The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 2 by J. A. Leo Lemay

Author:J. A. Leo Lemay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc.

THE NATURE OF BOYS

When Franklin’s sister Jane suggested that she would like to have her son Benjamin trained as a printer, Franklin’s own home was too full to accommodate the boy, so he suggested that Mecom be apprenticed to his New York partner, James Parker. Franklin wrote Edward and Jane Mecom about the end of 1744 that their son would be well treated by Parker, and that “I shall hear from him every week.” Franklin also sent along some good advice: “You will advise him to be very cheerful, and ready to do every thing he is bid, and endeavour to oblige every body, for that is the true way to get friends.” But Benjamin Mecom was giddy and always whining, and he wanted a shortcut to success. He complained frequently to his mother, and she finally wrote Franklin, about June 1748, enclosing two of his letters and listing his grievances. Neither his letters nor Jane’s are extant, but some of their contents can be deduced from Franklin’s reply.

With a remarkable appreciation of human nature, Franklin took into account Jane’s worry as mother, Parker’s role as master, and Benjamin’s as apprentice. To the charge that when Mecom was sick, Mrs. Parker did not serve him quickly and sometimes not at all, Franklin pointed out that both Mrs. Parker and her child were also sick during the 1747 New York epidemic. Mecom “had the distemper favorably, and yet I suppose was bad enough to be, like other sick people, a little impatient, and perhaps might think a short time long, and sometimes call for things not proper for one in his condition” (3:302). Mecom also complained that he did not have suitable clothes. Franklin replied that he was frequently in New York, “and I never saw him unprovided with what was good, decent, and sufficient. I was there no longer ago than March last, and he was then well clothed, and made no complaint to me of any kind.” Franklin continued that on Sunday morning, he heard both Parker and his wife repeatedly call to Mecom to prepare for church, but he put it off until it was too late, “and he made not the least objection about clothes.” Franklin then shrewdly commented, “I did not think it any thing extraordinary, that he should be sometimes willing to evade going to meeting, for I believe it is the case with all boys, or almost all. I have brought up four or five myself, and have frequently observed, that if their shoes were bad, they would say nothing of a new pair till Sunday morning, just as the bell rung, when, if you asked them why they did not get ready, the answer was prepared, ‘I have no shoes’… or if they knew of any thing that wanted mending, it was a secret till Sunday morning, and sometimes I believe they would rather tear a little, than be without the excuse” (3:302).

Young Mecom further protested to his mother that Parker sent him on petty errands.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.