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


AT FIFTY-TWO.


What had he done at that age to command more than ordinary respect and
admiration?

I. Born in poverty and obscurity, in which he passed his early years;
with no advantages of education in the schools of his day, after he
entered his teens; under the condition of daily toil for his bread; he