American Pioneer Prose Writers
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Monograph Number Two in The Mentor Reading Course
Probably no American of humble origin ever attained to more enduring fame than many-sided Benjamin Franklin. The secret of his rise can be tersely told. He had ceaseless energy, guided by a passion for the improvement of mankind. A recital of his accomplishments sounds like a round of the old counting game, “doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.” He was, in fact, all the list except the “thief.”
Boston gave him to America on January 17, 1706, but Philadelphia claimed him early, and he stamped himself upon the Quaker City almost as definitely as did William Penn.
Passing over his precocious boyhood, when he wrote for the Boston publication of his brother James with a skill that at the time was held astonishing, the day he reached Philadelphia he was a great, overgrown boy, his clothes most unsightly; for he had been wrecked trying to make an economical trip from New York by sailboat. With the exception of a single Dutch dollar he was penniless. As he trudged about the streets, his big eyes drinking in the sights, his cupid-bow mouth ready to smile at the slightest provocation, he munched a roll of bread. His reserve food supply was a loaf under each arm.
He was an expert printer, and printers were wanted in Philadelphia. He soon got a job, after which he found a boarding place in the home of one Read, with whose daughter, Deborah, he promptly fell in love.
After a few years the governor of Pennsylvania urged him to go to London to purchase a printing plant of his own. The official had promised to send letters and funds aboard the ship in the mail-bag; but at the critical moment forgot all about it. So young Franklin landed in London without a cent, and played a short engagement as “beggar man.”
Again his skill as a printer saved him from want, and he remained five years, having a most interesting time, meeting many of the great men of England, all of whom were charmed with his wit and philosophy.