ﾍﾞﾝｼﾞｬﾐﾝ・ﾌﾗﾝｸﾘﾝ

The Autobiography of BENJAMIN (Yohan Ladder Editions 26)

18世紀のアメリカを代表する一人で、独立宣言、米仏同盟条約、パリ条約、憲法の4文書のすべてに署名した唯一の人物。
彼が65歳から書いた『フランクリン自叙伝』(The　Autobiography)は一人息子に自分の歩んできた道を語る形式で、淡々とした態度で自己の長所や短所を物語っていた。

彼は16歳頃、菜食をすすめる本に出会い、肉を食べず、自炊していたという。

When about 16 years of age I happened to meet with a book, written by one Tryon,recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it.
My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chid for my singularity. I made myself acquainted with Tryon's manner of preparing some of dishes, such as boiling potatoes or rice, making hasty pudding, and a few others, and then proposed to my brother, that if he would give me, weekly, half the money he paid for my board, I could save helf what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books. But I had another advantage in it.

　Ｉmade the greater progress, from that greater clearness of head and quicker
apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.

菜食の苦労が、親しみを覚えます。