WHILE Franklin was thus industriously employed, extending his business by the neatness and despatch with which he executed his work, and resolutely maintaining his own independence and the legitimate freedom of the press, his neighbor Bradford, though his private custom was gradually diminishing, still continued printer for the public authorities of the province. But his work was always done in a slovenly manner; and having about this time, sent from his office an address of the colonial assembly to the governor, more carelessly done and more crowded with blunders than usual, Franklin reprinted it with particular neatness and accuracy, and caused a copy of it to be laid before each member of the assembly. The difference between the two editions was so palpable and great, that it could not fail to strike the most heedless; and the members were so much pleased with the reprint, that they gave the whole of the public printing, by a strong vote, to Franklin & Meredith, for the year then commencing.

This vote of the assembly was, of course, very gratifying as well as advantageous to Franklin (for Meredith's habitual intemperance had rendered him more of a burden than a benefit to their business), and it was an additional gratification to know that, among the friends who

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had brought it to pass, was Mr. Hamilton, the eminent lawyer, to whom, as heretofore related, Franklin had rendered such valuable service, in London, by putting him on his guard against the plots of Riddlesden and Keith; and who took the occasion of this annual vote for a public printer, as he did every fair occasion that subsequently occurred, to repay that service with his active and efficient friendship.

The error, which had so long been a cause of anxiety and mortification to Franklin - into which, as will be remembered, he had been unwarily led by too much confidence in his early companion Collins-the error of lending to that misguided youth the money collected for Mr. Vernon, now at length produced the consequence foreboded, the amount being applied for, before he was in a condition to pay it. Much, however, as his self-esteem was wounded by not being able to pay over the money on demand, he had the moral firmness to do the next best thing in his power, by dealing frankly and truly with Vernon; not adding to his own humiliation and self-reproach by any weak attempt to misrepresent the matter, or to prevaricate. "Mr. Vernon," says Franklin, "about this time put me in mind of the debt I owed him; but he did not press me. I wrote to him an ingenuous letter of acknowledgment, craving his forbearance a little longer, which he allowed me. As soon as I was

able, I paid the principal with the interest and many thanks; so, that erratum was in some degree corrected."

It will be recollected that Franklin was expressly authorized to keep the money till it should be called for; and it nowhere appears that any earlier call than the one now mentioned, was ever made by Vernon; so that in reality, all the delay, in this affair, that could be justly complained of, or could be considered wrongful in the eye of the law, was that which took place subsequently

to the above-named letter of Vernon. Nevertheless, Franklin's own solicitude on the subject, dated from the time when he first became fully conscious of his error, in having thus subjected himself to a liability which he could not instantly meet; and as he had, clearly, taken the matter much more seriously to heart, than had Mr. Vernon, he felt proportionately grateful for the forbearance extended to him. Long years after, while he was residing at Paris as minister of the United States to the court of France, his sensibility to the liberal kindness of Vernon, it is gratifying to relate, was further manifested by rendering important service to a young kinsman of that gentleman.

A more serious embarrassment, in a mere pecuniary sense, and the more annoying from its having never been anticipated, now befell him. Mr. Meredith, senior, it will be remembered, was to furnish the money for setting up the firm of Franklin & Meredith in business. The whole sum to be furnished by him was two hundred pounds, -one half of which he had paid up; but the other half, now overdue, was not forthcoming, and he was unable to raise it. The merchant who had imported the furniture of the printing-office, and to whom the money was due, after long waiting, lost his patience and commenced a suit against both the elder Meredith and the two partners. The regular course of the suit would give a little time; but as there was no real defence to be made, that time would soon run out; and if the money could not be raised to meet the judgment that must come, the whole establishment would be sold by the sheriff under an execution, and the prospects of two young men, now opening so fairly, be utterly blasted.

This unhappy state of things became known, of course, to Franklin's friends; and he now had occasion, not only to realize, with livelier emotions than ever before, the

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advantages of that character he had established for resolute self denial and persevering industry, but to understand, also, with deeper insight, the nature and value of true friendship.

"In this distress," says he in his own account of this matter, "two true friends, whose kindness I have never forgotten, nor ever shall forget while I can remember anything, came to me, separately and unknown to each other, and, without any application from me, offered each of them to advance me all the money that should be necessary to enable me to take the whole of the business upon myself, if that should be practicable; but they did not like my continuing the partnership with Meredith; who, as they said, was often seen drunk in the streets, or playing at low games in alehouses, much to our discredit."

He

Those two generous friends were William Coleman and Robert Grace, to whom the reader has been already introduced in the Junto. Straitened and sore-pressed as he was, however, and menaced with at least temporary ruin by losing the fruits of his long and arduous labor, Franklin now showed the real strength and noble-' ness of his character, by his reply to his friends. told them that he considered himself under such obligations to the Merediths, for the advantages he had derived from his connection with them, that he could not, with honor and a good conscience, urge a dissolution of the partnership, so long as they entertained a hope of being able to perform their engagements; but, if they should find themselves wholly unable to do so, and the partnership be thus broken up, he should then feel perfectly free to avail himself of the proffered aid.

This affair was alike honorable to each of the parties concerned; to Franklin, for his fine sense of justice and upright dealing toward the Merediths; and to his two

friends, not only for the noble sentiments which prompted their generous offers, but also, in a case like this, for their really enlightened public spirit, in coming to the aid of one, who had given such unequivocal proofs of his ability and disposition to be useful to the community, and to render it yet greater and more valuable service.

The affairs of the partnership continued in the unpleasant and hopeless condition described, for a while longer, when Franklin one day said to his well-meaning but very unprofitable partner: "Perhaps your father is dissatisfied at the part you have undertaken, in this affair of ours, and is unwilling to advance for you and me, what he would, for you. If that is the case, tell me, and I will resign the whole to you, and go about my business." To this Meredith ingenuously answered: "No; my father has really been disappointed, and is really unable; and I am unwilling to distress him further. I see this is a business I am not fit for. I was bred a farmer, and it was folly in me to come to town, and put myself, at thirty years of age, an apprentice to learn a new trade. Many of our Welsh people are going to settle in North Carolina, where land is cheap. I am inclined to go with them and follow my old employment. You may find friends to assist you. If you will take the debts of the company upon you, return to my father the hundred pounds he has advanced, pay my little personal debts, and give me thirty pounds and a new saddle, I will relinquish the partnership and leave the whole in your hands.'

Considering all the circumstances of this case, and particularly the fact that Franklin was himself the very life of the concern, which would not have been worth a penny without him, it must be conceded that Meredith did not undervalue his own interest, in the terms proposed. But Franklin, looking no doubt more at the ca