[00:00.54]Passage 60. Benjamin Franklin

[00:05.03]Franklin’s life is full of charming stories which all young men should know

[00:11.27]—how he peddled ballads in Boston, and stood, the guest of kings, in Europe;

[00:16.19]how he worked his passage as a stowaway to Philadelphia,

[00:19.91]and rode in the queen's own litter in France;

[00:22.97]how he walked the streets of Philadelphia, homeless and unknown,

[00:27.13]with three-penny rolls for his breakfast,and dined at the tables of princess,

[00:32.60]and received his friends in a palace;

[00:35.66]how he raised a kite from a cow shed,

[00:38.95]and was showered with all the high degrees the colleges of the world could give;

[00:44.52]how he was duped by a false friend as a boy,

[00:48.46]and became the friend of all humanity as a man;

[00:51.75]how he was made Major General Franklin,only to resign because,

[00:57.33]as he said, he was no soldier,and yet helped to organize the army

[01:02.03]that stood before the trained troops of England and Germany.

[01:05.43]This poor Boston boy, with scarcely a day’s schooling,

[01:10.35]became master of six languages and never stopped studying;

[01:14.39]this neglected apprentice tamed the lightning,

[01:18.11]made his name famous,received degrees and diplomas from colleges in both hemispheres,

[01:23.80]and became forever remembered as“Doctor Franklin”,

[01:27.75]philosopher, patriot, scientist,philanthropist and statesman.

[01:32.23]Self-made,self-taught,self-reared, the candle maker’s son gave light to all the world;

[01:39.67]the street ballad seller set all men singing of liberty;

[01:43.94]the runaway apprentice became the most sought-after man of two continents,

[01:48.97]and brought his native land to praise and honor him.

[01:52.47]He built America—for what our Republic is today is largely due to the prudence,

[01:59.47]the forethought, the statesmanship, the enterprise,the wisdom,

[02:03.85]and the ability of Benjamin Franklin.

[02:07.02]He belongs to the world, but especially does he belong to America,

[02:13.15]as the nations honored him while living,

[02:16.32]so the Republic glorifies him when dead,

[02:20.05]and has enshrined him in the choicest of its niches

[02:23.70]—the one he regarded as the loftiest—the hearts of the common people,

[02:28.77]from whom he had sprung and in their hearts Franklin will live forever.