ECLIPSE OF MOON-FLYING-FISH.

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to commence at 5, A. M., of September 30th; but at the longitude of the Berkshire it began at about 11, P. M., of the 29th, and continued nearly three hours. At the moment of greatest obscuration, which was about half an hour after midnight, six digits, or one half of the moon's disk, was covered by the shadow of the earth.

On the morning of October 4th, a flying-fish was found dead on deck, where it had probably alighted from its flight to escape its most persecuting enemy, the dolphin. Its wings are described as being of a fin-like structure, and extending from a little back of the gills nearly to the tail. Its flight is straight-forward, commonly from six to ten feet above the water, and sometimes reaching forty or fifty yards, or as long as the wings continue wet enough to hold the air. When hard pressed by the dolphin, they rise, usually in little flocks of four or five, and sometimes more; but their swift pursuer, aware of their straight flight, holds right on, and is generally at the spot ready to seize them when they again touch the water.

On the evening of the same day the Berkshire's company were cheered by tokens of nearing land. These tokens had, in truth, begun to excite more than ordinary interest, for "the ship's crew was now brought to a short allowance of water." Happily, on the 7th of October, the wind, so long contrary, came fresh and strong from the northeast, sending the ship steadily on her course, full seven knots an hour; and holding at the same point for the two following days, they sped onward, amid multiplying signs that they were at length rapidly approaching the American coast, till, on Sunday, the 9th of October, a little past noon, a man on the lookout aloft, to the great joy of all in the ship, gave long-wished-for cry of LAND." Sixty full days had now

"the

elapsed since Benjamin had taken his last look at the shores of England; and when, about an hour later, the coast of his native land became visible from the Berkshire's deck, it was for a time somewhat dimmed to the moist with which he gazed upon eyes it.

Captain Clark, however, being wholly unacquainted with the coast, and no pilot appearing, the Berkshire did not enter the Delaware till the next day; and the evening of still another day came round, before Benjamin actually set foot again in Philadelphia, when his journal is closed with a warm expression of gladness, and a hearty "thank God," on the safe completion of so tedious and dangerous a voyage."

66

But far the most important subject that occupied Benjamin's mind, on this long passage, remains to be noticed in closing this chapter. That subject was the regulation of his future career-the methodizing of his life upon some comprehensive system, including not merely the occupation by which he was to gain his livelihood, but other fixed and definite objects, for the attainment of which his faculties should be exerted, so that neither ability nor opportunity should be wasted in indecision, or in unproductive because aimless effort.

To aid him in accomplishing a purpose of such grave concern, he availed himself of his leisure at sea to digest such a plan and reduce it to writing. In his own account of his life, long years after, he refers to that plan as making part of his journal; but it is not there. It was probably lost, with a great many other of his papers, during his long-protracted absence from home and country in the public service; so that no judgment can now be formed of it, except by way of inference from other portions of his writings on similar topics, and from the actual course of his life. Such an inference is the more to be relied on in this case, for an idea of the

general tenor of the plan in question, for the reason that, on adverting to it, as stated, he speaks of it with a just satisfaction, as being the more worthy of mention because, though formed at so early an age, he had, nevertheless, "pretty faithfully adhered to it, quite through to old age."

CHAPTER XII.

CHANGES IN

PHILADELPHIA-DEATH

OF MR. DENHAM

SENDS BENJAMIN TO HIS TRADE AGAIN.

ON returning to Philadelphia, and looking about among his former acquaintances to reconnect the social ties which had been temporarily severed, Benjamin found that an absence of less than even two years had made room for various changes. During that absence, Sir William Keith, the governor of the province when Benjamin sailed for England, had been removed, and Major Patrick Gordon appointed in his place. Keith, however, still remained in Philadelphia; and when he again saw in its streets the young man he had so unworthily deceived, manifested some consciousness of shame for his conduct, by shrinking away from any meeting with him.

But a change of more interest to Benjamin was the marriage of Miss Read. After the arrival of the letter, which, as heretofore mentioned, he wrote to her from London, her friends insisted that there was no probability he would ever return, and persuaded her to marry a man by the name of Rogers. He was a potter by trade, and is represented as being a very skilful workman. His prospects in business being considered highly promising, the friends of Miss Read urged the match, without making, as it seems, any sufficient inquiry into his personal character or private connections. The

OLD ACQUAINTANCES.

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marriage was an ill-judged and unhappy one; and from the circumstances attending it, as briefly alluded to by Franklin, it seems nearly certain that the young lady herself assented to it very reluctantly. It was soon followed by her refusal to live with her husband, or to be called by his name; and a report becoming prevalent that he actually had another wife living, she wholly renounced the connection. Rogers, in fact, proved to be unprincipled and worthless; and a year or two later, having involved himself deeply in debt, he absconded to the West Indies, where he died; thus relieving his nominal wife and her friends from all further embarrassment or annoyance through him.

Of the other persons already introduced into this narrative on account of their connection with Benjamin, the only one remaining to be noticed in this place, was the eccentric Keimer. His condition appeared to have become considerably improved. He had obtained possession of a much better house, in which he had opened a shop, with a good assortment of stationery; his printingoffice was well supplied with types and other furniture; and he had several workmen in his employ, with apparently work enough to keep them busy.

Benjamin, however, had returned, it will be recollected, not as a journeyman printer, but as a merchant's clerk. His principal and friend, Mr. Denham, lost no time in opening his store of goods; and his clerk, giving diligent and earnest attention to his new business, soon made himself a correct and ready accountant, as well as an adroit and acceptable salesman. They both lived under the same roof, more like father and son than as master and servant; the excellent and intelligent Quaker merchant taking a sincere paternal interest in the welfare of his young friend and assistant, and the latter