. Benjamin Franklin: his autobiography : with a narrative of his public life and services. ble of the inconvenience attending want ofmethod. This article, therefore, cost me muchpainful attention, and my faults in it vexed me somuch, and I made so little progress in amendment,and had such frequent relapses, that I was almostready to give up the attempt, and content myselfwith a faulty character in that respect, like theman who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor,desired to have the whole of its surface as bright asthe edge. The smith consented to grind it brightfor him if he would turn th
. Benjamin Franklin: his autobiography : with a narrative of his public life and services. ble of the inconvenience attending want ofmethod. This article, therefore, cost me muchpainful attention, and my faults in it vexed me somuch, and I made so little progress in amendment,and had such frequent relapses, that I was almostready to give up the attempt, and content myselfwith a faulty character in that respect, like theman who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor,desired to have the whole of its surface as bright asthe edge. The smith consented to grind it brightfor him if he would turn the wheel; he turned, while LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 139 the smith pressed the broad face of the ax hard andheavily on the stone, wiiich made the turning of itvery fatiguing. The man came every now and thenfrom the wiieel to see how the work went on, andat length would take his ax as it was, without fur-ther grinding. No, said the smith, turn on, turnon; we shall have it bright by-and-by; as yet, it isonly speckled. Yes, said the man, but I thinkI like a speckled ax hest^ And I believe this may. have been the case with many, who, having, for wantof some such means as I employed, found the diffi-culty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits inother points of vice and virtue, have given up thestruggle, and concluded that a speckled ax is best;for something, that pretended to be reason, wasevery now and then suggesting to me that such ex-treme nicety as I exacted of myself might be a kind 140 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. of foppery in morals, which, if it were known, wouldmake nie ridiculous; that a perfect character mighthe attended with the inconvenience of being enviedand hated ; and that a benevolent man should allowa few faults in himself, to keep his friends in coun-tenance. In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect toOrder; and now I am grown old, and my memorybad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on thewhole, though I never arrived at the perfection I hadbeen so ambitious
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