Project Gutenberg's Four American Leaders, by Charles William Eliot

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Title: Four American Leaders

Author: Charles William Eliot

Release Date: October 23, 2005 [EBook #16931]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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FOUR
AMERICAN LEADERS

BY
CHARLES W. ELIOT

BOSTON
AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION
1906

Copyright, 1906
American Unitarian Association

_Note_

The four essays in this volume were written for celebrations or
commemorations in which several persons took part. Each of them is,
therefore, only a partial presentation of the life and character of its
subject. The delineation in every case is not comprehensive and
proportionate, but rather portrays the man in some of his aspects and
qualities.

_Contents_

I. Franklin 1

An address delivered before the meeting
of the American Philosophical Society to
commemorate the two hundredth anniversary
of the birth of Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia,
April 20, 1906.

II. Washington 31

An address given before the Union League
Club of Chicago at the exercises in commemoration
of the birth of Washington, February
23, 1903.

III. Channing 57

An address made at the unveiling of the
Channing statue on the occasion of the one
hundredth anniversary of the birth of William
Ellery Channing, Boston, June 1, 1903.

IV. Emerson 73

An address delivered on the commemoration
of the centenary of the birth of Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Boston, May 24, 1903.

_Four American Leaders_

FRANKLIN

The facts about Franklin as a printer are simple and plain, but
impressive. His father, respecting the boy's strong disinclination to
become a tallow-chandler, selected the printer's trade for him, after
giving him opportunities to see members of several different trades at
their work, and considering the boy's own tastes and aptitudes. It was