Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One," was not exactly a hoax but it carried indirectly a message that could not have been presented so There were twenty effectively in other way. any of the rules and they prescribed the exact course of conduct that Great Britain was at the time pursuing in connection with her colonies. At a time such as the present when honesty in advertising and merchandizing is so much under discussion, and when Truth is the slogan upon the banner behind which associations of advertising men are marching, it is interesting to find a discussion of the subject of truth, or rather its antithesis, "lying," in the "Gazette" of the later months of 1730. One of the issues contains an editorial in which this statement is made: "There are a great many Retailers, who falfely imagine that being Historical (the modern phrase for Lying) is much for their Advantage; and fome of them have a Saying, That 'tis a Pity Lying is a Sin, it is so useful in Trade." The editorial discusses the matter for more than a page and in a later issue appear two letters, one of which, signed "Shopkeeper," says in part: 66 Sir, I am a Shopkeeper in this City, and I fuppofe am the Person at whom fome Reflections are The first American Cartoon. Drawn by Franklin and published in the "Pennsylvania Gazette," May 9, 1754. A flag designed by Franklin for the Pennsylvania "Associators," 1747. From aimed in one of your late Papers. Shopkeepers are therein accused of Lying, as if they were the only Perfons culpable, without the leaft Notice being taken of the general Lying practif'd by Cuftomers. They will tell a hundred Lies to undervalue our Goods, and make our Demands appear Extravagant." The other letter "from a Merchant" pointed out that not only do shopkeepers lie when they sell but also when they themselves go out to buy. In 1754 Great Britain and France were at war. A weakness of the Colonies consisted in the fact that they were disunited and this weakness Benjamin Franklin pointed out in the "Gazette" with a suggestion as to how the difficulty might be overcome. He illustrated his arguments with an engraving of a drawing of a serpent cut into pieces, each piece bearing the initials of the name of one of the Colonies, and beneath it the warning caption "Join, or Die." Thus he became the first American cartoonist. E The First American Humorist. NGLISH literature of the eighteenth century abounds in humor, wit, and satire, all produced in England itself. The writings of Addison, Swift, Steele, and Pope, to mention only four of the brilliant essayists and satirists of the time, furnished abundant entertainment for their own age and the ages which have followed it; but in America literary production of a lighter vein in the Eighteenth Century is to be found only in the works of Benjamin Franklin. There it bubbles forth as continuously and as refreshingly as water from a hillside spring. James Parton quotes David Hume as having said that a disposition to see things in a favorable light is a turn of mind it is more happy to possess than to be born to an estate of ten thousand a year. Benjamin Franklin had the turn of mind that not only enabled him to see things in the most favorable light but so to present them to others that they, too, could have the same privilege. His sense of humor developed early, in support of which assertion may be quoted an incident related by William Temple Franklin. It was the custom of Josiah Franklin to say long graces before and after meals, a circumstance that proved įrksome to the younger element in the family. One autumn day after the winter's provisions had been stored away, young Benjamin suggested to his father that if he would "say grace over the whole cask, once for all, it would be a vast saving of time." The first of his literary efforts, the "Silence Dogood" papers, produced when he was a boy in his teens and offered anonymously as contributions to his brother's newspaper, evidence this gift of humor in an engaging manner. Exhumed by Professor Smyth from the dusty pages of the "New England Courant," they make good reading even at this late day. "Poor Richard's Almanack" sprang into astonishing popularity because the sound sense of its aphorisms was expressed in such quaint humor and entertaining wit. Some of the humor was coarse, belonging rather to the age of François Rabelais than to that of Oliver Wendell Holmes, but enough remains that may be repeated in polite society to make Franklin still the most quoted humorist in American literature. Humor began to show itself in the columns of the "Pennsylvania Gazette" as soon as Franklin took hold of it. A correspondent asked: "I am courting a girl I have but little Acquaintance with. How fhall I come to a Knowledge of her Faults and whether she has the Virtues I imagine fhe has." Franklin replied, "Commend her among her female Acquaintances." His tendency always to see the humorous side of a situation sometimes got him into difficulties. "Andrew Miller, Peruke-maker, in Second Street, Philadelphia, takes Opportunity to acquaint his Customers, that he intends to leave off the Shaving ་ |