Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed, Volume 1 (of 2): A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own WritingsBruce, Wiliam Cabell
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Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed, Volume 1 (of 2): A Biographical and Critical Study Based Mainly on his own Writings
Bruce, Wiliam Cabell
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
[7] Kent was evidently something of a character. In a letter to his friend
Mrs. Catherine Greene, in 1764, Franklin said: "Mr. Kent's compliment is a
very extraordinary one, as he was obliged to kill himself and two others in
order to make it; but, being killed in imagination only, they and he are
all yet alive and well, thanks to God, and I hope will continue so as long
as, dear Katy, your affectionate friend, B. FRANKLIN."
[8] We are informed by Franklin in the _Autobiography_ that he inserted on
one page of his "little book" a "scheme of employment for the twenty-four
hours of a natural day." The opening injunction of this plan of conduct
brings the wash-basin and the altar into rather amusing juxtaposition:
"Rise, wash, and address _Powerful Goodness_!"
CHAPTER III
Franklin, the Philanthropist and Citizen
It may be that, if Franklin had asked the angel, who made the room of Abou
Ben Adhem rich, and like a lily in bloom, whether his name was among the
names of those who loved the Lord, the angel might have replied: "Nay not
so"; but there can be no question that like Ben Adhem Franklin could with
good right have added,
"I pray thee then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."
As we have said, the desire to promote the welfare of his fellow-creatures
was the real religion of his life--a zealous, constant religion which began
with his early manhood and ceased only with his end. This fact reveals
itself characteristically in a letter written by him to his wife just after
he had narrowly escaped shipwreck off Falmouth Harbor on his second voyage
to England. "Were I a Roman Catholic," he said, "perhaps I should on this
occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint; but as I am not, if I were to
vow at all, it should be to build a _light house_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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