Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/123

113 his diſtreſs and merit, and the flock in their hands."

The laſt clauſe of the fundamental rules is expreſſed in language ſo tender and benevolent, ſo truly parental, that it would do everlaſting honour to the hearts and heads of the founders.

"It is hoped and expected that the truſtees will make it their pleaſure, and in ſome degree their buſineſs, to viſit the academy often; to encourage and countenance the youth, countenance and aſſiſt the maſters, and, by all means in their power, advance the uſefulneſs and reputation of the deſign; that they will look on the ſtudents as, in ſome meaſure, their own children, treat them with familiarity and affection; and when they have behaved well, gone through their ſtudies, and are to enter the world, they mail zealouſly unite, and make all the intereſt that can be made, to promote and eſtabliſh them, whether in buſineſs, offices, marriages, or any other thing for their advantage, preferable to all other perſons whatſoever, even of equal merit."

The conſtitutions being ſigned and made public, with the names of the gentlemen propoſing themſelves as truſtees and founders, the deſign was ſo well approved of by the public-ſpirited citizens of Philadelphia, that the ſum of eight hundred pounds per annum, for five years, was in the courſe of a few weeks ſubſcribed for carrying it into execution; and in the beginning of January following (viz. 1750) three of the ſchools were opened, namely, the Latin and Greek ſchools, the Mathematical, and the Engliſh ſchools. In purſuance of an article in the original plan, a ſchool for educating ſixty boys and thirty girls (in the charter ſince called the Charitable School) was opened, and amidſt all the difficulties with which the truſtees have ſtruggled