6o Eliot: Franklin 



his life. In the first place, he had no regular education 

 of the usual sort. He studied and read with an extra- 

 ordinary diligence from his earliest years; but he studied 

 only the subjects which attracted him, or which he him- 

 self believed would be good for him, and throughout life 

 he pursued only those inquiries for pursuing which he 

 found within himself an adequate motive. The most 

 important element in his training was reading, for which 

 he had a precocious desire, which was imperative and 

 proved to be lasting. His opportunities to get books 

 were scanty; but he seized on all such opportunities, and 

 fortunately he early came upon the Pilgrim's Progress, 

 the Spectator, Plutarch, Xenophon's Memorabilia, and 

 Locke On the Human Understanding. Practice of Eng- 

 lish composition was the next agency in Franklin's edu- 

 cation; and his method — quite of his own invention — 

 was certainly an admirable one. He would make brief 

 notes of the thoughts contained in a good piece of writ- 

 ing, and lay these notes aside for several days; then 

 without looking at the book he would endeavor to ex- 

 press these thoughts in his own words as fully as they 

 had been expressed in the original paper. Lastly, he 

 would compare his products with the original, thus dis- 

 covering his shortcomings and errors. To improve his 

 vocabulary, he turned specimens of prose into verse, 

 and later, when he had forgotten the original, turned 

 the verse back again into prose. This exercise enlarged 



