inclinations you mention, and if I did, I think I should not
communicate it to you. Marriage is the _proper_ remedy. It is
the most natural state of man, and, therefore, the state in
which you are most likely to find solid happiness. Your reasons
against entering it at present appear to me not well founded.
The circumstantial advantages you have in view of postponing it
are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with
that of the thing itself.
"It is the man and woman united that make the complete human
being. Separate she wants his force of body and strength of
reason. He her softness, sensibility, and acute discernment.
Together they are more likely to succeed in the world. A single
man has not nearly the value he would have in a state of union.
He is an incomplete animal. He resembles the odd half of a pair
of scissors. If you get a prudent, healthy wife, your industry
in your profession, with her good economy will be a fortune
sufficient.
"But if you will not take this counsel, and persist in thinking
a commerce with the sex inevitable, then I repeat my former
advice, that in all your amours you should _prefer old women to
young ones_. You call this a paradox and demand my reasons. They
are these:
"1st. Because they have more knowledge of the world, and their
minds are better stored with observations; their conversation is
more improving and more lastingly agreeable.
"2d. Because when women cease to be handsome, they study to be
good. To maintain their influence over men, they supply the
diminution of beauty by an augmentation of utility. They learn
to do a thousand services, small and great, and are the most
tender and useful of all friends when you are sick. Thus they
continue amiable, and hence there is scarcely such a thing to be
found as an old woman who is not a good woman.
"3d. Because there is no hazard of children, which, irregularly
produced, may be attended with much inconvenience.
"4th. Because, through more experience, they are more prudent
and discreet in conducting an intrigue to prevent suspicion. The
commerce with them is therefore safe with regard to your
reputation and with regard to theirs. If the affair should
happen to be known, considerate people might be rather inclined
to excuse an old woman who would kindly take care of a young
man, form his manners by her good counsels, and prevent his
ruining his health and fortunes among mercenary prostitutes.
"5th....
"6th....
"7th. Because the compunction is less. The having made a young
girl miserable may give you frequent bitter reflections, none of
which can attend the making an _old_ woman _happy_.
"8th and lastly....
"Thus much for my paradox, but I still advise you to marry
directly, being sincerely,
"Your Affectionate Friend,
"B. F."
Franklin, however, was capable of the most courteous gallantry to
ladies. In France he delighted the most distinguished women of the court
by his compliments and witticisms. When about fifty years old he wrote
some letters to Miss Catharine Ray, of Rhode Island, which, as coming
from an elderly man to a bright young girl who was friendly with him and
told him her love-affairs, are extremely interesting. One of them about
his wife we have already quoted. In a letter to him Miss Ray had asked,
"How do you do and what are you doing? Does everybody still love you,
and how do you make them do so?" After telling her about his health, he
said,--
"As to the second question, I must confess (but don't you be
jealous), that many more people love me now than ever did
before; for since I saw you, I have been able to do some general
services to the country and to the army, for which both have
thanked and praised me, and say they love me. They say so, as
you used to do; and if I were to ask any favors of them, they
would, perhaps, as readily refuse me; so that I find little real
advantage in being beloved, but it pleases my humor."
On another occasion he wrote to her,--
"Persons subject to the _hyp_ complain of the northeast wind as
increasing their malady. But since you promised to send me
kisses in that wind, and I find you as good as your word, it is
to me the gayest wind that blows, and gives me the best spirits.
I write this during a northeast storm of snow, the greatest we
have had this winter. Your favors come mixed with the snowy
fleeces, which are pure as your virgin innocence, white as your
lovely bosom, and--as cold. But let it warm towards some worthy
young man, and may Heaven bless you both with every kind of
happiness."
He had another young friend to whom he wrote pretty letters, Miss Mary
Stevenson, daughter of the Mrs. Stevenson in whose house he lived in
London when on his diplomatic missions to England. He encouraged her in
scientific study, and some of his most famous explanations of the
operations of nature are to be found in letters written to her. He had
hoped that she would marry his son William, but William's fancy strayed
elsewhere.
"PORTSMOUTH, 11 August, 1762.
"MY DEAR POLLY
"This is the best paper I can get at this wretched inn, but it
will convey what is intrusted to it as faithfully as the finest.
It will tell my Polly how much her friend is afflicted that he
must perhaps never again see one for whom he has so sincere an
affection, joined to so perfect an esteem; who he once flattered
himself might become his own, in the tender relation of a child,
but can now entertain such pleasing hopes no more. Will it tell
_how much_ he is afflicted? No, it cannot.
"Adieu, my dearest child. I will call you so. Why should I not
call you so, since I love you with all the tenderness of a
father? Adieu. May the God of all goodness shower down his
choicest blessings upon you, and make you infinitely happier
than that event would have made you...."
(Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 209.)
This correspondence with Miss Stevenson continued for a great many
years, and there are beautiful letters to her scattered all through his
published works. The letters both to her and to Miss Ray became more
serious as the two young women grew older and married. Miss Stevenson
sought his advice on the question of her marriage, and his reply was as
wise and affectionate as anything he ever wrote. She married Dr. Hewson,
of London, and they migrated to Philadelphia, where she became the
mother of a numerous family.
Franklin had a younger sister, Jane, a pretty girl, afterwards Mrs.
Mecom, of whom he was very fond, and he kept up a correspondence with
her all his life, sending presents to her at Boston, helping her son to
earn a livelihood, and giving her assistance in her old age. Their
letters to each other were most homely and loving, and she took the
greatest pride in his increasing fame.
His correspondence with his parents was also pleasant and familiar. In
one of his letters to his mother he amuses her by accounts of her
grandchildren, and at the same time pays a compliment to his sister
Jane.
"As to your grandchildren, Will is now nineteen years of age, a
tall, proper youth, and much of a beau. He acquired a habit of
idleness on the Expedition, but begins of late to apply himself
to business, and I hope will become an industrious man. He
imagined his father had got enough for him, but I have assured
him that I intend to spend what little I have myself, if it
pleases God that I live long enough; and, as he by no means
wants acuteness, he can see by my going on that I mean to be as
good as my word.
"Sally grows a fine girl, and is extremely industrious with her
needle, and delights in her work. She is of a most affectionate
temper, and perfectly dutiful and obliging to her parents, and
to all. Perhaps I flatter myself too much, but I have hopes that
she will prove an ingenious, sensible, notable and worthy woman
like her aunt Jenny." (Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. ii. p.
154.)
Over the grave of his parents in the Granary Burial-Ground in Boston he
placed a stone, and prepared for it one of those epitaphs in which he
was so skilful and which were almost poems:
Josiah Franklin and Abiah his wife
lie here interred.
They lived together in wedlock fifty-five years;
and without an estate or any gainful employment,
by constant labour, and honest industry,
(with God's blessing,)
maintained a large family comfortably;
and brought up thirteen children and seven grandchildren reputably.
From this instance, reader,
be encouraged to diligence in thy calling,
and distrust not Providence.
He was a pious and prudent man,
she a discreet and virtuous woman.
Their youngest son,
in filial regard to their memory,
places this stone.
J. F. born 1655--died 1744,--Æ. 89.
A. F. born 1667--died 1752,--Æ. 85.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, vol. i. p. 210.
[6] Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, vol. i. p. 222.
[7] Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. i. p. 180.
[8] Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. v. p. 209.
[9] H. W. Smith's Life of Rev. William Smith, vol. ii. p. 174.
[10] Some years afterwards, when he had become prosperous, he restored
the money to Mr. Vernon, with interest to date.
[11] Vol. v. p. 201.
[12] Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 216, note.
[13] This verse Franklin also quotes against Smith in a letter to Miss
Stevenson. (Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. iii. p. 235.)
[14] Bigelow's Works of Franklin, vol. vii. p. 374.
IV
BUSINESS AND LITERATURE
Franklin's ancestors in both America and England had not been remarkable
for their success in worldly affairs. Most of them did little more than
earn a living, and, being of contented dispositions, had no ambition to
advance beyond it. Some of them were entirely contented with poverty.
All of them, however, were inclined to be economical and industrious.
They had no extended views of business enterprise, and we find none of
them among the great merchants or commercial classes who were reaching
out for the foreign trade of that age. Either from lack of foresight or
lack of desire, they seldom selected very profitable callings. They took
what was nearest at hand--making candles or shoeing horses--and clung to
it persistently.
Franklin advanced beyond them only because all their qualities of
economy, thrift, industry, and serene contentedness were intensified in
him. His choice of a calling was no better than theirs, for printing was
not a very profitable business in colonial times, and was made so in his
case only by his unusual sagacity.
I have already described his adventures as a young printer, and how he
was sent on a wild-goose chase to London by Governor Keith, of
Pennsylvania. I have also told how on his return to Philadelphia he
gave up printing and became the clerk of Mr. Denham. He liked Mr. Denham
and the clerkship, and never expected to return to his old calling. If
Mr. Denham had lived, Franklin might have become a renowned Philadelphia
merchant and financier, like Robert Morris, an owner of ships and
cargoes, a trader to India and China, and an outfitter of privateers.
But this sudden change from the long line of his ancestry was not to be.
Nature, as if indignant at the attempt, struck down both Denham and
himself with pleurisy within six months of their association in
business. Denham perished, and Franklin, after a narrow escape from
death, went back reluctantly to set type for Keimer.
He was now twenty-one, a good workman, with experience on two
continents, and Keimer made him foreman of his printing-office. Within
six months, however, his connection with Keimer was ended by a quarrel,
and one of the workmen, Hugh Meredith, suggested that he and Franklin
should set up in the printing business for themselves, Meredith to
furnish the money through his father, and Franklin to furnish the skill.
This offer was eagerly accepted; but as some months would be required to
obtain type and materials from London, Franklin's quarrel with Keimer
was patched up and he went back to work for him.
In the spring of 1728 the type arrived. Franklin parted from Keimer in
peace, and then with Meredith sprung upon him the surprise of a rival
printing establishment. They rented a house for twenty-four pounds a
year, and to help pay it took in Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Godfrey as
lodgers. But their money was all spent in getting started, and they had
a hard struggle. Their first work was a translation of a Dutch history
of the Quakers. Franklin worked late and early. People saw him still
employed as they went home from their clubs late at night, and he was at
it again in the morning before his neighbors were out of bed.
There were already two other printing-offices, Keimer's and Bradford's,
and hardly enough work for them. The town prophesied failure for the
firm of Franklin & Meredith; and, indeed, their only hope of success
seemed to be in destroying one or both of their rivals, a serious
undertaking for two young men working on borrowed capital. There was so
little to be made in printing at that time that most of the printers
were obliged to branch out into journalism and to keep stationery
stores. Franklin resolved to start a newspaper, but, unfortunately, told
his secret to one of Keimer's workmen, and Keimer, to be beforehand,
immediately started a newspaper of his own, called _The Universal
Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and the Pennsylvania Gazette_.
[Illustration: FRONT PAGE OF THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE "PENNSYLVANIA
GAZETTE," PUBLISHED BY FRANKLIN AND MEREDITH]
Franklin was much disgusted, and in resentment, as he tells us, and to
counteract Keimer, began writing amusing letters for the other newspaper
of the town, Bradford's _Mercury_. His idea was to crush Keimer's paper
by building up Bradford's until he could have one of his own. His
articles, which were signed "Busy Body," show the same talent for humor
that he had displayed in Boston a few years before, when he wrote for
his brother's newspaper over the name "Silence Dogood;" but there is a
great difference in their tone. No ridicule of the prevailing religion
or hatred of those in authority appears in them. The young man evidently
found Philadelphia more to his taste than Boston, and was not at war
with his surroundings. The "Busy Body" papers are merely pleasant
raillery at the failings of human nature in general, interspersed with
good advice, something like that which he soon afterwards gave in "Poor
Richard."
Keimer tried to keep his journal going by publishing long extracts from
an encyclopædia which had recently appeared, beginning with the letter
A, and he tried to imitate the wit of the "Busy Body." But he merely
laid himself open to the "Busy Body's" attacks, who burlesqued and
ridiculed his attempts, and Franklin in his Autobiography gives himself
the credit of having drawn public attention so strongly to Bradford's
_Mercury_ that Keimer, after keeping his _Universal Instructor_ going on
only ninety subscribers for about nine months, gave it up. Franklin &
Meredith bought it in and thus disposed of one of their rivals. That
rival, being incompetent and ignorant, soon disposed of himself by
bankruptcy and removal to the Barbadoes. Franklin continued the
publication of the newspaper under the title of the _Pennsylvania
Gazette;_ but it was vastly improved in every way,--better type, better
paper, more news, and intelligent, well-reasoned articles on public
affairs instead of Keimer's stupid prolixity.
An article written by Franklin on that great question of colonial times,
whether the Legislature of each colony should give the governor a fixed
salary or pay him only at the end of each year, according as he had
pleased them, attracted much attention. It was written with considerable
astuteness, and, while upholding the necessity of the governor's
dependence on the Legislature, was careful not to give offence to those
who were of a different opinion. The young printers also won favor by
reprinting neatly and correctly an address of the Assembly to the
governor, which Bradford had previously printed in a blundering way. The
members of the Assembly were so pleased with it that they voted their
printing to Franklin & Meredith for the ensuing year. These politicians,
finding that Franklin knew how to handle a pen, thought it well, as a
matter of self-interest, to encourage him.
The two young men were kept busily employed, yet found it very difficult
to make both ends meet, although they did everything themselves, not
having even a boy to assist them. Meredith's father, having suffered
some losses, could lend them but half of the sum they had expected from
him. The merchant who had furnished them their materials grew impatient
and sued them. They succeeded in staying judgment and execution for a
time, but fully expected to be eventually sold out by the sheriff and
ruined.
At this juncture two friends of Franklin came to him and offered
sufficient money to tide over his difficulties if he would get rid of
Meredith, who was intemperate, and take all the business on himself.
This he succeeded in doing, and with the money supplied by his friends
paid off his debts and added a stationery shop, where he sold paper,
parchment, legal blanks, ink, books, and, in time, soap, goose-feathers,
liquors, and groceries; he also secured the printing of the laws of
Delaware, and, as he says, went on swimmingly. Soon after this he
married Miss Read, and he has left us an account of how they lived
together:
"We kept no idle servants, our table was plain and simple, our
furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my breakfast was for a
long time bread and milk (no tea), and I ate it out of a
twopenny earthen porringer, with a pewter spoon. But mark how
luxury will enter families, and make a progress in spite of
principle: being called one morning to breakfast, I found it in
a china bowl, with a spoon of silver! They had been bought for
me without my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the
enormous sum of three and twenty shillings, for which she had no
other excuse or apology to make but that she thought _her_
husband deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as well as any of
his neighbors."
A story is told on the Eastern Shore of Maryland of a young man who
called one evening on an old farmer to ask him how it was that he had
become rich.
"It is a long story," said the old man, "and while I am telling it we
might as well save the candle," and he put it out.
"You need not tell it," said the youth. "I see."
Franklin's method was the one that had always been practised by his
ancestors, and with his wider intelligence and great literary ability it
was sure to succeed. The silver spoons slowly increased until in the
course of years, as he tells us, the plate in his house was "augmented
gradually to several hundred pounds in value."
His newspaper, the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, was the best in the colonies.
Besides the ordinary news and advertisements, together with little
anecdotes and squibs which he was always so clever in telling, he
printed in it extracts from _The Spectator_ and various moral writers,
articles from English newspapers, as well as articles of his own which
had been previously read to the Junto. He also published long poems by
Stephen Duck, now utterly forgotten; but he was then the poet laureate
and wrote passable verse. He carefully excluded all libelling and
personal abuse; but what would now be considered indelicate jests were
not infrequent. These broad jokes, together with witticisms at the
expense of ecclesiastics, constituted the stock amusements of the time,
as the English literature of that period abundantly shows.
Opening one of the old volumes of his _Gazette_ at random, we find for
September 5, 1734, a humorous account of a lottery in England, by which,
to encourage the propagation of the species, all the old maids of the
country are to be raffled for. Turning over the leaves, we find the
humorous will of a fellow who, among other queer bequests, leaves his
body "as a very wholesome feast to the worms of his family vault." In
another number an account is given of some excesses of the Pope, with a
Latin verse and its translation which had been pasted on Pasquin's
statue:
"Omnia Venduntur imo
Dogmata Christi
Et ne me vendunt, evolo.
Roma Vale."
"Rome all things sells, even doctrines old and new.
I'll fly for fear of sale; so Rome adieu."
In the number for November 7, 1734, we are given "The Genealogy of a
Jacobite."
"The Devil _begat_ Sin, Sin _begat_ Error, Error _begat_ Pride,
Pride _begat_ Hatred, Hatred _begat_ Ignorance, Ignorance
_begat_ Blind Zeal, Blind Zeal _begat_ Superstition,
Superstition _begat_ Priestcraft, Priestcraft _begat_ Lineal
Succession, Lineal Succession _begat_ Indelible Character,
Indelible Character _begat_ Blind Obedience, Blind Obedience
_begat_ Infallibility, Infallibility _begat_ the Pope and his
Brethren in the time of Egyptian Darkness, the Pope _begat_
Purgatory, Purgatory _begat_ Auricular Confession, Auricular
Confession _begat_ Renouncing of Reason, Renouncing of Reason
_begat_ Contempt of Scriptures, Contempt of the Scriptures
_begat_ Implicit Faith, Implicit Faith _begat_ Carnal Policy,
Carnal Policy _begat_ Unlimited Passive Obedience, Unlimited
Passive Obedience _begat_ Non-Resistance, Non-Resistance _begat_
Oppression, Oppression _begat_ Faction, Faction _begat_
Patriotism, Patriotism _begat_ Opposition to all the Measures of
the Ministry, Opposition _begat_ Disaffection, Disaffection
_begat_ Discontent, Discontent _begat_ a Tory, and a Tory
_begat_ a Jacobite, with Craftsman and Fog and their Brethren on
the Body of the Whore of Babylon when she was deemed past child
bearing."
Franklin's famous "Speech of Polly Baker" is supposed to have first
appeared in the _Gazette_. This is a mistake, but it was reprinted again
and again in American newspapers for half a century.
"The Speech of Miss Polly Baker before a Court of Judicatory, in
New England, where she was prosecuted for a fifth time, for
having a Bastard Child; which influenced the Court to dispense
with her punishment, and which induced one of her judges to
marry her the next day--by whom she had fifteen children.
"May it please the honourable bench to indulge me in a few
words: I am a poor, unhappy woman, who have no money to fee
lawyers to plead for me, being hard put to it to get a
living.... Abstracted from the law, I cannot conceive (may it
please your honours) what the nature of my offence is. I have
brought five children into the world, at the risque of my life;
I have maintained them well by my own industry, without
burthening the township, and would have done it better, if it
had not been for the heavy charges and fines I have paid. Can it
be a crime (in the nature of things, I mean) to add to the
King's subjects, in a new country that really needs people? I
own it, I should think it rather a praiseworthy than a
punishable action. I have debauched no other woman's husband,
nor enticed any youth; these things I never was charged with;
nor has any one the least cause of complaint against me, unless,
perhaps, the ministers of justice, because I have had children
without being married, by which they have missed a wedding fee.
But can this be a fault of mine? I appeal to your honours. You
are pleased to allow I don't want sense; but I must be stupefied
to the last degree, not to prefer the honourable state of
wedlock to the condition I have lived in. I always was, and
still am willing to enter into it; and doubt not my behaving
well in it; having all the industry, frugality, fertility, and
skill in economy appertaining to a good wife's character. I defy
any one to say I ever refused an offer of that sort; on the
contrary, I readily consented to the only proposal of marriage
that ever was made me, which was when I was a virgin, but too
easily confiding in the person's sincerity that made it, I
unhappily lost my honour by trusting to his; for he got me with
child, and then forsook me.