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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 25
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strongly my intention of returning to it; and, one of them asking what kind of
money we had there, I produc'd a handful of silver, and spread it before them,
which was a kind of raree-show they had not been us'd to, paper being the money
of Boston. Then I took an opportunity of letting them see my watch; and, lastly
(my brother still grum and sullen), I gave them a piece of eight to drink, and
took my leave. This visit of mine offended him extreamly; for, when my mother
some time after spoke to him of a reconciliation, and of her wishes to see us on
good terms together, and that we might live for the future as brothers, he said
I had insulted him in such a manner before his people that he could never forget
or forgive it. In this, however, he was mistaken.
My father received the governor's letter with some apparent surprise, but said
little of it to me for some days, when Capt. Holmes returning he showed it to
him, ask'd him if he knew Keith, and what kind of man he was; adding his opinion
that he must be of small discretion to think of setting a boy up in business who
wanted yet three years of being at man's estate. Holmes said what he could in
favor of the project, but my father was clear in the impropriety of it, and at
last gave a flat denial to it. Then he wrote a civil letter to Sir William,
thanking him for the patronage he had so kindly offered me, but declining to
assist me as yet in setting up, I being, in his opinion, too young to be trusted
with the management of a business so important, and for which the preparation
must be so expensive.
My friend and companion Collins, who was a clerk in the post-office, pleas'd
with the account I gave him of my new country, determined to go thither also;
and, while I waited for my father's determination, he set out before me by land
to Rhode Island, leaving his books, which were a pretty collection of
mathematicks and natural philosophy, to come with mine and me to New York, where
he propos'd to wait for me.
My father, tho' he did not approve Sir William's proposition, was yet pleas'd
that I had been able to obtain so advantageous a character from a person of such
note where I had resided, and that I had been so industrious and careful as to
equip myself so handsomely in so short a time; therefore, seeing no prospect of
an accommodation between my brother and me, he gave his consent to my returning
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