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 them that his father used to repeat to him this saying of Solomon's: "_Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men._"[8] At that time the young printer never actually expected to stand in the presence of a king, but years later he met with five; and one of them, his friend the king of France, gave him his picture set round with diamonds. [Footnote 4: Almanac (al'ma-nak).] [Footnote 5: Gazette (ga-zet'): a newspaper.] [Footnote 6: Type: the raised metal letters used in printing are made by melting lead and some other metals together and pouring the mixture into molds.] [Footnote 7: Thrive: to get on in business, to prosper.] [Footnote 8: See Prov. xxii. 29.]