lad seventeen years of age running away from
home, entering a large city without a solitary acquaintance, and
possessing scarcely money enough to pay for a week's board! He must
have carried some sad, lonely feelings in his heart along those
strange streets, and possibly his conscience sorely upbraided him for
his course.

Benjamin behaved very unwisely and wickedly in this affair. Although
his brother was severely harsh in his treatment of him, it was not
sufficient reason for his running away from home, and he was
thoroughly convinced of this at an early day. Such an act is one of
the most flagrant sins that a youth can commit, although circumstances
may render it less guilty in some cases than in others. In the case of
Benjamin, the unkind treatment which he received at the hand of his
brother mitigated his sin, though it by no means excused it.

There is not a more unpleasant occurrence in the whole life of
Benjamin Franklin than this quarrel with his brother. We charge the
difficulty mainly upon James, of course; but this does not blot out
the unpleasantness of the affair. A quarrel between brothers is always
painful in the extreme, and is discreditable to all parties concerned.
Dr. Watts has very beautifully written, for the admonition of little
children, what older ones may well ponder:--

"Whatever brawls disturb the street,
There should be peace at home:
Where sisters dwell and brothers meet,
Quarrels should never come.

"Birds in their little nests agree;
And 'tis a shameful sight,
When children of one family
Fall out, and chide, and fight.

"Hard names, at first, and threat'ning words,
That are but noisy breath,
May grow to clubs and naked swords,
To murder and to death."

At this crisis of Benjamin's life, it seemed as if he was on the
highway to ruin. There is scarcely one similar case in ten, where the
runaway escapes the vortex of degradation. Benjamin would not have
been an exception, but for his early religious culture and the grace
of God.

The case of William Hutton, who was the son of very poor parents, is
not altogether unlike that of Benjamin Franklin. He was bound to his
uncle for a series of years, but was treated by him so harshly that he
ran away, at seventeen years of age. The record is, that "on the 12th
day of July, 1741, the ill-treatment he received from his uncle, in
the shape of a brutal flogging, with a birch-broom