The True Benjamin Franklin Part 10

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 cla.s.ses 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 a.s.sociation 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 G.o.dfrey 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_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 encyclopaedia 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 t.i.tle 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 a.s.sembly to the governor, which Bradford had previously printed in a blundering way. The members of the a.s.sembly 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 a.s.sist 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 Sh.o.r.e 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts, 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 pa.s.sable 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, const.i.tuted the stock amus.e.m.e.nts 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_ Superst.i.tion, Superst.i.tion _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 Pa.s.sive Obedience, Unlimited Pa.s.sive 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 Wh.o.r.e 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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.

"That very person, you all know; he is now become a magistrate of this country; and I had hopes he would have appeared this day on the bench, and have endeavoured to moderate the Court in my favour; then I should have scorned to have mentioned it, but I must now complain of it as unjust and unequal, that my betrayer, and undoer, the first cause of all my faults and miscarriages (if they must be deemed such), should be advanced to honour and power in the government that punishes my misfortunes with stripes and infamy.... But how can it be believed that Heaven is angry at my having children, when to the little done by me towards it, G.o.d has been pleased to add his divine skill and admirable workmanship in the formation of their bodies, and crowned the whole by furnishing them with rational and immortal souls? Forgive me, gentlemen, if I talk a little extravagantly on these matters: I am no divine, but if you, gentlemen, must be making laws, do not turn natural and useful actions into crimes by your prohibitions. But take into your wise consideration the great and growing number of bachelors in the country, many of whom, from the mean fear of the expense of a family, have never sincerely and honestly courted a woman in their lives; and by their manner of living leave unproduced (which is little better than murder) hundreds of their posterity to the thousandth generation. Is not this a greater offence against the public good than mine? Compel them, then, by law, either to marriage, or to pay double the fine of fornication every year. What must poor young women do, whom customs and nature forbid to solicit the men, and who cannot force themselves upon husbands, when the laws take no care to provide them any, and yet severely punish them if they do their duty without them; the duty of the first and great command of nature and nature's G.o.d, increase and multiply; a duty, from the steady performance of which nothing has been able to deter me, but for its sake I have hazarded the loss of the public esteem, and have frequently endured public disgrace and punishment; and therefore ought, in my humble opinion, instead of a whipping, to have a statue erected to my memory."

A newspaper furnishing the people with so much information and sound advice, mingled with broad stories, bright and witty, and appealing to all the human pa.s.sions,--in other words, so thoroughly like Franklin,--was necessarily a success. It was, however, a small affair,--a single sheet which, when folded, was about twelve by eighteen inches,--and it appeared only twice a week.

It differed from other colonial newspapers chiefly in its greater brightness and in the literary skill shown in its preparation. But attempts have been made to exaggerate its merits, and Parton declares that in it Franklin "originated the modern system of business advertising" and that "he was the first man who used this mighty engine of publicity as we now use it." A careful examination of the _Gazette_ and the other journals of the time fails to disclose any evidence in support of this extravagant statement. The advertis.e.m.e.nts in the _Gazette_ are like those in the other papers,--runaway servants and slaves, ships and merchandise for sale, articles lost or stolen. On the whole, perhaps more advertis.e.m.e.nts appear in the _Gazette_ than in any of the others, though a comparison of the _Gazette_ with Bradford's _Mercury_ shows days when the latter has the greater number.

Franklin advertised rather extensively his own publications, and the lamp-black, soap, and "ready money for old rags" which were to be had at his shop, for the reason, doubtless, that, being owner of both the newspaper and the shop, the advertis.e.m.e.nts cost him nothing. This is the only foundation for the tale of his having originated modern advertising. His advertis.e.m.e.nts are of the same sort that appeared in other papers, and there is not the slightest suggestion of modern methods in them.