was through the almanacs that Franklin reached his largest audience, for his publications of this kind were well thumbed in practically every household of the colonies. The selections of verse, witty sayings, amusing sketches, and bits of superstitious lore added something to the popularity of the almanacs, but it was the practical proverbs and utilitarian philosophy which made the deepest and most abiding impression on the colonial mind. In the last of the almanacs, the one for 1758, Poor Richard gathered up the best of all the proverbs in a final discourse in the form of a report of "Father Abraham's Speech." It is said that this compendium of Poor Richard's sayings was by far the most widely read piece of colonial literature. It was translated into practically every modern foreign language; since its first publication it has been printed in more than four hundred editions. Under various titles the discourse was struck off on broadsheets and freely distributed among the poorer working classes to encourage thrift, industry, frugality, prudence, perseverance, and honesty. The following proverbs or "Sayings of Poor Richard" taken from "Father Abraham's Speech," though by no means all original, will illustrate the kind of maxims which Franklin was constantly repeating in his almanacs.

1. Be ashamed to catch yourself idle.

2. Drive thy business, let not that drive thee.

3. Light strokes fell great oaks.

4. Three removes are as bad as a fire.

5. He that by the plow would thrive

Himself must either hold or drive.

6. At a great pennyworth, pause awhile. 7. Plow deep while sluggards sleep

And you shall have corn to sell and to keep.

8. A plowman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees. 9. If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some; for he who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing. 10. Creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of set days and

II. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.

12. Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that.

The "Autobiography." Though Franklin was not primarily an author, for the best efforts of his life were given to business, diplomacy, statesmanship, and practical philanthropy, he succeeded in writing the now most widely read "classic" of the two literary periods in which his life falls. The Autobiography is a book which everyone, particularly every American, should read. It is full of practical wisdom, sound advice, and the revelation of a fascinating personality-all presented in an admirably lively, forceful, and simple prose style. The book is preeminently human and natural, and richly deserves the high rank it has attained. It is unquestionably the one outstanding masterpiece of our early literature. Further analysis of or quotation from this "classic" is unnecessary, for every American boy and girl should read the entire book.1

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIES

SUITABLE FOR HIGH-SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND

OUTSIDE READING

General Reference Books for American Literature

Starred volumes are especially valuable for high-school libraries. *S. L. WHITCOMB, Chronological Outlines of American Literature; Macmillan, N. Y., 1894.

*CHARLES F. RICHARDSON, American Literature; Putnam, N. Y., 1897. Barrett WendELL, A Literary History of America; Scribner, N. Y., 1901. *W. P. TRENT, A History of American Literature; Appleton, N. Y., 1904. *THEODORE STANTON, editor, A Manual of American Literature; Putnam,

N. Y., 1909. (This volume contains in greatly reduced form Moses Coit Tyler's four volumes on the history of Colonial and Revolutionary literature, together with chapters by various hands on the different classes of American writers of the nineteenth century. Valuable as a reference volume or handbook.)

1 See the excellent illustrated school edition edited by George B. Aiton, in the Canterbury Classics, Rand McNally & Co., Chicago.

*W. B. CAIRNS, A History of American Literature; Oxford University Press, N. Y., 1916.

*Cambridge History of American Literature; 3 vols., Cambridge Press, Cambridge, England, and N. Y., 1917–1919.

E. A. and G. L. DUYCKINCK, Cyclopædia of American Literature, Embracing Personal and Critical Notices of Authors and Selections from Their Writings; 2 vols., Scribner, N. Y., 1856.

*STEDMAN and HUTCHINSON, Library of American Literature; 11 vols., Benjamin, N. Y., 1888-90.

ALDERMAN, HARRIS, and KENT, Library of Southern Literature; 16 vols., Martin and Hoyt, Atlanta, 1907-1913.

*A. B. HART, American History Told by Contemporaries; 4 vols., Macmillan, N. Y., 1898. (This is a valuable reference book both for history and for literature classes.)

Old South Leaflets; Directors of Old South Meeting House, Boston, various dates. (The leaflets have been bound in six or more volumes, and in this form they afford much good miscellaneous source-reading in American history and literature.)

Special Reference Books for Colonial Literature1

1. History of Literature and Selections

*TYLER, History of American Literature, Colonial Period, 1617-1765; 2 vols., Putnam, N. Y., 1897. (Also Student's Edition in one volume, 1909.)

TRENT and WELLS, Colonial Prose and Poetry; 3 vols., Crowell, N. Y.,

1901.

*W. B. CAIRNS, Selections from Early American Writers, 1607-1800;

Macmillan, N. Y., 1909. (This is the best single volume reference book on the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods. It contains brief biographical sketches and abundant selections for high-school or college classes.)

STEDMAN and HUTCHINSON, Library of American Literature, Vols. I and II.

HART, American History Told by Contemporaries, Vols. I and II.

2. Later Poetry Dealing with Colonial Times

LONGFELLOW, "The Skeleton in Armor," "Hiawatha," "The Courtship of Miles Standish," "Evangeline,” etc.

1 The important works named in the body of the text are not listed here.

SCOLLARD, "The First Thanksgiving.”

HOLMES, "The Pilgrim's Vision," "On Lending a Punch Bowl," "Song for the Centennial Celebration of Harvard," "The Deacon's Masterpiece," "The Broomstick Train; or, The Return of the Witches," etc.

ENGLISH, “The Burning of Jamestown.”

WHITTIER, "The Preacher."

THACKERAY, "Pocahontas."

LANIER, "Psalm of the West."

(See Burton E. Stevenson's Poems of American History, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1908, for fuller list of poems dealing with the Colonial Period.)

3. Later Fiction Dealing with Colonial Times

IRVING, Knickerbocker's History of New York (humorous), “Rip Van Winkle," etc.

COOPER, The Leather-Stocking Tales,-The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer (some of these may be classed in Revolutionary times),—The Wept of WishTon-Wish (War of King Philip of Pokanoket), The Red Skins, The Red Rover.

SIMMS, The Yemassee, a Romance of Carolina.

COOKE, My Lady Pocahontas, Fairfax.

HAWTHORNE, The Scarlet Letter, Grandfather's Chair, Mosses from an

Old Manse, and Twice-Told Tales (especially "The Gray Champion," "The Gentle Boy," "The Maypole of Merry Mount," and "Legends of the Province House," including "Howe's Masquerade," "Edward Randolph's Portrait," "Lady Eleanore's Mantle," "Old Esther Dudley," etc.)

PAULDING, The Dutchman's Fireside.

STIMSON, King Noanett, a Story of the Devon Settlers in Old Virginia and Massachusetts Bay.

HOLLAND, The Bay Path, a Tale of New England Colonial Life.

EGGLESTON, Pocahontas and Powhatan.

AUSTIN, Standish of Standish, Betty Alden, etc.

BARR, A Bow of Orange Ribbon (Dutch New York), Black Shilling

(Salem witchcraft).

JOHNSTON, To Have and To Hold, Prisoners of Hope, Audrey, etc.

SEDGWICK, Hope Leslie, or Early Times in Massachusetts, etc.

4. Essays and Historical Works Dealing with Colonial Times EMERSON, "Historical Discourse on the Second Centennial of the Incorporation of the Town of Concord."

LOWELL, "New England Two Centuries Ago," and "Witchcraft" (in

Literary Essays, Vol. II).

LODGE, English Colonies in America.

DOYLE, English Colonies in America (3 vols.).

DRAKE, The Making of New England, The Making of Virginia, The Middle Colonies.

FISKE, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, The Beginnings of New England, The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America.

EARLE, Colonial Days in Old New York, Costume of Colonial Times, Customs and Fashions in Old New England.

PARKMAN, Historical Works. (These give a trustworthy and entertaining account of the struggle for supremacy in America, portraying particularly the French settlements and Indian life in connection. See the discussion of Parkman on pp. 227, 228.