"True," said Franklin, "and I could have better afforded to take a dollar then, than to have been taken out of the office."
The lounger looked surprised, and rather concluded that Franklin was jesting, he said, "Come, now, tell me the lowest you can take for it."
"One dollar and a half."
"A dollar and a half? Why, you offered it yourself for one dollar and a quarter?"
"Yes," answered Franklin, "and I had better have taken that price then, than a dollar and a half now."
The lounger paid the price, and went out of the shop, feeling the severity of the rebuke. Such was the value he attached to his time.
Franklin always ascribed his industrious habits to the frequent counsels of his father on the subject, which were generally closed by repeating the text of Scripture, "Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men,"—a prophecy that was singularly fulfilled in his own case, as we shall see hereafter, for he had the honour of standing before five kings, and even dined with the King of Denmark.
His economy was equal to his industry. He arrayed himself in the plainest manner, although he aimed to look neat and tidy. His board was simple and cheap, and everything about his business was graduated on the most economical principles. In order to save expense, and at the same time show the public that he was not proud, and above his business, he wheeled home the paper which he bought. This single act had its influence in gaining the public confidence. For when a young man gets above his business, he is quite sure to have a fall. Since Franklin's day, in the city of Richmond, a young man went to the market to purchase a turkey. He looked around for some one to carry it home for him, being too proud to do it himself, and finding no one, he began to fret and swear, much to the annoyance of bystanders. A gentleman stepped up to him and said, "That is in my way, and I will take your turkey home for you." When they came to the house, the young fop asked, "What shall I pay you?" "O, nothing at all," replied the gentleman, "it was all in the way, and it was no trouble to me." As he passed on, the young man turned to a person near by, and inquired, "Who is that polite old gentleman who brought home my turkey for me?" "O," replied he, "that was Judge Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States." "Why did he bring home my turkey?" "He did it to give you a rebuke, and teach you to attend to your own business," was the answer.
How contemptible does such a character appear in contrast with Franklin! It is not strange that the public withhold their confidence from the fop, and bestow it upon the industrious. Judge Marshall was a great man, and great men never get above their business. Franklin became a great man, and one reason of it was, that he never became too proud to wait upon himself.
After he married Miss Read, and commenced housekeeping, he still adhered to the same principle of economy. Instead of doing as many young men do at this era of life, living beyond their income, he continued frugal. He said of himself and wife, "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." Thus he reduced to practice the couplet which he wrote:—