Benjamin Franklin and Aid from France
[1706-1790]
[Illustration: Benjamin Franklin.]
American independence, the beginnings of which we have just been
considering, was accomplished after a long struggle. Many brave men
fought on the battle-field, and many who never shouldered a musket or
drew a sword exerted a powerful influence for the good of the patriot
cause. One of these men was Benjamin Franklin.
He was born in Boston in 1706, the fifteenth child in a family of
seventeen children. His father was a candle-maker and soap-boiler.
Intending to make a clergyman of Benjamin, he sent him, at eight years
of age, to a grammar-school, with the purpose of fitting him for
college. The boy made rapid progress, but before the end of his first
school-year his father took him out on account of the expense, and put
him into a school where he would learn more practical subjects, such as
writing and arithmetic. The last study proved very difficult for him.
Two years later, at the age of ten, he had to go into his father's shop.
Here he spent his time in cutting wicks for the candles, filling the
moulds with tallow, selling soap in the shop, and acting the part of
errand-boy.
Many times he had watched the vessels sailing in and out of Boston
Harbor, and often in imagination had gone with them on their journeys.
Now he longed to become a sailor, and, quitting the drudgery of the
candle-shop, to roam out over the sea in search of more interesting
life. But his father wisely refused to let him go. His fondness for the
sea, however, took him frequently to the water, and he learned to swim
like a fish and to row and sail boats with great skill. In these sports,
as in others, he became a leader among his playmates.
With all his dislike for the business of candle-making and soap-boiling,
and with all his fondness for play, he was faithful in doing everything
that his father's business required. His industry, together with his
liking for good books and his keen desire for knowledge, went far toward
supplying the lack of school-training. He spent most of his leisure in
reading, and devoted his savings to collecting a small library.
His father, noting his bookish habits, decided to apprentice Benjamin to
his older brother, James, a printer in Boston. Benjamin was to serve
until he was twenty-one and to receive no wages until the last year. In
this position he was able to see more of books, and made good use of
his opportunities. Often he would read, far into the night, a borrowed
book that had to be returned in the morning. He also wrote some verses
and peddled them about the streets, until his father discouraged him by
ridiculing his efforts.
About this time, in order to get money for books, he told his brother
that he would be willing to board himself on half the money the board
had been costing. To this his brother agreed, and Benjamin lived on a
very meagre diet. Remaining in the printing-office at noon, he ate such
a simple lunch as a biscuit or slice of bread and a bunch or two of
raisins. As a meal like this required but little time, young Franklin
could spend most of the noon hour in reading. By living thus he easily
saved half of what his brother allowed him, and at once spent his
savings in books.
This youth was never idle, because he put a high value upon time; he was
never wasteful of money, because he knew the easiest way to make money
was to save what he had. These were qualities which helped Benjamin
Franklin to get on in the world.
But during this period of his life he had great hardships to bear, for
his brother was a stern taskmaster, and was so hot-tempered that he
would sometimes beat Benjamin cruelly. No doubt the young apprentice was
sometimes at fault. Be that as it may, the two brothers had so many
disagreements that Benjamin determined to run away and seek his fortune
elsewhere.
Having sold some of his books to get a little money, at the age of
seventeen, he secured a passage on board a sloop for New York. Upon his
arrival, friendless and almost penniless, he began to visit the
printing-offices in search of work. But failing to find any, and being
told that he would be more likely to succeed in Philadelphia, he decided
to go to that city.
[Illustration: Franklin's Journey from New York to Philadelphia.]
To-day, the journey from New York to Philadelphia, a distance of ninety
miles, can be made in two hours. But, of course, in Franklin's time
there were no railroads, and it was a more difficult undertaking.
He first had to go by a sail-boat from New York to Amboy, on the New
Jersey coast. On the way a storm came up, which tore the sails and drove
the boat to the Long Island shore. All night Franklin lay in the hold,
while the waves dashed angrily over the boat. At length, after thirty
hours, during which he was without food or water, he was landed at
Amboy.
As he had no money to spare for coach hire, he started to walk, along
rough country roads, the fifty miles across New Jersey to Burlington.
For over two days he trudged along in a downpour of rain. At the end of
his first day's journey he was so wet and mud-spattered, and had such
an appearance of neglect, that on reaching an inn, there was talk of
arresting him for a runaway servant.
Having arrived at Burlington, he was still twenty miles from
Philadelphia, and boarded a boat for the remainder of his journey. As
there was no wind, the passengers had to take turns at the oars, and in
this way they continued down the Delaware until midnight. Then fearing
they might pass the town in the darkness--streets not being lighted in
those days--they landed, made a fire out of some fence-rails, and waited
for morning.
The next day, which was Sunday, they reached Philadelphia, and young
Franklin, poorly clad and travel-soiled, with only a little money in his
pocket, was making his way alone through the streets of Philadelphia.
But he was cheerful and full of hope. His health was strong, and he was
hungry for his breakfast. Going to a baker's shop he bought three large
rolls, and, his pockets being already stuffed with shirts and stockings,
he tucked one roll under each arm, and walked up Market Street eating
the third. His ludicrous appearance afforded much amusement to a certain
Deborah Read, who stood at the door of her father's house as he passed
by. Little did she think that this strange-looking fellow would one day
become the greatest man in Philadelphia and even in Pennsylvania. Little
did she think that one day, not many years after that morning she would
become his wife. Both these things came to pass.
Having eaten as much as he wished, he continued up the street, giving
the two other rolls to a woman and a child who had come on the boat with
him.
In a short time he found work with one of the two master-printers in
Philadelphia. One day, while at work in the printing-office, he received
a call from Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania. Governor
Keith's attention had been directed to this seventeen-year-old youth by
Franklin's brother-in-law, and he called on this occasion to urge him to
start a printing-press of his own.
[Illustration: Franklin in the Streets of Philadelphia.]
When Franklin said he had not the money to buy a printing-press and
type, the Governor offered to write a letter for Franklin to take to his
father in Boston, asking him to furnish the loan. The following spring
Franklin took the letter to his father, but the father refused to lend
him the money.
Upon Franklin's return to Philadelphia Governor Keith advised him to go
to England to select the printing-press and other things necessary for
the business outfit, promising to provide funds. Franklin took him at
his word, and sailed for London, expecting to secure the money upon his
arrival there. But the faithless Governor failed to keep his word, and
Franklin was again stranded in a strange city.
Without friends and without money he once more found work in a
printing-office, where he remained during the two years of his stay in
London. Here, in his manliness and strength, he was very different from
the printers with whom he worked. They spent much of their money in
beer-drinking, and when Franklin refused to drink with them, they made
fun of him, by calling him a water-American. But the young man who had
lived upon a simple diet in order to buy books was not disturbed by such
taunts.
After two years he returned to Philadelphia, where, four years later, he
married Miss Read. In the meantime he had set up in the printing
business for himself, but in so doing had to carry a heavy debt. He
worked early and late to pay it off, sometimes making his own ink and
casting his own type. He would also at times go with a wheel-barrow to
bring to the printing-office the paper he needed.
His wife assisted him by selling stationery in his shop as well as by
saving in the household, where the furnishings and food were very
simple. Franklin's usual breakfast was milk and bread, which he ate out
of a wooden porringer with a pewter spoon. In time, when their money was
more plentiful, his wife gave him a China bowl and a silver spoon. On
observing how hard Franklin worked, people said, "There is a man who
will surely succeed. Let us help him."
In all these years of struggle Franklin was cheerful and light-hearted.
This was no doubt largely owing to his natural disposition, but in part
also to his healthful reading habits, which took him into a world
outside of himself. No matter where he was or what the stress of his
business, he found time to read and improve himself. He also adopted
rules of conduct, some of which, in substance, are: Be temperate; speak
honestly; be orderly about your work; do not waste anything; never be
idle; when you decide to do anything, do it with a brave heart.
Some of the wisest things Franklin ever said appeared in his Almanac,
which he called "Poor Richard's Almanac." Beginning when he was
twenty-six years of age, he published it yearly for twenty-five years,
building up a very large circulation. It contained many homely maxims,
which are as good to-day as they were in Franklin's time. Here are a few
of them:
"God helps them that help themselves."
"Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
"There are no gains without pains."
"One to-day is worth two to-morrows."
"Little strokes fell great oaks."
"Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee."
Franklin always had a deep interest in the public welfare. He started a
subscription library in Philadelphia and established an academy, which
finally grew into the University of Pennsylvania. Having a decidedly
practical turn of mind, he had great influence in organizing a better
police force and a better fire department. He invented the Franklin
stove, which soon became popular because it was so much better than the
open fireplace. But the most wonderful thing he ever did was proving
that lightning was the same thing as electricity.
Before he made this discovery, men of science had learned how to store
up electricity in what is called a Leyden jar. But Franklin wished to
find out something about the lightning which flashed across the clouds
during a thunder-storm. Therefore, making a kite out of silk and
fastening to it a small iron rod, he attached to the kite and to the
iron rod a string made of hemp.
One day when a thunder-cloud was coming up he went out with his little
son and took his stand under a shelter in the open field. At one end of
the hempen string was fastened an iron key, and to this was tied a
silken string, which Franklin held in his hand. As electricity will not
run through silk, by using this silken string he protected himself
against the electric current.
[Illustration: Franklin Experimenting with Electricity.]
When the kite rose high into the air, Franklin watched intently to see
what might follow. After a while the fibres of the hempen string began
to move, and then, putting his knuckles near the key, Franklin drew
forth sparks of electricity. He was delighted, for he had proved that
the lightning in the clouds was the same thing as the electricity that
men of science could make with machines.
It was a great discovery and made Benjamin Franklin famous. From some of
the leading universities of Europe he received the title of _Doctor_,
and he was now recognized as one of the great men of the world.
Franklin rendered his country distinguished public services, only a few
of which we can here mention. More than twenty years before the outbreak
of the Revolution, he perceived that the principal source of weakness
among the colonies was their lack of union. With this great weakness in
mind, Franklin proposed, in 1754, at a time when the French were
threatening to cut off the English from the Ohio Valley, his famous
"Plan of Union." Although it failed, it prepared the colonies for union
in the struggle against King George and the English Parliament.
Ten years after proposing the "Plan of Union" Franklin was sent to
England, at the time of the agitation over the Stamp Act, to make a
strenuous effort to prevent its passage. He was unsuccessful in
accomplishing his mission, but later did much toward securing the repeal
of the Stamp Act.
Returning from England two weeks after the battle of Lexington and
Concord, he immediately took a prominent part in the Revolution. He was
one of the five appointed as a committee to write the Declaration of
Independence, and during the discussion over that remarkable State
paper, it was he that said, "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or
assuredly we shall all hang separately."
[Illustration: Lafayette Offering His Services to Franklin]
After the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, he
was sent to France to secure aid for the American cause. The French
people gave him a cordial reception. There were feasts and parades in
his honor, crowds followed him on the streets, and his pictures were
everywhere displayed. The simplicity and directness of this white-haired
man of seventy years charmed the French people, and won for him a warm
place in their hearts. On one of the great occasions a very beautiful
woman was appointed to place a crown of laurel upon his white locks,
"and to give the old man two kisses on his cheeks." All this was a
sincere expression of admiration and esteem. He did very much to secure
from France the aid which that country gave to us. He indeed rendered to
his country services[11] whose value may well be compared with those of
Washington.
[11] Franklin was one of the three commissioners to make a treaty
with England at the close of the Revolution. The two other
commissioners were John Adams and John Jay. They were all men
of remarkable ability, and their united effort secured a
treaty of peace highly favorable to their country. But, as
in many other brilliant political achievements in which
Franklin took part, his delicate tact was a strong force.
Franklin left France in 1785, after having ably represented his country
for ten years. All France was sorry to have him leave. Since it was hard
for him to endure the motion of a carriage, the King sent one of the
Queen's litters in which he was carried to the coast. He also bore with
him a portrait of the King of France "framed in a double circle of four
hundred and eight diamonds."
Although in his last years he had to endure much idleness and pain, yet
he was uniformly patient and cheerful, loving life to the end. He died
in 1790, at the age of eighty-four, one of the greatest of American
statesmen and heroes.
REVIEW OUTLINE
FRANKLIN'S SCHOOL-LIFE.
BENJAMIN IN HIS FATHER'S SHOP.
HIS FONDNESS FOR THE SEA.
BOOKISH HABITS.
FRANKLIN BOARDS HIMSELF.
HE RUNS AWAY FROM HOME.
HIS JOURNEY FROM NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA.
IN A PRINTING-OFFICE AGAIN.
HIS MANLINESS.
IN BUSINESS FOR HIMSELF.
ECONOMY AND SIMPLICITY IN LIVING.
"POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC."
FRANKLIN'S PUBLIC SPIRIT.
HIS GREAT DISCOVERY.
FRANKLIN THE STATESMAN.
HIS "PLAN OF UNION."
FRANKLIN IN FRANCE.
HIS LAST YEARS.
TO THE PUPIL
1. Give an account of Franklin's bookish habits, and of his
experiences on the journey from Boston to Philadelphia, when he
ran away from home.
2. How do you explain the success in life of this poor boy? In
making your explanation think of all his strong traits of
character and of all his good habits.
3. What simple ways of living did Franklin adopt when he was
trying hard to pay his debts?
4. Memorize the "Rules of Conduct" and the six homely maxims.
5. Tell about Franklin's experiment with the kite. What great
discovery did he make at this time?
6. What did Franklin have to do with the following: the Stamp
Act; the Declaration of Independence; securing aid from France?
7. How was he treated by the French people and their King?