AS Printer and Philosopher 59 



when I go home from club, and he is at work again 

 before his neighbors are out of bed." No trade rules 

 or customs limited, or levied toll on, his productiveness. 

 He speedily became by far the most successful printer 

 in all the colonies, and in twenty years was able to retire 

 from active business with a competency. 



One would, however, get a wrong impression of Frank- 

 lin's career as a printer if he failed to observe that 

 Franklin constantly used, from his boyhood, his connec- 

 tion with a printing office to facilitate his remarkable 

 work as an author, editor, and publisher. Even while 

 he was an apprentice to his brother James he succeeded 

 in getting issued from his brother's press ballads and 

 newspaper articles of which he was the anonymous au- 

 thor. When he had a press of his own, he used it for 

 publishing a newspaper, an almanac, and numerous es- 

 says composed or compiled by himself. His genius as 

 a writer supported his skill and industry as a printer. 



The second part of the double subject assigned to me 

 is Franklin as a philosopher. The philosophy he taught 

 and illustrated related to four perennial subjects of 

 human interest: education, natural science, politics, and 

 morals. I propose to deal in that order with these four 

 topics. 



Franklin's philosophy of education was elaborated 

 as he grew up, and was applied to himself throughout 



