FRANKLIN SEAL

FRANKLIN'S grandfather on the maternal side, and
his uncle, were both confirmed scribblers of rhyme,
and therefore it was seemingly preordained by heritage
and by example that he should write. At seven years
of age the boy sent a poem to his uncle Benjamin, and
the recipient wrote back:

"'T is time for me to throw aside my pen,
When hanging sleeves read, write, and rhyme like men.
This forward spring foretells a plenteous crop;
For, if the bud bear grain, what will the top!

. . . . . . . .

If first years' shoots such noble clusters send,
What laden boughs, Engedi-like, may we expect in the end!"

He was thirteen years of age, and a printer's appren-
tice, before any further evidence of his writing is to be

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