Parts 4, 5 & 6 "Lone Traveler: The Singular Life Of Benjamin Franklin"

Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin

Part 4 – 1725 and 1726 – London Chapter 6 The Governor’s “Pitiful Trick” Upon arrival in London the captain gave Benjamin all of Keith’s letters but none carried Franklin’s name. One however was addressed to the King’s printer and another to a stationer so Ben, hoping that these were the documents he sought, delivered them. They were not letters of credit but merely correspondence from others entrusted to the governor for delivery. On investigation Franklin learned that Keith was not well regarded in the mother country and he had no credit to give. Ben had been used.

But what shall we think of a governor’s playing such pitiful tricks, and imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a habit he acquired. He wish’d to please everybody; and having little to give, he gave expectations.

His funds exhausted, Ben had no means of returning home. There was nothing else to do but find employment there in London. He immediately found it at Palmer’s, one of the more prominent printing houses in the country, where he stayed for nearly a year.

James Ralph, a poet and one of the young men in Benjamin’s circle of friends in Philadelphia, accompanied him on the voyage to England. Ralph abandoned a wife and child in Pennsylvania to pursue his career and taste some of what eighteenth century London had to offer. He succumbed to many of its temptations and Benjamin too enjoyed the lifestyle of a bachelor in the cultural and largely immoral center of Europe, but Ben’s inherent sense of discipline restrained him.

While spending most of his wages on plays and other amusements he continued his studies and his writing. He printed some of his work, distributed copies and in time became noticed by some of the more prestigious members of London society. Palmer, Franklin’s employer, read a metaphysical piece of Ben’s entitled, A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain and began to think of his new employee as more than just a competent printer.

A certain Dr. Lyon, a surgeon who had published a treatise on human judgment and dignity was intrigued with Franklin’s dissertation, although he disagreed with many of his points. Lyon sought out Franklin and the two were to spend many evenings together at taverns and in the homes of many of London’s intellectual elite including disciples of Isaac Newton. Ben’s mind was being engaged and his spirit strengthened. His star was on the rise.

Before his first year in London was out Ben switched employers, moving to Watts’, an even greater printing house than Palmer’s. While there Franklin demonstrated his capacity as a leader.

It was the custom at Watts’, as it was everywhere else, for the workmen to drink beer as they toiled, believing it gave them strength. Ben drank only water so when he was told to contribute to the common fund used to buy the beer he refused.

Their master agreed with Franklin and told the others Ben did not have to pay. This made him an outcast and the others began to play tricks on him and sabotage his work. After a few weeks Ben gave in and began paying into the fund.

Now on a better footing with the others, Ben, due to his gregarious nature and wit, began to gain some influence. The others noticed Ben’s strength and work output and granted him due respect. Returning to the issue that had caused him trouble Ben pointed out to his co-workers any strength afforded them by beer could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley dissolved in it. If they drank water as he did and ate a penny worth of bread, their strength would be greater then if they drank a quart of beer “and they would dispense with the muddling affects of the liquor.” His argument and example compelled some of his fellow workmen to alter their diets. Ben arranged for a neighboring house to provide a large porringer of gruel with pepper, butter, and bread crumbs for the price of one pint of beer. The others paid him for the mixture and far less than they’d been paying for beer. Those who continued to drink beer at their work would even come to Ben for loans from the gruel fund for which Ben charged an agreeable interest. All, particularly their employer, due to the increased out-

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin put of a more sober workforce, were pleased with the new arrangement. His prestige was steadily increasing and if he had stayed at Watts’ he certainly would have received successive promotions, but change was constant for Benjamin Franklin.

A Quaker merchant by the name of Denham made the crossing with Franklin the previous year. He and the young printer became friends and they often met to discuss their London enterprises and experiences. Mr. Denham was very fond of his young friend and impressed with Ben’s good character. Denham, who had been buying goods for resale in America, offered Ben a position. He would manage the details of the rest of the procurements, assist with the shipping, then work with Denham in running his store in Philadelphia. The pay would be fifty pounds a year, which was less than Ben was making as a pressman and compositor, but since the prospects were better and the position was in Philadelphia, Ben accepted. On July 23rd, 1726, Ben Franklin left London for the first time.

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin

Part 5 – 1726 to 1729 – In the Employ of Others Chapter 7 Death of a Friend During their Atlantic crossing, which was to take over ten weeks, Franklin formed the plan, as he put it, “for regulating my future conduct in life”. He began to form rules of conduct that he would live by from then on.

Ben Franklin believed in God but he was not religious. Very late in his life Franklin was asked by Ezra Stiles, an old friend from New England and then president of Yale, what were his religious beliefs. Franklin answered he did not subscribe to the beliefs of any sect and he said: I believe in one God, the creator of the universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to Him is doing good to His other children.

That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.

These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

“By His providence” meant to the Deists of Franklin’s time that God cared for us through his foresight. Central to Franklin’s personal code and his dealings with others was his belief that God’s creations would thrive, or not, as a result of their nature rather than God’s intervention. If we conduct ourselves nobly and with respect for each other we glorify God’s plan. Ben’s time in London and his deeply thoughtful discussions about morality, liberty and the nature of man were very important for him and the governments which he would one-day help to create. During his long, summer voyage home he mulled over all that he had learned and began to develop a very ordered approach to self regulation and improvement which would be the key to his acquisition of wealth, both monetary and spiritual.

Philadelphia’s fresh and multi-colored autumn greeted the travelers and the contrast with a noisy and brutal London could not have been greater. Denham opened a store on Water Street and Ben attended it diligently. He kept the accounts and soon became expert at selling. Denham’s Quaker ideals had an affect on Franklin. Already resolved to be faithful to himself and guided by the principles carefully conceived through experience and logic, Franklin now saw, first hand, the financial and spiritual rewards of Denham’s creed. In a lyrical passage from a letter to his sister Jane, there is the tone of a devout Quaker.

Sister, farewell, and remember that modesty, as it makes the most homely virgin amiable and charming, so the want of it makes the most perfect beauty disagreeable and odious. But, when that brightest of female virtues shines among other perfections of body and mind in the same person, it makes the woman more lovely than an angel. Excuse this freedom, and use the same with me.

He and Denham got along very well. Franklin said in the Autobiography that he loved him, but in February of 1727 tragedy struck. The epidemic that had suddenly spread throughout the city struck both Franklin and Denham and Denham passed away. Although he had promised to provide for Ben in his will it was not done in time. Ben was once again left to his own resources.

Ben’s illness was nearly fatal and it left him exhausted. The loss of Denham made him jobless. He was far from his family, penniless and without protection. His near death experience accompanied by the passing of his friend would be a turning point for him. His salvation would be the deliberate application of the principals which he believed in so strongly.

He would incorporate the rules the Quakers lived by with his own. His, based on the logic of the Greeks, liberty, human nature; theirs on Christian values and personal responsibility. The renewed, enlightened Benjamin Franklin was now on the path to success in business, science and politics.

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin

Part 6 – 1729 to 1748 - Businessman Chapter 8 Poor Richard Business was first, so Franklin returned to printing. Unfortunately this meant a step backward since Keimer was still the only printer in the city who could support him. What he now knew of Keimer’s past made his decision even harder. While in England, Franklin met the Frenchman’s wife. She and her friends told him of incidents and treatment that indicated his old employer’s character was even worse than Ben supposed. This must have given Ben pause because he first looked for another job as a store clerk and found none. Survival was becoming the issue so he set aside his distaste for Samuel Keimer.

The others in his shop needed training so Keimer was very glad to re-hire this industrious and now highly experienced young man. It was his intention to pay Ben handsomely and to hold him just long enough for the others to become proficient. Ben was powerless to thwart Keimer’s plan because his co-workers had to be taught in order for the shop to produce. Daily, his services became less and less important until finally Keimer instigated a quarrel and as harsh words were exchanged Keimer threatened to fire his young foreman. Ben told him firing would not be necessary and quit.

That evening Hugh Merideth, one of the other printers at Keimer’s came to Franklin. Ben described Merideth as “a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of age, bred to country work; honest, sensible, had a great deal of solid observation, was something of a reader, but given to drink.” Meredith had a plan too. He and his father would put up the money to open another printing establishment in town. They would set their stock against Franklin’s skill in the business and the two would share in the profits equally. This was agreeable to Franklin and he accepted.

Keimer had acted too soon. Days after their altercation he was presented with the opportunity that could make or break him, the printing of New Jersey’s new paper currency. This would be a demanding task and it was completely beyond him. Without Ben he couldn’t do it. Franklin strongly considered turning him down and letting his business founder but he realized the contract would then be given to Bradford, strengthening his other, more formidable competitor. He went back to Keimer’s for a third time and the lucrative contract was won.

This was another significant turn for Franklin. He would meet and associate with many important residents of the province including assemblymen, judges, prominent craftsmen and business owners. The network that would sustain him and form a political base was forming. He must have considered this public project to be a milestone in his life since at this point in his autobiography he interrupted the narrative to explain his state of mind with regard to principals and morals.

I grew convinced that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life; and I form’d written resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertain’d an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the circumstances of things considered.

And this persuasion, with the kind hand of Providence, or some guardian angel, or accidental favorable circumstances and situations, or all together, preserved me, thro’ this dangerous time of youth, and the hazardous situations I was sometimes in among strangers, remote from the eye and advise of my father, without any willful gross immorality or injustice, that might have been expected from my want of religion. I say willful, because the instances I have mentioned had something of necessity in them, from my youth, inexperience and the knavery of others. I had therefore a tolerable character to begin the world with; I valued it properly, and determin’d to preserve it.

This was to begin the period of his life primarily devoted to his trade and business. His devotion was great and the

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin manner in which he conducted himself and his business must have been exemplary because by the age of forty-two, only eighteen years after becoming a sole proprietor, he was to retire from business.

An early order of his business was to establish a newspaper. He knew he could profit by combining his skills; printing with writing and editing, but he exercised caution in establishing his paper. He began by allying himself with his competitor, Bradford, to produce a series of essays for Bradford’s paper, The American Mercury. Bradford accepted Franklin because Keimer, in December of 1728, founded his own paper, and Bradford was keen to outsell and hopefully ruin his rival.

Franklin was cautious too in the content of his essays as he remembered the trouble his brother had heaped upon himself by not carefully considering the consequences of his writing. Franklin collaborated with a very literary scrivener by the name of Joseph Breintnall on his essays, which became a column in the Mercury called The Busy Body. Its purpose was to entertain through casual observation or insight, and there was always humor. Franklin’s plan was to gain a readership who would follow him to his own paper, which would soon be available.

Around the same time he was printing currency for New Jersey he started a club. Formalized in 1728 and called the “Junto” this was a group of one dozen of Franklin’s friends whom he considered to be capable thinkers. They met on Friday evenings to discuss morals, politics and philosophy and each member was required, once every three months, to write and read an essay on some point intended to enrich the others. Eventually, Franklin, and members of this club formed the American Philosophical Society.

Bradford’s and Franklin’s efforts against poor Keimer were effective. He left Philadelphia for Barbados in 1729, never to return. Franklin bought his paper and shortened the name from The Universal Instructor In All Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette to simply Pennsylvania Gazette. These two developments were the springboard for Franklin. The paper gave him expression as well as income and the men of the Junto formed the nucleus of his personal and professional network in Philadelphia.

From 1730 until he sold his printing business to experiment with electricity Franklin founded America’s first public library, learned French, Italian and Spanish, established the first fire company in Philadelphia, invented the Franklin stove, established the American Philosophical Society, published the first periodical magazine conceived and printed in the colonies, established nine of his journeymen as printers in other colonies, wrote and published Poor Richard’s Almanac, and learned to play the harp, guitar, violin and cello, while continuing to write and publish essays on many issues.

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin

Chapter 9 Family Franklin’s ability to devote himself to so many interests was due in no small measure to the devotion, assistance and loyalty of his wife Deborah. After seeing her on his first day in Philadelphia Ben courted Deborah Read. They became very fond of each other and before he left for England in 1725 it was more or less understood, if not expressly stated, that they would marry when he returned and established the printing business he and Governor Kieth had planned. During his extended stay in London Franklin neglected her, writing only once, and then to tell her he would soon return. He considered this to be ill treatment and he regretted it. While Ben was away her father died and not knowing Franklin’s condition or intentions, she married another. Her husband turned out to be a man of limited abilities and little fortitude. His business failed and he left Philadelphia and his wife with his debts unpaid.

By 1730, now a businessman and rising leader in the community, Ben felt he needed the help and influence of a good wife.

Having turned my thoughts to marriage, I look’d around me and made overtures of acquaintances in other places; but soon found that, the business of a printer being generally thought a poor one, I was not to expect money with a wife, unless with such a one as I should not otherwise think agreeable. In the mean time, that hard to be governed passion of youth hurried me frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way, which were attended with some expense and great inconvenience, besides a continual risque to my health by a distemper which of all things I dreaded, though by great good luck I escaped it. A friendly correspondence as neighbors and old acquaintances had continued between me and Mrs. Read’s family, who all had a regard for me from the time of my first lodging in their house. I was often invited there and consulted in their affairs, wherein I sometimes was of service. I piti’d poor Miss Read’s unfortunate situation, who was generally dejected, seldom cheerful, and avoided company. I considered my giddiness and inconstancy when in London as in a great degree the cause of her unhappiness, tho’ the mother was good enough to think the fault more her own than mine, as she had prevented our marrying before I went thither, and persuaded the other match in my absence. Our mutual affection was revived, but there were now great objections to our union. The match [between Deborah and her absent husband] was indeed looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be living in England; but this could not easily be prov’d, because of the distance; and, tho’ it should be true, he had left many debts, which his successor might be called upon to pay. We ventured, however over all these difficulties, and I took her to wife, September 1st, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened as we had apprehended; she proved a good and faithful helpmate, assisted me much by attending the shop; we throve together, and have ever mutually endevor’d to make each other happy. Thus I corrected that great erratum as well as I could.

The other family event of 1730 was the birth of Ben’s first son. William Franklin, born six months before Franklin married Deborah Read, would be the source of great joy and pride for his father. He would also be the cause of pain and profound regret. He would conduct the famous kite experiment with his father. He would become a soldier and serve with his father in the last French and Indian War and he would rise to become the Governor of New Jersey. And eventually, he would offend his countrymen and his father in a manner Benjamin Franklin could never forgive.

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin

William’s mother, whose name is unknown, was a working class woman who had a liaison with Benjamin Franklin during the time he and Meredith were partners and the Pennsylvania Gazette was just starting. As soon as Benjamin and Deborah were wed, William was taken in and Franklin provided for William’s mother with money every month. Franklin accepted the possible entanglements of marrying a woman who might yet still have a husband and she accepted William. The secret of William’s birth was well guarded in his early years and Deborah was usually taken to be his mother. She neither affirmed nor denied this and from her treatment of the child it was impossible to tell whether she was an exacting mother or none too kind stepmother.

Franklin’s family, both in Boston and Philadelphia, were always very important to him. William and Deborah were the first members of the Philadelphia branch but soon there were more. In 1735 Franklin returned to Massachusetts and reconciled with his brother. James’ health was failing and he asked Ben to take his son to Philadelphia, raise him and teach him their trade. This Franklin did. In his shop he sold the ointments manufactured by Mrs. Read and the soaps of his brothers John and Peter who had inherited their father’s business. And he established his brother-in-law as a butcher and grocer in Philadelphia.

In 1732 Mr. and Mrs. Franklin had a son. Francis Folger Franklin was the only legitimate son Franklin would have

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin and he was an utter joy to his parents. The blonde haired child was sweet and lively. He consecrated their marriage and seemed like a benediction from God. Their bright little cherub adored his father and Franklin was devoted to him. When their little boy was stricken by small pox and died in 1736 Franklin was devastated. It was the saddest event of his life.

While walking with a friend in Paris fifty years later the conversation turned to family and Franklin suddenly described in the most emotional terms, his lost little son. Tears filled his eyes and he choked, “I always thought he would have been the best of all my children.”

It was a bitter, bitter pill. He wrote of it in Poor Richard’s Almanac and he exhorted all to have their children inoculated. He finally wrote, “After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser”.

In 1744, the Franklin’s had a daughter, Sarah. As William took after his father in temperament and intelligence, Sarah more closely resembled her mother and she mildly accepted her role as her mother’s companion and helpmate around the house. In later years, she would be a great comfort and aid to her father as well.

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin

Chapter 10 Public Service and “Retirement” With his business well established and in order and his remaining family in place around him Franklin was able to carefully manage his enterprises and his wealth grew.

During his thirties and early forties Franklin was also heavily involved in public affairs. He was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia, Justice of the Peace and Clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He proposed laws and municipal regulations including a measure for property taxes to maintain police. He wrote the bill for paving Philadelphia’s streets and designed the four-panel, gas streetlights that became standard throughout the colonies.

Franklin In 1740 At The Age Of Thirty-Four And he began experimenting with electricity. When he left private business in 1748 it was to pursue his scientific interests and philosophy. One of his major works, a dissertation entitled Experiments and Observations on Electricity Made at Philadelphia in America was instrumental in making the study of electricity a full-blown branch of science. Shortly after its publication it was translated into Latin, French, German, and Italian and scientists throughout Europe repeated his experiments to either prove or disprove his findings.

His formal pursuits in science were a logical result of two of Franklin’s personality traits. First, he was a patient observer and he could quickly form conclusions of a broad nature based on his observations. For example, one day he was on horseback in Maryland when a whirlwind whipped across the field near him. He noticed the direction of rotation and while in the saddle deduced where vessels at sea should head to avoid storms based on the clouds and wind direction.

Eighteenth century sailors knew of the existence of the Gulf Stream and they knew it could aid or hinder their progress, but their encounters with it were often left to chance. While returning from England in 1775 Franklin observed the sky

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Lone Traveler: The Singular Life of Benjamin Franklin when the ship was near, and in this well-known current. Based on his observations he speculated that the water temperature in the Gulf Stream was greater than the surrounding water. If true, a ship’s pilot could avoid this broad river in the ocean, or enter it, by taking temperature readings and following the appropriate course. Franklin conducted the first formal study of the Gulf Stream and found his theory to be correct. He didn’t publish his findings until after the Revolutionary War because it would have helped the British but when his report was finally released travel across the Atlantic became faster.

In the eighteenth century, scientists; men uncovering nature’s long held secrets, were celebrities. The respect and adulation afforded them was comparable to generals of the nineteenth century and entertainers of the twentieth. In Franklin’s case the notoriety of his discoveries and inventions was often great because they had practical application or, as was the case with his discoveries in electricity, profound implications. His dramatic experiment with a kite was just the sort of thing to excite his peers, the press and the public. Franklin, already known at least regionally as Poor Richard, became world famous after flying a kite in a thunderstorm.

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