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Show Ben Franklin Enjoyed Good Things of Life Benjamin Franklin was one of those rare men who lived so happily and so abundantly that the reader of his life finds himself wishing he might have been a contemporary. ' - He was regarded as one of the wisest wis-est members of the First congress, yet he seldom spoke and he spent a great part of his time fast asleep in hia cbalr. He drank too much, he ate too much; instead of exercising, he played chess. He suffered the piercing pains of gout. He confessed all his faults with delightful humor and frankness. ' At sixteen he wrote an article for his brother's newspaper, describing the night life of Boston, and at seventy be was still indulging In pleasant romances ro-mances with young anJ beautiful French women. He missed nothing. As he added years to his age and dollars to his Income, he violated many of Poor Richard's precepts. His common sense led him to take hot baths twice a week, when the general gen-eral custom was to bathe not oftener than two or three times a year. He believed be-lieved In fresh air, and even night air, while the doctors were still using leeches as a cure-all. He enjoyed life to the utmost. He waa the master of his circumstances from the age of sixteen, when he ran away from home, to the ripe age of eighty-four, when he passed on, with 11 hia affairs in order. He left an estate es-tate of a quarter million dollars for bis heirs. William Feather Magazine. |