"That is worse yet, to bring stones so far, and enough of them," said
John. "You must like to lift better than I do, and strain your gizzard
in tugging stones here."
"Look there," continued Benjamin, pointing to a heap of stones only a
few rods distant, "there are stones enough for our purpose, and one or
two hours is all the time we want to build a wharf with them."
"Those stones belong to the man who is preparing to build a house
there," said Fred. "The workmen are busy there now."
"That may all be, but they can afford to lend them to us for a little
while; they will be just as good for their use after we have done with
them." There was the rogue's sly look in Benjamin's eye when he made
the last remark.
"Then you expect they will loan them to you; but I guess you will be
mistaken," responded Fred.
"I will borrow them in this way: We will go this evening, after the
workmen have gone home, and tug them over here, and make the wharf
before bedtime." Benjamin made this proposition for the purpose of
adding to their sport.
"And get ourselves into trouble thereby," answered a third boy. "I
will agree to do it if you will bear all the blame of stealing them."
"Stealing!" exclaimed Benjamin, who was so bent on sport that he had
no thought of stealing. "It is not stealing to take stones. A man
could not sell a million tons of them for a copper."
"Well, anyhow, the man who has borne the expense of drawing them there
won't thank you for taking them."
"I do not ask them to thank me. I do not think the act deserves any
thanks." And a roguish twinkle of the eye showed that Benjamin knew he
was doing wrong for the sake of getting a little sport. "Wouldn't it
be a joke on those fellows if they should find their pile of stones
missing in the morning?"
"Let us do it," said John, who was taken with the idea of playing off
a joke. "I will do my part to put it through."
"And I will do mine."
"And so will I."
"And I, too."
By this time all were willing to follow Benjamin, their leader.
Perhaps some of them were afraid to say "No," as their consciences
suggested, now that the enterprise was endorsed by one or two of their
number. Both boys and men are quite disposed to "go with the multitude
to do evil." They are too cowardly to do what they know is right.
The salt marsh bounding a part of the mill-pond where their boat lay
was tramped into a quagmire. The boys were wont to fish there at high
water, and so many feet treading on the spot reduced it to a very soft
condition. It was over this miry marsh that they proposed to build a
wharf. The evening was soon there, and the boys, too, upon their
rogues' errand. They surveyed the pile of stones, and found it ample
for their purpose, though it appeared to be a formidable piece of work
to remove them.
"Two of us can't lift and carry some of them," said Fred.
"Then three of us will hitch on and carry them," replied Benjamin.
"They must all be worked into a wharf this evening. Let us
begin--there is no time to lose."
"The largest must go first," suggested John. "They are capital stones
for the foundation. Come, boys, let us make quick work of it."
So they went to work with a will and "where there's a will there's a
way," in evil as well as good. It was unfortunate for Benjamin that he
did not hate such an enterprise as much as he did candle-making. If he
had, he would have given a wide berth to the salt marsh and the wharf
project. But neither he nor his companions disliked the evil work in
which there was sport. We say that they worked with a will; and their
perseverance was the only commendable thing about the affair.
Sometimes three or four of them worked away at a stone, rolling it
along or lifting, as necessity required. Then one alone would catch up
a smaller one, and convey it to the wharf at double-quick. Half their
zeal, tact, and industry, in doing this wrong, would have made the
candle-trade, or any other business, a success.
The evening was not quite spent when the last stone was carried away,
and the wharf finished,--a work of art that answered their purpose
very well, though it was not quite as imposing as Commercial Wharf is
now, and was not calculated to receive the cargo of a very large
Liverpool packet.
"A capital place now for fishing!" exclaimed Fred. "It is worth all it
cost for that."
"It may cost more than you think for before we get through with it,"
suggested John. "We sha'n't know the real cost of it until the owner
finds his stones among the missing."
"I should like to hear his remarks to-morrow morning, when he
discovers his loss," remarked Benjamin; "they will not be very
complimentary, I think."
"I am more anxious to know what he will do about it," responded John.
"We shall find out before long, no doubt," said Benjamin. "But I must
hurry home, or I shall have more trouble there than anywhere else.
Come, boys, let us go."
They hastened to their homes, not designing to divulge the labors of
the evening, if they could possibly avoid interrogation. They knew
that their parents would disapprove of the deed, and that no excuse
could shield them from merited censure. Not one of their consciences
was at ease. Their love of sport had got the better of their love of
right-doing. And yet they were both afraid and ashamed to tell of what
they had done. They were at home and in bed and asleep about as early
as usual.
Twenty-four hours passed away, during which Benjamin's fears had
increased rather than diminished. He was all the while thinking about
the stones--what the owner would say and do--whether he would learn
who took his stones away. His conscience was on duty.
It was evening, and Mr. Franklin took his seat at the fireside.
Benjamin was reading, the unattractive tallow candle furnishing him
light.
"Benjamin," said Mr. Franklin, after a little, "where were you last
evening?"
If his father had fired off a pistol he could not have been more
disturbed. His heart leaped into his throat. He thought of the stones.
He knew something was up about them--that trouble was ahead.
"I was down to the water," Benjamin replied, with as much coolness as
he could muster.
"What were you doing there?"
"Fixing up a place for the boat." He suspected, from his father's
appearance, that he would have to tell the whole story.
"Benjamin, see that you tell me the truth, and withhold nothing. I
wish to know exactly what you did there."
"We built a wharf."
"What did you build it with?"
"We built it of stones."
"Where did you get your stones?"
"There was a pile of them close by."
"Did they belong to you?"
"No, sir."
"Then you stole them, did you?"
"It isn't stealing to take stones."
"Why, then, did you take them in the evening, after the workmen had
gone home? Why did you not go after them when the workmen were all
there? It looks very much as if you thought taking them was stealing
them."
Benjamin saw that he was fairly cornered. Such a catechetical exercise
was somewhat new to him. The Westminster Assembly's Catechism never
put him into so tight a place as that. Bright as he was, he could not
discover the smallest hole out of which to crawl. It was a bad scrape,
and he could see no way out of it except by telling the truth. We
dislike very much to say it, but, judging from all the circumstances,
he would have told a lie, could he have seen a place to put one in.
But there was no chance for a falsehood. He was completely shut up to
the truth. He saw that the wharf cost more than he estimated--that
stealing stones violated a principle as really as stealing dollars. He
was so completely cornered that he made no reply. His father
continued:
"I see plainly how it is. It is the consequence of going out in the
evening with the boys, which I must hereafter forbid. I have been
willing that you should go out occasionally in the evening, because I
thought it might be better for you than so much reading. But you have
now betrayed my confidence, and I am more than ever satisfied that
boys should spend their evenings at home, trying to improve their
minds. You are guilty of an act that is quite flagrant, although it
may have been done thoughtlessly. You should have known better after
having received so much instruction at home."
"I did know better," was Benjamin's frank confession, determined to
make a clean breast of it.
"And that makes your guilt so much the greater. Will you learn a
lesson from this, and never do the like again?"
"I promise that I never will."
Thus frankly Benjamin confessed his wrong-doing; and, in mature life,
he often referred to it as his "_first wrong act_" from which he
learned a lesson for life. It was another way of _paying too dear for
a whistle_. What the whistle was to him at seven, the wharf of stones
was to him at twelve years of age--sport. The first was innocent
sport, however; the last was guilty.
It appears that the workmen missed their stones when they first
reached the spot in the morning, and soon discovered them nicely laid
into a wharf. The proprietor was indignant, and set about learning who
were the authors of the deed. In the course of the day he gained the
information he sought, and very properly went to the parents of each
boy with his complaint. In this way the boys were exposed, and
received just rebuke for their misdemeanor. Benjamin was convinced, as
he said of it many years thereafter, "that that which is not honest
could not be truly useful."
VIII.
BECOMING PRINTER-BOY.
At the time Benjamin was in the candle-factory his brother James was
in England learning the printer's trade. He spent several years there,
until he had mastered the business, intending to return to Boston and
establish that trade. He returned about the time that Benjamin was
concluding his disgust with candle-making, and was well under way at
the time he abandoned the cutler's trade. James brought press, type,
and all the _et ceteras_ of a complete outfit with him from England.
"How would you like to learn the printer's trade with your brother
James?" inquired his father, a short time after Benjamin left the
cutler's shop. "I have been thinking it over, and I really believe
that you have more qualifications for it than you have for any other
trade. Your love of learning will have a better chance there, too."
"How is that?" answered Benjamin. "I do not quite see in what respect
I am better qualified to be a printer than a cutler."
"Well, you are a good reader, and have an intellectual turn, being
fond of books; and a printing office must have more opportunities for
mental improvement than the shop of a cutler. A type-setter can be
acquiring new and valuable ideas when he is setting up written
articles."
"If that is so I should like it well; and I should think it might be
as you say," Benjamin answered. "I might have a better chance to
read."
"Of course you would. You may have matter to put in type that is as
interesting and profitable as any thing you find in books. Indeed,
James will no doubt have pamphlets and books to publish before long.
All that you read in books went through the printer's hand first."
"I had not thought of that," said Benjamin, quite taken with his
father's ideas about the printing business. "I think I should like it
better than almost any thing else. How long will it take to learn the
trade?"
"I suppose that it will take some time, though I know very little
about it. You are twelve years of age now, and you can certainly
acquire the best knowledge of the trade by the time you are
twenty-one."
"That is a long time," suggested Benjamin; "nine years ought to make
the best printer there is. But that is no objection to me; I shall do
as you think best."
"I want _you_ should think it best, too," rejoined his father. "If you
have no inclination to be a printer, I do not want you should
undertake it. You will not succeed in any business you dislike."
"I do think it best to try this," replied Benjamin. "If James thinks
well of it, I shall, for he knows all about the trade."
"I will speak with him about it and learn his opinion," said his
father. "If he thinks well of it, I will see what arrangements can be
made with him. The prospects of the business are not flattering now,
but I think the day is coming when it will prosper."
Mr. Franklin lost no time in conferring with James, who favored the
plan without any reserve. He proposed to take Benjamin as an
apprentice, to serve until he was twenty-one years old, according to
the custom of the times, receiving twenty pounds for the same, and
giving him board and clothes until the last year, when he would be
paid journeyman's wages. This was a good opportunity on the whole, for
printing was in its infancy in our country at that time. Not more than
six or eight persons had been in the business in Boston before James
Franklin commenced, in the year 1717. The demand for printing must
have been very small indeed.
The first printing press in the United States was set up in Cambridge
in 1639 by Rev. Jesse Glover, who gave it to Harvard University. The
first thing printed was the "Freeman's oath"; the next, the almanac
for New England, calculated by William Pierce, a mariner; the next, a
metrical version of the Psalms.
It is claimed that ten years later than Benjamin's entering his
brother's printing office, there were but three or four printers in
our country. Whether that was so or not, it is certain that then, and
for many years afterwards, printers were very scarce. In 1692, Old
Style, the council of New York adopted the following resolution:
"It is resolved in council, that if a printer will come and settle in
the city of New York, for the printing of our acts of assembly and
public papers, he shall be allowed the sum of forty pounds, current
money of New York, per annum, for his salary, and have the benefit of
his printing, besides what serves to the public."
It is said, also, that when Benjamin Franklin wanted to marry the
daughter of Mr. Reed, of Philadelphia, her mother said, "I do not know
about giving my daughter to a printer; for there are already four in
the United States, and it is doubtful if more could get a living."
It is worthy of note here, also, as showing how slowly the printing
business advanced in the infancy of our country, that Great Britain
did not allow the American Colonies to print the English Bible. Hence,
the first Bible printed in this country was published in 1782, a
little more than a hundred years ago. For this reason most of the
pulpit Bibles in the Congregational and other churches of New England,
before that time, were the Oxford editions, in which the Book of
Common Prayer and the Psalms were included, and the Articles of Faith
of the English Church. Some of these are still preserved as relics.
"It will be necessary for you to be bound to your brother, according
to law," remarked Mr. Franklin. "These things must be done legally,
and such is the law and custom, too."
"And I am to board with him, also, if I understand you, father?"
Benjamin was thinking of leaving his home, and that would be a trial.
True, he would not be far from his father's house; he could step into
it every night if he wished; but it was leaving home, nevertheless.
"It does not seem quite right for one brother to be bound to another
for nine years," added Benjamin, thoughtfully, and after some
hesitation.
"But such is the custom, however it may appear, and it must be done so
to have every thing right and legal. We do not know what may happen in
the nine years. It is better to have things in black and white,
whether the bargain is with a brother or any one else."
Mr. Franklin added more to the last remarks, in order to remove an
objection which Benjamin seemed to have to being bound to his brother;
and he was successful. The last objection was removed, and cheerfully
and gladly Benjamin consented to become a printer-boy.
The following was the form of the indenture of apprenticeship that
bound Benjamin to his brother for nine years:
"This indenture witnesseth that Benjamin Franklin, son of Josiah
Franklin, and of Abiah, his wife, of Boston, in the colony of
Massachusetts Bay, with the consent of his parents, doth put himself
apprentice to his brother, James Franklin, printer, to learn his art,
and with him after the manner of an apprentice from the ---- day of
----, in the year of our Lord, 1718, until he shall have fully
completed the twenty-first year of his age. During which term the said
apprentice his master faithfully shall or will serve, his secrets
keep, his lawful commands everywhere gladly do. He shall do no damage
to his said master, nor see it to be done of others, but to his power
shall let, or forthwith give notice to his said master of the same.
The goods of his said master he shall not waste, nor the same without
license of him to any give or lend. Hurt to his said master he shall
not do, cause, nor procure to be done. He shall neither buy nor sell
without his master's license. Taverns, inns, and ale houses he shall
not haunt. At cards, dice, tables, or any other unlawful game he shall
not play. Matrimony he shall not contract; nor from the service of his
said master day nor night absent himself; but in all things as an
honest and faithful apprentice shall and will demean and behave
himself towards his said master and all his during the said term. And
the said James Franklin, the master, for and in consideration of the
sum of ten pounds of lawful British money to him in hand paid by the
said Josiah Franklin, the father, the receipt of which is hereby
acknowledged, the said apprentice in the art of a printer, which he
now useth, shall teach and instruct, or cause to be taught and
instructed, the best way and manner that he can, finding and allowing
unto the said apprentice meat, drink, washing, lodging, and all other
necessaries during the said term. And for the true performance of all
and every the covenants and agreements aforesaid, either of the said
parties bindeth himself unto the other finally by these presents. In
witness whereof, the parties aforesaid to these indentures
interchangeably have set their hands and seals this ---- day of ----,
in the fifth year of our Sovereign Lord, George the First, by the
grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of
the Faith, and in the year of our Lord, 1718."
To this document Benjamin signed his name, with his father and brother,
thereby having his liberty considerably abridged.
A boy by the name of William Tinsley took the place of Benjamin in Mr.
Franklin's candle-shop. He was bound to Mr. Franklin as Benjamin was
bound to his brother. But he liked the business no better than
Benjamin did, and, finally, to escape from his thraldom, he ran away;
whereupon his master inserted the following advertisement in the _New
England Courant_ of July, 1722, which reads very much like
advertisements for runaway slaves, in that and later days; and,
probably, young Tinsley thought he was escaping from a sort of white
slavery:
"Ran away from his Master, Mr. Josiah Franklin, of Boston, Tallow-chandler,
on the first of this instant July, an Irish Man-servant, named William
Tinsley, about 20 years of age, of a middle Stature, black Hair, lately
cut off, somewhat fresh-colored Countenance, a large lower Lip, of a
mean Aspect, large Legs, and heavy in his Going. He had on, when he went
away, a felt Hat, a white knit Cap, striped with red and blue, white
Shirt, and neck-cloth, a brown-coloured Jacket, almost new, a frieze
Coat, of a dark colour, grey yarn Stockings, leather Breeches, trimmed
with black, and round to'd Shoes. Whoever shall apprehend the said
runaway Servant, and him safely convey to his above said Master, at
the Blue Ball in Union street, Boston, shall have Forty Shillings
Reward, and all necessary Charges paid."
There is no evidence that Tinsley was ever found. He hated the
candle-trade so lustily that he put the longest possible distance
between himself and it. Had Benjamin been compelled to continue the
unpleasant business, he might have escaped from the hardship in a
similar way.
These facts, together with the foregoing documents, show that, in some
respects, many white youth of that day were subjected to an experience
not wholly unlike that of the colored youth. Often the indentured
parties became the victims of cruelty. Sometimes they were half
clothed and fed. Sometimes they were beaten unmercifully. They were
completely in the hands of the "master," and whether their experience
was pleasant or sad depended upon his temper.
Add another fact to the foregoing about the indenture of apprenticeship,
and the similarity of white to Negro slavery, in that day, is quite
remarkable. No longer than seventy-five years ago, a poor child, left
to the town by the death of the father, was put up at auction, and
the man who bid the lowest sum was entitled to him. The town paid the
amount to get rid of the incumbrance, without much regard to the future
treatment of the orphan.
A near neighbor of the author, eighty-three years of age, was sold in
this manner three times in his early life, suffering more and more
with each change, until he was old enough to defend himself and run
away. His first buyer, for some reason, wanted to dispose of him, and
he sold him at auction to another. The second buyer was heartless and
cruel, against which the boy rebelled, and, for this reason, he was
sold to a third "master," who proved to be the worst tyrant of the
three, subjecting the youth to all sorts of ill-treatment, to escape
which he took to his heels. He was not given a day's schooling by
either master, nor one holiday, nor the privilege of going to meeting
on the Sabbath, nor was he half fed and clothed. At twenty-one he
could neither read nor write.
We have turned aside from our narrative to record a somewhat barbaric
custom of our forefathers, that the reader may appreciate all the more
the higher civilization and more congenial experiences of this age.
Benjamin had become a printer-boy as fully equipped for duty as
documents, pledges, and promises could make him. His _heart_ entered
into this new work, and his _head_ also. The business set him to
thinking. He liked it. Indeed, he could find no fault with it. The
business liked him, too; that is, he had a tact for it--he was adapted
to it. The boy and the trade were suited to each other. Hence, he
became even fascinated with it.
"I like it better than I thought I should," he said to his mother. "I
have to use my brains more in putting a single paragraph into type
than I did in filling a whole regiment of candle-moulds. I like it
better and better."
"I am glad to hear that, though I rather expected as much. If you like
it as well as James does, you will like it well enough. He is
thoroughly satisfied with his trade, and I think he will find it to be
a profitable one by and by. In a new country it takes time to build up
almost any trade."
Mrs. Franklin spoke from a full heart, for she had great interest in
Benjamin's chosen pursuit, because she believed that he possessed
remarkable talents. She still expected that he would make his mark,
though prevented from entering the ministry.
"I get some time to read," continued Benjamin, "and I mean to get
more, though there is much confusion at my boarding-place."
"You must not gain time for reading at the expense of neglecting your
work," suggested his mother. "Your time is your brother's, and, first
of all, you must fulfill your obligations to him. Fidelity is a
cardinal virtue, remember."
"Of course," replied Benjamin. "I know what I am in duty bound to do,
and I shall do it. James has not found me a minute behind time yet,
nor lazy in the printing office; and I mean that he never shall."
"That is a good resolution, very good, indeed; and I hope you will
keep it. At the same time, do not neglect your Bible, nor cease to
attend public worship on the Sabbath. A boy can't get along without
these any more than his parents can. As soon as you begin to neglect
these you are exposed to danger, and the very worst sort of danger."