But Benjamin saw nothing there that he
wished to engage in. He was inclined to follow the sea, as one of
his older brothers had done.
His fondness for books finally determined his career. His older
brother James was a printer, and in those days a printer was a
literary man as well as a mechanic. The editor of a newspaper was
always a printer and often composed his articles as he set them
in type; so "composing" came to mean typesetting, and one who
sets type is a compositor. Now James needed an apprentice. It
happened then that young Benjamin, at the age of thirteen, was
bound over by law to serve his brother.
James Franklin printed the "New England Courant", the fourth
newspaper to be established in the colonies. Benjamin soon began
to write articles for this newspaper. Then when his brother was
put in jail, because he had printed matter considered libelous,
and forbidden to continue as the publisher, the newspaper
appeared in Benjamin's name.
The young apprentice felt that his brother was unduly severe and,
after serving for about two years, made up his mind to run away.
Secretly he took passage on a sloop and in three days reached New
York, there to find that the one printer in the town, William
Bradford, could give him no work. Benjamin then set out for
Philadelphia.
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