Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
years. Franklin's correspondence abounds with evidence
that their union was a happy one. "We are grown old
together, and if she has any faults, I am so used to
them that I don't perceive them." The following is a
stanza from one of Franklin's own songs written for the
Junto:
"Of their Chloes and Phyllises poets may prate,
I sing my plain country Joan,
These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my life,
Blest day that I made her my own."
About this time, our club meeting, not at a tavern, but in a little
room of Mr. Grace's, set apart for that purpose, a proposition was
made by me, that, since our books were often referr'd to in our
disquisitions upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have
them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be
consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we
should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the
advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be
nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole. It was lik'd and
agreed to, and we fill'd one end of the room with such books as we
could best spare. The number was not so great as we expected; and tho'
they had been of great use, yet some inconveniences occurring for want
of due care of them, the collection, after about a year, was
separated, and each took his books home again.
And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a
subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form
by our great scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of my friends in
the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin
with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company
was to continue. We afterwards obtain'd a charter, the company being
increased to one hundred: this was the mother of all the North
American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It is become a great
thing itself, and continually increasing. These libraries have
improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common
tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other
countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so
generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their
privileges.[63]
_Mem°._ Thus far was written with the intention express'd in the
beginning and therefore contains several little family anecdotes of no
importance to others. What follows was written many years after in
compliance with the advice contain'd in these letters, and accordingly
intended for the public. The affairs of the Revolution occasion'd the
interruption.[64]
[63] Here the first part of the _Autobiography_, written
at Twyford in 1771, ends. The second part, which
follows, was written at Passy in 1784.
[64] After this memorandum, Franklin inserted letters
from Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan, urging him to
continue his _Autobiography_.
[_Continuation of the Account of my Life, begun at Passy, near Paris,
1784._]
It is some time since I receiv'd the above letters, but I have been
too busy till now to think of complying with the request they contain.
It might, too, be much better done if I were at home among my papers,
which would aid my memory, and help to ascertain dates; but my return
being uncertain, and having just now a little leisure, I will
endeavour to recollect and write what I can; if I live to get home, it
may there be corrected and improv'd.
Not having any copy here of what is already written, I know not
whether an account is given of the means I used to establish the
Philadelphia public library, which, from a small beginning, is now
become so considerable, though I remember to have come down to near
the time of that transaction (1730). I will therefore begin here with
an account of it, which may be struck out if found to have been
already given.
At the time I establish'd myself in Pennsylvania, there was not a good
bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston.
In New York and Philad'a the printers were indeed stationers; they
sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common
school-books. Those who lov'd reading were obliged to send for their
books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had
left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our
club in. I propos'd that we should all of us bring our books to that
room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our
conferences, but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty
to borrow such as he wish'd to read at home. This was accordingly
done, and for some time contented us.
Finding the advantage of this little collection, I propos'd to render
the benefit from books more common, by commencing a public
subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would
be necessary, and got a skilful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to
put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed, by
which each subscriber engag'd to pay a certain sum down for the first
purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So
few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of
us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry, to find more
than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for
this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On
this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was
opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their
promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The
institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns,
and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations;
reading became fashionable; and our people, having no publick
amusements to divert their attention from study, became better
acquainted with books, and in a few years were observ'd by strangers
to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same
rank generally are in other countries.
When we were about to sign the above mentioned articles, which were
to be binding on us, our heirs, etc., for fifty years, Mr. Brockden,
the scrivener, said to us, "You are young men, but it is scarcely
probable that any of you will live to see the expiration of the term
fix'd in the instrument." A number of us, however, are yet living; but
the instrument was after a few years rendered null by a charter that
incorporated and gave perpetuity to the company.
The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the
subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's
self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be suppos'd to
raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's
neighbours, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that
project. I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and
stated it as a scheme of a _number of friends_, who had requested me
to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading.
In this way my affair went on more smoothly, and I ever after
practis'd it on such occasions; and, from my frequent successes, can
heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of your vanity
will afterwards be amply repaid. If it remains a while uncertain to
whom the merit belongs, someone more vain than yourself will be
encouraged to claim it, and then even envy will be disposed to do you
justice by plucking those assumed feathers, and restoring them to
their right owner.
This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study,
for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repair'd in
some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended
for me. Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no
time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in
my business continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was
indebted for my printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be
educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers, who
were established in the place before me. My circumstances, however,
grew daily easier. My original habits of frugality continuing, and my
father having, among his instructions to me when a boy, frequently
repeated a proverb of Solomon, "Seest thou a man diligent in his
calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean
men," I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth
and distinction, which encourag'd me, tho' I did not think that I
should ever literally _stand before kings_, which, however, has since
happened; for I have stood before _five_, and even had the honor of
sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.
We have an English proverb that says, "_He that would thrive, must ask
his wife_." It was lucky for me that I had one as much dispos'd to
industry and frugality as myself. She assisted me chearfully in my
business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing
old linen rags for the paper-makers, etc., etc. We kept no idle
servants, our table was plain and simple, our furniture of the
cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was a long time break and milk
(no tea), and I ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a
pewter spoon. But mark how luxury will enter families, and make a
progress, in spite of principle: being call'd one morning to
breakfast, I found it in a China bowl, with a spoon of silver! They
had been bought for me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost
her the enormous sum of three-and-twenty shillings, for which she had
no other excuse or apology to make, but that she thought _her_ husband
deserv'd a silver spoon and China bowl as well as any of his
neighbors. This was the first appearance of plate and China in our
house, which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth increas'd,
augmented gradually to several hundred pounds in value.
I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and though some of
the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the _eternal decrees of God_,
_election_, _reprobation_, _etc._, appeared to me unintelligible,
others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public
assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was
without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the
existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his
Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good
to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be
punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. These I
esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in
all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho'
with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd
with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote,
or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us, and make us
unfriendly to one another. This respect to all, with an opinion that
the worst had some good effects, induc'd me to avoid all discourse
that might tend to lessen the good opinion another might have of his
own religion; and as our province increas'd in people, and new places
of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary
contribution, my mite for such purpose, whatever might be the sect,
was never refused.
Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of
its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I
regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only
Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to
visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonished me to attend his