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Page 94
To the close of his life, Ben Franklin never forgot this conversation
with his father; and we have reason to suppose, that in most of his
public and private career, he endeavored to act upon the principles
which that good and wise man had then taught him.
After the great event of building the wharf, Ben continued to cut
wick-yarn and fill candle-moulds for about two years. But, as he had no
love for that occupation, his father often took him to see various
artisans at their work, in order to discover what trade he would prefer.
Thus Ben learned the use of a great many tools, the knowledge of which
afterwards proved very useful to him. But he seemed much inclined to go
to sea. In order to keep him at home, and likewise to gratify his taste
for letters, the lad was bound apprentice to his elder brother, who had
lately set up a printing-office in Boston.
Here he had many opportunities of reading new books, and of hearing
instructive conversation. He exercised himself so successfully in
writing composition, that, when no more than thirteen or fourteen years
old, he became a contributor to his brother's newspaper. Ben was also a
versifier, if not a poet. He made two doleful ballads; one about the
shipwreck of Captain Worthilake, and the other about the pirate Black
Beard, who not long before, infested the American seas.
When Ben's verses were printed, his brother sent him to sell them to the
town's-people, wet from the press. "Buy my ballads!" shouted Benjamin,
as he trudged through the streets, with a basketful on his arm. "Who'll
buy a ballad about Black Beard? A penny a piece! a penny a piece! who'll
buy my ballads?"
If one of those roughly composed and rudely printed ballads could be
discovered now, it would be worth more than its weight in gold.
In this way our friend Benjamin spent his boyhood and youth, until, on
account of some disagreement with his brother, he left his native town
and went to Philadelphia. He landed in the latter city, a homeless and
hungry young man, and bought three-pence worth of bread to satisfy his
appetite. Not knowing where else to go, he entered a Quaker
meeting-house, sat down, and fell fast asleep. He has not told us
whether his slumbers were visited by any dreams. But it would have been
a strange dream, indeed, and an incredible one, that should have
foretold how great a man he was destined to become, and how much he
would be honored in that very city, where he was now friendless, and
unknown.
So here we finish our story of the childhood of Benjamin Franklin. One
of these days, if you would know what he was in his manhood, you must
read his own works, and the history of American Independence.
"Do let us hear a little more of him!" said Edward; "not that I admire
him so much as many other characters; but he interests me, because he
was a Yankee boy."
"My dear son," replied Mr. Temple, "it would require a whole volume of
talk, to tell you all that is worth knowing about Benjamin Franklin.
There is a very pretty anecdote of his flying a kite in the midst of a
thunder-storm, and thus drawing down the lightning from the clouds, and
proving that it was the same thing as electricity. His whole life would
be an interesting story, if we had time to tell it."
"But, pray, dear father, tell us what made him so famous," said George.
"I have seen his portrait a great many times. There is a wooden bust of
him in one of our streets, and marble ones, I suppose, in some other
places. And towns, and ships of war, and steamboats, and banks, and
academies, and children, are often named after Franklin. Why should he
have grown so very famous?"
"Your question is a reasonable one, George," answered his father. "I
doubt whether Franklin's philosophical discoveries, important as they
were, or even his vast political services, would have given him all the
fame which he acquired. It appears to me that Poor Richard's Almanac did
more than any thing else towards making him familiarly known to the
public. As the writer of those proverbs, which Poor Richard was supposed
to utter, Franklin became the counsellor and household friend of almost
every family in America. Thus, it was the humblest of all his labors
that has done the most for his fame."
"I have read some of those proverbs," remarked Edward; "but I do not
like them. They are all about getting money, or saving it."
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