AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
_by_
E. BOYD SMITH
EDITED
_by_
FRANK WOODWORTH PINE
_New York_
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1916
Copyright, 1916,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
June, 1922
THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N. J.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction vii
The Autobiography
I. Ancestry and Early Life in Boston 3
II. Beginning Life as a Printer 21
III. Arrival in Philadelphia 41
IV. First Visit to Boston 55
V. Early Friends in Philadelphia 69
VI. First Visit to London 77
VII. Beginning Business in Philadelphia 99
VIII. Business Success and First Public Service 126
IX. Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection 146
X. _Poor Richard's Almanac_ and Other Activities 169
XI. Interest in Public Affairs 188
XII. Defense of the Province 201
XIII. Public Services and Duties 217
XIV. Albany Plan of Union 241
XV. Quarrels with the Proprietary Governors 246
XVI. Braddock's Expedition 253
XVII. Franklin's Defense of the Frontier 274
XVIII. Scientific Experiments 289
XIX. Agent of Pennsylvania in London 296
Appendix
Electrical Kite 327
The Way to Wealth 331
The Whistle 336
A Letter to Samuel Mather 34O
Bibliography 343
ILLUSTRATIONS
Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI _Frontispiece_
"He was therefore, feasted and invited to all the court
parties. At these he sometimes met the old Duchess of
Bourbon, who, being a chess player of about his force,
they very generally played together. Happening once to
put her king into prize, the Doctor took it. 'Ah,' says
she, 'we do not take kings so.' 'We do in America,'
said the Doctor."--Thomas Jefferson.
PAGE
Portrait of Franklin vii
Pages 1 and 4 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_, Number
XL, the first number after Franklin took control xxi
First page of _The New England Courant_ of December
4-11, 1721 33
"I was employed to carry the papers thro' the streets
to the customers" 36
"She, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I
made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous
appearance" 48
"I took to working at press" 88
"I see him still at work when I go home from club" 120
Two pages from _Poor Richard's Almanac_ for 1736 171
"I regularly took my turn of duty there as a common
soldier" 204
"In the evening, hearing a great noise among them,
the commissioners walk'd out to see what was the
matter" 224
"Our axes ... were immediately set to work to
cut down trees" 278
"We now appeared very wide, and so far from each
other in our opinions as to discourage all hope
of agreement" 318
"You will find it stream out plentifully from the key
on the approach of your knuckle" 328
Father Abraham in his study 330
The end papers show, at the front, the Franklin arms and
the Franklin seal; at the back, the medal given by the
Boston public schools from the fund left by Franklin for
that purpose as provided in the following extract from his
will:
"I was born in Boston, New England, and owe my first
instructions in literature to the free grammar-schools
established there. I therefore give one hundred pounds
sterling to my executors, to be by them ... paid over to
the managers or directors of the free schools in my native
town of Boston, to be by them ... put out to interest, and
so continued at interest forever, which interest annually
shall be laid out in silver medals, and given as honorary
rewards annually by the directors of the said free schools
belonging to the said town, in such manner as to the
discretion of the selectmen of the said town shall seem
meet."
INTRODUCTION
We Americans devour eagerly any piece of writing that purports to tell
us the secret of success in life; yet how often we are disappointed to
find nothing but commonplace statements, or receipts that we know by
heart but never follow. Most of the life stories of our famous and
successful men fail to inspire because they lack the human element
that makes the record real and brings the story within our grasp.
While we are searching far and near for some Aladdin's Lamp to give
coveted fortune, there is ready at our hand if we will only reach out
and take it, like the charm in Milton's _Comus_,
"Unknown, and like esteemed, and the dull swain
Treads on it daily with his clouted shoon;"
the interesting, human, and vividly told story of one of the wisest
and most useful lives in our own history, and perhaps in any history.
In Franklin's _Autobiography_ is offered not so much a ready-made
formula for success, as the companionship of a real flesh and blood
man of extraordinary mind and quality, whose daily walk and
conversation will help us to meet our own difficulties, much as does
the example of a wise and strong friend. While we are fascinated by
the story, we absorb the human experience through which a strong and
helpful character is building.
The thing that makes Franklin's _Autobiography_ different from every
other life story of a great and successful man is just this human
aspect of the account. Franklin told the story of his life, as he
himself says, for the benefit of his posterity. He wanted to help them
by the relation of his own rise from obscurity and poverty to eminence
and wealth. He is not unmindful of the importance of his public
services and their recognition, yet his accounts of these achievements
are given only as a part of the story, and the vanity displayed is
incidental and in keeping with the honesty of the recital. There is
nothing of the impossible in the method and practice of Franklin as he
sets them forth. The youth who reads the fascinating story is
astonished to find that Franklin in his early years struggled with the
same everyday passions and difficulties that he himself experiences,
and he loses the sense of discouragement that comes from a
realization of his own shortcomings and inability to attain.
There are other reasons why the _Autobiography_ should be an intimate
friend of American young people. Here they may establish a close
relationship with one of the foremost Americans as well as one of the
wisest men of his age.
The life of Benjamin Franklin is of importance to every American
primarily because of the part he played in securing the independence
of the United States and in establishing it as a nation. Franklin
shares with Washington the honors of the Revolution, and of the events
leading to the birth of the new nation. While Washington was the
animating spirit of the struggle in the colonies, Franklin was its
ablest champion abroad. To Franklin's cogent reasoning and keen
satire, we owe the clear and forcible presentation of the American
case in England and France; while to his personality and diplomacy as
well as to his facile pen, we are indebted for the foreign alliance
and the funds without which Washington's work must have failed. His
patience, fortitude, and practical wisdom, coupled with
self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of his country, are hardly less
noticeable than similar qualities displayed by Washington. In fact,
Franklin as a public man was much like Washington, especially in the
entire disinterestedness of his public service.
Franklin is also interesting to us because by his life and teachings
he has done more than any other American to advance the material
prosperity of his countrymen. It is said that his widely and
faithfully read maxims made Philadelphia and Pennsylvania wealthy,
while Poor Richard's pithy sayings, translated into many languages,
have had a world-wide influence.
Franklin is a good type of our American manhood. Although not the
wealthiest or the most powerful, he is undoubtedly, in the versatility
of his genius and achievements, the greatest of our self-made men. The
simple yet graphic story in the _Autobiography_ of his steady rise
from humble boyhood in a tallow-chandler shop, by industry, economy,
and perseverance in self-improvement, to eminence, is the most
remarkable of all the remarkable histories of our self-made men. It is
in itself a wonderful illustration of the results possible to be
attained in a land of unequaled opportunity by following Franklin's
maxims.
Franklin's fame, however, was not confined to his own country.
Although he lived in a century notable for the rapid evolution of
scientific and political thought and activity, yet no less a keen
judge and critic than Lord Jeffrey, the famous editor of the
_Edinburgh Review_, a century ago said that "in one point of view
the name of Franklin must be considered as standing higher than any of
the others which illustrated the eighteenth century. Distinguished as
a statesman, he was equally great as a philosopher, thus uniting in
himself a rare degree of excellence in both these pursuits, to excel
in either of which is deemed the highest praise."
Franklin has indeed been aptly called "many-sided." He was eminent in
science and public service, in diplomacy and in literature. He was the
Edison of his day, turning his scientific discoveries to the benefit
of his fellow-men. He perceived the identity of lightning and
electricity and set up the lightning rod. He invented the Franklin
stove, still widely used, and refused to patent it. He possessed a
masterly shrewdness in business and practical affairs. Carlyle called
him the father of all the Yankees. He founded a fire company, assisted
in founding a hospital, and improved the cleaning and lighting of
streets. He developed journalism, established the American
Philosophical Society, the public library in Philadelphia, and the