roposed a business deal with Ben, he jumped at the opportunity, the opportunity to show his brother up. Ben returned home dressed in a genteel new suit (page 342) and wearing a watch. He proceeds to his brothers place of business to show off all these things and before he leaves he buys the journey-men a round of drinks. Where is the humility in that? His brother later said he was insulted so much in front of his workers that he could never forgive or forget. Ben thought he was on top of the world when he came back to visit his family. But before he knew it, his father declined to assist him and he was stuck in England with no money and no job. That was one of the lessons he needed to learn in order to reach real humility in his later years. One day you are dining with royalty and have everything you need, the next day you are looking for a place to day, lonely, and living on bread and water. Ben uses the words reality and appearance twice in the autobiography. The first time it is in regards to him being efficient and hardworking. But he goes on to show how he is hardworking in the eyes of the citizens. He says that, in order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman... I would dress plainly and was never seen in places of idle Diversion, and I would never go out fishing or shooting (page 367). This proves the appearance of his hardworking efficiency. He doesnt say anything about what he really wanted to do in regards to fishing and shooting etc. On page 384 we see the second mention of reality and appearance. It was these few paragraphs that convinced me Benjamin Franklin grew into humble old man. The first thing that shows the reality of his humility is when his friend approached him about omitting humility from his list of virtues for human perfectibility. A Quaker friend of his kindly informed him that Ben was generally proud and that it showed itself frequently in conversation. By mentioning a few instances Ben was con...
