and soap boiler; a business to which he was not bred, but had assumed on his arrival in New England, because he found that his dyeing trade, being in little request, would not maintain his family. Accordingly I was employed in cutting wicks for the candles, filling the moulds for cast candles, attending the shop, going of errands, &c. I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination to go to sea."

The house in which, as is commonly understood, this humble trade was carried on by Josiah Franklin, and in which Benjamin discontentedly assisted him for two years, now stood in the way of widening Union street. It presented a front on Hanover street of about fifteen feet, and Union street was to be widened to just that extent; in other words, it became necessary that the house in which Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have passed his childhood should come away.

Watching the progress of this improvement (for such unquestionably it was) from day to day, as I came into Boston from the country, in the summer of 1857, I was not a little concerned at what seemed to be the impending fate of the house of Franklin. That it must give way was certain, but the thought occurred to me, that it might be removed to the neighboring square, and there be restored by approximation at least to its original condition and appearance. On this subject I had several confidential communications with the then worthy Mayor of Boston, the Hon. A. H. Rice, lately chosen a representative in Congress. The year, however, passed away, and "the Franklin House" stood its ground. I brought the subject to the notice of our new Mayor the present year (1858), and to that of the intelligent and energetic chairman of the Committee of public buildings, Mr. Alderman Whiteman, respectfully urging them to consider the possibility of removing and so saving the Franklin House, an object in which they fully sympathized with me.

It was found, however, on examination, that this was impossible; and even if possible, of doubtful expediency.

In the first place, it is not certain, but the contrary is probable, that the house lately demolished is the one in which Franklin passed his boyhood, though built upon the spot occupied by the former dwelling, and, according to the economical practices of that day, as far as they were available, of materials taken from it. In the next place, the house just removed had undergone several successive modernizations. It had been so often built upon, altered and renovated, as to have lost all appearance of an ancient building both without and within. Its identity in fact was open to doubt, nearly as much as that of the ship Paralus in antiquity, which had been so often and so thoroughly repaired, that not a stick of the ancient timber remained; with the difference, however, that the ancient form and appearance of the Paralus were scrupulously kept up; while the old Franklin house had been transformed into a modern shop. It reminded me a little of the question, which was a good deal agitated in the metaphysical circles of the younger classes at Harvard, in my college days, whether, after a pen-knife had had first a new blade, and then a new handle, it was the same knife, or a different one. When this question was complicated by the additional hypothesis, that the original handle and blade had been successively picked up and put together by the "fortunate finder," it may be easily conceived to present points, with which the sophomoric mind would find it somewhat difficult to grapple.

I will not undertake to say, that if what has in successive periods been taken from the Franklin house had been preserved and put together, it would have made a duplicate house, but certainly there was nothing remaining of the ancient structure, but a portion of the old wall, much built upon by modern additions, and the main timbers and joists. The carpenter who had executed the last modernization, added his testimony to the same effect, in corroboration of what was plainly enough seen in the state of the building. A new story

had, at that time, been added to a part of the building, the ancient partitions removed, the original windows taken out, much of the walls cut away to admit other windows of larger size and in modern taste, and all the wood-work, excepting timbers and joists as aforesaid, made new. What more than any thing else identified the building in its association with Franklin and his father,—the ancient soap kettle and the fire place in which it was incased,-were on this occasion removed from the cellar, which was probably in Franklin's time much less of an underground place than it has since become, by the gradual elevation of the level of the streets. Nothing of the original structure seemed left, but the bricks in the lower portions of the walls, the timbers and joists of the lower and perhaps the second floor, a door leading down into the cellar, half a window, and the hearth-stone of the fireplace, in what is now a completely subterranean cellar, but which was no doubt originally a basement room.

Had it been worth while to attempt the removal of a building of so questionable a character, it could not have been effected without further serious changes. The long side, parallel to that which faces Union street, was not of brick like the three other sides, but of slight frame-work. To put the building into a condition to be removed, this fourth side must have been built up of brick, with an entire renewal of the interior frame. This would have gone far to destroy what little remained of the identity of the house. The removal, for the sake of preserving it, of a structure of doubtful origin, already so greatly changed, and which required, as a preparation to be removed, changes still more essential, seemed an illusory operation, and the project was abandoned.

In this way the demolition of Franklin's house was inevitable. That it must disappear from the spot which it occupied was clear. The street must be widened. If the living Franklin, grown up to the height of his world-wide renown, had stood upon the spot, he must have stepped aside or been run

down by the Charlestown Omnibus; and poor Richard,— as thrifty as poor,-was not the man who would have allowed a sentimental feeling about a ruinous old house to prevent the widening of a great thoroughfare. As little would he have countenanced the deceptive operation of transferring the building we have described to another spot, and that after another renovation under the pretence of removing, for the sake of preserving, a precious relic of antiquity.

Every thing removable and coeval with Benjamin will be preserved. The gilt globe which hung for a century and a half at the corner of the house, and was supposed to symbolize a round cake of soap, bearing the name of Josiah Franklin and the date of 1698, has been preserved by Gen'l E. L. Stone, the late proprietor of the house, and will doubtless find its way to some appropriate public institution. The handle and piston of the old pump, the door, the window, and the hearthstone above referred to, are safe, with all that is valuable of the ancient frame. Little has been demolished that could be saved, and nothing that was worth saving.

But though it was not possible nor desirable to preserve the house of Franklin, as it is generally regarded,—the house certainly which stood on the spot where he passed his boyhood, Boston has not been indifferent to the memorials contained within her precincts of the illustrious mechanic, philosopher, statesman, patriot, and philanthropist. But of these we must speak on some future occasion.

NUMBER FOUR.

A SAFE ANSWER.

Reuben Mitchell's education-Becomes a partner in business with his master-Marries his daughter-Succeeds to the inheritance and business of his Father-in-lawInvests the profits of his business in real estate-Gradually purchases a large number of farms, many of which are unproductive-The number of his farms known only to himself-Curiosity of friends and the community on that subject -It becomes a topic of public remark-Measures adopted to solve the mysteryAnd the result.

REUBEN MITCHELL belonged to an old Quaker family in the south-eastern part of Massachusetts, and had been brought up in the straitest peculiarities of the sect. His dress was in all respects in the modest Quaker style, and his speech retained the once universal solemnity of the second person. His calm and quiet temper was in unison with the gentle austerities of the sect; and the last thought of Reuben Mitchell's heart was to adopt the innovations in language, dress, and manner, which began to be attempted in his childhood, by some of the youthful members of the once persecuted but now respected brotherhood.

Reuben was brought up as a merchant, under a prosperous relative, who first in the whale fishery and then in general business had amassed a considerable property. First as apprentice and then as clerk, he went through the severe routine of the old school. Early hours and the performance of a great deal of manual and even menial labor, were then expected of all young men devoted to a business life, although belonging to what are called respectable families. Reuben