Ben's parade therefore of his fine clothes, and watch, and silver dollars, only made things worse with James, serving but to make him the more sensible of his loss; so after eyeing him from head to foot with a dark side-long look, he turned again to his work without saying a syllable to him. The behaviour of his own journeymen contributed still the more to anger poor James: for instead of taking part with him in his prejudices against Ben, they all appeared quite delighted with him; and breaking off from their work and gathering around him, with looks full of curiosity, they asked him a world of questions.
PHILADELPHIA! said they, O dear! have you been all the way there to Philadelphia!
Why Philadelphia must be a _tarnal nation way off_!
At this they stared on him in silent wonder, for having been four hundred miles from Boston!
And so they have got a printing-office in Philadelphia!
O la! why that will starve us all here in Boston.
Not at all, said Ben: their advertising "_lost pocket books_"--"_runaway servants_" and "_stray cows_" in Philadelphia, can no more starve you here in Boston, than the catfish of Delaware, by picking up a few soft-crabs there, can starve our catfish here in Boston harbour. The world's big enough for us all.
Well, I wonder now if they have any such thing as _money_ in Philadelphia?
Ben thrust his hand into his pocket, and brought up a whole fist full of dollars!
The dazzling silver struck them all speechless--gaping and gazing at him and each other. Poor fellows, they had never, at once, seen so much of that precious metal in Boston, the money there being nothing but a poor paper proc.
To keep up their stare, Ben drew his silver watch, which soon had to take the rounds among them, every one insisting to have _a look at it_. Then, to crown all, he gave them a shilling to drink his health; and after telling them what great things lay before them if they would but continue _industrious_ and _prudent_, and make themselves _masters of their trade_, he went back to the house.
This visit to the office stung poor James to the quick; for when his mother spoke to him of a reconciliation with Ben, and said how happy she should be to see them like brothers again before she died, he flew into a passion and told her such a thing would never be, for that Ben had so insulted him before his men that he would never forgive nor forget it as long as he lived. But Ben had the satisfaction to live to see that James was no prophet. For when James, many years after this, fell behind hand and got quite low in the world, Ben lent him money, and was a steady friend to him and his family all the days of his life.