He was lively, witty, good-natur'd, and a pleasant
companion, but idle, thoughtless, and imprudent to the last degree.
John, the Irishman, soon ran away; with the rest I began to live
very agreeably, for they all respected me the more, as they
found Keimer incapable of instructing them, and that from me
they learned something daily. We never worked on Saturday,
that being Keimer's Sabbath, so I had two days for reading.
My acquaintance with ingenious people in the town increased.
Keimer himself treated me with great civility and apparent regard,
and nothing now made me uneasy but my debt to Vernon, which I
was yet unable to pay, being hitherto but a poor oeconomist.
He, however, kindly made no demand of it.
Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no letter-founder
in America; I had seen types cast at James's in London, but without
much attention to the manner; however, I now contrived a mould,
made use of the letters we had as puncheons, struck the matrices
in lead, And thus supply'd in a pretty tolerable way all deficiencies.
I also engrav'd several things on occasion; I made the ink;
I was warehouseman, and everything, and, in short, quite a factotum.
But, however serviceable I might be, I found that my services
became every day of less importance, as the other hands improv'd
in the business; and, when Keimer paid my second quarter's wages,
he let me know that he felt them too heavy, and thought I should
make an abatement. He grew by degrees less civil, put on more of
the master, frequently found fault, was captious, and seem'd ready for
an outbreaking.
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