"
"It will not be necessary to leave him at present. It may be three
months before a vessel is billed for Boston. You can work for him at
present, notifying him that you shall return to Boston on a visit by
the first vessel that goes."
"Yes, I can do that," said Benjamin.
"You will not, of course, divulge your plan of establishing a printing
house of your own," suggested the governor. "Keep that a secret. Your
plan may not work, so that it will be wise to keep it a secret for the
present."
"Well, I will defer to your judgment, and return to Boston by the
first vessel that sails. If the plan works, and Benjamin Franklin
should run a successful business house in this town, the credit of it
will belong to you."
They separated, with the understanding that Benjamin would return to
Boston by the first vessel sailing for that port. The governor and his
friend retired, and Benjamin returned to his work at the printing
office.
The reader will make special note of this unusual scene. Here was the
governor of Pennsylvania and a leading public man of Delaware in
conference with a boy of seventeen years, about establishing a
printing house of his own in Philadelphia, with the promise of the
government patronage! What sort of a boy must he be? Not one of common
mould or capacity; but one, as the sequel will show, who shall rule in
the councils of the nation!
Keimer's curiosity was on tiptoe; he wanted to know what business
Governor Keith could have with his young employe.
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