A Legendary Bon Mot?: Franklin’s
“What Is The Good of a Newborn Baby?”

SEYMOUR L. CHAPIN

California State University, Los Angeles

ne ought not let the bicentennial of
() the invention of ballooning pass
too far by without a comment on

one of the most important sayings to which

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NOV 7 1985

   

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of “Printing Week” in New York about
twenty years ago.* Entitled What Good Is A
Newborn Baby?, this tiny remembrance con-
veyed the following information on its title

 

 

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The fact that the famous query is closely
associated with Franklin was never made
more obvious than when a small privately-
printed book appeared during the celebration

of Enlightenment. What he said, whether in
reporting a new play, the presentations ata
public art showing, or the discussions in one
of the private salons of the French capital,

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 129, No. 3, 1985

278