Silence Dogood

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.