Sparks--What He Says of General Court--How the
Experience Developed Benjamin--Right Boy in Right Place--Extract from
_Courant_ about Bears.
XVII.
THE YOUNG SKEPTIC.
Reading Shaftesbury's Work--Discussion with Collins--Ben's Orthodoxy in
Peril--Benjamin a Thinker--Saying Grace over the Pork Barrel--Reading
from Collins--Several Paragraphs Repugnant to Orthodoxy--Shaftesbury
Attacking Miracles--Ben's Influence over John--Charged with Being
Atheist--His Confession--Letter to His Father--Letter to Sister--Seeing
His Folly--His Prayer--Sad Experience with Infidel Books--Similar to
Lincoln's and Garfield's--Lincoln's Farewell.
XVIII.
HOW HE QUIT BOSTON.
Decision to Leave James--Cruelty of the Latter--The Indenture--
Discussion over It with Collins--Advised to Get Place in Another
Printing Office in Boston--James Had Warned Them against Hiring
Him--Discloses His Decision to James--Unfair Use of Indenture--What
Benjamin Said of It Afterwards--Resolved to Run Away--Planned The
Method With Collins--Why Go by Water--How He Obtained Money--Collins
Engages His Passage--Collins' Deliberate Lie--On the Road to
Ruin--Collins' Report to Benjamin--Final Arrangements--Boarding the
Sloop--Scene off Block Island--Ben Converted to Flesh--Benjamin
Franklin's Experience Like William Hutton's.
XIX.
TRIALS OF A RUNAWAY.
Applies for Work in New York--Bradford's Advice and Kindness--Starts
for Philadelphia--The Drunken Dutch man--Driven on Shore by a Squall--
A Fearful Night--At Amboy--Benjamin Sick--A Young Man Travelling in
Maine--Advantage of Reading--Sir Walter Scott's Advice--Going in
Rain to Burlington--Landlord Suspected He Was a Runaway--At Doctor
Brown's--A Fine Time with the Doctor--Buying Gingerbread of Old
Woman--His Disappointment--Way out of It--Unexpected Deliverance--His
Skill at Rowing Again Useful--Finally Reaches Philadelphia.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25