t, lent him little by little, until he was
troubled to know what he should do if Vernon should call for the
money. Sometimes he lectured Collins severely for his habits, until
their friendship was essentially modified. One day they were in a boat
with other young men, on the Delaware, when Collins refused to row.

"We shall not row you," said Benjamin.

"You _will_ row me, or stay all night on the water, just as you
please," retorted Collins.

"We can stay as long as you can," continued Benjamin. "I shall not row
you."

"Come, Ben, let us row," said one of the young men. "If he don't want
to row let him sit still."

"Row him, if you wish to," replied Benjamin, "I shall not."

"Yes, you will," shouted Collins, starting from his seat. "I will be
rowed home, and you shall help do it, or I will throw you overboard;"
and he hurried to execute his threat. But, as he came up and struck at
him, Benjamin clapped his head under his thighs, and rising, threw
him head over heels into the river. He knew that Collins was a good
swimmer, so that he had no fears about his drowning.

"Will you row now?" he inquired, as Collins swam towards the boat.

"Not a stroke," he answered, angrily; whereupon they sent the boat
forward out of his reach, with one or two strokes of the oar. Again
and again they allowed him to approach the boat, when they repeated
the question: "Will you promise to row?" and as often received an
emphatic "No" for a reply. At length, perceiving that he was quite
exhausted, they drew him in without extorting from him a promise to
row.

This scene closed the intimate relations of Benjamin and Collins. They
scarcely spoke together civilly afterward. Collins sailed for
Barbadoes within a few weeks after, and he was never heard from again.
He probably died there, a miserable sot, and Benjamin lost all the
money he lent him. In later life, Benjamin Franklin referred to this
event, and spoke of himself as having received retribution for his
influence over Collins. For, when they were so intimate in Boston,
Benjamin corrupted his religious opinions by advocating doubts about
the reality of religion, until Collins became a thorough sceptic.
Until that time he was industrious, temperate, and honest. But having
lost his respect for religion, he was left without restraint, and went
rapidly to ruin. Benjamin was the greatest sufferer by his fall, and
thus was rebuked for influencing him to treat religion with contempt.