62 Eliot: Franklin 



tematic endeavor after mutual improvement. The Junto 

 was created as a school of philosophy, morality, and pol- 

 itics; and this purpose it actually served for many years. 

 Some of the questions read at every meeting of the Junto, 

 with a pause after each one, would be curiously oppor- 

 tune in such a society at the present day. For example, 

 No. 5, " Have you lately heard how any present rich 

 man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?" And No. 6, 

 " Do you know of a fellow-citizen . . . who has lately 

 committed an error proper for us to be warned against 

 and avoid?" When a new member was initiated he was 

 asked among other questions the following: " Do you 

 think any person ought to be harmed in his body, name, 

 or goods for mere speculative opinions or his external 

 way of worship?" and again, " Do you love truth for 

 truth's sake, and will you endeavor impartially to find, 

 receive it yourself, and communicate it to others?" The 

 Junto helped to educate Franklin, and he helped greatly 

 to train all its members. 



The nature of Franklin's own education accounts for 

 many of his opinions on the general subject. Thus, he 

 believed, contrary to the judgment of his time, that Latin 

 and Greek were not essential subjects in a liberal educa- 

 tion, and that mathematics, in which he never excelled, 

 did not deserve the place it held. He believed that any 

 one who had acquired a command of good English could 

 learn any other modern language that he really needed, 



