True to His Home: A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin. Butterworth Hezekiah
Boston at this period that had even so near an approach to fairyland as a violin. Those were hard times for children, and especially for those with lively imaginations, which gift little Benjamin had in no common degree. There were Indians in those times, and supposed ghosts and witches, but no passing clouds bore angels' chariots; there were no brownies among the wild rose bushes and the ferns. There was one good children's story in every home – that of "Joseph" in the Bible, still, as always, the best family story in all the world.
CHAPTER II.
UNCLE BENJAMIN, THE POET
Mrs. Franklin has said that she could hardly remember the time in her son's childhood when he could not read. He emerged almost from babyhood a reader, and soon began to "devour" – to use the word then applied to his habit – all the books that fell within his reach.
When about four years old he became much interested in stories told him by his father of his Uncle Benjamin, the poet, who lived in England, and for whom he had been named, and who, it was hoped, would come to the new country and be his godfather.
The family at the Blue Ball was quick to notice the tendencies of their children in early life. Little Benjamin Franklin developed a curious liking for a trumpet and a gun. He liked to march about to noise, and this noise he was pleased to make himself – to blow his own trumpet. The family wrote to Uncle Benjamin, the poet, then in England, in regard to this unpromising trait, and the good man returned the following letter in reply:
"Believe me, Ben, it is a dangerous trade;
The sword has many marred as well as made;
By it do many fall, not many rise —
Makes many poor, few rich, not many wise;
Fills towns with ruin, fields with blood beside;
'Tis sloth's maintainer, and the shield of pride;
Fair cities, rich to-day in plenty flow,
War fills with want to-morrow, and with woe;
Ruined estates, victims of vice, broken limbs, and scars
Are the effects of desolating wars."
One evening, as the tallow chandler was hurrying hither and thither in his apron and paper cap, the door opened with a sharp ring of the bell fastened by a string upon it. The paper cap bobbed up.
"Hoi, what now?" said the tallow chandler.
"A letter from England, sirrah. The Lively Nancy has come in. There it is."
The tallow chandler held the letter up to the fire, for it had been a melting day, as certain days on which the melting of tallow for the molds were called. He read "Benjamin Franklin," and said: "That's curious – that's Brother Ben's writing. I would know that the world over." He put the letter in his pocket. He saw Dame Franklin looking through the transom over the door, and shook his head.
He sat down with his large family to a meal of bread and milk, and then took the letter from his pocket and read it over to himself.
"Ben," said he, "this is for you. I am going to read it. As I do so, you repeat after me the first letter of the first and of every line. Are you ready? Now.
"'Be to thy parents an obedient son.'"
"B," said little Ben.
"'Each day let duty constantly be done.'"
"E," the boy continued.
"'Never give way to sloth, or lust, or pride.'"
"N, father."
"'Just free to be from thousand ills beside.'"
"J, father."
"'Above all ills be sure avoid the shelf.'"
"A, father."
"'Man's danger lies in Satan, sin, and self.'"
"M, father."
"'In virtue, learning, wisdom, progress make.'"
"I, father."
"'Ne'er shrink at suffering for thy Saviour's sake.'"
"N, father. I know what that spells."
"What?"
"Benjamin."
"'Fraud and all falsehood in thy dealings flee.'"
"F," said the boy.
"'Religious always in thy station be.'"
"R, father."
"'Adore the Maker of thy inward heart.'"
"A, father."
"'Now's the accepted time, give him thy heart.'"
"N, father; and now I can guess the rest."
"'Keep a good conscience, 'tis a constant friend.'"
"K, father."
"'Like judge and witness this thy acts attend.'"
"L."
"'In heart with bended knee alone adore.'"
"I."
"'None but the Three in One forever more.'"
"N."
"And to whom are all these things written?"
"'To Benjamin Franklin,' sir."
"Well, my boy, if you will only follow the advice of your Uncle Benjamin, the poet, you never will need any more instruction. – Wife, hear this: Brother Ben writes that he is coming to America as soon as he can settle his affairs, and when he arrives I will give over the training of little Ben to him. He is his godfather, and he takes a great interest in a boy that he has never seen. Sometimes people are drawn toward each other before they meet – there's a kind of sympathy in this world that is felt in ways unseen and that is prophetic. Your father was a poet, and Uncle Ben, he is one, after a fashion. I wonder what little Ben will be!"
He put on his paper cap and opened the door into the molding-room. The fire was dying out on the hearth, and the candles in the molds were cooling and hardening. He opened the weather door, causing the bell attached to it to ring. He stood looking out on the bowery street of Boston town.
On the hill rose the North Church in the shadows near the sea. A horn rent the still air. A stage coach from Salem came rolling in and stopped at the Boston Stone, not far away. A little girl tripped down the street.
"A pound of candles, sir."
"Hoi, yes, yes," and he took some candles out of a mold and laid them in the scales. The girl courtesied, and the tallow chandler closed the door with a ting-a-ling.
Then Josiah sat down with his family and played the violin. He loved his brother Benjamin, and the thought of his coming made him a happy man.
One day the old man came. Soon after there happened a great event in the family.
It was a windy night. The ocean was dashing and foaming along the sea wall on the beach where Long Wharf, Lewis Wharf, and Rowe's Wharf now are. The stars shone brightly, and clouds flew scudding over the moon.
Abiah Franklin opened the weather door and looked out. She returned to her great chair slowly with a cloud in her face.
"It is a bad night for those on the sea," she said. "It is now nine years since Josiah went away. Where he found an ocean grave we shall never know. It is hard," she added, "to have hope leave you in this way. It is one long torture to live in suspense. There hasn't been a day since the first year after Josiah left us that my ear has not waited to hear a knock on the door on a night like this.
"Josiah, you may say that I have faith in the impossible, but I sometimes believe that I shall hear that knock yet. There is one Scripture that comforts me when I think that; it is, 'Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.'"
Josiah Franklin sat silent. It was now indeed nine years since his son Josiah had left