When he first entered the printing-house in London, he did press-work. There were fifty workmen in the establishment, and all of them but Benjamin were great beer-drinkers; yet he could lift more, and endure more fatigue, than any of them. His companion at the press was a notorious drinker, and consumed daily "a pint of beer before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his food, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had done his day's work,"--in all six pints per day. They had an alehouse boy always in attendance upon the workmen. "A detestable habit," said Benjamin to his fellow-pressman, "and a very expensive one, too." "I couldn't endure the wear and tear of this hard work without it," replied the toper. "You could accomplish more work, and perform it better, by drinking nothing but cold water," rejoined Benjamin. "There is nothing like it to make one strong and healthy." "Fudge! It may do for a Water-American like you, but Englishmen would become as weak as babes without it." "That is false," said Benjamin. "With all your drinking _strong_ beer in this establishment, you are the weakest set of workmen I ever saw. I have seen _you_ tug away to carry a single form of type up and down stairs, when I always carry two. Your beer may be _strong_, but it makes you _weak_." "You Americans are odd fellows, I confess," added the beer-swigger; "and you stick to your opinions like a tick." "But look here, my good fellow," continued Benjamin. "Do you not see that the bodily strength afforded by beer can be only in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of which it is made? There must be more flour in a pennyworth of bread than there is in a whole quart of beer; therefore, if you eat that with a pint of water, it will give you more strength than two or three pints of beer. Is it not so?" The man was obliged to acknowledge that it appeared to be so. Benjamin continued: "You see that I am supplied with a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumbled with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for just the price of a pint of beer, three-halfpence. Now, honestly, is not this much better for me, and for you, than the same amount of beer?" Thus Benjamin thorned his companions with arguments against the prevailing habit of beer-drinking. Gradually he acquired an influence over many of them, by precept and example, and finally they abandoned their old habit, and followed his better way of living. He wrought a thorough reformation in the printing-office; and the fact shows what one young man can do in a good cause, if he will but set his face resolutely in that direction. Benjamin possessed the firmness, independence, and moral courage to carry out his principles,--just the thing which many a youth of his age lack, and consequently make shipwreck of their hopes.