, we acquired better habits of
conversation, everything being studied in our rules which might
prevent our disgusting each other. From hence the long continuance of
the club, which I shall have frequent occasion to speak further of
hereafter.

But my giving this account of it here is to show something of the
interest I had, everyone of these exerting themselves in recommending
business to us. Breintnal particularly procur'd us from the Quakers
the printing forty sheets of their history, the rest being to be done
by Keimer; and upon this we work'd exceedingly hard, for the price was
low. It was a folio, pro patria size, in pica, with long primer
notes.[55] I compos'd of it a sheet a day, and Meredith worked it off
at press; it was often eleven at night, and sometimes later, before I
had finished my distribution for the next day's work, for the little
jobbs sent in by our other friends now and then put us back. But so
determin'd I was to continue doing a sheet a day of the folio, that
one night, when, having impos'd[56] my forms, I thought my day's work
over, one of them by accident was broken, and two pages reduced to
pi,[57] I immediately distribut'd and composed it over again before I
went to bed; and this industry, visible to our neighbors, began to
give us character and credit; particularly, I was told, that mention
being made of the new printing-office at the merchants' Every-night
club, the general opinion was that it must fail, there being already
two printers in the place, Keimer and Bradford; but Dr. Baird (whom
you and I saw many years after at his native place, St. Andrew's in
Scotland) gave a contrary opinion: "For the industry of that
Franklin," says he, "is superior to anything I ever saw of the kind; I
see him still at work when I go home from club, and he is at work
again before his neighbors are out of bed." This struck the rest, and
we soon after had offers from one of them to supply us with
stationery; but as yet we did not chuse to engage in shop business.

[55] A sheet 8-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches, having the words
_pro patria_ in translucent letters in the body of the
paper. Pica--a size of type; as, A B C D: Long Primer--a
smaller size of type; as, A B C D.

[56] To arrange and lock up pages or columns of type in a
rectangular iron frame, ready for printing.

[57] Reduced to complete disorder.

I mention this industry the more particularly and the more freely,
tho' it s