Wakefield

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  “In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story, told as truth, of a man—let us call him Wakefield—who absented himself for a long time from his wife. The fact, thus abstractedly stated, is not very uncommon, nor, without a proper distinction of circumstances, to be condemned either as naughty or nonsensical. Howbeit, this, though far from the most aggravated, is perhaps the strangest instance on record of marital delinquency, and, moreover, as remarkable a freak as may be found in the whole list of human oddities. The wedded couple lived in London. The man, under pretense of going a journey, took lodgings in the next street to his own house, and there, unheard of by his wife or friends and without the shadow of a reason for such self-banishment, dwelt upward of twenty years. During that period he beheld his home every day, and frequently the forlorn Mrs. Wakefield. And after so great a gap in his matrimonial felicity—when his death was reckoned certain, his estate settled...

Franklin's Advice for the New Year

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America's first "self-made" man, Benjamin Franklin, resolved to improve himself by practicing virtues until they became habit. The beauty of his system is the ability to track failures as much as successes. These names of virtues, with their precepts, are:

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 


2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 


3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 


4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 


5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i. e., waste nothing. 


6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 


7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 


8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 


9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 


10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. 


11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 


12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation. 


13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and   


From “His Autobiography” by Benjamin Franklin. (1706–1790).