ntitled to his brother's
services during the unexpired period of apprenticeship. A fresh quarrel,
however, soon arose, and Benjamin separated from his brother, taking
what he has confessed to be an unfair advantage of the circumstance
that the contract could not be safely brought forward.

The circumstance produced an unfavorable impression on the minds of the
printers in Boston, and Franklin, finding it impossible to obtain
employment in his native town, resolved to seek it in New York. Aware
that his father would be opposed to this measure, he was compelled to
sell his books to raise money for defraying the expenses of his journey.
America was at this time very thinly inhabited; there were no public
conveyances on the roads, the inns were few, and their accommodations
miserable; but Franklin had accustomed himself to hard fare, and he did
not allow the inconvenience he endured to interfere with his enjoyment
of new scenery. On reaching New York he found that the printers there
had no occasion for his services, and he continued his journey to
Philadelphia. Having obtained employment in that city from a printer
named Keimer, Franklin continued to devote his leisure hours to
literature. The respectability of his appearance and the superior tone
of his conversation began soon to be remarked; they led to his being
introduced to several eminent men, and particularly to Sir William
Keith, the Governor of Pennsylvania, who frequently invited him to his
table. Keith urged Franklin to commence business on his own account, and
when the young man had ineffectually applied for assistance to his
father in Boston, he advised him to go to London and form a connection
with some of the great publishing houses, promising him letters of
credit and recommendation. Franklin sailed for London, but the promised
letters were never sent; and he found himself, on his arrival in
England, thrown entirely on his own resources.

Having soon obtained employment, he exhibited to his fellow-workmen an
edifying example of industry and temperance, by which many of them
profited. He also published a little work of a sceptical tendency, which
procured him introductions to some eminent men, but which he afterward
lamented as one of the greatest errors of his life. After remaining
about eighteen months in England, he returned to Philadelphia as a clerk
to Mr. Denham, and on the death of that gentleman went back once more to
his old employer, Keimer. About