of arts, rise of manufactures, progress of trade, change of its seats, with the reasons, causes, &c., may also be made entertaining to youth, and will be useful to all.
And the concluding lines enforce yet higher aims:
With the whole should be constantly inculcated and cultivated that benignity of mind, which shows itself in searching for and seizing every opportunity to serve and to oblige; and is the foundation of what is called good breeding; highly useful to the possessor, and most agreeable to all. The idea of what is true merit should also be often presented to youth, explained and impressed on their minds, as consisting in an inclination, joined with an ability, to serve mankind, one's country, friends, and family; which ability is, (with the blessing of God), to be acquired or greatly increased by true learning; and should, indeed, be the great aim and end of all learning.
Before considering the result of the publication of these Proposals in the community, we may well take some note of the educational facilities of the city at this period, the imperfections of which led Franklin and his associates to formulate something on a higher plane and to establish a more enduring system. Before the advent of William Penn's colonists, the schooling of the young Swedes and Dutch was of a very simple character; the systems which the first emigrants had the advantage of at home they seemed to have but little will and less opportunity to enforce on the banks of the Delaware. Their faithful clergy could carry on the elementary branches among the younger members of their flock, but their pastoral duties must take precedence. The advent of the Friends brought back more energy and more learning into the province, and the diligence and thrift they displayed in all matters were equally felt in their care of the younger generation. Gabriel Thomas, in his Historical Description of the Province of Pennsylvania, including an
