The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-12-14
ANOTHER IDOL SHATTERED.
Benjamin Franklin Viewed by
q Modern Lights.

HNOI TEN lDoI SH A i { RED.
Benjamin Franklin Viewed by
4 Modern Lights,
It is impossible, in looking over the
biography Of Benjamin Franklin by
John I. Morse, jr., in the American
Statesman, says the Philadelphia
Times, to repress a smile at the simple
credulity and creduious sincerity of
Franklin's latest biogfsaher. The two
works of fiction, FrankliNs autobiog-
raphy and Parton's 'Lite of Franklin"
Mr.. Morse accepts without questiop as
authentic history, and the only reson
he assigns for his own sketch is the in
adequate one that without life OF
Franklin the series of which he is the
editor would have been absolutely in
complete. Had his premises been cor
rect his conclusion might have been
acceptable. Unfortunately the real
Franklin has never been depicted at
all, and so Mr.. Morse has not only
missed an opportunity OF adding really
valuable biography to his series, but
he has committed the grave offense of
adding one more work of fiction to a
list already too long. In saying this it
is without any disposition to blame
MIR. Morse too severely. His Franklin
is the hero OF New England tradition,
and it would be asking too much, per-
haps, to ask him to strip his hero of the
fine feathers with which Benjamin
Franklin clothed himself at the expense
OF the plumage of all his contempora-
ries. At the same time it must be said
that it is singular circumstance that
Mr.. Morse should go on believing in
the manhood and virtue of the vicious
character that Benjamin himself
described in his so-called autobiog-
raphy.
Mr.. Morse is aware of the vanity of
Franklin's account of the visit to the
boy printer of Sir William Keith when
poor Keiemer ''star'd like pig pois-
on'd, but he never suspects that the
accident was probably lie manufac-
tured by the cunning Benjamin. 1t
must be conceded that Franklin's visit
to England at the governors instance
does not read like the truth. Franklin
left no proof of it beyond his own word,
and the manner in which he appropri-
ated the credit belonging to others
throughout his long life renders his
word insufficient What is more prob
able is that the young printer ran away
from his own delinquency, leaving the
girl he had betrayed to be publicly
whipped for being the mother of an
illegitimate child. That his victim was
the woman who afterwards became his
wife there is no reason to doubt. In
London where his life, according to
his own showing, was vicious one,
Franklin attempted to seduce the wife
of his friend Ralph-he of the dun
caid'-thus second time using the
friendly shelter that afforded him a
lodging to debauch one of its inmates.
And yet Mr. Morse tells us that Ralph
was "a despicable bad fellow" and
that Keith was this contemplate gov
ernor," while the wiley Benjamin is
set down as model of all the virtues
after he had sown his wild oats, never,
according to Mr.. Parton quoted by Mr..
Morse, giving his excellent wife cause
for suspicion or jealousy.
Nothing more clearly demonstrates
Franklin's real character than his mat
rimonial negotiations. 1t was the niece
OF Thomas Godfrey, the inventor of the
quadrant, whose hand Franklin was
willing to accept with dowry, but
Mr.. Morse refused to pay the dowry
and Franklin would not have the girl
without one. The affair was not only
without sentiment, but purely merce-
nary. Then came the marriage to
Miss Read, and Immediately upon its
consummation the introduction into
his house of his illegitimate son whom,
according to Franklin's biographers,
Mrs. Franklin took to her heart and
reared him as if he had been her own
offspring. The story is preposterous.
If William Franklin was born in 1929
it is simply incredible that the pair
should have received into their house
an Legitimate Franklin babe scarcely
a year old. Imagine the worthy Ben
jamin's effrontery in making such
proposal to his bride. That Deborah
was the mother of William is clear
enough, whether he was born before
1929 or in that year. That the babe
was the result of an earlier intimacy
seems probable, however, else why
should Franklin speak of his desertion
and his marriage in the same breath,
and say of the latter: "Thus I cor
rected that great erratum as well as I
could"
Instead of being an originator, as
his biographers claim, Franklin was
all his life borrower. The Albany
plan of union was not his, but he car
ried it with him already drawn when
he went to the conference of 1854.
His electrical experiments were the
result of the patient labors of Ebene-
zer Kennersley. Even his newspaper,
after he was made an A. NJ. by Yale
and Harvard, was almost wholly con-
Quoted by his partner, David Hall.
Unfortunately for Hall, Franklin drew
more than his share of the profits of
the establishment, and the junior part
ner is still waiting for reimburse
meuts.
Benjamin Franklin was great
man, but he was not even a model
pagan.
A Bow and Dog Both Heroes.