The Life of Benjamin Franklin: With Many Choice Anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man never before published by any of his biographersWeems, M. L. (Mason Locke)
Philosophy
The Life of Benjamin Franklin: With Many Choice Anecdotes and admirable sayings of this great man never before published by any of his biographers
Weems, M. L. (Mason Locke)
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790; Statesmen -- United States -- Biography
The wind falling the next day, they reached Amboy about dark, after
having passed thirty hours without a morsel of victuals, and with no
other drink than a bottle of bad rum; the water upon which they had
rowed, being as salt as brine. Ben went to bed with a high fever.
Having somewhere read that cold water, plentifully drank, was good in
such cases; he followed the prescription, which threw him into a
profuse sweat, and the fever left him. The next day, feeble and alone,
he set out, with fifty wearisome miles to walk before he could reach
Burlington, whence he was told that a passage boat would take him to
Philadelphia. To increase his depression, soon as he left the tavern,
it set in to rain hard. But though wet to the skin, he pressed on by
himself through the gloomy woods till noon, when feeling much fatigued,
and the rain still pouring down, he stopped at a paltry tavern, where
he passed the rest of the day and night. In this gloomy situation he
began seriously to repent that he had ever left home; and the more, as
from the wretched figure he made, every body was casting a suspicious
eye upon him as a runaway servant. Indeed, from the many insulting
questions put to him, he felt himself every moment in danger of being
taken up as such, and then what would his father think on hearing that
he was in jail as a runaway servant, four hundred miles from home! And
what a triumph to his brother. After a very uneasy night, however, he
rose and continued his journey till the evening, when he stopped about
ten miles from Burlington, at a little tavern, kept by one Dr. Brown.
While he was taking some refreshment, Brown came in, and being of a
facetious turn, put a number of droll questions to him; to which Ben
retorted in a style so superior to his youthful looks and shabby dress,
that the Doctor became quite enamoured of him. He kept him up
conversing until midnight; and next morning would not touch a penny of
his money. This was a very seasonable liberality to poor Ben, for he
had now very little more than a dollar in his pocket.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account