Part 9 (1/2)
”Of course you would. You may have matter to put in type that is as interesting and profitable as any thing you find in books. Indeed, James will no doubt have pamphlets and books to publish before long.
All that you read in books went through the printer's hand first.”
”I had not thought of that,” said Benjamin, quite taken with his father's ideas about the printing business. ”I think I should like it better than almost any thing else. How long will it take to learn the trade?”
”I suppose that it will take some time, though I know very little about it. You are twelve years of age now, and you can certainly acquire the best knowledge of the trade by the time you are twenty-one.”
”That is a long time,” suggested Benjamin; ”nine years ought to make the best printer there is. But that is no objection to me; I shall do as you think best.”
”I want _you_ should think it best, too,” rejoined his father. ”If you have no inclination to be a printer, I do not want you should undertake it. You will not succeed in any business you dislike.”
”I do think it best to try this,” replied Benjamin. ”If James thinks well of it, I shall, for he knows all about the trade.”
”I will speak with him about it and learn his opinion,” said his father. ”If he thinks well of it, I will see what arrangements can be made with him. The prospects of the business are not flattering now, but I think the day is coming when it will prosper.”
Mr. Franklin lost no time in conferring with James, who favored the plan without any reserve. He proposed to take Benjamin as an apprentice, to serve until he was twenty-one years old, according to the custom of the times, receiving twenty pounds for the same, and giving him board and clothes until the last year, when he would be paid journeyman's wages. This was a good opportunity on the whole, for printing was in its infancy in our country at that time. Not more than six or eight persons had been in the business in Boston before James Franklin commenced, in the year 1717. The demand for printing must have been very small indeed.
The first printing press in the United States was set up in Cambridge in 1639 by Rev. Jesse Glover, who gave it to Harvard University. The first thing printed was the ”Freeman's oath”; the next, the almanac for New England, calculated by William Pierce, a mariner; the next, a metrical version of the Psalms.
It is claimed that ten years later than Benjamin's entering his brother's printing office, there were but three or four printers in our country. Whether that was so or not, it is certain that then, and for many years afterwards, printers were very scarce. In 1692, Old Style, the council of New York adopted the following resolution:
”It is resolved in council, that if a printer will come and settle in the city of New York, for the printing of our acts of a.s.sembly and public papers, he shall be allowed the sum of forty pounds, current money of New York, per annum, for his salary, and have the benefit of his printing, besides what serves to the public.”
It is said, also, that when Benjamin Franklin wanted to marry the daughter of Mr. Reed, of Philadelphia, her mother said, ”I do not know about giving my daughter to a printer; for there are already four in the United States, and it is doubtful if more could get a living.”
It is worthy of note here, also, as showing how slowly the printing business advanced in the infancy of our country, that Great Britain did not allow the American Colonies to print the English Bible. Hence, the first Bible printed in this country was published in 1782, a little more than a hundred years ago. For this reason most of the pulpit Bibles in the Congregational and other churches of New England, before that time, were the Oxford editions, in which the Book of Common Prayer and the Psalms were included, and the Articles of Faith of the English Church. Some of these are still preserved as relics.
”It will be necessary for you to be bound to your brother, according to law,” remarked Mr. Franklin. ”These things must be done legally, and such is the law and custom, too.”
”And I am to board with him, also, if I understand you, father?”
Benjamin was thinking of leaving his home, and that would be a trial.
True, he would not be far from his father's house; he could step into it every night if he wished; but it was leaving home, nevertheless.
”It does not seem quite right for one brother to be bound to another for nine years,” added Benjamin, thoughtfully, and after some hesitation.
”But such is the custom, however it may appear, and it must be done so to have every thing right and legal. We do not know what may happen in the nine years. It is better to have things in black and white, whether the bargain is with a brother or any one else.”
Mr. Franklin added more to the last remarks, in order to remove an objection which Benjamin seemed to have to being bound to his brother; and he was successful. The last objection was removed, and cheerfully and gladly Benjamin consented to become a printer-boy.
The following was the form of the indenture of apprentices.h.i.+p that bound Benjamin to his brother for nine years:
”This indenture witnesseth that Benjamin Franklin, son of Josiah Franklin, and of Abiah, his wife, of Boston, in the colony of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, with the consent of his parents, doth put himself apprentice to his brother, James Franklin, printer, to learn his art, and with him after the manner of an apprentice from the ---- day of ----, in the year of our Lord, 1718, until he shall have fully completed the twenty-first year of his age. During which term the said apprentice his master faithfully shall or will serve, his secrets keep, his lawful commands everywhere gladly do. He shall do no damage to his said master, nor see it to be done of others, but to his power shall let, or forthwith give notice to his said master of the same.
The goods of his said master he shall not waste, nor the same without license of him to any give or lend. Hurt to his said master he shall not do, cause, nor procure to be done. He shall neither buy nor sell without his master's license. Taverns, inns, and ale houses he shall not haunt. At cards, dice, tables, or any other unlawful game he shall not play. Matrimony he shall not contract; nor from the service of his said master day nor night absent himself; but in all things as an honest and faithful apprentice shall and will demean and behave himself towards his said master and all his during the said term. And the said James Franklin, the master, for and in consideration of the sum of ten pounds of lawful British money to him in hand paid by the said Josiah Franklin, the father, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the said apprentice in the art of a printer, which he now useth, shall teach and instruct, or cause to be taught and instructed, the best way and manner that he can, finding and allowing unto the said apprentice meat, drink, was.h.i.+ng, lodging, and all other necessaries during the said term. And for the true performance of all and every the covenants and agreements aforesaid, either of the said parties bindeth himself unto the other finally by these presents. In witness whereof, the parties aforesaid to these indentures interchangeably have set their hands and seals this ---- day of ----, in the fifth year of our Sovereign Lord, George the First, by the grace of G.o.d of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord, 1718.”
To this doc.u.ment Benjamin signed his name, with his father and brother, thereby having his liberty considerably abridged.
A boy by the name of William Tinsley took the place of Benjamin in Mr.
Franklin's candle-shop. He was bound to Mr. Franklin as Benjamin was bound to his brother. But he liked the business no better than Benjamin did, and, finally, to escape from his thraldom, he ran away; whereupon his master inserted the following advertis.e.m.e.nt in the _New England Courant_ of July, 1722, which reads very much like advertis.e.m.e.nts for runaway slaves, in that and later days; and, probably, young Tinsley thought he was escaping from a sort of white slavery: