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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 73
of 154
temptations. This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more easy;
and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in
virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use
of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was
getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to
trifling company, I gave Silence the second place. This and the next, Order, I
expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies.
Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain
all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining
debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the
practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably
to the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, daily examination would be
necessary, I contrived the following method for conducting that examination.
I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I
rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of
the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross'd these columns
with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first
letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might
mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been
committed respecting that virtue upon that day.
Form of the pages.
+-------------------------------+
| TEMPERANCE. |
+-------------------------------+
| EAT NOT TO DULNESS; |
| DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION. |
+-------------------------------+
| | S.| M.| T.| W.| T.| F.| S.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| T.| | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| S.| * | * | | * | | * | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| O.| **| * | * | | * | * | * |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| R.| | | * | | | * | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| F.| | * | | | * | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| I.| | | * | | | | |
|