His father made soap and candles. He set Ben to cut wicks for the candles, sell soap, and run errands. When he was not busy at his tasks, Ben was busy reading good books.

He did not spend his few pennies for toys and candy. He saved them until he had enough to buy a book.

He was so fond of books that his father sent him to learn to print them. The printing-office belonged to Ben's older brother. Here, when his day's work was done, he often sat up late at night reading books that a friend had loaned him.

Ben's brother was to give him his food. The boy thought he could

live without meat;

so he offered to cook for himself if his brother

would give him in money half as much as it

cost to pay for his food.

His brother agreed to this gladly. Then Ben lived on bread and water, saved his money, and bought more books.

He gathered a large number of books and became a learned man. But he wanted to know more. He wanted to know what lightning is. Nobody knew. to say he did not know. he found out?

Ben was not willing
How do you think

He made a kite of a silk handkerchief, so that it would fly in a rain-storm. To the top of the kite he fastened a wire. One stormy night he and his son went out under a cowshed and sent his kite up into the sky.

He held his knuckle to a key that he had tied to the end of the kite string. A tiny spark flashed from the key to his knuckle. He had found out the secret of the storm. The lightning was electricity.

Franklin was born in Boston, but he lived in Philadelphia. In the dark days of the Revolution he was one of the bravest and wisest men in the country. He helped to plan the laws for our beloved land, and was everywhere spoken of as the wise Franklin.

VII. THE WIND.

I saw you toss the kites on high,
And blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pass,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass-

O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!
I saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
I felt you push, I heard you call,
I could not see yourself at all-

O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

you that are so strong and cold,
O blower, are you young or old?
Are you a beast of field and tree,
Or just a stronger child than me?
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

VIII.--HOW GLASS WAS DISCOVERED.

Long, long ago a band of Phoenician sailors were driven by a storm upon the coast of Palestine. They were weary and hungry.

They set about to build an oven of stones upon which to set their kettles to cook some food. The shore was one vast stretch of sand. Not one stone could be found.

They remembered that they had blocks of

saltpeter on their vessels. They soon brought a number of blocks to the shore and set their kettles upon them.

Under the kettles they built a blazing fire. The meal was cooked and the men ate heartily.

In the meantime the fire had done a strange thing. The blocks of saltpeter were melted. The wood was burned to ashes. The hot sand of the seashore had in some way become mixed with the ashes and the saltpeter.

When the sailors raked the ashes away they found a mass of clear, hard, brittle stuff. It was glass.

In this way men discovered how to make glass. It soon was made into beads, toys, and other simple articles.

Now glass is used in many ways. We know how well it lights our houses by means of windows. Do you know that it is now made into bricks, and these bricks are used to build houses and to pave streets?

The beautiful dishes of all colors that are found in so many houses are made of glass and colored with some mineral substance.

Glass is not as brittle as we sometimes