Silence Dogood was the first of many alter-egos that Benjamin Franklin created throughout his life. For her would-be suitors, Silence Dogood did not exist. She was the invention of sixteen year-old Benjamin Franklin, who was working at the time as an apprentice to his older
brother, James, a Boston printer. Franklin concealed his authorship of the letters from his
brother. He later wrote that he slipped the first Silence Dogood letter beneath the
door of his
brother’s printing shop at night to avoid detection. However, he later was pleased to listen in as his
brother and his friends approvingly discussed the letter and decided to place it on the front page of the
paper. Franklin wrote a total of fourteen Silence Dogood letters between April 2 to October 8, 1722. When he stopped writing the letters, his
brother placed an ad in the paper in an attempt to find out who the mysterious letter writer really was. When Franklin confessed to his brother that he was the author, his brother grew quite displeased, fearing that all the compliments paid to Silence Dogood would make young Benjamin grow vain. Soon after this, Franklin decided to run away and seek his fortune in Philadelphia.
Jake - "Hey have you heard about those Silence Dogood letters in history
class yet?"
brett - "Yea, that's kinda messed up how Benjamin Franklin would do that to his
brother."