Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles having been forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was prevailed with to accompany them thither1, where they expected to enjoy their mode of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be men and women, and married; I was the youngest son, and the youngest child but two, and was born in Boston, New England. My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather in his church history of that country, entitled Magnalia Christi Americana, as 'a godly, learned Englishman," if I remember the words rightly. I have heard that he wrote sundry2 small occasional pieces, but only one of them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was written in 1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and addressed to those then concerned in the government there. It was in favor of liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, uakers, and other sectaries that had been under persecution3, ascribing the Indian wars, and other distresses4 that had befallen the country, to that persecution, as so many judgments6 of God to punish so heinous7 an offense8, and exhorting9 a repeal10 of those uncharitable laws. The whole appeared to me as written with a good deal of decent plainness and manly11 freedom. The six concluding lines I remember, though I have forgotten the two first of the stanza12; but the purport13 of them was, that his censures14 proceeded from good-will, and, therefore, he would be known to be the author.
"Because to be a libeller (says he) I hate it with my heart; From Sherburne town, where now I dwell My name I do put here; Without offense your real friend, It is Peter Folgier."
My elder brothers were all put apprentices16 to different trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe17 of his sons, to the service of the Church. My early readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read), and the opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all his short-hand volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would learn his character. I continued, however, at the grammar-school not quite one year, though in that time I had risen gradually from the middle of the class of that year to be the head of it, and farther was removed into the next class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the end of the year. But my father, in the meantime, from a view of the expense of a college education, which having so large a family he could not well afford, and the mean living many so educated were afterwards able to obtain-reasons that be gave to his friends in my hearing--altered his first intention, took me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very successful in his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the arithmetic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was taken home to assist my father in his business, which was that of a tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his dying trade would not maintain his family, being in little request.
Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick for the candles, filling the dipping mold and the molds for cast candles, attending the shop, going of errands, etc.
I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination19 for the sea, but my father declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was commonly allowed to govern, especially in any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions I was generally a leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an early projecting public spirit, tho' not then justly conducted.
There was a salt-marsh20 that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much trampling21, we had made it a mere22 quagmire23. My proposal was to build a wharff there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of my play-fellows, and working with them diligently24 like so many emmets, sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built our little wharff. The next morning the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, which were found in our wharff. Inquiry25 was made after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of us were corrected by our fathers; and though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest.
I think you may like to know something of his person and character. He had an excellent constitution of body, was of middle stature26, but well set, and very strong; he was ingenious, could draw prettily27, was skilled a little in music, and had a clear pleasing voice, so that when he played psalm28 tunes29 on his violin and sung withal, as he sometimesdid in an evening after the business of the day was over, it was extremely agreeable to hear. He had a mechanical genius too, and, on occasion, was very handy in the use of other tradesmen's tools; but his great excellence30 lay in a sound understanding and solid judgment5 in prudential matters, both in private and publick affairs. In the latter, indeed, he was never employed, the numerous family he had to educate and the straitness of his circumstances keeping him close to his trade; but I remember well his being frequently visited by leading people, who consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of the church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect for his judgment and advice: he was also much consulted by private persons about their affairs when any difficulty occurred, and frequently chosen an arbitrator between contending parties.
At his table he liked to have, as often as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor to converse32 with, and always took care to start some ingenious or useful topic for discourse33, which might tend to improve the minds of his children. By this means he turned our attention to what was good, just, and prudent31 in the conduct of life; and little or no notice was ever taken of what related to the victuals34 on the table, whether it was well or ill dressed, in or out of season, of good or bad flavor, referable or inferior to this or that other thing of the kind, so that I was bro't up in such a perfect inattention to those matters as to be quite indifferent what kind of food was set before me, and so unobservant of it, that to this day if I am asked I can scarce tell a few hours after dinner what I dined upon. This has been a convenience to me in travelling, where my companions have been sometimes very unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of their more delicate, because better instructed, tastes and appetites.
My mother had likewise an excellent constitution: she suckled all her ten children. I never knew either my father or mother to have any sickness but that of which they dy'd, he at 89, and she at 85 years of age. They lie buried together at Boston, where I some years since placed a marble over their grave, with this inscription35:
JOSIAH FRANKLIN, and ABIAH his Wife, lie here interred36. They lived lovingly together in wedlock37 fifty-five years. Without an estate, or any gainful employment, By constant labor38 and industry, with God's blessing39, They maintained a large family comfortably, and brought up thirteen children and seven grandchildren reputably. From this instance, reader, Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, And distrust not Providence40. He was a pious41 and prudent man; She, a discreet42 and virtuous43 woman. Their youngest son, In filial regard to their memory, Places this stone. J.F. born 1655, died 1744, AEtat 89. A.F. born 1667, died 1752, ----95.
By my rambling44 digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd to write more methodically. But one does not dress for private company as for a publick ball. 'Tis perhaps only negligence45.
To return: I continued thus employed in my father's business for two years, that is, till I was twelve years old; and my brother John, who was bred to that business, having left my father, married, and set up for himself at Rhode Island, there was all appearance that I was destined46 to supply his place, and become a tallow-chandler.
But my dislike to the trade continuing, my father was under apprehensions47 that if he did not find one for me more agreeable, I should break away and get to sea, as his son Josiah had done, to his great vexation. He therefore sometimes took me to walk with him, and see joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc., at their work, that he might observe my inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some trade or other on land. It has ever since been a pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their tools; and it has been useful to me, having learnt so much by it as to be able to do little jobs myself in my house when a workman could not readily be got, and to construct little machines for my experiments, while the intention of making the experiment was fresh and warm in my mind. My father at last fixed48 upon the cutler's trade, and my
uncle Benjamin's son Samuel, who was bred to that business in London, being about that time established in Boston, I was sent to be with him some time on liking49. But his expectations of a fee with me displeasing50 my father, I was taken home again.
From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the Pilgrim's Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in separate little volumes. I afterward18 sold them to enable me to buy R. Burton's Historical Collections; they were small chapmen's books, and cheap, 40 or 50 in all. My father's little library consisted chiefly of books in polemic51 divinity, most of which I read, and have since often regretted that, at a time when I had such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way since it was now resolved I should not be a clergyman.
Plutarch's Lives there was in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to great advantage. There was also a book of De Foe's, called an Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather's, called Essays to do Good, which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life.
This bookish inclination at length determined52 my father to make me a printer, though he had already one son (James) of that profession. In 1717 my brother James returned from England with a press and letters to set up his business in Boston. I liked it much better than that of my father, but still had a hankering for the sea.
To prevent the apprehended53 effect of such an inclination, my father was impatient to have me bound to my brother. I stood out some time, but at last was persuaded, and signed the indentures54 when I was yet but twelve years old. I was to serve as an apprentice15 till I was twenty-one years of age, only I was to be allowed journeyman's wages during the last year. In a little time I made great proficiency55 in the business, and became a useful hand to my brother. I now had access to better books. An acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one, which I was careful to return soon and clean. Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the morning, lest it should be missed or wanted.
And after some time an ingenious tradesman, Mr. Matthew Adams, who had a pretty collection of books, and who frequented our printing-house, took notice of me, invited me to his library, and very kindly56 lent me such books as I chose to read. I now took a fancy to poetry, and made some little pieces; my brother, thinking it might turn to account, encouraged me, and put me on composing occasional ballads57. One was called The Lighthouse Tragedy, and contained an account of the drowning of Captain Worthilake, with his two daughters: the other was a sailor's song, on the taking of Teach (or Blackbeard) the pirate. They were wretched stuff, in the Grub-street-ballad style; and when they were printed he sent me about the town to sell them. The first sold wonderfully, the event being recent, having made a great noise. This flattered my vanity; but my father discouraged me by ridiculing59 my performances, and telling me verse-makers were generally beggars. So I escaped being a poet, most probably a very bad one; but as prose writing bad been of great use to me in the course of my life, and was a principal means of my advancement60, I shall tell you how, in such a situation, I acquired what little ability I have in that way.
There was another bookish lad in the town, John Collins by name, with whom I was intimately acquainted. We sometimes disputed, and very fond we were of argument, and very desirous of confuting one another, which disputatious turn, by the way, is apt to become a very bad habit, making people often extremely disagreeable in company by the contradiction that is necessary to bring it into practice; and thence, besides souring and spoiling the conversation, is productive of disgusts and, perhaps enmities where you may have occasion for friendship. I had caught it by reading my father's books of dispute about religion. Persons of good sense, I have since observed, seldom fall into it, except lawyers, university men, and men of all sorts that have been bred at Edinborough.
A question was once, somehow or other, started between Collins and me, of the propriety61 of educating the female sex in learning, and their
abilities for study. He was of opinion that it was improper62, and that they were naturally unequal to it. I took the contrary side, perhaps a little for dispute's sake.
He was naturally more eloquent63, had a ready plenty of words; and sometimes, as I thought, bore me down more by his fluency64 than by the strength of his reasons. As we parted without settling the point, and were not to see one another again for some time, I sat down to put my arguments in writing, which I copied fair and sent to him.
He answered, and I replied. Three or four letters of a side had passed, when my father happened to find my papers and read them. Without entering into the discussion, he took occasion to talk to me about the manner of my writing; observed that, though I had the advantage of my antagonist65 in correct spelling and pointing (which I ow'd to the printing-house), I fell far short in elegance66 of expression, in method and in perspicuity67, of which he convinced me by several instances. I saw the justice of his remark, and thence grew more attentive68 to the manner in writing, and determined to endeavor at improvement.
About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, making short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at length, and as fully58 as it had been expressed before, in any suitable words that should come to hand. Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting69 and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master of it.
Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into verse; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the prose, turned them back again. I also sometimes jumbled70 my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper. This was to teach me method in the arrangement of thoughts. By comparing my work afterwards with the original, I discovered many faults and amended71 them; but I sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small import, I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious. My time for these exercises and for reading was at night, after work or before it began in the morning, or on Sundays, when I contrived72 to be in the printing-house alone, evading73 as much as I could the common attendance on public worship which my father used to exact on me when I was under his care, and which indeed I still thought a duty, though I could not, as it seemed to
me, afford time to practise it.
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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heinous
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| adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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exhorting
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的现在分词 ) | |
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repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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stanza
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| n.（诗）节，段 | |
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purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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censures
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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quagmire
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| n.沼地 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wedlock
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| n.婚姻，已婚状态 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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displeasing
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| 不愉快的，令人发火的 | |
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polemic
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| n.争论，论战 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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indentures
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| vt.以契约束缚（indenture的第三人称单数形式） | |
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proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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ridiculing
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的现在分词 ) | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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fluency
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| n.流畅，雄辩，善辩 | |
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antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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67
perspicuity
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| n.（文体的）明晰 | |
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68
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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69
recollecting
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| v.记起，想起( recollect的现在分词 ) | |
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70
jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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71
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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72
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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73
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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