Benjamin Franklin: Find a Way
Boston, 1722.
16-year old Benjamin Franklin is an aspiring writer. He begins an apprenticeship in his older brother’s print shop composing types, completing sheets, and delivering The New England Courant around town. While honing the craft of writing, his material is not yet deemed publishable by his brother James.
The technical elements of printing are not enough. Young Benjamin Franklin doesn’t dream of mastering the semantics of printed words—he desires to craft the words himself.
He must find a way.
Help arrives in the form of Mrs. Silence Dogood, an anonymous contributor to The New England Courant. A silent benefactor known only to Benjamin Franklin.
Silence Dogood’s stories captivate Boston.
She is born while the Dogood’s emigrate from London to New England. Her Father rushes above deck sharing, in triumphant jubilation, the wonderful news of her birth. Tragically, a rogue wave strikes at the same moment. He is swept out to sea—forever lost to the Dogood family.
Silence reflects on this darkest of days:
“Thus was the first Day which I saw, the last that was seen by my Father; and thus was my disconsolate Mother at once made both a Parent and a Widow.”
Tragedy redefined.
Silence’s anonymous letters are a sensation. She mocks the conceit of Harvard students. She is critical of Boston’s affinity for drinking, and the fashions of the day. She lampoons the tendency of New Englanders to discount an opinion until confirming they find the source agreeable. In a society where lambasting the upper-class is taboo, Silence holds nothing back.
Boston loves her.
Spellbound suitors write the newspaper, offering Silence their hand in marriage.
Six months later, Silence’s letters stop. The collective heart of Boston is broken.
A distraught James Franklin, via The New England Courant:
“If any Person . . . will give a true Account of Mrs. Silence Dogood, whether Dead or alive, Married or unmarried, in Town or Country, . . . they shall have Thanks for their Pains”
With Boston in a fever pitch for answers, Silence Dogood reveals “herself”.
“She” was none other than 16-year old Benjamin Franklin. It had all been a farce. He himself wrote the letters, slipping them under the door to his brother James—who, through a bitter rivalry, never intended to print Benjamin’s work.
Boston was delighted with the revelation. Being duped in such a manner proved a tremendous amusement.
Ultimately, Benjamin Franklin becomes the most famous American of his time. The path he was given would not have gotten him to his destination. He had to find another way.
For Benjamin Franklin, Silence Dogood was the answer.
Let us look to ourselves.
Ponder that “unattainable” goal, out there, seemingly beyond reach on the distant horizon. There’s likely no well-worn path from you to it.
The best goals require you forge one.
Look for another angle. Look from another direction. Chart a different path.
It can be done.
It is within you to do so.
Find a way.
Mark Joseph Huckabee
