New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-03-09

Fsrsook his throne
What then must We abide
Who tutn away from Kim who speaks from Hes7sni
Franklin-the Home Of his Boy hood.
The racy description which follows Of the house
which was the home Of BESJhMIs FaANELiS's
boyhood will be read with universal interest, not
only in this country bat throughout the civilized
world. Il 10 copied from the Boston correspond
snce Of the National Anti-slsvery STANDARD
There are few places yet left in Boston, OF uni
versal interest l passed one of the chiefest yer
terday, in Hanover st. which suppose suggested
the train OF thought III such dscursive ramblings
deserve the namel in this letter. Do you see that
house at the corner OF Hanover and Jnion-sts with
gilt bail protrudlng from Its corner diagonslly
iuso the street 1t has architectural preteB-
s;ons to arrest q passerby. IL is plain brick
boDse of three stories, with small windows, close
together, and exceeding small Panss OF glass in
them the walls of dingy yellow Yet 1t Is a
house swarming with associations interesting to
well. nurtured minds throughout the civilized world
Read the name upon the ball and you VIII get an
mixing of my meaning" JosIAs FRANKLIN, 1873"
Yes that is the very roof under which Benjamin
Franklin grew up. He was not born there, but
his father removed ththor when he was but SIX
months old. 50 that all his recollections OF home
must have been connected with those walls The
side of the house on Unions remains il was ia
the DAVIS OF Franklins boyhood; but that on Han
the whole front has been cut out TO make room for
two monstrously disproportoned show Window
And this house, so ful as have just said of asso
Citations, is fuller yet OF bonnets Yes by tue head
OF the Prophet OF 6oRRets 10 Is Bonnet w are
house and from the iuOrdlnate windows, Aforesaid,
bonuets of all bues and shapes ogle you with
sidelong glances. or else stare you openly out Of
couptenance while mountain piles OF bandboxes
tower 10 the ceiling OF the upper story, eloquent.
like FAITH OF things unseen. Heaven forbid that
IN
nors than ui the lair he ads that wear them, but
would that they had another Repository.
1t was my good fortune to go over the house be-
fore IL had undergone this metamorphoss. lt was
occupied in part at least. some eight or ten years
ago by a colored man. OF the name Of Stewart,
dealer la old clothes who thought OF buy ing the
pfemises and wanted my advice about It, gladly
ayaied myself OF the opportunity TO view them
The interior OF the house was then, should Judge
IN the came condition that 1t was when the worthy
old soap.boiler aud that sturdy rebel Gn youth as
10 age his world famous son lived there. There
were the very rooms in which the child Franklin
played, the very stairs, up and down which he
romped, the very window'seats on which he stood
to look out into the street The shop on the street
was UNIQUE stonably the place where be used b.
cut vicks for the candies, and fill the nouds, ana
wait upon the customers pleased myself with
imagining which room 1t was In which his iather
eat patriarch like, at his table surrounded by his
thirteen children, all OF whom grew up 70 years
of maturity and were married" And you may be
sure | did not fail to take peep into the cellar,
where Poor Richard, in his infantile economy oil
time proposed TO his father that he should say
grace over the whole barrel of beei they were
putting down in the lump, instead OF over each
piece In detail, as it came to the table A propo-
sition which inclined the good brother OF the Old
South Church to fear that bis youngest hope was
given over TO a reprobate mind, ard was but little
better than one OF the wicked,
Aud l would have given trihe 10 know which
of the chambers IL was that was Franklins own,
where be educated himself, as Il were by stealth.
Where he used to read Buny ans works, in sepa-
rate little volumes, and Bartons Historical Col.
lections--" small chapmans books, and cheap
forty volumes in all'-snd Plutarchs Lives-not
To mention "a book Of De Foes, called An Essay
on Proiecss" aud " DR.. Mathers, called An Essay
10 do Good and where, too, bis lamp Tor more
probably his candles end was OFT at mid
night hour as he sat up the greatest part of the
night devouring the books which his friend, the
booksellers apprentice, used TO lend him over
night out Of the shop, TO be returned the next
morning. How the rogue must have enjoyed them
Seldom have literary pleasures been rehshed With
such . gust as by that hungry boy.
When 1 say rogue l use the term meta
physically and not literally l mean "no scandal
about Queen Elizabeth nor do allude to any o
the gossip of sixty years since. But shall nevel
foegst the shock given TO my early preudiees, sn'
the boalsyerse,asHt OF ell my preoonceived ideas a
hearing. when was boy, very celebrated gen
ssmsn, distinguished In the Held and in the cab
m, say in careless manner, as II II were th'
trtest truism in the world be was utterng, ''Wh by
madam, YOU know Franklin was an old rascal y
He added some specifications, which do not nov
remember, but the amount was that he has
iesthered his nest well at the public expense
Franklin was no saint in his private HE, and hi
never pretended 10 be one bat believe 10 is nov
pretty well understood that he was A" lndifersn
honest" az Hamlet says, In his public life, and tina
Prince Postsrity has dismissed the charges pre-
fsrred by some Of his contemporaries, ssslnst hi
political honesty.
twill NOT DO many years before this monumen
Of the most celebrated man that Boston. not to ss
America, ever produced will be demolished, an
the place tina, knows II will know 1t no more III
less something be done to save IT. IL will be
burning shame and a lasting disgrace 10 Boston
with III its wealth and its pretensions 20 hoerslsy
and its affectaton Of reverence for its great aer
TO suffer the most historical Of its houses 10 be Dc
soy cd, when the rise In real estate in that nelg
eorhood shall seal its doom. II us shame that
has been left 50 long 70 take the chances Of bus
ness IL should have been bought years ago, an
placed in the hands Of the Historical Society. @
some other permanent body IN trust, 10 be pre-
served forever IN its original condition. IL Is nc
too late 70 restore il ~ something like its first 81
tate and 70 save it from utter destruction Ii IL b
not done. it viii be a source OF shame and sorrow
when IL Is too late.
The house in which Franklin was born has bee
destroyed within this centnry,-to the infinite dil
credit OF the rieh men Of the Literary Emporium
Of the New World "-ss the great kean ehristene
il. when il was in the hight OF its delirium in III
"Kean Fever" That house stood 10 Milk-st,
little below the Old South Church. on the oths
aide Of the way and the spot Is marked by
ssFurnitare Warehouse. hve stores high. whic
forms fitting pendant to the BopDes Wsrehous,
in HaDover.st The printing Office Of James Franz
I'm, where Franklin served his apprenticeship
where be used TO put his anonymous eosamanini
tons under the door, where he used 70 study whe
the rest were gone to dinner, aud where he uss
sometimes 10 get a hogging iron his brother
t"psrhsps was zoo ssaey and provoking as
eandidly, aud with great probability, says of hin
self Jsmess printing Office wss IN Queen ,no'
Court street. nearly opposite the Courthouse 0
the corner Of rranklin Avenue, which If | am nc
mistaken, derives its name from this circuu
stance d. Y.
LAW AND MosALS--About e5 Of the sovereig