G,)
LIES HERE, FOOD FOR WORMS,
YET THE WORK ITSELF SHALL NOT BE LOST,
FOR IT WILL, AS HE BELIEVED, APPEAR ONCE MORE,
IN A NEW
AND MORE BEAUTIFUL EDITION,
CORRECTED AND AMENDED
BY
THE AUTHOR.

But there was no use for this graveyard literature; Franklin got well,
and recurred again to his proper trade. Being expert with the
composing-stick, he was readily engaged at good wages by his old
employer, Keimer. Franklin, however, soon suspected that this man's
purpose was only to use him temporarily for instructing some green
hands, and for organizing the printing-office. Naturally a quarrel soon
occurred. But Franklin had proved his capacity, and forthwith the father
of one Meredith, a fellow journeyman under Keimer, advanced sufficient
money to set up the two as partners in the printing business. Franklin
managed the office, showing admirable enterprise, skill, and industry.
Meredith drank. This allotment of functions soon produced its natural
result. Two friends of Franklin lent him what capital he needed; he
bought out Meredith and had the whole business for himself. His zeal
increased; he won good friends, gave general satisfaction, and absorbed
all the best business in the province.

At the time of the formation of the partnership the only newspaper of
Pennsylvania was published by Bradford, a rival of Keimer in the
printing business. It was "a paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no way
entertaining, and yet was profitable to him." Franklin and Meredith
resolved to start a competing sheet; but Keimer got wind of their plan,
and at once "published proposals for printing one himself." He had got
ahead of them, and they had to desist. But he was ignorant, shiftless,
and incompetent, and after carrying on his enterprise for "three
quarters of a year, with at most only ninety subscribers," he sold out
his failure to Franklin and Meredith "for a trifle." To them, or rather
to Franklin, "it prov'd in a few years extremely profitable." Its
original name, "The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, and
Pennsylvania Gazette," was reduced by the amputation of the first
clause, and, relieved from the burden of its trailing title, it
circulated actively throughout the province, and further. Number 40,
Franklin's first number, appeared October 2, 1729. Bradford, who was
postmaster, refused to allow his post-riders to carry any save his