But he seemed much inclined to go to sea.

In order to keep him at home, and likewise to gratify his taste for letters, the lad was bound apprentice to his elder brother, who had lately set up a printing-office in Boston.
Here he had many opportunities of reading new books and of hearing instructive conversation.

He exercised himself so successfully in writing compositions, that, when no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, he became a contributor to his brother's newspaper.

Ben was also a versifier, if not a poet.

He made two doleful ballads,--one about the shipwreck of Captain Worthilake; and the other about the pirate Black Beard, who, not long before, infested the American seas.
When Ben's verses were printed, his brother sent him to sell them to the townspeople wet from the press.