Chapter I: Preface

THIS volume is an historical fiction, but the plan of it was suggested by biography, and is made to include the most interesting and picturesque episodes in the home side of the life of Benjamin Franklin, so as to form a connected narrative or picture of his public life.

I have written no book with a deeper sympathy with my subject, for, although fiction, the story very truthfully shows that the good intentions of a life which has seemed to fail do not die, but live in others whom they inspire. Uncle Benjamin Franklin, "the poet," who was something of a philosopher, and whose visions all seemed to end in disappointment, deeply influenced his nephew and godson, Benjamin Franklin, whom he morally educated to become what he himself had failed to be.

The conduct of Josiah Franklin, the father of Benjamin Franklin, in comforting his poor old brother in England by naming his fifteenth child for him, and making him his godfather, is a touching instance of family affection, to the memory of which the statesman was always true.

Uncle Benjamin Franklin had a library of pamphlets that was very dear to him, for in the margins of the leaves he had placed the choicest thoughts of his life amid great political events. He was very poor, and he sold his library in his old age; we may reasonably suppose that he parted with it among other effects to get money to come to America, that he might give his influence to "Little Ben," after his brother had remembered him in his desolation by giving his name to the boy. The finding of these pamphlets in London fifty years after the old man was compelled to sell them was regarded by Benjamin Franklin as one of the most singular events of his remarkable life.

Mr. Parton, in his Life of Franklin, thus alludes to the circumstance:

A strange occurrence brought to the mind of
Franklin, in 1771, a vivid recollection of his
childhood. A dealer in old books, whose shop he
sometimes visited, called his attention one day to
a collection of pamphlets, bound in thirty
volumes, dating from the Restoration to 1715. The
dealer offered them to Franklin, as he said,
because many of the subjects of the pamphlets were
such as usually interested him. Upon examining the
collection, he found that one of the blank leaves
of each volume contained a catalogue of its
contents, and the price each pamphlet had cost;
there were notes and comments also in the margin
of several of the pieces. A closer scrutiny
revealed that the handwriting was that of his
Uncle Benjamin, the rhyming friend and counselor
of his childhood. Other circumstances combined
with this surprising fact to prove that the
collection had been made by his uncle, who had
probably sold it when he emigrated to America,
fifty-six years before. Franklin bought the
volumes, and gave an account of the circumstance
to his Uncle Benjamin's son, who still lived and
flourished in Boston. "The oddity is," he wrote,
"that the bookseller, who could suspect nothing of
any relation between me and the collector, should
happen to make me the offer of them."

It may please the reader to know that "Mr. Calamity" was suggested by a real character, and that the incidents in the life of "Jenny," Franklin's favorite sister, are true in spirit and largely in detail. It would have been more artistic to have had Franklin discover Uncle Benjamin's "pamphlets" later in life, but this would have been, while allowable, unhistoric fiction.

Says one of the greatest critics ever born in America, in speaking of the humble birth of Franklin:

That little baby, humbly cradled, has turned out
to be the greatest man that America ever bore in
her bosom or set eyes upon. Beyond all question,
as I think, Benjamin Franklin had the largest mind
that has shone on this side of the sea, widest in
its comprehension, most deep-looking, thoughtful,
far-seeing, the most original and creative child
of the New World.

For the last four generations no man has shed such
copious good influence on America, nor added so
much new truth to popular knowledge; none has so
skillfully organized its ideals into institutions;
none has so powerfully and wisely directed the
nation's conduct and advanced its welfare in so
many respects. No man has so strong a hold on the
habits or the manners of the people.

"The principal question in life is, What good can I do in the world?" says Franklin. He learned to ask this question in his home in "beloved Boston." It was his purpose to answer this all-important question after the lessons that he had received in his early home, to which his heart remained true through all his marvelous career.

This is the seventh volume of the Creators of Liberty Series of books of historical fiction, based for the most part on real events, in the purpose of presenting biography in picture.

The former volumes of this series of books have been very kindly received by the public, and none of them more generously than the last volume, The Wampum Belt. For this the writer is very grateful, for he is a thorough believer in story-telling education, on the Pestalozzi and Froebel principle that "life must be taught from life," or from the highest ideals of beneficent character.

H. B.

28 WORCESTER STREET, BOSTON, MASS., _June, 1897_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I.--THE FIRST DAY 1
II.--UNCLE BENJAMIN, THE POET 10
III.--BENJAMIN AND BENJAMIN 18
IV.--FRANKLIN'S STORY OF A HOLIDAY IN CHILDHOOD 24
V.--THE BOY FRANKLIN'S KITE 28
VI.--LITTLE BEN'S GUINEA PIG 34
VII.--UNCLE TOM, WHO ROSE IN THE WORLD 39
VIII.--LITTLE BEN SHOWS HIS HANDWRITING TO THE FAMILY 46
IX.--UNCLE BENJAMIN'S SECRET 50
X.--THE STONE WHARF, AND LADY WIGGLEWORTH, WHO FELL
ASLEEP IN CHURCH 56
XI.--JENNY 70
XII.--A CHIME OF BELLS IN NOTTINGHAM 74
XIII.--THE ELDER FRANKLIN'S STORIES 78
XIV.--THE TREASURE-FINDER 83
XV.--"HAVE I A CHANCE?" 92
XVI.--"A BOOK THAT INFLUENCED THE CHARACTER OF A MAN
WHO LED HIS AGE" 99
XVII.--BENJAMIN LOOKS FOR A PLACE WHEREIN TO START IN
LIFE 102
XVIII.--LITTLE BEN'S ADVENTURE AS A POET 111
XIX.--LEAVES BOSTON 132
XX.--LAUGHED AT AGAIN 138
XXI.--LONDON AND A LONG SWIM 148
XXII.--A PENNY ROLL WITH HONOR.--JENNY'S
SPINNING-WHEEL 160
XXIII.--MR. CALAMITY 168
XXIV.--FRANKLIN'S STRUGGLES WITH FRANKLIN 174
XXV.--THE MAGICAL BOTTLE 179
XXVI.--THE ELECTRIFIED VIAL AND THE QUESTIONS IT
RAISED 186
XXVII.--THE GREAT DISCOVERY 192
XXVIII.--HOME-COMING IN DISGUISE 200
XXIX.--"THOSE PAMPHLETS" 209
XXX.--A STRANGE DISCOVERY 213
XXXI.--OLD HUMPHREY'S STRANGE STORY 220
XXXII.--THE EAGLE THAT CAUGHT THE CAT.--DR. FRANKLIN'S
ENGLISH FABLE.--THE DOCTOR'S SQUIRRELS 225
XXXIII.--OLD MR. CALAMITY AGAIN 230
XXXIV.--OLD MR. CALAMITY AND THE TEARING DOWN OF THE
KING'S ARMS 242
XXXV.--JENNY AGAIN 250
XXXVI.--THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.--A MYSTERY 257
XXXVII.--ANOTHER SIGNATURE.--THE STORY OF AUVERGNE SANS
TACHE 267
XXXVIII.--FRANKLIN SIGNS THE TREATY OF PEACE.--HOW GEORGE
III RECEIVES THE NEWS 281
XXXIX.--THE TALE OF AN OLD VELVET COAT 287
XL.--IN SERVICE AGAIN 293
XLI.--JANE'S LAST VISIT 299
XLII.--FOR THE LAST TIME 307
XLIII.--A LESSON AFTER SCHOOL 311
APPENDIX.--FRANKLIN'S FAMOUS PROVERB STORY OF THE OLD
AUCTIONEER 314

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FACING PAGE

Little Ben's adventure as a poet _Frontispiece_

Uncle Benjamin's secret 52

"Are you going to swim back to London?" 156

A strange discovery 215

The destruction of the royal arms 247

Franklin's last days 295

TRUE TO HIS HOME.