but one chamber each, of ample dimensions, and
furnished in the plainest manner. The attic was an unplastered room,
where probably some of the elder children lodged. This house stood
about a hundred years after the Franklins left it, and was finally
destroyed by fire, on Saturday, Dec. 29, 1810.

He was named after the aforesaid uncle, and this circumstance alone
was well suited to beget a mutual interest and attachment between
them. His love of books early attracted the attention of his parents
and others, and they regarded him as a precocious child. On this
account the remark was often volunteered, "that he ought to be sent to
college."

We have said that Mr. Franklin was playing upon his violin on the
evening of the aforesaid interview. He was very fond of music, was a
good singer, and performed well upon the violin. He was wont to gather
his family around him during the leisure hours of evening, and sing
and play. Many cheerful and happy seasons were passed in this way at
the fireside, the influence of which was excellent upon his children.

That it would be doubtful whether he could meet the expense of sending
Benjamin to college, must appear to the reader, when he learns that
he was a labouring man, and had a family of seventeen children,
thirteen of whom sat around his table together at one time. Fourteen
were older than Benjamin, and two were younger. To support so large a
family must have taxed the energies of the father to the utmost, even
though no one of them was destined for a learned profession.

It was arranged that Benjamin should immediately enter school, and
enjoy the best literary advantages which the poverty of his father
could provide. He acceded to the plan with hearty good-will, and
commenced his studies with a zeal and enthusiasm such as few scholars
exhibit.

The school was taught by Mr. Nathaniel Williams, successor of the
famous Boston teacher, Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, who was instructor
thirty-five years, and who discontinued teaching, as Cotton Mather
said, "only when mortality took him off." The homely old wooden
school-house, one story and a half high, stood near by the spot on
which the bronze statue of Franklin is now seen, and there was the
"school-house green," where "Ben" and his companions sported together.
It was probably the only free grammar-school which Boston afforded at
that time; for it was only a little village compared with its present
size. It then contained only about te