_Developments of Character._
Views of the Sabbath--Writings of Collins and
Shaftsbury--The creed of Collins--Franklin at sixteen--The
Courant--Denunciations of the paper--Franklin's mode of
acquiring the art of composition--His success as a
writer--The Editor prosecuted--Benjamin becomes Editor and
Publisher--Jealousy of his brother--The runaway
apprentice--The voyage to New York--Great
disappointment--Eventful Journey to Philadelphia--Gloomy
prospects--The dawn of brighter days.
Franklin was never scrupulous in the observance of the Sabbath. Still,
though he but occasionally attended church, he at times very earnestly
urged that duty upon his young friends. It is not probable that the
preaching he heard in those days, was calculated to interest him.
While a child under the parental roof, he ordinarily accompanied his
parents, and seemed to regard it as his duty to do so.
He now, however, with an increasing sense of independence, very much
preferred to spend his precious hours in his chamber, reading books
which engrossed his most intense interest. Unfortunately many
treatises fell into his hands in which unchristian sentiments were
conveyed to his mind, by men of the highest intellectual character,
and whose writings were invested with the most fascinating charms of
eloquence.
Robert Boyle, an Irish nobleman of wealth and fervent piety, had
established at Oxford a lectureship, the object of which was to prove
the truth of the Christian religion. These lectures had found their
way in tracts to the little library of Franklin's father. When but
fifteen years of age the boy read them, with a far keener relish than
most school-boys now read the flashy novels of the day. In order to
refute the arguments of the deists, the lecturers were bound to
produce those arguments fairly and forcibly. But to this young boy's
piercing mind, the arguments against Christianity seemed stronger than
those which were brought forward to refute them. Thus the lad became,
not a positive unbeliever, but an honest doubter. He now sought
earnestly for other works upon that all-important subject.
The two most important, influential and popular writers of that day
were perhaps Anthony Collins and the Earl of Shaftsbury. These were
both men of fortune, of polished education, and of great rhetorical
and argumentative skill. Their influence over young minds was greatly
increased by the courtesy and candor which pervaded all their
writings. They ever wrote like gentlemen addressing gentlemen; and
the views they urged were presented with the modesty of men who were
earnestly seeking for the truth.
The main attack of both of these men was directed against the miracles
of the Bible. It was very evident that, the Divine authority of the
Bible being overthrown, the whole structure of the Christian religion
and morality must pass away. Mr. Parton, in his admirable Life of
Franklin, says,
"Any one who will turn over an edition of Shaftsbury, and
try to read it with the mind of this merry and receptive
printer's boy, will perceive how entirely captivating it
must have been to him. The raillery that was always the
raillery of a gentleman; the irony so delicate as really to
deceive some men who passed for acute; the fine urbanity
that pervades even the passages called severe; the genuine
reverence of the author for virtue; the spectacle revealed
of a man uniting in himself all that is good in sense, with
all that is agreeable in the man of the world,--how pleasing
it must all have been to our inky apprentice as he munched
his noon-day crust."
The practical creed of Collins and Shaftsbury, so far as it can be
gleaned from the obscurity of their brilliant pages, consisted in
the entire renunciation of all that is deemed the spirituality of
the Christian creed, and the simple enforcement of the ordinary
principles of morality in man's intercourse with his brother man. In
substance they said,
"Be truthful and honest. Do not openly oppose the
institutions of Christianity, for that will render you
obnoxious to your neighbors. Conform to the ordinary usages
of the society in the midst of which you move; and as to
creeds, let them alone as unworthy of a moment's thought."
Franklin, at sixteen years of age, became a thorough convert to these
views. He was virtually without any God. He had no rule of life but
his own instincts; but those instincts were of a high order,
emboldening his character and restraining him from all vulgar vice.
Thus he wandered for many years; though there are many indications of
an occasionally troubled mind, and though he at times struggled with
great eagerness to obtain a higher state of moral perfection, he
certainly never developed the character of a warm-hearted and devoted
follower of Jesus.[4]
[Footnote 4: "For some years he wandered in heathenish darkness.
He forsook the safe and good though narrow way of his forefathers,
and of his father and mother, and his gentle Uncle Benjamin, without
finding better and larger ways of his own. He was in danger of
becoming a castaway or a commonplace successful man of the world.
He found in due time, after many trials, and much suffering and
many grievous errors, that the soul of a man does not thrive
upon negations, and that, in very truth a man must _believe_
in order that he may be saved."--_Parton's Life of Franklin, Vol. I,
p. 71._]
James Franklin was prosperous in his business. On the 17th of August,
1721, he issued the first number of a newspaper entitled "The New
England Courant." Benjamin set the type, struck off the impression
of two or three hundred, with a hand-press, and then traversed
the streets, carrying the diminutive sheet to the homes of the
subscribers. The Courant soon attracted attention. A knot of sparkling
writers began to contribute to its columns, and while the paper was
with increasing eagerness sought for, a clamor was soon raised against
it. It was denounced as radical in its political tendencies, and as
speaking contemptuously of the institutions of religion. Cotton
Mather, even, launched one of his thunderbolts against it. He wrote,
"We find a notorious, scandalous paper called 'The Courant'
full freighted with nonsense, unmanliness, raillery,
profaneness, immorality, arrogance, calumnies, lies,
contradictions and what not, all tending to quarrels and
divisions, and to debauch and corrupt the mind and manners
of New England."
Increase Mather also denounced the paper, in terms still more
emphatic.
At this time a strong antipathy was springing up between James, and
his apprentice brother. James assumed the airs of a master, and was
arrogant and domineering, at times in his anger proceeding even to
blows. Benjamin was opinionated, headstrong and very unwilling to
yield to another's guidance. As Benjamin compared his own compositions
with those which were sent to the Courant, he was convinced that he
could write as well, if not better, than others. He, therefore, one
evening prepared an article, before he was sixteen years of age,
which, with the greatest care, was written in pure Addisonian diction.
Disguising his hand, he slipped this at night under the door of the
printing office. The next morning several contributors were chatting
together in the editorial office, as Benjamin stood at the printing
case setting his types. The anonymous article was read and freely
commented upon. The young writer was delighted in finding it highly
commended, and in their guesses for the author, the names of the most
distinguished men in Boston were mentioned.
The singular nom de plume he assumed was "Silence Dogood." Over that
signature he wrote many articles before it was ascertained that he was
the author. These articles attracted so much attention that young
Benjamin could not refrain from claiming their paternity. This led his
brother and others to regard him with far more respect than
heretofore.
But the Courant, while popular with the masses, became unpopular with
the governmental authorities and with the religious community. As a
slap in the face of the government, a fictitious letter was written,
professedly from Newport, stating that a piratic ship had appeared off
the coast, plundering, burning, and destroying. It was then stated
that the government of Massachusetts was fitting out an armed vessel
to attack the pirate, and that, wind and weather permitting, the
vessel would sail from Boston sometime during the month.
This reflection upon the dilatoriness of government gave great
offence. The members of the Council summoned Franklin before them to
answer for the libel. He admitted that he was the publisher of the
paper, but refused to give the name of the writer. The Council decided
that the paragraph was a high affront to the government, and ordered
his imprisonment in the Boston jail. Here he was incarcerated for a
week. Crushed by his misfortunes he wrote a very humble letter stating
that his close confinement endangered his life, and begging that he
might enjoy the liberty of the jail-yard. His request was granted, and
for three weeks more he remained a prisoner, though with daily
permission to leave his cell.
During this time Benjamin conducted the paper, editing it, setting
the type, printing the sheets and distributing the copies to the
subscribers. He was still but a boy of sixteen. James was eventually
released from prison, but the general character of the Courant
remained unchanged. Unworthy professors of Christianity were
incessantly assailed. The virtues of true Christians--of the
multitudes of the disciples of Jesus, who were mothers in Israel, or
who were Israelites indeed in whom there was no guile, were forgotten;
while every mean and contemptible act of hypocrites and apostates was
proclaimed with trumpet resonance.
At length the Council declared in reference to a peculiarly obnoxious
copy of the paper, that the Courant of that date contained many
passages perverting the Holy Scriptures, and slandering the civil
government, the ministers, and the good people of the land. A
committee of three was appointed to report upon the matter. After two
days they brought in the following decision:
"We are humbly of opinion that the tendency of said paper, is
to mock religion and bring it into contempt; that the Holy
Scriptures are therein profanely abused; that the revered and
faithful ministers of the Gospel are ignominiously reflected
on; and that His Majesty's government is affronted; and the
peace and good order of His Majesty's subjects of this
province disturbed by this said Courant."
The committee, therefore, proposed that James Franklin should be
strictly forbidden to print or publish the Courant, or any other paper
of the like nature, unless it were supervised by the secretary of the
province.
James Franklin and his friends, after this decision, met in the office
of the Courant, and adroitly decided to evade the mandate by canceling
the indentures of apprenticeship of Benjamin, and constituting him the
editor and publisher of the journal. This precocious lad prepared his
inaugural. It contained the following sentiments:
"Long has the press groaned in bringing forth a hateful brood
of pamphlets, malicious scribbles, and billingsgate ribaldry.
No generous and impartial person then can blame the present
undertaking which is designed purely for the diversion and
merriment of the reader. Pieces of pleasantry and mirth have
a secret charm in them to allay the heats and tumults of our
spirits, and to make a man forget his restless resentment.
The main design of this weekly paper will be to entertain the
town with the most comical and diverting incidents of human
life, which in so large a place as Boston will not fail of a
universal exemplification. Nor shall we be wanting to fill up
these papers with a grateful interspersion of more serious
morals which may be drawn from the most ludicrous and odd
parts of life."
It cannot be denied that Franklin aimed his keen shafts at many of the
best of men who were consecrating all their energies to the promotion
of the physical, moral, and religious welfare of their fellow
creatures. He had a keen eye to search out their frailties; and though
he seldom if ever, dipped his pen in gall, he did at times succeed in
making them the song of the drunkard, and in turning against them the
derision of all the lewd fellows of the baser sort.
Benjamin, elated by flattery and success, admits that at seventeen
years of age he became in his treatment of his brother "saucy and
provoking." James was increasingly jealous and exacting. At length a
very violent quarrel arose between them. The elder brother even
undertook to chastise his younger brother, whom he still affected to
regard as his apprentice. The canceling of the terms of indenture, he
regarded as a secret act, intended merely to outwit his opponent.
Franklin, burning with indignation, resolved no longer to continue in
his brother's employment, and went to several other printers in
Boston, hoping to enter into a new engagement. But his brother had
preceded him, giving his own version of the story, and even declaring
his brilliant brother to be an infidel and an atheist.
Benjamin resolved to run away; for he still felt the binding
obligation of his apprenticeship, while he tried to satisfy his mind
that the unjust conduct of James entitled him to violate the
obligation. There was a vessel about to sail for New York. He sold
some of his books to pay his passage; and going on board secretly at
night, he solicited the captain to aid him in concealing him, with the
_false_ statement that he had become involved in a love adventure with
a young girl; that she had subsequently proved to be a bad character;
that her friends insisted on his marrying her; and that his only
refuge was to be found in flight.
His passage to New York was swift and pleasant. It is said that having
adopted the vegetarian diet, he doubted our right to deprive an animal
of life for our own gratification in eating. The sloop was one day
becalmed off Block Island. The crew found it splendid fishing ground;
the deck was soon covered with cod and haddock. Franklin denounced
catching the fishes, as murderous, as no one could affirm that these
fishes, so happy in the water, had ever conferred any injury upon
their captors. But Benjamin was blessed with a voracious appetite. The
frying pan was busy, and the odor from the fresh fish was exceedingly
alluring. As he watched a sailor cutting open a fish, he observed in
its stomach a smaller fish, which the cod had evidently eaten.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, "if you can eat one another, I surely have a right
to eat you."
All his scruples vanished. He sat down with the rest to the sumptuous
repast, and never after seemed to have any hesitancy in gratifying his
appetite.
Benjamin tells this story in his autobiography, and shrewdly adds,
quoting from some one else,
"So convenient a thing it is to be a _reasonable_ creature,
since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything
one has a mind to do."
It was in the beautiful month of October, 1723, when Benjamin landed
on the wharves of New York. He was not quite eighteen years of age;
had but little money in his purse; and was without any letter of
recommendation or any acquaintance in the town. The place consisted of
but seven or eight thousand inhabitants. The streets were the crooked
lanes which we still find in the vicinity of the Battery. Some of the
most important were uncomfortably paved with cobble stones. Most of
the inhabitants were Dutch, reading and speaking only the Dutch
language. There was at that time indeed, but little encouragement for
an English printer. There was but one bookstore then in New York; and
but one printing office, which was conducted by William Bradford.
The runaway apprentice could find no employment. But William Bradford
had a son in Philadelphia who was also a printer. He said to Benjamin,
"He may employ you, as he has recently lost an apprentice by death."
Leaving his chest of clothes to go round by sea to Philadelphia,
Benjamin took passage in a small dilapidated shore boat which crept
along the coast to Amboy. A drunken Dutchman was his only fellow
passenger. The gloom of the primeval forest overshadowed Governor's
Island: not a single cabin as yet had been reared in its solitudes. A
squall struck the boat, split its sail, and pitched the Dutchman
overboard. Franklin caught him by the hair and saved him from
drowning. The sudden tempest increased into a storm, and the boat was
driven fiercely before the gale. The surf dashed so violently upon the
shore that they could not venture to land. Night approached.
Exhausted, drenched and hungry, they cast anchor near the Long Island
shore, where a bend in the land afforded them slight protection while
still they were in great danger. There were one or two log cabins in
the vicinity. Several of the men came to the shore, but could afford
them no relief. They had no provision on board excepting a single
bottle of bad rum. All night long the tempest beat upon them. In the
morning the wind had so far lulled that they were enabled to repair
their sail, and to work their way on to Amboy.
It was late in the afternoon when they reached the port. For thirty
hours they had been without food or water. Such were the perils of a
passage from New York to Philadelphia in the year 1723.
Franklin, in the enjoyment of magnificent health, slept quietly that
night in an humble inn, and awoke in the morning with all his
accustomed vigor. There were still fifty miles of land travel before
him, ere he could cross the forest covered plains of New Jersey to
Burlington, on the banks of the Delaware, which were seventeen miles
above Philadelphia. There was neither railroad, stage-coach nor cart
to convey him through the wilderness. Indeed it was thirty-three years
after this before the first line of stages across New Jersey was
established. There was a rude path, probably following an ancient
Indian trail, along which our solitary adventurer trudged on foot. It
rained; but still Benjamin found it necessary, having so slender a
purse, to press on regardless of discomfort.
Early in the afternoon he came to a hamlet, by the roadside, where he
found himself so exhausted by the unaccustomed toil of walking, and by
exposure to the rain and the miry roads, that he felt it necessary to
remain until the next morning. The aspect he presented was shabby and
dilapidated in the extreme; for he was in his working dress, which by
the wear and tear of travel had become greatly soiled and tattered. He
was not a little mortified to find that the inhabitants of the cabin,
while they treated him kindly, evidently regarded him with suspicion
as a runaway apprentice.
In the gloom of that night, poor Benjamin bitterly repented the step
he had taken, and earnestly wished himself back again in the home
which he had forsaken. Clouds and darkness had gathered around his
path and he could see but little bright beyond. Early the next morning
he resumed his travels, pressing vigorously along all day. When the
shades of night enveloped him he had reached a point within ten miles
of Burlington. He passed the night comfortably in a settler's cabin,
and early the next morning pressed on to the little village of
Burlington, from which he was informed that a boat started every
Saturday, to descend the still silent and almost unfrequented shores
of the Delaware to Philadelphia. Much to his disappointment he reached
Burlington just after the regular Saturday boat had gone, and was
informed that there was no other boat to leave until the next Tuesday.
He made his united breakfast and dinner upon gingerbread, which he
bought in the street of an old woman.
Burlington was on the east side of the river, Philadelphia was on the
west. There was no road between the two places, the communication
being by the river only. It seemed impossible for Benjamin to toil
that distance through the pathless, tangled forest. He had but five
shillings in his pocket. With the utmost economy that would not defray
his expenses at Burlington, for three days, and leave a sufficient sum
to pay his passage down the river.
In his distress and perplexity, our young philosopher, whose renown
for wisdom subsequently filled all Christian lands, turned back to the
poor, aged woman of whom he had bought his gingerbread and solicited
her advice. The good old soul, not insensible to the charms of the
frank and manly looking boy, with motherly tenderness insisted on his
going to her own humble home. Gladly he accepted the invitation. The
dinner consisted of what is called ox-cheek; Franklin contributed a
pot of beer.
Walking out early in the evening upon the banks of the river, he
found, to his great joy, a chance boat had come along, bound to
Philadelphia and containing many passengers. Eagerly Franklin joined
them, and bidding adieu to his kind entertainer, was soon drifting
slowly down the stream. The night was dark, there was no wind, and no
cheerful gleam from the white man's cabin or the Indian's wigwam met
the eye. It was necessary to resort to rowing. At length, a little
after midnight, several of the passengers insisted that they must have
passed Philadelphia without seeing it, and refused to row any farther.
They therefore ran the boat into a little creek, built a rousing fire,
for the night was damp and chill, and ranging themselves around its
genial warmth awaited the dawn of the morning. The light revealed to
them Philadelphia but a few miles below them. It was Sunday morning.
At nine o'clock the boat was made fast at Market street wharf, and
Franklin, with one silver dollar and one shilling in copper coin in
his pocket, stepped on shore. All his copper coin he paid for his
passage.
Such was the introduction of the future Governor of Pennsylvania to
the realm over which he was eventually to preside as Governor, and of
which he became its most illustrious citizen.
He was unquestionably dressed in the peculiar and picturesque costume
of the times. He wore knee breeches of buckskin, and a voluminous
overcoat, lined with pockets of astonishing capacity, which pockets
were crammed with shirts and stockings. A low, battered, broad-brimmed
hat covered his clustering ringlets. His coarse woolen stockings
displayed to advantage the admirably moulded calves of his legs.
Every article of this costume was draggled, shabby, soiled, and much
of it tattered.
With an indescribable feeling of loneliness, exhausted with the
toilsome and sleepless night, and with the cravings of hunger, he
sauntered up into the town. Coming across a baker's shop, he stepped
in, and called for three pennyworth of bread. In Philadelphia, food
was abundant and bread was cheap. To his surprise three long rolls
were given to him. He took one under each arm, and in his hunger the
homeless boy walked along devouring the other. Philadelphia was then a
village widely spread out, with surrounding vegetable gardens, and
containing a population of about seven thousand inhabitants.
Benjamin walked listlessly along as far as Fourth street. He chanced
to pass the house of a Mr. Read, whose very pretty daughter, Deborah,
was standing at the front door. She was eighteen years of age, and was
much amused at the comical appearance which the young man presented as
he passed by.
[Illustration]
It is not easy to imagine in these days, the state of society in these
early settlements, hewn out from the forests on the river's banks, and
with the unexplored wilderness spreading out to unimagined regions
in the interior. At night, even from the houses of the village, the
howling of the wolves could be heard as they rushed after their prey.
Bears and deers were shot in abundance. And Indian bands, painted and
plumed, were ever swarming through the streets.
Franklin walked along, devouring his rolls, and returned to the river
for a drink of water. Such was his first breakfast in Philadelphia. In
the boat was a poor woman with her child. Franklin gave to her the two
remaining rolls, which he could not conveniently carry about with him.
Not knowing what to do, and led by curiosity to explore the town, he
returned to Market street, then one of the chief avenues of the city.
It was a little after ten o'clock in the morning. The street was
crowded with well-dressed people, pressing along to church. There was
one important edifice called the "Great Meeting House" of the Quakers.
It stood at the corner of Second and Market streets.
Franklin joined the crowd, and took his seat with the vast assembly.
He soon fell soundly asleep. The hour passed away. The congregation
dispersed, and Benjamin was left still asleep. Some one then kindly
awoke the tired traveler, and he again stepped out into the streets so
lonely, where there was not an individual whom he knew, and where
almost without money he could find no refuge which he could call a
home.
As he walked toward the river, he met a young Quaker whose countenance
pleased him. Of him he inquired where he could find a respectable and
comfortable lodging. The friendly Quaker led him to a tavern, near
Chestnut street, called the "Crooked Billet." Franklin ordered a
frugal dinner, threw himself upon the bed, and slept till supper time,
and immediately after supper went to bed and slept soundly till the
morning.
He had now been from home eleven days. His money was nearly expended.
His clothes were worn; and almost the only hope remaining was the very
visionary one that Mr. Bradford's son might possibly have some
employment for him. Early in the morning he carefully brushed his
travel-worn clothes, his shoes, his hat, and making himself as
respectable in appearance as possible, went to the house of the
printer, Andrew Bradford. To his surprise and gratification he found
the father there, who had just arrived, having traveled from New York
to Philadelphia on horseback.
Benjamin met with a courteous reception, was invited to breakfast. He
was, however, greatly disappointed in being informed that Andrew
Bradford had just engaged another apprentice to take the place of the
one who was lost. Mr. Bradford, however, stated that there was a man,
by the name of Keimer, who had recently commenced the printing
business in the town, and might have employment for him. The old
gentleman kindly offered to go to the office with Benjamin, and
introduce him to Keimer.
They found Keimer a very eccentric looking individual, in a small
office, with an old dilapidated press, and with a few worn-out types.
He asked the young man a few questions, put a composing stick into his
hands, and professed himself satisfied with his work. He then told
Franklin that he could find no work for him immediately, but he
thought ere long he could employ him. It seems, however, that at once
Benjamin went to work, repairing the dilapidated old press, while he
continued to board at Mr. Bradford's, paying for his board by the work
which he performed.