Benjamin Franklin: A Young Troublemaker

Yes, Benjamin Franklin, one of the most important figures in American history had quite mischievous early years. It’s hard to picture one of the most ingenious people to ever have slipped into legendom as a neighborhood kid who led his group of friends into folly. Well many times that’s just what he did. He recounts in his autobiography one particular instance:

There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a wharff 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 play-fellows, 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 wharff. The next morning the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, which were found in our wharff. 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.

He goes on to give detailed accounts of his adventures in childhood and young adulthood. His autobiography makes a strong impression on any reader but an indelible one on the reader who takes the time to pick out the wisdom he has left behind. The first part of his autobiography was intended as a letter to his son. So you can imagine his goal; it was not only to recount the events of his life but to pass on the knowledge he has acquired through and since those events. His lessons are subtle but with a little active reading you can discern between the Benjamin that is the subject of the book and the Benjamin who wrote the book.

He takes you through his development from a bright oftentimes misguided child to scientific, printing and political genius. He shows his errors, his intermediate stages, his abandoned philosophies with the hopes that they can be learned from.