Volume I Part 6 (1/2)

”That few in public affairs act froood of their country, whatever they ood to their country, yet men primarily considered that their own and their country's interest were united, and so did not act from a principle of benevolence

”That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of reat occasion for raising a _United Party for Virtue_, by forular body, to be governed by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to than common people are to common laws

”I at present think, that whoever atteht, and is well qualified, cannot fail of pleasing God and ofthis project in my mind as to be undertaken hereafter, when my circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure, I put down frohts as occurred toit Most of these are lost, but I find one purporting to be the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the essentials of every known religion, and being free of everything that ion It is expressed in these words: viz,

”That there is one God, who overns the world by his providence

”That he ought to be worshi+pped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving

”But that the ood to man

”That the soul is immortal

”And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter”

My ideas at that tiun and spread at first ale men only; that each person to be initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination and practice of the virtues, as in the before-mentioned model; that the existence of such a society should be kept a secret till it was become considerable, to prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons; but that thehis acquaintance for ingenious, well-disposed youths, to whoradually coe to afford their advice, assistance, and support to each other in pro one another's interest, business, and advancement in life: that, for distinction, we should be called THE SOCIETY OF THE FREE AND EASY Free, as being, by the general practice and habits of the virtues, free from the dominion of vice; and particularly by the practice of industry and frugality, free from debt, which exposes a man to constraint, and a species of slavery to his creditors

This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I co men, who adopted it with enthusiasm: but my then narrow circu close tothe farther prosecution of it at that time, and my multifarious occupations, public and private, induced , so that it has been oth or activity left sufficient for such an enterprise Though I aht have been very useful, by fored by the seeht that one es and accoood plan; and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes the connexion of that same plan his sole study and business

In 1732 I first published my Almanac under the name of _Richard Saunders_; it was continued by me about twenty-five years, and commonly called _Poor Richard's Al and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such de annually near ten thousand And observing that it was generally read (scarce any neighbourhood in the province being without it), I considered it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction aht scarcely any other books I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality as thevirtue; it being more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly, as (to use here one of those proverbs) ”_it is hard for an eht_” These proverbs, which contained the wisdoes and nations, I assembled and formed into a connected discourse, prefixed to the Alue of a wise oldall these scattered counsels thus into a focus, enabled the universally approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Ae sheet of paper, to be stuck up in houses; two translations were y and gentry to distribute gratis a their poor parishi+oners and tenants In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign superfluities, sorowing plenty of money which was observable for several years after its publication

I consideredinstruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts from the Spectator and other moral writers; and sometimes published little pieces ofin our _Junto_ Of these are a Socratic dialogue, tending to prove that, whatever ht be his parts and abilities, a vicious man could not properly be called athat virtue was not secure till its practice became a _habitude_, and was free from the opposition of contrary inclinations: theseof 1735 In the conduct ofand personal abuse, which is of late years becoraceful to our country

Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind, and the writers pleaded (as they generally did) the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper was like a stagecoach, in which any one ould pay had a right to a place, my ansas, that I would print the piece separately if desired, and the author ht have as many copies as he pleased to distribute himself, but that I would not take uponcontracted with ht be either useful or entertaining, I could not fill their papers with private altercation, in which they had no concern, without doing them manifest injustice Now,the malice of individuals by false accusations of the fairest characters a of duels; and are, moreover, so indiscreet as to print scurrilous reflections on the govern states, and even on the conduct of our best national allies, which may be attended with the s Iprinters, and that they race their profession by such infamous practices, but refuse steadily, as they may see by my example that such a course of conduct will not, on the whole, be injurious to their interests

In 1733 I sent one of my journey I furnished hireement of partnershi+p, by which I was to receive one third of the profits of the business, paying one third of the expense He was a norant in h he soet no account from him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnershi+p while he lived On his decease the business was continued by his ho, being born and bred in Holland, where (as I have been infore of accounts makes a part of female education, she not only sent me as clear a statement as she could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterward; and ed the business with such success, that she not only reputably brought up a family of children, but, at the expiration of the ter-house and establish her son in it Ithat branch of education for our young women, as likely to be of more use to them and their children in case of hood than eitherthe them to continue, perhaps, a profitable mercantile house, with established correspondence, till a son is grown up fit to undertake and go on with it, to the lasting advantage and enriching of the faes; I soon made myself so much master of the French as to be able to read the books in that language with ease I then undertook the Italian: an acquaintance, as also learning it, used often to te this took up too th refused to play any aht to iot by heart, or in translations, &c, which tasks the vanquished was to perfor: as we played pretty equally, we thus beat one another into that language I afterward, with a little painstaking, acquired as much of the Spanish as to read their books also I have already mentioned that I had only one year's instruction in a Latin school, and that when very young, after which I neglected that language entirely But when I had attained an acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was surprised to find, on looking over a Latin Testained, which encouraged ain to the study of it; and I reatly sht there was soes We are told that it is proper to begin first with the Latin, and, having acquired that, it will be es which are derived froin with the Greek in order more easily to acquire the Latin It is true, that if we can cla the steps, we shall in with the lowest, we shall with more ease ascend to the top; and I would therefore offer it to the consideration of those who superintend the education of our youth, whether--since in with the Latin, quit the sareat proficiency and what they have learned becomes almost useless, so that their tiun with the French, proceeding to the Italian and Latin For though, after spending the saes and never arrive at the Latin, they would, however, have acquired another tongue or two, that, being in ht be serviceable to them in common life

After ten years' absence fro become easy in my circumstances, I made a journey thither to visit , I called at Newport to see -house: our for was very cordial and affectionate: he was fast declining in health, and requested of me that, in case of his death, which he apprehended not far distant, I would take ho hily perfor him a few years to school before I took him into the office His rown up, when I assisted hi in a manner worn out Thus it was that I made my brother a him so early

In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the sretted hiiven it to him by inoculation This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive the that the regret may be the same either way, and, therefore, that the safer should be chosen

Our club, the _Junto_, was found so useful, and afforded such satisfaction to thetheir friends, which could not well be done without exceeding e had settled as a convenient nu, made it a rule to keep our institution a secret, which was pretty well observed; the intention was to avoid applications of iht find it difficult to refuse I was one of those ere against any addition to our nu a proposal, that every member, separately, should endeavour to for queries, &c, and without infores proposed were the i citizens by the use of our institutions; our better acquaintance with the general sentiments of the inhabitants on any occasion, as the junto ht propose what queries we should desire, and was to report to the _Junto_ what passed in his separate club: the promotion of our particular interests in business by more extensive recommendation, and the increase of our influence in public affairs, and our power of doing good by spreading through the several clubs the sentiments of the _Junto_ The project was approved, and every member undertook to form his club: but they did not all succeed Five or six only were completed, which were called by different names, as the _Vine_, the _Union_, the _Band_, &c; they were useful to theood deal of a, in so the public on particular occasions; of which I shall give some instances in course of ti chosen, in 1736, clerk of the General assembly The choice was , when I was again proposed (the choice, like that of the ainst me, in order to favour some other candidate I was, however, chosen, which was the reeable to me, as, besides the pay for the iavethethe votes, laws, paper money, and other occasional jobs for the public, that, on the whole, were very profitable I therefore did not like the opposition of this new entleman of fortune and education, with talents that were likely to give hireat influence in the house, which, indeed, afterward happened I did not, however, ai any servile respect to hi heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to hi that he would doit to me for a few days He sent it immediately; and I returned it in about a ith another note, expressing strongly my sense of the favour When we next met in the house, he spoke to reat civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve reat friends, and our friendshi+p continued to his death This is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, ”_He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whoed_”

And it sho much more profitable it is prudently to res

In 1737, Colonel Spotswood, late governor of Virginia, and then post dissatisfied with his deputy at Philadelphia respecting so, his accounts, took from him his commission and offered it to e; for, though the salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence that improved my newspaper, increased the number demanded, as well as the advertisements to be inserted, so that it came to afford me a considerable income My old competitor's newspaper declined proportionally, and I was satisfied, without retaliating his refusal, while post carried by the riders Thus he suffered greatly fro; and Iaffairs for others, that they should always render accounts and reat clearness and punctuality The character of observing such a conduct is the most powerful of recommendations to new ean now to turn , however, with ss that I conceived to want regulation It was ed by the constables of the respective wards in turn; the constable suht Those who chose never to attend, paid his a year to be excused, which was supposed to go to hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, more than was necessary for that purpose, and made the constableshi+p a place of profit; and the constable, for a little drink, often got such ragamuffins about him as a watch that respectable housekeepers did not choose to lected, and : I thereupon wrote a paper, to be read in Junto, representing these irregularities, but insistingtax of the constables, respecting the circumstances of those who paid it, since a poorhousekeeper, all whose property to be guarded by the watch did not perhaps exceed the value of fifty pounds, paid as much as the wealthiest oods in his stores On the whole, I proposed, as aof proper men to serve constantly in the business; and, as aof a tax that should be proportioned to the property This idea, being approved by the Junto, was co in each of theh the plan was not i the e, it paved the way for the law, obtained a few years after, when the rown into more influence