The mysterious Enoch Root meets 8-year-old Benjamin Franklin, Boston, 1713: “Do I look like a schoolmaster to you?” “No, but you talk like one.” “You know something of schoolmasters, do you?””Yes, sir,” the boy says, faltering a bit as he sees the jaws of the trap swinging toward his leg. “Yet here it is the middle of Monday—” “The place was empty ’cause of the Hanging. I didn’t want to stay and—” “And what?” “Get more ahead of the others than I was already.” “If you are ahead, the correct thing is to get used to it—not to make yourself into an imbecile. Come, you belong in school.

Report Quote Report Quote Report Quote Submit Quote Submit Quote Submit Quote