They lived together very happily for a great many years.

Some time before this marriage, Franklin's friend and employer, Mr.
Denham, had died.

The dry-goods store, of which he was the owner, had been sold, and
Franklin's occupation as a salesman, or clerk, was gone. But the young
man had shown himself to be a person of great industry and ability. He
had the confidence of everybody that knew him.

A friend of his, who had money, offered to take him as a partner in the
newspaper business. And so he again became a printer, and the editor of
a paper called the _Pennsylvania Gazette_.

It was not long until Franklin was recognized as one of the leading men
in Philadelphia. His name was known, not only in Pennsylvania, but in
all the colonies.

He was all the time thinking of plans for making the people about him
wiser and better and happier.

He established a subscription and circulating library, the first in
America. This library was the beginning of the present Philadelphia
Public Library.

He wrote papers on education. He founded the University of
Pennsylvania. He organized the American Philosophical Society.

He established the first fire company in Philadelphia, which was also