulers an
 nobles of foreign countries we ar
 hound to wonder at what he was an
 what he accomplished. Truly he wa one of the great men of the age l
 which he lived, and left an impress up
 on his country which the lapse of nor
 than a century since his death has on
 lv strengthened. Truly great ma
 was he who came into the world tw
 oerturtes ago and left a name nor
 enduring than marble
 A PITIFUL CASE.
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