.F8 H86 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS QDDD3357430 o » * :% ^ ,0* • * ** .• ./>.. V ° 4 4+ o u* s. 4°* WT iW ^ J MA. I \\)I\ 1 R.Wkl.lX ^! i n f n f t i 7 f iff n i (j uxgi-ti^u i t ; ! ' ( ; ai/ u i UJ .m v i,c ji ix Ui i ii i j j i n rn t t - i yf t. f ,ii_ij. J * m f u f 1 1 f m f f t f m i f ? 1 1 f i f n n f E^XHE object of these booklets is to \[p\*2^ acquaint the discerning public with ■py^f/ the merits ° f ° ur lunch S|^^K ROOMS, and incidentally to pro- -ScfeSScLy mote a little good literature, in- teresting and instructive. Without virtue in our products, however, and excellence in our service, the value of this advertising, to us, would be negligible, and would probably react to our dis- advantage; therefore, the continued pub- lication of these Hartford Classics is evidence that our methods please, and that our ef- forts are profitable. FRANK B. WILLARD President Hartford Lunch Co. ffl&<&Bg>s A LITTLE JOURNEY I TO THE HOME OF * Benjamin Franklin American Statesman BY ELBERT HUBBARD Published by THE HARTFORD LUNCH COMPANY, NEW YORK, and Printed by THE ROYCROFTERS, EAST AURORA, NEW YORK Copyright, 1918 By The Roycrofters JAN -2 1919 FOREWORD /T is just 212 years ago, last January 19, that Benjamin Franklin was born, Pennsylvania's most distinguished citizen and a man who was indispensable to the establishment of these United States of America. 9 In point of all-round development, Frank- lin must stand as our foremost American. We know of no one who ever lived a busier life, a happier life, a life more useful to others than Poor Richard. He is our greatest example of thrift. He wrote more on it and wrote better than any other man we know. He became for his day the richest man in America — richest not only in money, but in healthy brains, sanity, good-cheer, inter- national influence. ^We have chosen Benjamin Franklin as the subject for one of the series of Hartford Classics, first, because he is a man well worthy of emulation at this time, and, second, because he is the patron saint of the Roycroft fraternity — in fact, Elbert Hubbard resembled Franklin so closely, not only in features but in habits of life, that he could almost be said to be a reincarnation of the distinguished signer of the Declaration of Independence. <&I bespeak for this sympathetic Little Journey the warm approval of our host of patrons. Benjamin Franklin enjamin Franklin was twelve years old. He was large and strong and fat and good-na- tured, and had a full- moon face and red cheeks that made him look like a country- bumpkin. He was born in Boston within twenty yards of the church called " Old South," but the Franklins now lived at the corner of Congress and Hanover Streets, where to this day there swings in the breeze a gilded ball, and on it the legend, "Josiah Franklin, Soap-Boiler." Parents think that what they say about their children goes, and once in an awfully long time it does, but the men who be- come great and learned usually do so in spite of their parents — which remark was 8 Franklin had the " coffee-house " habit — a wholesome precedent. HARTFORD LUNCH CO. first made by Martin Luther, but need not be discredited on that account. Ben's oldest brother was James. Now, James was nearly forty; he was tall and slender, stooped a little, and had sandy whiskers, and a nervous cough, and positive ideas on many subjects — one of which was that he was a printer. His apprentice, or " devil," had left him, because the devil did not like to be cuffed whenever the compositor shuffled his fonts. James needed another apprentice, and proposed to take his younger brother and make a man of him if the old folks were willing. The old folks were willing and Ben was duly bound by law to his brother, agreeing to serve him faithfully as Jacob served Laban for seven years and two years more. Science has explained many things, but it has not yet told why it sometimes 9 Our minds, to a large degree, are controlled by our stomachs. HARTFORD LUNCH CO. happens that when seventeen eggs are hatched, the brood will consist of sixteen barnyard fowls and one eagle. James Franklin was a man of small capacity, whimsical, jealous and arbi- trary. But if he cuffed his apprentice Benjamin when the compositor blundered, and when he did n't, it was his legal right; and the master who did not occasionally kick his apprentices was considered derelict to duty. The boy ran errands, cleaned the presses, swept the shop, tied up bundles, did the tasks that no one else would do; and incidentally, " learned the case." Then he set type, and after a while ran a press. And in those days a printer ranked above a common mechanic. A man who was a printer was a literary man, as were the master printers of London and Venice. A printer was a man of taste. All editors were printers 10 Our mental efficiency is in direct ratio to the efficiency of our digestion. HARTFORD L UNCI! CO and usually composed the matter as they set it up in type. Thus we now have a room called a. " composing-room," a " composing-stick, " etc. People once addressed " Mr. Printer," not Mr. Editor, and when they met " Mr. Printer " on the street removed their hats — but not in Philadelphia. Young Franklin felt a proper degree of pride in his work, if not vanity. In fact, he himself has said that vanity is a good thing, and whenever he saw it come flaunting down the street, always made way, knowing that there was virtue somewhere back of it — out of sight perhaps, but still there. James, being a brother, had no confidence in Ben's intellect, so when Ben wrote short articles on this and that, he tucked them under the door so that James would find them in the morning. James showed these 11 To keep our digestive machinery working properly requires discrimination in fuel. HARTFORD LUNCH CO. articles to his friends, and they all voted them very fine, aDd concluded they must have been written by Doctor So-and-So, Ph. D., who, like Lord Bacon, was a very modest man and did not care to see his name in print. Yet, by and by, it came out who it was that wrote the anonymous " hot stuff,' ' and then James did not think it was quite so good as he at first thought, and more- over, declared he knew whose it was all the time. Ben was eighteen and had read Montaigne, and Collins, and Shaftesbury, and Hume. When he wrote he expressed thoughts that then were considered very dreadful, but that can now be heard proclaimed even in good orthodox churches. But Ben had wit and to spare, and he leveled it at government officials and preachers, and these gentlemen did not relish the jokes — people seldom relish 12 The mental worker can not stoke his system the same as the man digging a trench, and maintain his efficiency. HARTFORD LUNCH CO. jokes at their own expense — and they sought to suppress the newspaper that the Franklin brothers published. The blame for all the trouble James heaped upon Benjamin, and all the credit for success he took to himself. James declared that Ben had the big head — and he probably was right; but he forgot that the big head, like mumps and measles and everything else in life, is self -limiting and good in its way. So, to teach Ben his proper place, James reminded him that he was only an apprentice, with three years yet to serve, and that he should be seen seldom and not heard all the time, and that if he ran away he would send a constable after him and fetch him back.