The Printer Boy

The Printer Boy, with the subtitle Or, How Benjamin Franklin Made His Mark, is by William Makepeace Thayer. The preface says the book is designed to illustrate the familiar maxim that the boy is father to the man. The preface adds that the early life of Franklin is sketched from his childhood to the time he was established in business, and that the achievements of his manhood are summed up in a closing chapter.

The contents list includes, among others, a chapter called A Literary Game, with entries such as A Proposition to Paraphrase the Eighteenth Psalm. Among others, the contents list names a chapter called Going to England, with entries such as Set Sail, Arrival in London and Discovers that his Letters are Worthless. The text reminds the reader that the printing-office has furnished many eminent scholars to the world. The text says success depends in a great measure in early directing the young in the path to which their natural endowments point.