This article, therefore, cost me so much painful attention, and my faults in it vexed me so much, and i made so little progress in amendment, and had such frequent relapses, that i was almost ready to give up the attempt, and content myself with a faulty character in that respect, like the man who, in buying an ax of a smith, my neighbor, desired to have the whole of its surface as bright as the edge. the smith consented to grind it bright for him if he would turn the wheel; he turned, while the smith pressed the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. the man came every now and then from the wheel to see how the work went on, and at length would take his ax as it was, without farther grinding. “no,” said the smith, “turn on, turn on; we shall have it bright by and by; as yet, it is only speckled.” “yes,” says the man, “but i think i like a speckled ax best.” what is the main idea franklin is trying to convey by telling the story of the smith?