ow's thighs
and, rising, pitched him headforemost into the river. Collins was a
good swimmer, but they kept him pulling after the boat until he was
stifled with vexation and almost drowned. And that was the end of the
friendship between the two. Collins later went to the Barbadoes, that
limbo of the unsuccessful in colonial days, and Franklin never heard of
him again.

With his employer, Keimer, Franklin had little sympathy, despising both
his knavery and his false enthusiasms. Keimer wore his beard at full
length, because somewhere in the Mosaic law it is said, "Thou shalt not
mar the corners of thy beard." He likewise kept the seventh day
Sabbath. Franklin disliked both practices, but agreed to them on
condition of their adopting a vegetarian diet, this whim suiting him at
the time, both because he could save money by it and because he wished
to give himself some diversion in half starving the gluttonous fanatic.
Poor Keimer suffered grievously, grew tired of the project in three
months, longed for the fleshpots of Egypt, and ordered a roast pig. He
invited Franklin and two women friends to dine with him; but the pig
being brought too soon upon the table, he could not resist the
temptation, and ate the whole before his guests came.

Having to do with such a man, Franklin was very glad to accept Sir
William Keith's offer to set him up alone. It was agreed that Franklin
should sail to London, with letters of introduction, and also with
letters of credit for purchasing press, types, paper, and such like.
But for one reason and another the governor delayed writing the
letters, and at last Franklin actually found himself afloat and on the
way to London without a word from his patron. Great was his chagrin
when he learned during the passage that it was a habit of this amiable
magistrate to promise anything and perform nothing. Franklin's comment
on the occasion displays the imperturbable justice of his mind: "But
what shall we think of a governor playing such pitiful tricks and
imposing so grossly on a poor ignorant boy! It was a habit he had
acquired. He wished to please everybody, and having little to give he
gave expectations. He was otherwise an ingenious, sensible man, a
pretty good writer, and a good governor for the people, though not for
his constituents, the proprietaries."

Franklin reached London December 24, 1724, and remained there some
nineteen months, doing many things and learning many things during this