who could afford to ride horseback, and upon this route William Bradford, on some errand of his own and unknown to the boy who had just called upon him, at once set out. A second route was by boat from Manhattan Island across New York Bay and around Staten Island to Amboy, at the mouth of the Shrewsbury River, thence on foot through the forest for fifty miles to Burlington, between seventeen and eighteen miles above Philadelphia on the Delaware River, which at that point is about a mile wide, the last stage of the journey being usually covered by boat. The third route was by sailing vessel down the New Jersey coast and around and up through Delaware Bay, by which route young Benjamin sent his "chest."

He chose the second route for himself, and his trip proved to be a most uncomfortable one. Because of bad weather, thirty hours were required for the passage from Manhattan Island to Amboy. A squall tore the rotten sails to pieces; a drunken passenger fell overboard and was rescued with difficulty; and it was necessary to drop anchor near the Long Island shore of the bay and to spend the night in the open boat in the midst of the pounding surf, the entire period without anything to eat or to drink.

Franklin finally reached Amboy, however, and after a night spent in resting from his exposure and fatigue, he walked the fore part of the next

day through the rain to a poor inn, where wet and tired and thoroughly miserable he went to bed wishing he had never left home. The next day's walk brought him within ten miles of Burlington, and after another night spent at an inn, one more day brought him to the town.

He found to his regret that he had missed the regular boat to Philadelphia and that there would not be another for three or four days. He bought some gingerbread from a kindly disposed old woman, who sympathized with him in his predicament, and, learning that he was a printer, advised him to stay in Burlington and work at his trade. She did not know that something more than a pair of hands and a knowledge of how to use them would be required. On his explanation of the impracticability of her suggestion, she offered him lodging and entertainment for the three days of his prospective stay in Burlington, which offer he accepted, but later in the day while walking on the river bank he descried a boat bound for Philadelphia, in which he engaged passage and, without being able to return to the home of his hostess to say good-bye to her, was soon on his way.

At midnight, not having reached Philadelphia and fearing that they might pass it in the dark, the party landed and spent the night on shore. The next day they made an early start and soon were in the Quaker city.

CHAP. IV.

In Samuel Keimer's Shop in Philadelphia.

IT

T WAS on a bright Sunday morning late in October, 1723, that Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia, and he found himself in strange contrast with his surroundings. He was in his working clothes, probably very similar to the dress of apprentices described in Chapter 2 of this volume, his "best clothes" (to use his own expression) being still in the boat which was bringing them around by sea. Not being especially presentable when new and clean, it can be imagined what the garb he wore looked like after a week or so of constant use on sea and land and miles of walks through mud and dust.

His pockets, of large capacity as was the custom, were stuffed out with shirts and stockings; tired, dirty, hungry, and with only a Dutch dollar left after parting from the shilling which he insisted upon paying for his boatride, against the protest of the boatmen because of his assistance. at the oars, the runaway youth from Boston offered on his first entry into Philadelphia a figure in marked contrast to that of many years later, when he received a public ovation on his return from his ambassadorship to France.

His first concern was to obtain something to eat. Walking up the street from the wharf, he met a

boy carrying bread, and ascertaining where it could be purchased, he went to the bakery and asked for three penny worth. In Boston it would have been only a moderate quantity, so he was surprised to receive three great puffy rolls. Having no room in his pockets, he put a roll under each arm, and, eating the third roll, walked up Market Street as far as Fourth Street. He passed the house in which lived Miss Deborah Read, who was standing upon the stoop, and she, struck by the uncouth figure which he made, tittered as he went by. It was an ungracious thing to do, but as Elbert Hubbard in his monograph on the Life of Franklin says, Benjamin in later years got good and even with her; he married her.

Benjamin found his way back to the wharf where, his hunger having been satisfied, he gave the two remaining rolls of bread to a woman and her child who had been in the boat with him and who were going farther. Later, he found his way to an inn called "The Crooked Billet," in Water Street, where he got dinner, and where he slept all afternoon and all night. Monday morning, having tidied up a bit, he presented himself at the shop of Andrew Bradford, printer, and, much to his surprise, found in the shop the old man, Bradford's father, whom he had seen in New York.

Andrew Bradford having no work for the young printer, the elder Bradford offered to show him to

the other Philadelphia printing shop, conducted by Samuel Keimer. Keimer placed a composing stick in the boy's hand to see how he would manage it and then said he would give him employment soon, having at the moment nothing for him to do.

William Bradford did not disclose his identity to Keimer, who thought the elder man to be a resident of the town. Keimer was willing to talk of his affairs and prospects and Bradford led him aptly on, thereby obtaining information that could not but be of interest, if not of profit, to Keimer's competitor, Bradford's son.

The part played by William Bradford in the little comedy caused Benjamin Franklin to refer to him in the "Autobiography" as a "crafty old sophister" which, however questionable his conduct may have been on this occasion, is not in keeping with his standing in New York. He was public printer of that state for fifty years, and of New Jersey for thirty years; was clerk of the New Jersey Assembly, and was vestryman for many years of Trinity Church in New York City.

Benjamin Franklin lodged with Andrew Bradford, in whose shop he did small jobs. A few days later he was sent for by Keimer and put regularly to work. Keimer's printing house was not much to boast of. There was an old shattered press which had never been used and which indeed,