Some of the Governors were untrustworthy,
some were weak, none was truly great. But about ten years after
Penn's death a truly great man came to Philadelphia. This was
Benjamin Franklin. Of all the men of colonial times Franklin was
the greatest.
Benjamin was the fifteenth child of his father, a sturdy English
Nonconformist who some years before had emigrated from Banbury
in England to Boston in America. As the family was so large the
children had to begin early to earn their own living. So at the
age of ten Benjamin was apprenticed to his own father, who was a
tallow chandler, and the little chap spent his days helping to make
soap and "dips" and generally making himself useful.
But he did not like it at all. So after a time he was apprenticed
to his elder brother James, who had a printing press, and published
a little newspaper called the Courant. Benjamin liked that much
better. He soon became a good printer, he was able to get hold of
books easily, and he spent his spare time reading such books as the
"Pilgrim's Progress" and the "Spectator." Very soon too he took
to writing, and became anxious to have an article printed in his
brother's paper.
But as he was only a boy he was afraid that if his brother knew he
had written the article he would never print it. So he disguised his
handwriting, and slipped his paper under the door of the printing
house at night.
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