Part 15 (2/2)
”'You are a fortunate man. We will send her the goblet of gold, and it shall be called the Albemarle Cup.'
”The imagination of Captain William Phipps must have kindled and glowed as he received the 'dead don's cup,' which in itself was a fortune.
”'And to you, for your honor and honesty, shall be given an ample fortune, and there shall be bestowed upon you the honor of knighthood.
You shall be able to present to your good wife, whose faith has been so well bestowed, the Albemarle Cup, in the name of the Duke of Albemarle and of Sir William Phipps!'
”Captain William Phipps returned to Boston a baronet, with the Albemarle Cup. The widow that he had won was Lady Phipps. New England never had a wonder tale like that.
”The Albemarle Cup! The fame of it filled Boston town. There it stood in ma.s.sive gold, in Lady Phipps's simple parlor, among humbler decorations.
How strange it looked to her as she saw it! Then must have arisen before her the boy from the Maine woods, one of twenty-six school-denied children; the ungainly young sailor with his hot temper and scars; the dreamer of golden dreams; the captain, the fortune-finder, the knight.
Another link was soon added to this marvelous chain of events. The house of gables in the green lane was offered for sale. Sir William purchased it, and the Albemarle Cup was taken into it, amid furnis.h.i.+ngs worthy of a knight and lady.
”The two looked out of the upper window over Boston town.--He was an honest man.
”After this many-time repeated declaration that Sir William was an honest man,” he added: ”A man must get a living somehow--he must get a living somehow; either he must save or be a slave.”
Little Ben thought that he would like to earn a living in some such way as that. The brick house in the ”Faire Green Lane” meant much to him after stories like those. He surely was almost as poor as Sir William was at his age. Could he turn his own dreams into gold, or into that which is better than gold?
”Jenny,” he said, ”I would like to be able to give a brick house in the Faire Green Lane to father and mother, and to you. Maybe I will some day. I will be true to my home!”
CHAPTER XV.
”HAVE I A CHANCE?”
BLESSED is he who lends good books to young people. There was such a man in Boston town named Adams, one hundred and ninety years ago. His influence still lives, for he lent such books to young Benjamin Franklin.
The boy was slowly learning what n.o.ble minds had done in the world; how they became immortal by leaving their thought and works behind them. His constant question was, What have I the chance or the opportunity to do?
What can I do that will benefit others?
It was a November evening. The days were short; the night came on at six o'clock. These were the dark days of the year.
”There is to be a candle-light meeting in the South Church, and I must go,” said Uncle Benjamin. ”It will be pretty cold there to-night, Ben; you had better get the foot stove.”
The foot stove was a tin or bra.s.s box in a wooden frame with a handle.
It was filled with live coals, and was carried to the church by a handle, as one would carry a dinner pail.
Little Benjamin brought the stove out of a cupboard to the hearth, took out of it a pan, which he filled with hard coals and replaced it.
”Ben,” said Uncle Ben, ”you had better go along with us and carry the stove.”
”I will go, too,” said Josiah Franklin. ”There is to be a lecture to-night on the book of Job. I always thought that that book is the greatest poem in all the world. Job arrived at a conclusion, and one that will stand. He tells us, since we can not know the first cause and the end, that we must be always ignorant of the deepest things of life, but that we must do just right in everything; and if we do that, everything which happens to us will be for our best good, and the very best thing that could happen whether we gain or lose, have or want. I may be a poor man, with my tallow dips, but I have always been determined to do just right. It may be that I will be blessed in my children--who knows? and then men may say of me, 'There was a man!'”
”'And he dwelt in the land of Uz'” said Uncle Ben.
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