Illustration: Deeds of Silence and Doing Good

In 1722, a middle-aged lady began writing humorous observations about society and the New England elites in her local newspaper. Her letters were quite popular, so she became quite popular. Her name was Silence Dogood. As it turns out, she was not a lady and was not middle aged. She was the invention of 16-year-old, Benjamin Franklin. I don’t know why he chose that pseudonym, but there are surely times when we need to observe silence and do good, letting our actions speak for us.