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Läsebok N:o 17 —19.
15
ance. lie was sensible that his person had been so much
changed, that his mother would not know him, unless there
were some instinct to point out, at a single glance, the child
to its parent. To discover this instinct by actual experiment,
Franklin determined to introduce himself to his mother as a
stranger, and to watch narrowly for the moment in which
she should discover her son. On the afternoon of a sullen
cold day, in the month of January, he knocked at his
mother’s door, and asked to speak with Mrs. Franklin. He
found the old lady knitting before the parlour fire,
introduced himself by observing that he had been informed she
entertained travellers, and requested a night’s lodging.
She eyed him with coldness, and assured him that he
had been misinformed; — that she did not keep a tavern,
though, to oblige some members of the legislature, she took
a number of them into her family during the session; and
at that time had four members of the Council, and six of
the House of Representatives, who boarded with her. She
added, that her beds were full, and went on knitting with a
great deal of vehemence.
Franklin wrapped his coat around him, pretending to
shiver with the cold, observing that it was very chilly
weather. It was, of course, nothing more than civil for the old
lady to ask him to stop and warm himself. She pointed to
a chair, and he drew himself up to the fire.
The entrance of her boarders prevented any further
conversation. Coffee was soon served, and the stranger partook
with the rest of the family: To the coffee, according to the
custom of the times, succeeded a plate of apples, pipes, and
a paper of tobacco. A pleasant circle, of smokers was then
formed about the fire. Agreeable conversation followed.
Jokes were cracked, stories told, and Franklin was so
sensible and entertaining as to attract the attention of the whole
company.
In this manner the moments passed pleasantly and swiftly
along, and it was eight o’clock before any of them expected
it. This was the hour of supper, and Mrs. Franklin was
always as punctual as the clock. Busied with family affairs,
she supposed the stranger had quitted the house immediately
after coffee. Imagine her surprise when she saw him, with
the utmost coolness and impudence, taking his seat with the
family at the supper table!
Immediately after supper, she called an elderly
gentleman, a member of the Council, with whom she was in the
habit of consulting, into another room, complained of the
rudeness of the stranger, told the manner of his coming into
the house, observed that he appeared like a foreigner, and,
she thought, had something very suspicious about him. The
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