disgraced by him, and at last the young drunkard had spent all his money
and had no way of getting on except by Franklin's aid. This hard,
calculating, mercenary youth, did he seize the chance of shaking off a
most troublesome and injurious traveling companion? Strange to relate,
he stuck to his old friend, shared his purse with him till it was empty,
and then began on some money which he had been intrusted with for
another, and so got him to Philadelphia, where he still assisted him. It
was seven years before Franklin was able to pay all the debt incurred by
him to aid this old friend, for abandoning whom few would have blamed
him.

A year after he was in still worse difficulty from a similar cause. He
went to London to buy types and a press with which to establish himself
in business at Philadelphia, the governor of Pennsylvania having
promised to furnish the money. One of the passengers on the ship was a
young friend of Franklin's named James Ralph, with whom he had often
studied, and of whom he was exceedingly fond. Ralph gave out that he,
too, was going to London to make arrangements for going into business
for himself at Philadelphia. The young friends arrived. Franklin
nineteen and Ralph a married man with two children. On reaching London
Franklin learned, to his amazement and dismay, that the governor had
deceived him, that no money was to be expected from him, and that he
must go to work and earn his living at his trade. No sooner had he
learned this than James Ralph gave him another piece of stunning
intelligence; namely, that he had run away from his family and meant to
settle in London as a poet and author.

Franklin had ten pounds in his pocket, and knew a trade. Ralph had no
money, and knew no trade. They were both strangers in a strange city.
Now, in such circumstances, what would a mean, calculating young man