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Benjamin Franklin was born at Boston, on the 17th of
January, 1706. His ancestors were from the county of Northampton, in England,
where they had for many generations possessed a small freehold estate, near the
village of Eaton. During the persecutions in the reign of Charles II., against
the puritans, the father of Benjamin, who was of that persuasion, emigrated to
America, and settling in Boston, had recourse for a livelihood to the business
of a chandler and soap boiler. His mother's name was Folger. She was a native of
Boston, and belonged to a respectable family.
At an early age, young Franklin discovered, as his parents thought, a more
than ordinary genius; and they resolved to give him an education, with reference
to the profession of a clergyman. Accordingly, he was placed at a grammar
school, where he soon attained the reputation of a lad of industrious habits,
and respectable genius.
| His parents, however, at the expiration of a year, found that their slender
revenues would not admit of the expense of collegiate instruction. He was,
therefore, soon after taken home to prosecute the business of his father. In
this occupation he was employed for two years, but it was ill adapted to his
constitution, and he felt unwilling to continue cutting wicks for candles,
filling moulds, and running of errands. He became uneasy, and at length resolved
to embark on a seafaring life. To such a proposition, however, his parents
strongly objected, as they had already lost a son at sea. He was permitted,
however, to change his business, and allowed to choose an occupation which was
more congenial to his inclinations.
His fondness for books had, from an early age, been singularly great. He read
every thing within his reach. His father's library was itself scanty, being
confined to a few such works as Defoe's Essay upon Projects, Mather's Essay on
doing Good, and the Lives of Plutarch. These he perused with great attention,
and they appear to have exercised a favorable influence on his mind. His love of
books was frequently noticed by his father, who, at length, proposed to bind him
as an apprentice to an elder brother, who was at that time a printer of a
newspaper in Boston. He was accordingly thus situated, in the year 1717, when he
was scarcely twelve years of age. He soon became a proficient in the mechanical
part of the business, and seized every opportunity for reading books that he
could borrow from his acquaintance, in which employment he spent the greater
part of his nights. He soon began to indulge himself in writing ballads and
other poetical pieces; but, it is said, that his father speedily satisfied him
that this was not the species of composition in which he could excel. His next
efforts were directed to prose composition, in which his success is well known,
and duly appreciated. With a passion for reading and writing, he imbibed a
kindred one for disputation; and adopting the Socratic method, he became
dexterous in confuting and confounding an antagonist, by a series of questions.
This course gave him a skeptical turn with regard to religion, and while he was
young he took every opportunity of propagating his tenets, and with the ordinary
zeal of a new convert. He was, however, soon convinced, by the effect produced
on some of his companions, that it was extremely dangerous to loosen the ties of
religion, without the probability of substituting other principles equally
efficacious. The doubts which subsisted in his own mind, he was never able to
remove; but he was not deficient in fortifying himself with such moral
principles as directed him to the most valuable ends, by honorable means. By
habits of self-denial, early formed, he obtained a complete dominion over his
appetites, so that, at the age of sixteen, he readily discarded animal food,
from the conviction produced in his mind by perusing a work on the subject, that
he should enjoy a more vigorous state of health without it. He now offered his
brother to maintain himself, for half the sum paid for his board; and even with
this he was able to make savings to purchase what books he wanted. In his
brother, he found a harsh master, and Benjamin felt indignant at the treatment
which he experienced from him in the way of business. His brother had
established a newspaper, in which the apprentice contrived to insert some papers
and essays anonymously. These were read and highly commended by people of the
best judgment and taste in the town. The young man began now to feel his
importance, which was still more impressed on him by having the paper published
in his own name, that of his brother, for some political offence, having been
interdicted by the state.