Summary: Ben Franklin returns to Philly, gets his printing business started, and hustles!
Commentary: As a broadly atheistic leaning agnostic, I do appreciate the idea of religion as a tool for passing down useful knowledge. Or, as Franklin says:
Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertained an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the circumstances of things considered.
Summary: Young Ben Franklin continues to be successful in business more than in friendship or ladies. Also, the first appearance of gout, but not on Franklin.
Commentary: Franklin repeatedly uses the words errata and erratum, as in: "This was another of the great errata of my life, which I should wish to correct if I were to live it over again."
I always thought of it as meaning "correction" but it actually means "error." Learning!
"I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the principal was a purse made of the asbestos, which purifies by fire."
Ben Franklin brings lung cancer to England.
On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They wondered to see, from this and several instances, that the “Water-American,” as they called me, was stronger than themselves, who drank strong beer!
You've heard, "I am a real American!" but what about a "Water-American"?
Summary: Ben Franklin tells us about his friends in Philadelphia.
Commentary: New response just dropped: “What do you intend to infer from that?”
Also, he starts a writing group where everyone workshops the same prompt, which is kind of a neat idea:
On this it was proposed that we should each of us, at our next meeting, produce a piece of our own composing, in order to improve by our mutual observations, criticisms, and corrections. As language and expression were what we had in view, we excluded all considerations of invention by agreeing that the task should be a version of the eighteenth Psalm, which describes the descent of a Deity.
I've seen this kind of thing in online writing groups, but never in person ones. I could see how it'd be better than the pot luck you normally get.
Summary: Ben Franklin goes back home, then returns to Philly, and prepares to set up a print shop.
Commentary: You can start to see some of the famous Ben Franklin maxims starting to take shape here. Don't get tricked by pretty girls, don't lend money to drunks, etc. I never really thought about the real life experiences that led to them.
I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voyage from Boston, being becalmed off Block Island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I considered, with my master Tryon, the taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanced some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, “If you eat one another, I don’t see why we mayn’t eat you.” So I dined upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a thing is it to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.
The first appearance of "not quite following his own advice" Franklin.
Commentary: Intellectually, I knew Ben wasn't born in Philadelphia, but he's such a fixture of the city that reading about it was kind of weird. Also, Philly is BREAD TOWN. He accidentally buys 3 big rolls, because they're expensive and crappy in Boston.
Summary: Basically, teenage Ben Franklin spent all his free time trolling and reading books.
Commentary: This, of course, is why Ben Franklin is the best founding father. You read about him and go, "yeah, I'd hang out with him in high school." I think a modern Ben Franklin would dabble in video games and stuff, but still mostly stick to the classics. I bet he'd be big on Lord of the Rings. Probably Star Trek.
I continued this method some few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced anything that may possibly be disputed, the words “certainly,” “undoubtedly,” or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so-and-so; it appears to me, or I should think it so or so, for such and such reasons; or I imagine it to be so; or it is so, if I am not mistaken.
This is true, but I think there's an important distinction here that people sometimes take this too far and start arguing against themselves. I think part of what makes Franklin's way work is putting the uncertainty first. "If I understand correctly, X," is more confident than, "X, if I understand correctly." You're not ending on the uncertainty.
Commentary: Starting with The Autobiography for a couple reasons. First, it's in English, so I don't have to worry about translations. Second, I like it. Third, it's the first thing in T5FSOB. It was also the first selection in 15MAD so there's some fun alignment there. I grabbed the Standard Ebooks version, which is definitely easier to paste into the doc than the Gutenberg one. I've already read/blogged a couple chunks of this, but I'm just gonna start at the beginning and charge through.
Most of the intro was in 15MAD (though not as the first reading), so I think I've said much the same before. I appreciate Franklin wanting to leave his life story for his son. I don't have a ton of info about my family, so I would appreciate if my parents (who aren't dead) would leave something like that. I like that he emphasizes how happy (technically felicity) he is. He's not (bragging about being) rich, famous, etc. He just loves his life.
Indeed, I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words, “Without vanity I may say,” etc., but some vain thing immediately followed.
Is this the origin of "Whenever someone says..."?
He died in 1702, January 6, old style, just four years to a day before I was born.
This is one of those weird things I learned about when I started this whole thing. For a while when countries were transitioning between the Julian and Gregorian calendars people would write the dates both ways. Neat.
The phrase "bred to x" for a profession is interesting. I guess it means passed down through the family, since some people are noted as not bred to their profession.
Things I learned: Emmet is an old word for Ant, and Ætat means "aged".
