Benny Hit the Nail on the Head

First published in my print column, The Nature of Things

Sometimes my kids accuse me of speaking a foreign language and I have to say, more often than not, the sentiment goes both ways—but for very different reasons. 

Growing up like I did, in this remote land settled by people carving a life out of hardship, ours is a culture that’s generally not overly verbal. Too often mistaken for ignorance, or sometimes even stupidity, this penchant for stoic observation and uber-efficiency in language is most likely a result of a number of influences. One of which—and this might surprise a few people—is Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents: scientist, inventor, statesman, writer, political philosopher, and founding father. What many don’t know is that his greatest financial success actually came from printing and publishing—most notably the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanac. 

The Almanac was first published in 1732, with a new edition printed every year until 1758, and it became one of the most widely read secular pamphlets in colonial America, selling around 10,000 copies annually.

Franklin wrote Poor Richard's Almanac under the pseudonym of Poor Richard, or Richard Saunders, a name he borrowed from the author of a popular almanac published in London. Much like our present day Old Farmer’s Almanac, which launched in 1792 and has been the longest-running periodical in American to date, Franklin’s almanac contained all sorts of information, including the calendar, weather predictions, poems, recipes, and trivia. But it was most famous for its witty aphorisms and practical proverbs. These short sayings covered a range of subjects, from industry and frugality to hard work and the pleasures of a simple life.

The sayings ranged from serious to cynical to funny (“Fish and visitors stink in three days”), but generally offered some kind of practical or moral instruction. Some of the aphorisms, such as “No gains without pains” and “Haste makes waste,” were already in existence before Franklin included them in his almanac. But he definitely helped to solidify such expressions in American vernacular.

These many centuries later, generations of people, particularly in the agricultural sector of America (country folk), are still passing down many of Franklin’s tidbits of wisdom, as well as adding a few new ones of their own. This, to the uninitiated in the ways of the Great Depression survivors, raised by Industrial Revolution-era parents, can seem like a foreign language. My four California-born children—who are no longer children—would be among these uninitiated, though I did do my best. 

I admit, over the years, there have been may times when I’ve opened my mouth and, much to the confusion and bafflement of my kids, my Grandmother came out. Though my kids are all grown up now (for the most part), they still come to me now and then for advice. Just the other day my oldest daughter was talking about the small business she’s starting and how much hard work that is. Not one to beat around the bush I piped right up: 

You think you can have your cake and eat it too?  Don’t bite off more than you can chew, money doesn’t grow on trees afterall. A penny saved is a penny earned and you gotta bite the bullet and break a leg before you call it a day. You gotta be on the ball,  you can’t be cutting corners or things will get out of hand and you’ll miss the boat. If you go barking up the wrong tree, somebody will give you a taste of your own medicine. But there’s more than one way to skin a cat,  and you might get by by the skin of your teeth if you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I know things cost an arm and a leg, but to make a long story short, there’s no gain without pain.  And remember, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched. You can kill two birds with one stone if look before you leap. Just don’t go throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I thought all that sounded like pretty good financial advice, but my daughter accused me of leading her on a wild goose chase.

I had to smile; she may be more of a chip off the old block than she realizes.