"SIR: Having lately been in the northern parts of America, I have brought from thence a purse made of the asbestos, ... called by the inhabitants 'salamander cotton.' As you are noted to be a lover of curiosities, I have informed you of this; and if you have any inclination to purchase or see it, let me know your pleasure by a line for me at the Golden Fan, Little Britain, and I will wait upon you with it. I am, sir, your most humble servant, "B. FRANKLIN." ] [Footnote 69: This press is now preserved at the Patent Office in Washington.] [Footnote 70: A French expression meaning "welcome."] [Footnote 71: Pieces in a font of type.] [Footnote 72: "A printing house used to be called a chapel by the workmen, and a journeyman, on entering a printing house, was accustomed to pay one or more gallons of beer 'for the good of the chapel,'"--W. F. FRANKLIN, quoted by Bigelow.] [Footnote 73: "Never making," etc., i.e., never making a holiday of Monday. The heavy drinkers of Saturday night and Sunday needed Monday to recover from their excesses.] [Footnote 74: The woman who, according to legend, wiped the face of Jesus on his way to Calvary, and carried away the likeness of his face, which had been miraculously printed on the cloth.] [Footnote 75: A suburb of London, north of the Thames.] [Footnote 76: Don Saltero had been a servant to Sir Hans Sloane, and had learned from him to treasure curiosities. He now had a coffeehouse at Chelsea.] [Footnote 77: A name given to a part of London. The distance Franklin swam was about three miles.] [Footnote 78: Settlement.] [Footnote 79: Pay.] [Footnote 80: This plan has never been found.] 4. IN PHILADELPHIA AND IN BUSINESS FOR HIMSELF. We landed in Philadelphia on the 11th of October, where I found sundry alterations. Keith was no longer governor, being superseded by Major Gordon. I met him walking the streets as a common citizen. He seemed a little ashamed at seeing me, but passed without saying anything. I should have been as much ashamed at seeing Miss Read, had not her friends, despairing with reason of my return after the receipt of my letter, persuaded her to marry another, one Rogers, a potter, which was done in my absence. With him, however, she was never happy, and soon parted from him, refusing to bear his name, it being now said that he had another wife. He was a worthless fellow, though an excellent workman, which was the temptation to her friends. He got into debt, ran away in 1727 or 1728, went to the West Indies, and died there. Keimer had got a better house, a shop well supplied with stationery, plenty of new types, a number of hands, though none good, and seemed to have a great deal of business.