A thought while aging.

   The town in which I was born lies just outside of Boston, Massachusetts.  I am very proud of my little town.  It was the first town in the country to be named after Dr. Benjamin Franklin, one of Americas foremost patriots and founding fathers.
   In return for the honor, Franklin was asked to donate a bell to be added to the steeple of a new meeting house the town was planning to build.  Dr. Franklin responded that the people should spare "... themselves the Expense of a Steeple at present and that they would accept a gift of Books instead of a Bell.  Sense being preferable to Sound."
   The Franklin Public Library had its origins in the donation of 116 books donated by Dr. Ben.  Those books were loaned, for free, to all the citizens of Franklin.  That gift, as it turned out, had a strong inluence on the town's most famous son, Horace Mann, the father of American public education.
   Therefor, Franklin not only has the first free public library in America, it can also lay claim to being the only town whose fortunate choice of a name brought with it the establishment of a free library for its citizens.
   The oriignal 116 volume collection is still housed in a book case in the library;s Reading Gallery.