For my American Lit to 1865 class taught by by Professor Hagood this semester, we have read some of a “Founding Father’s” epistles (Note to Professor Mason: my input here is in no away similar to anything we have done in my American Lit class; we don’t have any assignments asking us to write about these texts in it). Benjamin Franklin, the Norse God of Thunder, aye, was his name.
For citation purposes, the book we’re reading is: The Norton Anthology of American Literature by Nina Baym (editor), Package 1/Vol A (Beginnings to 1865), 8th ed, New York: W. W. Norton, 2012, pages 455-595 (for Franklin) and 659-676 (for Jefferson).
Mr. Franklin is an exceptionally inspiring individual, first I’d like to say. “Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears,” page 458, is bed-thrashing stuff! For the past, oh, year or so, I’ve been putting plenty of conscious effort into harnessing all of my energies to make the most of them, and waste none where feasible. In room-organizing, in grocery-shopping, in exercising, with girlfriends, etc., I’ve been trying to sharpen the dullness of my potential. Just this morning, I was able to get up just the rise of the sun as I’ve been planning for a long time to do (circa 6:30 AM). “He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night,” 458-59; now, I know this to be not true for all, but it has been a thought through my head on those afternoons I woke up around 12:30, 1, or something 2 PM-ish. It’s not a personally invigorating feelings. Franklin has taken a well-earned seat in part of my memory for his extraordinary history, little of which I have read thoroughly and largely enough of, but enough to hold some of my respect. He was a’-stepping quite a bit more than I travel to get to FAU (about 9 miles) after he ran away from his home and job, somewhere around 400 miles I think I read it took him to get to his destination. I don’t know why, but the idea of walking, and walking far, and a rugged and rough terrain like I imagine America in his times must’ve been, I find it very attractive in an adventurous sense. It is at this point you may be asking yourself, “Well, this is all great and dandy, but where’s the part about him being the ‘Norse God of Thunder’?”