110. Franklin's newspaper and almanac;[4] how he worked; standing
before kings.--Franklin was then publishing a small newspaper,
called the _Pennsylvania Gazette_.[5] To-day we print newspapers by
steam at the rate of two or three hundred a minute; but Franklin,
standing in his shirtsleeves at a little press, printed his with his
own hands. It was hard work, as you could see by the drops of sweat
that stood on his forehead; and it was slow as well as hard. The young
man not only wrote himself most of what he printed in his paper, but
he often made his own ink; sometimes he even made his own type.[6]
When he got out of paper he would take a wheelbarrow, go out and buy
a load, and wheel it home. To-day there are more than three hundred
newspapers printed in Philadelphia; then there were only two, and
Franklin's was the better of those two.

[Illustration: FRANKLIN AT A PRINTING PRESS.]

[Illustration: A TYPE. (The Letter B.)]

[Illustration: FRANKLIN WHEELING A LOAD OF PAPER.]

Besides this paper he published an almanac, which thousands of people
bought. In it he printed such sayings as these: "_He who would
thrive[7] must rise at five_," and "_If you want a thing well done,
do it yourself._" But Franklin was not contented with simply printing
these sayings, for he practised them as well.

Sometimes his friends would ask him why he began work so early in
the morning, and kept at it so many hours. He would laugh, and tell