Probably no American of humble origin ever attained to more enduring fame than many-sided Benjamin Franklin. The secret of his rise can be tersely told. He had ceaseless energy, guided by a passion for the improvement of mankind. A recital of his accomplishments sounds like a round of the old counting game, “doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.” He was, in fact, all the list except the “thief.”

Boston gave him to America on January 17, 1706, but Philadelphia claimed him early, and he stamped himself upon the Quaker City almost as definitely as did William Penn.

Passing over his precocious boyhood, when he wrote for the Boston publication of his brother James with a skill that at the time was held astonishing, the day he reached Philadelphia he was a great, overgrown boy, his clothes most unsightly; for he had been wrecked trying to make an economical trip from New York by sailboat. With the exception of a single Dutch dollar he was penniless. As he trudged about the streets, his big eyes drinking in the sights, his cupid-bow mouth ready to smile at the slightest provocation, he munched a roll of bread. His reserve food supply was a loaf under each arm.

He was an expert printer, and printers were wanted in Philadelphia. He soon got a job, after which he found a boarding place in the home of one Read, with whose daughter, Deborah, he promptly fell in love.

After a few years the governor of Pennsylvania urged him to go to London to purchase a printing plant of his own. The official had promised to send letters and funds aboard the ship in the mail-bag; but at the critical moment forgot all about it. So young Franklin landed in London without a cent, and played a short engagement as “beggar man.”

Again his skill as a printer saved him from want, and he remained five years, having a most interesting time, meeting many of the great men of England, all of whom were charmed with his wit and philosophy.

In all that period he did not write a single letter to Deborah Read; yet he seemed surprised and hurt on his return to Philadelphia to find the young woman married to another. But Deborah’s husband, who had treated her cruelly, quite civilly left her a widow, so that Franklin, careless but faithful, was able ultimately to claim her as his wife.

For the next twenty years Franklin did something new at almost every turn. He flew a kite in a thunder shower, drew down electricity, and invented the lightning rod, to the salvation of generations of rural sales agents. He invented a stove that still holds his name. He organized the first fire company in America, and founded the first public library. All the while he was publishing “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” which to this day ranks as an epigrammatic masterpiece.

American politics soon claimed Franklin as an ideal diplomatist. English and Scottish universities honored him with degrees for his discoveries and writings. In Paris he became the most popular man of the period, and was overwhelmed with attention from all classes.

He was one of the first signers of the Declaration of Independence; and he rounded out his political career as governor of Pennsylvania and one of the framers of the Constitution. He died in Philadelphia in April, 1790, in some respects the greatest of Americans.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 6, SERIAL No. 106
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

American Pioneer Prose Writers