IV. 



ATTAINABLE IDEALS. 



Benjamin Franklin, philosopher and electri- 

 cian began life as a journeyman printer, and he 

 lived to occupy the distinguished position of United 

 States Minister in Paris and London. But it is im- 

 mediately evident to the meanest comprehension 

 (and much more, then, to the intelligent reader) 

 that not more than one compositor at a time can 

 ever fill the post of ambassador extraordinary 

 from any one great power of the world to the 

 court of another. The vast mass of deserving 

 journeyman printers must perforce be otherwise 

 provided for, and in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred, we shrewdly suspect, must remain jour- 

 neyman printers still to the end of the chapter. 

 Indeed, in spite of the excellent example for emu- 

 lation afforded them by the career of Franklin 

 himself, we do not recollect that any other Amer- 

 ican compositor has ever been duly accredited by 

 his own government to the occupant for the time 

 being of the Tuileries or St. James'. William 

 Herschel, organist and astronomer, started in the 

 world as oboe-player in a German regimental band, 



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