The second change decided upon by Franklin was occasioned by the fact that he was beginning to feel the want of exercise, to which he had been accustomed in America, and he therefore applied for a place in the pressroom instead of in the composing room. The press on which he worked was subsequently brought to America and is now preserved in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. Later he returned to composing-room work, but in the same establishment. His expertness as a compositor resulted in his being placed on the rush work, which brought a higher rate of remuneration.

The entry of a new man into a London printing office at the time was marked by the imposition upon him by his fellow workmen of a tax for drink. Franklin paid the amount, five shillings, without demur, when he went into Watts' printing office, but objected to paying a similar sum on his transfer to the composing room of the same establishment. His employer agreed with him and forbade compliance with the demand. However, after two or three weeks, during which time he found his cases regularly mixed up, the pages of the form upon which he might be at work transposed, and other similar annoyances, all of which were ascribed to the chapel ghost, which it was explained ever haunted those not regularly admitted," he surrendered and paid the tax.

His abstemiousness was the subject of comment because it was a belief among the workmen that to do strong labor one must needs partake of strong drink. Franklin says: "My companion at the press drank every day a pint [of beer] before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and tea, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about fix o'clock, and another when he had done his day's work.” Franklin showed them by example the fallacy of their belief as to the source of physical strength. "On occafion," said he, "I carried up- and downftairs a large form of type in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They wondered to fee from this and feveral inftances, that the Water-American, as they called me, was ftronger than themselves, who drank strong beer!"

Franklin's wages were usually considerably in excess of those of his fellows. He never made a "St. Monday," a holiday, observed by the other workmen while recovering from the week end's dissipation. He received higher wages also because of his superior ability, and he did not have four or five shillings to pay on Saturday night for drink consumed during the week, as did most of the others. He was soon lending money to them, carefully collecting it on pay day, with, one may be assured, a reasonable addition for interest.

Acquiring a standing among the men, he pro

posed some alterations in their chapel laws which were made. He offered other suggestions also, one being the substitution for the usual pint of beer at breakfast of a "large porringer of hot water gruel, fprinkled with pepper, crumbed with bread and a bit of butter in it," which he convinced them made a cheaper breakfast and kept their heads clearer.

He had been lodging in Little Britain at three shillings and six pence (about eighty-four cents) a week. He removed to Duke Street, nearer Watts' printing office, at the same price, but deciding to obtain a cheaper lodging so as to increase his savings, he announced the fact to his landlady and she reduced the price to one shilling and six pence per week. It was a bargain, but lodgings were cheap, compared to modern standards, in that day. It was about the time that we find Dean Swift writing a letter to "Stella" in which he says of his of his quarters in Bury Street, one block away from Duke Street: "I have a first floor, a dining room and bedroom, at eight fhillings a week, plaguey dear!"

Not far away from Duke Street is Craven Street, at No. 7 of which was Mrs. Margaret Stevenson's boarding-house, where lived Benjamin Franklin during the two periods of his representation of the American Colonies in England. The houses in the street were renumbered twice after he left; consequently when the Royal Society, of which he

was a member, in 1875 placed a tablet to his memory it was attached to the wrong house, and patriotic Americans who visited it during the succeeding forty years worshipped at the wrong shrine. Search of the London County Council records in recent years established the fact that it was at the house now numbered 36 that Franklin lived and at which he received so many of the world's elect. It is now a small hotel where those who make arrangements sufficiently in advance may occupy the room tenanted so long by the great American.

An interesting fact in connection with this period of Franklin's life is that he was an expert swimmer, and so far as is known, he was America's first amateur athlete. With his accustomed thoroughness he read books that dealt with the theory and practice of water sports; gave exhibitions that excited comment to the point that financial aid was forthcoming in a project to establish a natatorium in London for him, and it was further proposed that he travel in Europe, giving exhibitions of his dexterity as a swimmer.

He laid the matter before his Quaker merchant friend Denham, with whom he had kept in association, who discouraged it and advised him to return to America. Denham was about to go back to Philadelphia with a quantity of goods with which to open a store, and he proposed to Benjamin that he go along and take a position as clerk, keep the

books, copy letters, and attend the wants of customers. Later there was to be advancement. Denham offered the equivalent of one hundred and sixty-seven dollars a year as remuneration, which was less than Franklin was then receiving as a compositor, but with the ever-present desire of the compositor to "get away from the case" the offer proved tempting and was accepted. Accordingly they sailed together from England, July 23, 1726.

CHAP. V I.

A Plan of Life.

A VOYAGE across the Atlantic Ocean in the

early years of the Eighteenth Century was something of an undertaking. The ships were small and uncomfortable at best, and during bad weather the conditions became almost unendurable. The great changes for the better in ocean travel that two hundred years have brought are indicated in the paper which Franklin wrote entitled: "Precautions to Be Used by Those Who Are About to Undertake a Sea Voyage." He gives, among other things, a list of the viands with which each passenger should equip himself, for says he, "the most disagreeable thing at sea is the Cookery; for there is not properly speaking any profeff'd Cook on board. The worst failor is generally