Ben Franklin’s Big Splash

by Barb Rosenstock

1 Before the world knew the famous Doctor Benjamin Franklin, his neighbors knew him as Ben, the son of a soap-maker. He was the boy who, on hot summer days, snuck away from his father’s shop, headed straight for the river, and splashed in. This made Ben a strange kid in colonial Boston. At the time, almost no one went swimming because most people thought it would make you sick. But fearless Ben swam as often as possible, and it only made him stronger.

2 Ben spent hours soaking in the river. He asked himself big questions: Will I always work at the shop? Should I run away to sea? How will I find success? He also asked himself small questions: Why can’t I swim like a fish? It seemed simpler to start with small questions.

3 Ben thought fish were speedy swimmers because of their shape. He stared at some fish bellies and then at his own belly. He stared at some fish noses and then at his own nose. Ben certainly was not shaped like a fish, so how could he help himself swim like one? Suddenly, he stared at his hands and then back at the fish. And then he ran away from the river.

4 Back at the shop, Ben made drawings of his ideas. He snapped up some wood scraps and shaped them into something between circles and squares. He sanded the surfaces smooth and stamped in some holes. Ben kept working until he finished his first invention. Ta-da! Swim fins.

5 Ben ran to the river bank. He stuck his thumbs in the holes of the fins, spread his arms wide, and splashed in—which made him even stranger than before. He never kept his ideas secret, and he never cared what people said. He couldn’t wait to see if the fins succeeded.

6 Ben struck forward with the paddles, shoving the water back under his shoulders. He was swimming alongside the fish! But after a few seconds, his wrists grew sore and his arms shook. The fish began to pass him by.

7 Ben noticed the fish had more than one set of fins. He stopped, stared at his feet, and then ran away from the river once more. Ta-da! Swim sandals.

8 Ben ran back to the river bank. He put his feet in the sandals, stuck his thumbs in the fins, spread his arms wide, and splashed in.

9 The problems surprised him. The sandals slipped off his feet, and his wrists still grew sore. No matter how hard he tried, he swam slower and slower until he almost sank.

10 Ben sloshed toward shore. He slogged up the bank, shook himself off, and smiled— which surely made him the strangest kid in all of America.

11 Most kids might have felt sad or ashamed, but Ben simply thought he had made a mistake. He wouldn’t stop searching, studying, and struggling until he succeeded.

12 And though he didn’t call himself one yet, that was the day Benjamin Franklin became a scientist. Soon enough he would make a big splash, solving big problems—his own, his neighbors’, and ours.