the world calls successful has been actuated by it, and Franklin is no exception. What he taught he practiced. His life is a splendid illustration of what may be done by a neverflagging adherence to the maxims of Poor Richard.

The language in which he put his thoughts was plain and vigorous English. This is all the more praiseworthy as most American writers of his day used a vicious Johnsonese. But he spelled English as if it were his, and not the king's. In all his manuscripts, "through" is "thro," "surf" is " surff," "job" is "jobb," "extreme" is "extream." Sometimes such words as " public," " panic," " music," end with a k and sometimes they do not. As might be expected of a man selfeducated and so practical, he firmly believed in phonetic spelling, made a system of his own, and invented a quantity of hieroglyphics that look very much like bastard type, to represent his peculiar alphabet. In it he had neither c, nor q, nor x, nor j, nor w; no letter which did not stand for a distinct sound, and no distinct sound which did not have a letter. To his reformed spelling he made but one convert, and she, by dint of much labor, learned to read it with some fluency and write it with some ease. Towards the end of his days he was himself converted to a like system of Noah Webster.

When we turn from Franklin's labored pieces to his letters, we find that they, too, are worthy of notice. They abound in worldly wisdom, in shrewd observations, in good-humor, good stories, good sense, all set forth in plain English and in an easy, flowing style. In them is displayed to perfection the independence of thought, the sagacity, the direct and simple reasoning, the happy faculty of illustration by homely objects and parallel cases; that invincible self-control which neither obstinacy, nor stupidity, nor duplicity, nor wearisome delay could ever break down; and, what is better than all, the fearless truthfulness so characteristic of the man. Where all are good, to choose is hard. But it is idle to expect that the readers of our time will peruse the stout volumes into which Mr. Sparks has gathered a part of them. It may therefore be well to name a few which may be taken as samples of all, and these few are: the letter on the habits and treatment of the aged; that on early marriages; the account of his journey to Paris; the three on the Wilkes mob in London; the moral algebra; that containing the apologue on the conduct of men toward each other; that on the art of producing pleasant dreams; that on the Cincinnati; that to Mr. Percival on dueling; to his daughter on ex

travagance; to Mason Weems on the ordination of American Protestant Episcopal clergymen; and that to Samuel Mather. To these should be added the two letters on how to do the most good with a little money, because of the sound advice they contain and the excellent practice they recommend.

To say that his life is the most interesting, the most uniformly successful, yet lived by any American, is bold. But it is nevertheless strictly true. Not the least of the many glories of our country is the long list of men who, friendless, half-educated, poor, have, by the sheer force of their own abilities, raised themselves from the humblest beginnings to places of eminence and command. Many of these have surpassed him. Some have speculated more deeply on finance, have been more successful as philanthropists, have made greater discoveries in physics, have written books more commonly read than his. Yet not one of them has attained to greatness in so many ways, or has made so lasting an impression on his countrymen. His face is as well known as the face of Washington, and, save that of Washington, is the only one of his time that is now instantly recognized by the great mass of his countrymen. His maxims are in every man's mouth. His name is, all over the country, bestowed on counties and towns, on streets, on societies, on corporations. The stove, the lightning-rod, and the kite, the papers on the gulf stream, and on electricity, give him no mean claims to be considered a man of science. In diplomacy his name is bound up with many of the most famous documents in our history. He drew the Albany Plan of Union. He sent over the Hutchinson Letters. He is the only man who wrote his name alike at the foot of the Declaration of Independence, at the foot of the Treaty of Alliance, at the foot of the Treaty of Peace, and at the foot of the Constitution under which we live. Nor is he less entitled to distinction in the domain of letters, for he has produced two works which of their kind have not yet been surpassed. One is "Father Abraham's Speech to the People at the Auction." The other is "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin."

INDEX.