themselves for drink.

He drank nothing but water. He was strong and active. He could carry
more, and do more work, than any of them.

He persuaded many of them to leave off drinking, and to lead better
lives.

Franklin was also a fine swimmer. There was no one in London who could
swim as well. He wrote two essays on swimming, and made some plans for
opening a swimming school.

When he had been in London about a year, he met a Mr. Denham, a merchant
of Philadelphia, and a strong friendship sprang up between them.

Mr. Denham at last persuaded Franklin to return to Philadelphia, and be
a clerk in his dry-goods store.

And so, on the 23rd of the next July, he set sail for home. The ship was
nearly three months in making the voyage, and it was not until October
that he again set foot in Philadelphia.

* * * * *

XI.--A LEADING MAN IN PHILADELPHIA.


When Franklin was twenty-four years old he was married to Miss Deborah
Read, the young lady who had laughed at him when he was walking the
street with his three rolls.