NOTE.--In the time of Benjamin Franklin, almanacs were a very
popular form of literature. Few of the poorer people could afford
newspapers, but almost every one could afford an almanac once a
year; and the anecdotes and scraps of information which these
contained in addition to their regular contents, were read and
re-read everywhere.
In 1732, Franklin began the publication of an almanac. For
twenty-five years, under the assumed name of Richard Saunders, he
issued it annually. He himself says of it:
"I endeavored to make it both entertaining and useful; and it
accordingly came to be in such demand that I reaped considerable
profit from it, vending annually nearly ten thousand. And observing
that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood in the province
being without it, I considered it as a proper vehicle for conveying
instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other
books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurred
between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial
sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality as a
means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being
more difficult for a man in want to act always honestly as, to use
here one of the proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand
upright.
"These proverbs, which contain the wisdom of many ages and nations,
I assembled and formed into a connected discourse, prefixed to the
almanac of 1757, as the harangue of a wise old man to the people
attending an auction. The bringing all these scattered counsels
thus into a focus enabled them to make greater impression. The
piece, being universally approved, was copied in all the newspapers
of the continent and reprinted in Britain on a broadside, to be
stuck up in houses; two translations were made of it in French and
great numbers bought by the clergy and gentry, to distribute gratis
among their poor parishioners and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it
discouraged useless expense in foreign superfluities, some thought
it had its share of influence in producing that growing plenty of
money which was observable for several years after its
publication."