Show 41 MEMO a vwe afi 0 N 1 I V 1 franklin at the age ag of so v venty enty seven painted in part paris in 17 63 by joseph eph giffred affred duples this portrait alt Is I 1 nw now owned by the th new york 4 public ubal library the th a gift of john jhn bigelow w Z 2 vice commander daniel F G ibbs of f the clr benjamin franklin post of the clr american legion lays lay a wreath at the th status of franklin near the dero ir in parl paris in celebration of the th 4 anniversary of f poor richards richard birthday an n january 17 1929 mem bars ica of f the th legion pst post attended the I 1 ceremony fren rny 3 the clr famous fur cap portrait of f franklin made mad in france franc a few months after his hi arrival ahert in 1777 darlng by delraye Dea Des raye rayes print by lo 10 licau V t beau it gives give an n idea of r the frankin W X fin who wh was wac so 0 o much admired by the th 1 ladles bladl in nantes paris pari and pay passy 1 4 17 6 ati r a patriarch as a a peasant pea ant and u a the shrewdest of all diplomatists from franklin the th apostle of morn ern times by bernard fay couric curtesy sy L atle I 1 brown and company 4 franklin bache of now new york a great great great grea epand son on of benjamin franklin places a wreath sent by president coolidge on the grave crave of his ancestor in philadelphia on the anniversary of frank tins llna birthday january 17 1929 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON P r TUB THE time benjamin franl frank fin was living in france lie he once said that his face was as familiar there ris as the moon and that was not overstating ts the case for in their enthusiasm tor for this american the preach french could not find out too much about him the newspapers carried column upon column about him historians and biographers vied with each other in writing about his career a and nd he was pictured in innumerable engravings the flood of franklin literature that started then has continued ever since especially in hla his native land and few americans have been more writ ten about than benjamin Frank franklin fia until it would se seem e m that american Amerl car historians and blo biographers g ra pliers hat had ex er hausted the possibility of telling anything new about him rut but it has remained tor for a 9 brilliant french scholar to write a new biography which studies the whole field of his life and activities tivi tivit ties les in the light of innumerable documents among them more than six els hundred letters hitherto nepul fished and which presents what to la probably the most complete ale view of benjamin franklin that has yet been written the author Is bernard fay and the hook book la Is franklin the apostle of modern times bubli published shed by little brown and company of coston q out of this new work based upon facts which have been gathered together for the first time emerges a new franklin the franklin which americans have hitherto known has always been a figure which challenges our admiration because he be was such a versatile many sided man nut but human as was this R cen century t ury character he has not always been understandable to twentieth century americans through the interpretation of professor pay fay lie he becomes more understandable more inore easily understood hut but the title of the book gives the clew to the reason why Fi franklin anklin was tile the apostle of modem vales times another historian philip gul cue idalla dalla once characterized franklin as the first rotarian Ro tarlan and professor pay fay phrases the same thou thought ht in these words nis carper career was ads tile the apotheosis of the good fellow the innumerable facts that I 1 have gri gathered here for the first time bring us ius closer to franklin and show him to be more picturesque more in con trant to the back background groland of his epoch the eighteenth een century tury lie he writer write s in his preface this blo biography graphY la Is neither local nor national but Is the story of one of the great leaders of men in cioe eighteenth century thus one can judge and estimate his immense influence which was also varied as he dominated the lent scientific and philosophic world of his time but of all his titles to glory the most outstanding one la Is that he be was the first bourgeois of the world in this eighteenth century which attempted tempted tit to do awny with aristocracy and to orient itself to the domination of the middle class claps franklin was the great precursor pre cumor the great example lie ile defined the principles of at the bourge bourgeois in his works and made his bla life a pattern to follow lie ile exemplified it by poor richard and this was why the entire universe submitted to his influence to understand the amplitude and importance of this influence franklin had to be considered from ad an international stand standpoint polut and nd his activity in science religion and aind philosophy had bad to be fully stud led i considered from that standpoint ar tr R f a V A y franklin stands revealed not as a provincial yankee who glorified common 8 sense e n se a as s so many of his biographers have portrayed him nor simply as it a great american but one of the great men of hla his century and a mau man who lived in perfect harmony with hla times even though in his wisdom and his foresight he was far in advance of his times professor fays use rise of the new Fr material which he discovered has enabled him to clear up many matters in regard to franklins franklind religion morals and social activities which have heretofore been but little understood As to his religious beliefs it can now be seen that he believed in a supreme being ne ile regarded jesus as a great moral teacher andin and in regard to the immortality of the soil soul he subscribed to the pythagorean doctrine of a survival in a new body with new senses and new ideas that belief Is reflected in the epitaph which he wrote for himself early in life and which reads the hody ot of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN printer like the cover of 0 an old book its iti contents torn out and air iles pt of its lettering and gliding gilding lies here tood food tor for worms yet tot the work itself shall not be lost for it will as ae he believed appear once more in a new nev and more r beautiful edition corrected and amended by the author A deist in his early life lie he bel believer leveo that man could do no evil in a world where nil all events were foreordained fore ordained by tile the delty deity and that man therefore should take his pleasure where lie he found it it that belief was strengthened ened by his experiences in the notoriously immoral london of the earty early eighteenth century but when lie became disillusioned through the betrayal a by friends he had trusted lie he determined ter mined to shape his life for himell alro belf and for tant purpose lie set down four cardinal rules of guidance economy perseverance goodwill good will tind loyalty later he lengthened tills this list by thirteen temperance silence order resolution frugality industry sincerity justice moderation cleanliness tran qui quilitz lity chastity and hum humility litty in the practice of these lie he was successful in all but two order and chastity none xene of pays paya new revelations Is more interesting than those dealing with the part which his membership in tile the masons played in his career the masonic society had bad been hcan established in philadelphia in 1727 at the time when franklin was only a comparatively ively unknown young printer it was waa composed largely of rich merchants who did not look with favor upon franklin but he be forced his way into the society by showing how effectively he could use ase hs his newspaper against 14 it if its bembera kept win hlo out and his masonic helped win for him tile position of postmaster general of the colonies and later it smoothed his path when he went to england on his first diplomatic mission there it was even more valuable when h ho a was sent to france to enlist french aid for the colonies during the revo gutlon through the klasons he had bad access to the newspapers which were officially controlled by the government but which were really written by bv the masons and the philosophers such as Mor Alor ellet suard de la IR dix alx merle who were nil all franklins friends says pay practically all of the french newspapers published outside of france were tn n the hands of the masons niso also franklin had his writings accepted by all of these and being the master propagandist that he was he made the roost most of his ohnor to present americas cause to E europe u rope the career of benjamin nan jam in franklin la one of the strangest paradoxes in history one of them Is that this son of a poor boston and apprentice to a poor printer should live to record he be fact that tho thal I 1 did not chink that I 1 should ever literally stand before kings hangs I 1 have stood before five and even had the honor of sitting down with one the kins king of denmark to dinner another Is tile the fact that a man maa who was almost entirely self educated should lieve universities of two continents vying with ench each other in conferring upon him honorary degrees but most interesting of all Is the fa fact t that this man who was so typically american that he became a veritable symbol of america even in hla his lifetime was never understood or loved by his own people lie ile was disliked intensely by the best fa families milles a of f pennsylvania and was distrusted by many others in the colonies as a charlatan and a 0 trimmer the distrust dl in pennsylvania Is easily understood lie was the organizer of the small farmers mechanics and small tradesmen the democratic forces in that colon colony and as such his name would rin naturally y be anathema to the aristocratic sup porters of the proprietors the logically he should havo hf io en regarded in the same way by aristocratic elegant ft france ance rn instead stead that country took ihla simple democrat to its ita heart in his lifetime and all but canonized him after mx hl death ills moral and religious religions theories frightened the century and environment he be lived ih ed in writes fay lie ile was accused alternately of atheism and bigotry for though hla his god resembled its parent the christian divinity it had distinct differences when at length franklin had many adherents it was because of a double misunderstanding laA America la merlen he be was followed because he was believed to be a christian in france because he wits WES classed with the atheists M |