17. This prevented him from giving any further attention to poetry, and led him to devote more time and care to prose compositions. He was at this time intimately acquainted with another lad very fond of books, named John Collins. They sometimes discussed different questions together, and had become very apt to indulge in arguments and disputes.
18. A question was once started between them, on the propriety of educating the female sex in learned studies, and their abilities for these studies. As they parted without settling the point, and were not to see one another again for a long time, Franklin sat down to put his arguments in writing. He then made a fair copy of them, and sent it to Collins.
19. Three or four letters passed between them on the subject, when the father of Franklin happened to find the papers, and read them. Without entering into the subject in dispute, he took occasion to talk to him about his manner of writing. He marked the defects in his expressions, and in the arrangement of his sentences, but gave him the credit of spelling and pointing with great correctness. This he had learned in the printing office, but he had never before been taught any thing about manner and style.
20. About this time, he met with an odd volume of the Spectator, a very famous work, published by several English wits in the year 1711. He bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. This book was now his continual study, and he himself tried to write as much as possible in its very pleasant and popular style. The improvement which he made was encouraging, and led him to hope he might some day become a good English writer; a distinction of which he was very ambitious.
1. Where was Franklin born? When?
2. For what profession did his parents intend to educate him?
3. What induced his father to change his intention?
4. To what trade was Benjamin put, and when?
6. Relate the anecdote about Franklin and his companions.
7. What maxim did his father teach him in consequence of this adventure?
8. What were his father's fears in relation to his new occupation?
9. On what trade did his father finally determine?
10. Describe his early fondness for reading, and the books of which he was most fond.
11. What books did he first buy?
12. What induced his father to bring up Benjamin as a printer? To whom was he bound apprentice?
13. How did he succeed in his new trade?
14. What advantages did it afford him for pursuing his studies?
15. Relate the account of his first attempts in poetry.
16. How did his ballads succeed?
17. How did his father discourage his new taste?
18. What was the subject of his discussion with his friend Collins?
19. What praise and advice did his father give him on this occasion?
20. With what book was Franklin at this time so much pleased? Did he attempt to imitate it?
CHAPTER II
Franklin gives up eating Meat. His Economy of Time. Studies Arithmetic. James Franklin establishes a Newspaper. Benjamin writes for it. His Brother is imprisoned. Benjamin manages the Paper. Leaves his Brother. Goes to New York. Sails thence for Philadelphia. Anecdote of the Dutchman.
1. When about sixteen years of age, Franklin happened to meet with a book that recommended a vegetable diet. He determined to adopt it. His brother, being unmarried, did not keep house, but boarded himself and his apprentices in another family. By refusing to eat meat, Franklin occasioned a good deal of inconvenience; and he was frequently chid for his singularity. He accordingly learned the manner of boiling potatoes and rice, and of making hasty-pudding, and then proposed to his brother, if he would give him, weekly, half the money he paid for his board, to board himself. His brother instantly agreed to it, and Franklin soon found that he could save half of what he received.
2. This was a new fund for buying books. But this was not the only advantage. When his brother and the apprentices had gone to their meals, he was left in the printing office alone. He immediately despatched his slight repast, which was often no more than a biscuit, or a slice of bread and a handful of raisins, or a tart from the pastry cook's, and a glass of water, and had the rest of the time till their return for study. By being thus economical of his time, he was able to make considerable progress in his books.
3. He now began to feel the want of a knowledge of figures, and was once very much mortified by his ignorance of them. As he had entirely failed of learning them at school, he took Cocker's Arithmetic, and went through the whole of it by himself with the greatest ease. The mortification he had met with induced him to make great exertions; and we can succeed in any thing to which we give our earnest attention.
4. While he was intent on improving his language and style, Franklin met with an English grammar, at the end of which were two little sketches on the arts of rhetoric and logic. The latter of these finished with a dispute in the manner of Socrates, a very famous philosopher of Greece. Franklin was charmed with this modest and artful manner, and cured himself of the tricks of contradiction and too much positiveness. These habits are very disagreeable, and no one should allow himself to fall into them.
5. "In fact, if you wish to instruct others," says Franklin, "a positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may occasion opposition, and prevent a candid attention. If you desire improvement from others, you should not at the same time express yourself fixed in your present opinions. Modest and sensible men, who do not love disputation, will leave you undisturbed in the possession of your errors. In adopting such a manner, you can seldom expect to please your hearers, or obtain the concurrence you desire."
6. In the year 1720, or '21, James Franklin began to print a newspaper. It was the second that appeared in America, and was called the New England Courant. The only one before it was the Boston News Letter. Some of his friends endeavored to dissuade him from the undertaking. They thought it would not succeed, as, in their opinion, one newspaper was sufficient for all America. There are now in the United States alone, over eight hundred newspapers.
7. The undertaking, however, went on. Benjamin assisted in setting the types, helped to print off the sheets, and was then employed in carrying the papers to the subscribers. Several men of information and talents wrote little pieces for the paper, which were amusing, and gained considerable credit. These gentlemen often visited the printing office.
8. Hearing their conversations, and their accounts of the praise their pieces received from the public, Benjamin was excited to try his fortune among them. He was afraid, however, as he was still a boy, his brother would object to print any thing of his composition in the paper. It was necessary, therefore, to disguise his hand-writing, and to send his piece to the office in such a way that it should not be known from whom it came.
9. When his friends came in, James showed them the communication from an unknown writer. They read it, praised it, and made several guesses as to the author. In these guesses none were named but men of some character for talents and learning. They never once suspected it was written by the little printer's boy who stood at their elbows, chuckling in silence over the secret.
10. Encouraged by the success of this attempt, he continued to write, and send other pieces in the same way to the press. He kept his secret as long as he saw fit, and then confessed himself the author of the writings they had been so long guessing about. Benjamin now began to be more noticed by his brother's acquaintance, which made him a little vain, and led to some serious difficulties.
11. His brother, notwithstanding the relationship between them, considered himself as master, and Benjamin as his apprentice, and accordingly expected the same services from him that he would from another. In some of these services