Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin | Page 9

for minnows. By much
trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build
a wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a
large heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the
marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, in the
evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of my
playfellows, and working with them diligently like so many emmets,
sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built
our little wharf. The next morning the workmen were surprised at
missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. Inquiry was made
after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of
us were corrected by our fathers; and, though I pleaded the usefulness
of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not
honest.
I think you may like to know something of his person and character. He
had an excellent constitution of body, was of middle stature, but well
set, and very strong; he was ingenious, could draw prettily, was skilled
a little in music, and had a clear, pleasing voice, so that when he played
psalm tunes on his violin and sung withal, as he sometimes did in an
evening after the business of the day was over, it was extremely
agreeable to hear. He had a mechanical genius too, and, on occasion,
was very handy in the use of other tradesmen's tools; but his great
excellence lay in a sound understanding and solid judgment in
prudential matters, both in private and publick affairs. In the latter,

indeed, he was never employed, the numerous family he had to educate
and the straitness of his circumstances keeping him close to his trade;
but I remember well his being frequently visited by leading people,
who consulted him for his opinion in affairs of the town or of the
church he belonged to, and showed a good deal of respect for his
judgment and advice: he was also much consulted by private persons
about their affairs when any difficulty occurred, and frequently chosen
an arbitrator between contending parties. At his table he liked to have,
as often as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor to converse with,
and always took care to start some ingenious or useful topic for
discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his children. By
this means he turned our attention to what was good, just, and prudent
in the conduct of life; and little or no notice was ever taken of what
related to the victuals on the table, whether it was well or ill dressed, in
or out of season, of good or bad flavor, preferable or inferior to this or
that other thing of the kind, so that I was bro't up in such a perfect
inattention to those matters as to be quite indifferent what kind of food
was set before me, and so unobservant of it, that to this day if I am
asked I can scarce tell a few hours after dinner what I dined upon. This
has been a convenience to me in traveling, where my companions have
been sometimes very unhappy for want of a suitable gratification of
their more delicate, because better instructed, tastes and appetites.
My mother had likewise an excellent constitution: she suckled all her
ten children. I never knew either my father or mother to have any
sickness but that of which they dy'd, he at 89, and she at 85 years of age.
They lie buried together at Boston, where I some years since placed a
marble over their grave,[15] with this inscription:
Josiah Franklin, and Abiah his wife, lie here interred. They lived
lovingly together in wedlock fifty-five years. Without an estate, or any
gainful employment, By constant labor and industry, with God's
blessing, They maintained a large family comfortably, and brought up
thirteen children and seven grandchildren reputably. From this instance,
reader, Be encouraged to diligence in thy calling, And distrust not
Providence. He was a pious and prudent man; She, a discreet and
virtuous woman. Their youngest son, In filial regard to their memory,

Places this stone. J. F. born 1655, died 1744, Ætat 89. A. F. born 1667,
died 1752,----85.
[15] This marble having decayed, the citizens of Boston in 1827
erected in its place a granite obelisk, twenty-one feet high, bearing the
original inscription quoted in the text and another explaining the
erection of the monument.
By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old. I us'd to
write more methodically. But one does not dress for private company
as for a publick ball. 'Tis perhaps only negligence.
To return: I continued thus employed in my father's