CONTENTS
Benjamin Franklin.--HIS FAME STILL CLIMBING TO HEAVEN--WHAT HE HAD DONE AT FIFTY-TWO--POOR RICHARD'S ADDRESS
Defence of a Great Man.--WAS DR. FRANKLIN MEAN?--JAMES PARTON'S ANSWER
Sir Walter Scott and his Mother.--THE MOTHER'S EDUCATION--THE SON'S TRAINING--DOMESTIC LOVE AND SOCIAL DUTIES
Abigail Adams.--THE WIFE OF OUR SECOND PRESIDENT--THE MOTHER OF OUR SIXTH
Two Neighbors.--WHAT THEY GOT OUT OF LIFE
Horace Greeley.--THE MOLDER OF PUBLIC OPINION--THE BRAVE JOURNALIST
Wendell Phillips.--THE TIMES WHEN HE APPEARED--"WHO IS THIS FELLOW?"--A FLAMING ADVOCATE OF LIBERTY--LIBERTY OF SPEECH AND THOUGHT--POWER TO DISCERN THE RIGHT--THE MOB-BEATEN HERO TRIUMPHANT
Mary Wordsworth.--THE KINDLY WIFE OF THE GREAT POET
Madame Malibran.--HER CAREER AS A SINGER--KINDNESS OF HEART
Garfield Maxims.--GATHERED FROM HIS SPEECHES, ADDRESSES, LETTERS, ETC.
What I Carried to College.--A REMINISCENCE AT FORTY--PICTURES OF RURAL LIFE
Sir John Franklin.--HEROISM ON THE GREAT DEEP--A MARTYR OF THE POLAR SEA
Elizabeth Estaugh.--A QUAKER COURTSHIP IN WHICH SHE WAS THE PRINCIPAL ACTOR
"Chinese" Gordon.--IN THE TRENCHES OF THE CRIMEA--PUTS DOWN THE GREAT TAIPING REBELLION IN CHINA, IN 1863-4--HERO OF THE SOUDAN--BEARDS THE MEN-STEALERS IN THEIR STRONGHOLDS AND MAKES THE PEOPLE LOVE HIM
Men's Wives.--BITS OF COMMON SENSE AND WISDOM ON A GREAT SUBJECT
Women's Husbands.--WHAT THE "BREAD-WINNERS" LIKE IN THEIR WIVES--A LITTLE CONSTITUTIONAL OPPOSITION
John Ploughman.--WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT RELIGIOUS GRUMBLERS--GOOD NATURE AND FIRMNESS, ETC.
Caroline Lucretia Herschel.--A NOBLE, SELF-SACRIFICING WOMAN
Pestiferous Literature.--THE PRINTING PRESS--THE FLOOD OF IMPURE AND LOATHSOME LITERATURE, ETC.
Satisfied.--AND OTHER POEMS
Heroes of Science.--MICHAEL FARADAY--SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS--M. PASTEUR
My Uncle Toby.--ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CREATIONS OF A GREAT GENIUS
Stephen Girard.--THE NAPOLEON OF MERCHANTS--HIS LIFE SUCCESSFUL, AND YET A FAILURE
Disappointments.--PLEASURE AFTER PAIN--PAIN AFTER PLEASURE
The Three Kings.--AN OLD STORY IN A NEW LIGHT
Florence Nightingale.--THE HEROINE OF THE CRIMEA
Shy People.--HAWTHORNE--WASHINGTON, IRVING, AND OTHERS--MADAME RECAMIER
John Marshall.--IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY--His MARRIAGE--LAW LECTURES--AT THE BAR--His INTELLECTUAL POWERS--ON THE BENCH
A Noble Mother.--How SHE TRAINED HERSELF, AND EDUCATED HER BOYS
The Care of the Body.--WHAT DR. SARGENT, OF THE HARVARD GYMNASIUM, SAYS ABOUT IT--POINTS FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND PUPILS
Saint Cecilia.--THE PATRONESS OF MUSIC--MYTHS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC--ITS RELATION TO WORK AND BLESSEDNESS
Thomas De Quincey.--A LIFE OF WONDER AND WARNING
A Vision of Time.--NEW YEAR'S EVE
John Bunyan.--FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
Madame Roland.--THE MOST REMARKABLE WOMAN OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION--THE IPHIGENIA OF FRANCE
Cheerful and Brave.--THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON--SIR WALTER RALEIGH--XENOPHON--CÆSAR--NELSON, ETC.
Harold.--THE LAST SAXON KING OF ENGLAND
Peter Cooper.--THE LESSONS OF A LONG AND USEFUL LIFE
Illusions.--"THEREFORE TRUST TO THY HEART AND WHAT THE WORLD CALLS ILLUSIONS"
Phillips Brooks.--At Home
St. John and the Robber.--A LEGEND OF THE FIRST CENTURY
John Ploughman Again.--THE PITH AND MARROW OF CERTAIN OLD PROVERBS
Henry Wilson.--FROM THE SHOEMAKER'S BENCH TO THE CHAIR OF VICE-PRESIDENT
Joan of Arc.--THE PEASANT MAIDEN WHO DELIVERED HER COUNTRY AND BECAME A MARTYR IN ITS CAUSE
The Song of Work.--MANY PHASES AND MANY EXAMPLES
Alvan S. Southworth.--CROSSING THE NUBIAN DESERT
A Forbidden Topic.--WHICH SOME PEOPLE PERSIST IN INTRODUCING
Ida Lewis Wilson.--THE GRACE DARLING OF AMERICA
Rachel Jackson.--THE WIFE OF OUR SEVENTH PRESIDENT
Discontented Girls.--ONE PANACEA FOR THEM--AND ONE REFUGE
The Voice in Ramah.--"RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN, AND WOULD NOT BE COMFORTED BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT"
La Fayette.--THE FRIEND AND DEFENDER OF LIBERTY ON TWO CONTINENTS
Lydia Sigourney.--THE LESSON OF A USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE
Old Age and Usefulness.--THE GLORY OF BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN
Rhymes and Chimes.--SUITABLE FOR AUTOGRAPH ALBUMS
I.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
(BORN 1706--DIED 1790.)
HIS FAME STILL CLIMBING TO HEAVEN--WHAT HE HAD DONE AT FIFTY-TWO--POOR RICHARD'S ADDRESS.
The late Judge Black was remarkable not only for his wit and humor, which often enlivened the dry logic of law and fact, but also for flashes of unique eloquence. In presenting a certain brief before the United States Supreme Court he had occasion to animadvert upon some of our great men. Among other things he said, as related to the writer by one who heard him: "The colossal name of Washington is growing year by year, and the fame of Franklin is still climbing to heaven," accompanying the latter words by such a movement of his right hand that not one of his hearers failed to see the immortal kite quietly bearing the philosopher's question to the clouds. It was a point which delivered the answer. In the life of every great man there is likewise a point which delivers the special message which he was born to publish to the world. Biography is greatly simplified when it confines itself chiefly to that one point. What does the reader, who has his own work to do, care for a great multitude of details which are not needed for the setting of the picture? To the point is the cry of our busy life.
Benjamin Franklin is here introduced to the reader