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George Meredith - "The Shaving of Shagpat, v2"

George Meredith - "Sandra Belloni by George Meredith, v6"

Louisa May Alcott - "A Garland for Girls"

Charlotte M Yonge - "The Chaplet of Pearls"

From Boyhood to Manhood

W >> William M. Thayer >> From Boyhood to Manhood




"Will the Americans consent to pay the stamp duty if it is lessened?"
he was asked.

"No, never; unless compelled by force of arms," he answered.

"May not a military force carry the Stamp Act into execution?"

"Suppose a military force sent into America; they will find nobody in
arms; what are they, then, to do? Then can not force a man to take
stamps who chooses to do without them. They will not _find_ a
rebellion; they may, indeed, _make_ one."

"If the Stamp Act is enforced, will ill-humor induce the Americans to
give as much for the worse manufactures of their own, and use them in
preference to our better ones?"

"_Yes. People will pay as freely to gratify one passion as
another,--their resentment as their pride_."

"Would the people of Boston discontinue their trade?"

"The merchants of Boston are a very small number, and must discontinue
their trade, if nobody will buy their goods."

"What are the body of the people in the Colonies?"

"They are farmers, husbandmen, or planters."

"Would they suffer the produce of their lands to rot?"

"No; but they would not raise so much. They would manufacture more and
plow less. I do not know a single article imported into the Northern
Colonies that they can not do without, or make themselves."

To Lord Kames he said, "America must become a great country, populous
and mighty; and will, _in a less time than is generally conceived_, be
able to shake off any shackles that may be imposed upon her, and
perhaps place them on the imposers."

But his labors availed nothing, although Chatham, Pitt, Burke, Fox,
and others, espoused the cause of the Colonies. Affairs hastened to
the crisis of 1775, and Franklin returned to Philadelphia, reaching
that city soon after the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought,
in 1776.

A few months before he left England for America, his wife died. Her
death occurred on Dec. 17, 1774, though the sad tidings did not reach
Franklin until a short time before he took passage for home.

It was at this time that his famous letter to his old English friend,
William Strahan, was written, of which we are able to furnish a
_fac-simile_.

The scenes of the Revolution followed. Through the agency of Franklin,
as Minister Plenipotentiary to France, the French Government formed an
alliance with the Colonies, and the eight years' war was waged to the
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown; and Freedom was achieved.

No American exerted greater influence in securing the independence of
the Colonies than Franklin. He was one of the originators of the
Continental Congress, and was the author of the plan for a Union of
the States. On his way to the Albany Conference in 1754 he drew up a
plan of Union, which he presented to said Conference, composed of
delegates from seven Northern Colonies. Other members presented plans,
but his was preferred and adopted, with some amendments, and commended
to the favorable consideration of the King and Parliament of England.
Franklin's plan of Union was substantially that which, subsequently,
united the thirteen States into one nation.

No name is more conspicuous in history than that of Franklin. At one
time in France, "prints, medallion portraits, and busts of him were
multiplied throughout that country." In England, the most renowned
statesmen and scholars acknowledged his abilities and praised his
remarkable career. In America, his statue was set up in halls of
learning and legislation, literary societies and institutions were
founded in his name, and numerous towns were called after him. Perhaps
the author's native town--Franklin, Mass.--was the first to
appropriate his name. A few years thereafter, a nephew called his
attention to this fact, suggesting that the present of a bell from him
would be very acceptable, as the people were erecting a house of
worship. Franklin was in Passy, France, at the time, and he
immediately addressed the following letter to his old friend, Dr.
Price, asking him to select and forward a library:

"PASSY, 18 March, 1785.

"DEAR FRIEND,--My nephew, Mr. Williams, will have the honor of
delivering you this line. It is to request from you a list of a few
books, to the value of about twenty-five pounds, such as are most
proper to inculcate principles of sound religion and just
government. A new town in the State of Massachusetts having done me
the honor of naming itself after me, and proposing to build a
steeple to their meeting-house if I would give them a bell, I have
advised the sparing themselves the expense of a steeple for the
present, and that they would accept of books instead of a bell,
sense being preferable to sound. These are, therefore, intended as
the commencement of a little parochial library for the use of a
society of intelligent, respectable farmers, such as our country
people generally consist of. Besides your own works, I would only
mention, on the recommendation of my sister, Stennett's 'Discourses
on Personal Religion,' which may be one book of the number, if you
know and approve it.

"With the highest esteem and respect, I am ever, my dear friend,
yours most affectionately,

"B. FRANKLIN."

The inhabitants of Franklin got _sense_ instead of _sound_, and were
never sorry.

Doctor Price, in the course of a letter dated at Newington Green, June
3, 1785, in which he speaks of Mr. Williams' visit, says: "I have,
according to your desire, furnished him with a list of such books on
religion and government as I think some of the best, and added a
present to the parish that is to bear your name, of such of my own
publications as I think may not be unsuitable. Should this be the
commencement of parochial libraries in the States, it will do great
good."

The books were duly forwarded to the town of Franklin. The Rev.
Nathaniel Emmons, clergyman of the parish for which the library was
designed, preached a sermon in commemoration of this bounty, entitled
"The Dignity of Man: a Discourse Addressed to the Congregation in
Franklin upon the Occasion of their Receiving from Doctor Franklin the
Mark of his Respect in a Rich Donation of Books, Appropriated to the
Use of a Parish Library." This sermon was printed in the year 1787,
with the following dedication: "To his Excellency Benjamin Franklin,
President of the State of Pennsylvania, the Ornament of Genius, the
Patron of Science, and the Boast of Man, this Discourse is Inscribed,
with the Greatest Deference, Humility, and Gratitude, by his Obliged
and Most Humble Servant, the Author."

The library contained one hundred and sixteen volumes, chiefly
relating to Government, Science, and Religion, of which about ninety
volumes are still in a good state of preservation.

On the 17th of April, 1790, Franklin expired, mourned by a grateful
nation and honored by the world. For two years he had lived in
anticipation of this event. One day he rose from his bed, saying to
his daughter, "Make up my bed, that I may die in a decent manner."

"I hope, father, that you will yet recover, and live many years,"
replied his daughter.

"I hope not," was his answer.

When told to change his position in bed, that he might breathe more
easily, he replied:

"A dying man can do nothing easy."

His sufferings were so great as to extort a groan from him at one
time, whereupon he said:

"I fear that I do not bear pain as I ought. It is designed, no doubt,
to wean me from the world, in which I am no longer competent to act my
part."

To a clerical friend, who witnessed one of his paroxysms as he was
about to retire, he said:

"Oh, no; don't go away. These pains will soon be over. They are for my
good; and, besides, what are the pains of a moment in comparison with
the pleasures of eternity?"

He had a picture of Christ on the cross placed so that he could look
at it as he lay on his bed. "That is the picture of one who came into
the world to teach men to love one another," he remarked. His last
look, as he passed away, was cast upon that painting of Christ.

In a codicil to his will was this bequest.

"My fine crab-tree walking-stick, with a gold head, curiously wrought
in the form of a cap of liberty, I give to my friend, and the friend
of mankind, _George Washington_. If it were a sceptre, he has merited
it, and would become it."

Philanthropist, Scholar, Philosopher, Statesman, were the titles won
by the Boston Printer Boy!

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