Retiring from Business CHAPTER 7.
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A CHANGE PROPOSED.
By the next spring, Mr. Franklin's unsatisfied state of mind, consequent upon having nothing to do, had increased to such a degree, that he determined to buy a handsome country residence, a few miles from the city, which was offered for sale, and amuse himself as an amateur farmer. A temporary interest in agriculture had been awakened, in consequence of having strolled one day into a farmer's club, where he listened to some of the proceedings; and it was kept alive, afterwards, by a friend who owned a small farm on Long Island, and who spoke in the warmest terms of the pleasure its cultivation gave him.
This proposal, however, did not meet the approval of his family. Mrs. Franklin had no taste for country life, and the idea of removing from the city, was one that gave her little pleasure.
"I don't think it will be as well," she replied to her husband's proposal. "James and Louisa will have to be taken from school"
"Not at all," he interrupted her. "They can come into the city every day."
"Six or seven miles?"
"Yes. The carriage can bring them in every morning, and the ride will do them good."
"But there must occur many interruptions. Storms, or slight illness, will prevent their going."
"Not much oftener than the same causes interfere with their studies now."
"But, Edwin, it will throw him off from home. He will then be more than ever, master of his own actions."
"He can come home with James and Louisa every evening, and go in with them in the morning. This will remove him from his present associates, and compel him, as it were, to spend his evenings at home."
"If that could be done."
"It can be done. The fact is, if for no other reason, this ought to be a conclusive one in favor of our removal from the city."
I am afraid Edwin's employers would not consent to his coming to the store so late, and leaving his business so early."
"I'll arrange all that. There'll be no difficulty. And if I could only get him interested in agricultural pursuits, I would remove him entirely from the city. There is less danger both, to themorals and the purse, in a farmer's life than in the merchant's. An intelligent system of agriculture ensures certain results, while, in trade, a thousand causes often combine to produce disaster. A farmer has few inducements to be dishonest; but temptation besets the merchant at every turn. Edwin must have a pursuit in life. He must be engaged in some useful employment. An idle brain, you know, has been called the devil's workshop; and of young men, the saying is most undoubtedly true. He has no taste whatever for the profession for which we designed him; and I have no wish to see him a merchant, for I know that failure will be the inevitable result whenever he ventures into business, and venture, of course, he will. Losses, be they large or small, will most likely fall upon me. If I were still at the head of my old establishment, I could bring him into that, and in a few years he could succeed me. By retaining an interest I could still exercise control, and thus prevent him from involving himself, if he departed from a prudent line of operations."
"That is out of the question now," said Mrs. Franklin, in a tone that expressed regret that such an opportunity for their son was not still open.
"Yes. It is even so. And now we must do the best we can. The place I think of buying is most beautifully situated, as you know. It contains thirty acres of ground, upon which I will establish a model farm, cost what it may. I feel expectant of being able to interest Edwin's mind, first in fruits and flowers, and then in the more important productions of the soil. I will hold out every possible inducement. He shall have a farm of his own, the moment he feels willing to enter upon its independent culture.
And Mr. Franklin, warming with this idea, continued to expatiate thereon for some time. But his wife had no confidence in the good result of this new scheme. She had no taste for a country life herself, and could not conceive it possible for a young man like Edwin to find any interest whatever in the tame and common-place pursuits, as they appeared to her, connected with a tillage of the soil. And she was right, so far as her son was concerned. The proposition to remove to the country pleased him very much, for the first thought, connected with himself, that it occasioned was in reference to the greater freedom of action the consequent separation from the family would give him. When his father said —
"You can be at home at night as usual, for the carriage will be in town every day," he replied —
"I'm afraid the distance is so great that I will not reach the store early enough in the morning."
"O yes, you will. But even if you should be an hour later in the morning, and be compelled to leave an hour earlier in the afternoon, it will make no great difference. I will arrange matters with your bosses, so as to make it all right with them."
"I don't think it will do," said the young man. "They are very particular in the matter of punctuality. Every clerk must be in the store by eight o'clock."
"Circumstances alter cases, you know," returned the father. "I will see that no trouble arises on this head. But, suppose they do object; you are under no obligation to remain with them."
"Of course not. But to leave their establishment would be to deprive myself of advantages not readily gained."
"I don't know. At least to nine-tenths of young men, a knowledge of mercantile affairs is more injury than benefit. This, you are aware, is my opinion. I have no confidence in trade. Its fluctuations are so great, and its disturbances so constant, that no foresight can guard against the disasters they occasion."
"May not this be said of all pursuits?" remarked the young man.
"By no means," replied the father. "A profession, followed in the right spirit, is far more certain in its beneficial results. Agriculture is not cursed with the evils to which I allude."
"Agriculture! Would you have me become a farmer?"
"I would rather see you a farmer than a merchant."
At this declaration the young man became mute with surprise. He could hardly believe that he had heard aright.
"A farmer!" he exclaimed, when he had a little recovered himself.
"Yes, a farmer," repeated Mr. Franklin. "A farmer may be contented, prosperous, and happy. Removed from the clashing interests, and disturbing influences of a city life, he may ride the waves of prosperity, free from the dangers of storms and breakers."
And in this strain Mr. Franklin went on, entering at great length upon the superior advantages appertaining to a country, over a city life, and disclosing, as he did so, more minutely, the plans he had been turning over in his mind. His own model farm was to be the first experiment, and into this, he wished to introduce Edwin, in order that the rudiments of an agricultural education might be gained, under the instructions of a practical farmer, who was to be engaged. So eloquently did he descant upon the beauties of the little paradisethat was to grow up around them, and so glowingly did he picture the delights that would arise when they saw the vines hanging thick with tempting clusters, the trees bending beneath their burden of fruit, and the ground teeming with all the luxury of vegetation — that the imagination of the young man began to warm. Contrasted with the freedom and beauty of all this, there was about the ware-house and counting-room something constrained and uninviting. And it did not take much after-persuasion to induce Edwin to agree to his father's wishes.
Mr. Franklin's heart was now light. He truly believed that the change in view, by removing his son and daughter from the perverting associations which they had formed in the city, would be of the most beneficial nature. For himself, he felt a restless enthusiasm in regard to the new life contemplated. He had been reposing so long, that on awakening, he was like a restive animal, eager to escape the rein; and he could not understand, in his very lack of abstract thought, how it was possible for anyone not to find, in a country life, everything to fill the measure of his desires.
Mrs. Franklin, however, felt none of this enthusiasm; her mind was therefore calmer, and she could look more clearly to the end. She knew that Edwin would take no permanent interest in a pursuit so entirely at variance with all his habits of mind; and her natural fear was, that in removing him from a place where he was required to give strict attention to business, for at least ten hours every day, under certain fixed rules, and leaving him free to employ himself or not upon a farm, would prove an injury instead of a service. It was not expected that he would put his hand to the spade or plough; no one wished him to do that. The father's idea was, if he had any distinct idea on the subject, that both he and his son would have a kind of general superintendence over everything, and find enough in this to occupy all their time. But Mrs. Franklin thought more practically than her husband, and knew that this was but a pleasant imagination. Her fears for Edwin were, therefore, well-grounded.
As for Florence, she opposed the removal to the country with all the eloquence of words and tears that she could summon to her aid. But her disapproval of the measure did not in the least retard its execution.
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