tice and habit 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 confinement, and a species of slavery to his creditors. This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it with some enthusiasm; but my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was under of sticking close to my business, occasion'd my postponing the further prosecution of it at that time; and my multifarious occupations, public and private, induc'd me to continue postponing, so that it has been omitted till I have no longer strength or activity left sufficient for such an enterprise; though I am still of opinion that it was a practicable scheme, and might have been very useful, by forming a great number of good citizens; and I was not discourag'd by the seeming magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes the execution of that same plan his sole study and business. X POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC AND OTHER ACTIVITIES N 1732 I first publish'd my Almanack, under the name of Richard Saunders; it was continu'd by me about twenty-five years, commonly call'd Poor Richard's Almanac.1 I endeavour'd to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand, that I reap'd considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand. And observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider'd it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurr'd between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality, as the means of pro 1 The almanac at that time was a kind of periodical as well as a guide to natural phenomena and the weather. Franklin took his title from Poor Robin, a famous English almanac, and from Richard Saunders, a well-known almanac publisher. For the maxims of Poor Richard, see pages 331-335. curing wealth, and thereby securing virtue; 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 empty sack to stand upright. These proverbs, which contained the wisdom of many ages and nations, I assembled and form'd into a connected discourse prefix'd to the Almanack of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people attending an auction. The bringing all these scatter'd councils thus into a focus enabled them to make greater impression. The piece, being universally approved, was copied in all the newspapers of the Continent; reprinted in Britain on a broadside, to be stuck up in houses; two translations were made of it in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy and gentry, to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless expense in foreign superfluities, some thought it had its share of influence in producing that growing plenty of money which was observable for several years after its publication. I considered my newspaper, also, as another means of communicating instruction, and in that view frequently reprinted in it extracts Two pages from Poor Richard's Almanac for 1736. Size of original. Reproduced from a copy at the New York Public Library. Things that are bitter, bitterrer than Gall Now Women's Tongues if into Powder beaten, And as there's nought more bitter, I do mufe, 1131 fine weather, 24fcension Day 3569 Sudden 4 powers 57 of Rain. 6 Eraudi 728 thunder, 83 perhaps bail. 947* rife 2 15 10 5 very bot, 116St. Barnabas. 127 then rain. 13C Whitsunday. 14 2 14 14 36 8 fet 10 12 aft 2 1oday W4 34 8 at I morn. 204 35 8D rife 8 20 aft. 2h4 35 8 Now I've a feep 154 35 8and a cow, every 274 35 8body bids me goo.! 54 35 8morrow. 6 214 35 8D rife 11 10 af. 19 7 Day fhorter 2 m. 6h4 35 8 15 3K.GEO. II. procl 3 20 Trinity Sund. 7 154 36 8 Laft Quarter. 21 2 If we have rain a-8 274 36 8 God helps them 22 3bout the Change,94 36 8that help them23 4 Let not my reader 24 St. John Bap. 25 67* rife 18 26 7vCO think it 27 frange. 28 2h bail and 10224 36 8elves. 104 36 8D rife 2 morn. 11184 37 8Why does the 124 37 8blind man's wife 1164 38 8New 27 day, 24 38 8 near noon. 29 3 St. Peter &Paul 2h 154 39 8 paint herself. 3 M4 40 8 fets 9 30 |