Benjamin Franklin ended his days as a beloved statesman and diplomat.... But what we are about to unfold is the story of Ben Franklin, the entrepreneur. A young man, not so dearly loved at times, who fought his way to the top commencing with little.... From his youth in Boston to his middle years in Philadelphia, he plied himself ever upward.... Often labeled a "money-grubber" by his competitors, he philosophically shook off the insult to cheerfully take away their patrons, as they were trying to take away his.... Still, belied by an outward appearance of avarice during the early days in his career, he had an inner earnestness to do his fellow man well, which surfaced as his affluence grew. "A rich rogue, " he would quote in the first issue of Poor Richard's Almanack in 1733, "is like a fat hog, who never does good until dead as a log." Of his final belief in this, we shall observe in these pages....Illustrated with period drawings, artwork and paintings.