170 EEPOET OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE 



delpliia. He speaks of it as a &quot;club/ It was, as we 

 know from its rules, a secret debating club limited to a 

 membership of twelve, and not a society such as the 

 American Philosophical Society, which he had founded 

 in 1743. He probably refers to the lack of interest in 

 the Junto as shown by its periods of somnolence and 

 revival, by speaking of it as &quot;one of the oldest clubs, 

 as I think it was formerly one of the best, in the King s 

 dominions.&quot; The &quot;formerly&quot; refers, doubtless, to 

 those nourishing early years when Franklin took an 

 active part in its proceedings. It is therefore reason 

 able to believe that the club fell into a state of sus 

 pended animation in the early forties, and remained 

 so until a revival of its activities took place in 1750. 

 It is also reasonable to believe that Franklin had 

 dropped out of membership; and his election many 

 years later can give no firm ground for the inference 

 that there were two societies, each called the Junto, 

 existing side by side in Philadelphia. 



In what year Franklin dropped out of the Junto we 

 do not know. As the membership was limited to twelve, 

 it is easy to believe that when a member became so 

 busy and so absorbed in important affairs as Franklin 

 was in the latter part of the decade succeeding 1730, 

 he would retire from the club; for the Junto was really 

 a young men s debating club, organized for mental and 

 material improvement, which required its members, 

 under penalty of fine, to attend its weekly meetings at 

 six o clock in winter, and seven in summer, and to pre- 



