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"Ben Franklin"
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography: Page 6
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intention, took me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing
and arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very successful
in his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. Under him I
acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the arithmetic, and made no
progress in it. At ten years old I was taken home to assist my father in his
business, which was that of a tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he was
not bred to, but had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his
dying trade would not maintain his family, being in little request. Accordingly,
I was employed in cutting wick for the candles, filling the dipping mold and the
molds for cast candles, attending the shop, going of errands, etc.
I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my father
declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much in and about it,
learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe with
other boys, I was commonly allowed to govern, especially in any case of
difficulty; and upon other occasions I was generally a leader among the boys,
and sometimes led them into scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it
shows an early projecting public spirit, tho' not then justly conducted.
There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge of which,
at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much trampling, we had
made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a wharff there fit for us to
stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which were intended
for a new house near the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose.
Accordingly, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of
my play-fellows, and working with them diligently like so many emmets, sometimes
two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built our little wharff.
The next morning the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, which were
found in our wharff. Inquiry was made after the removers; we were discovered and
complained of; several of us were corrected by our fathers; and though I pleaded
the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was
not honest.
I think you may like to know something of his person and character. He had an
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