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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 76
of 154
NIGHT. { 1 } Sleep.
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I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continu'd it
with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surpris'd to find myself so
much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing
them diminish. To avoid the trouble of renewing now and then my little book,
which, by scraping out the marks on the paper of old faults to make room for new
ones in a new course, became full of holes, I transferr'd my tables and precepts
to the ivory leaves of a memorandum book, on which the lines were drawn with red
ink, that made a durable stain, and on those lines I mark'd my faults with a
black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. After
a while I went thro' one course only in a year, and afterward only one in
several years, till at length I omitted them entirely, being employ'd in voyages
and business abroad, with a multiplicity of affairs that interfered; but I
always carried my little book with me.
My scheme of Order gave me the most trouble; and I found that, tho' it might be
practicable where a man's business was such as to leave him the disposition of
his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possible to be
exactly observed by a master, who must mix with the world, and often receive
people of business at their own hours. Order, too, with regard to places for
things, papers, etc., I found extreamly difficult to acquire. I had not been
early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so
sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method. This article, therefore,
cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and I
made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that I was
almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character
in that respect, like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbour,
desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. The smith
consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he turn'd,
while the smith press'd the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the stone,
which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came every now and then
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