him to change his purpose without much patient thought and circumspection. Nothing but absolute necessity induced him to come to this decision.

One evening, as the school term was drawing to a close, Mr Franklin said to Benjamin,

"I think I shall be under the necessity of taking you away from school at the close of the term. The times are so hard, that I find, with my best exertions, I can do little more than supply you with food and clothes."

"And not go to school any more ?" anxiously inquired Benjamin.

Perhaps not. Such appears to be your prospect now, though I cannot say that God may not open a way hereafter; I hope He will."

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Why can I not attend school till I am old enough to help you?"

"You are old enough to help me now. I could find plenty for you to do every day, so that you could make yourself very useful."

"But I do not intend to set you to work immediately," continued Mr Franklin. "You must give some attention to penmanship and arithmetic, and I shall send you to a writing-school for a season."

"I shall like that, for I want to know how to write well," said Benjamin.

"It is equally important that you learn to cipher. It will not take you many months to become a good penman, and to acquire considerable knowledge of numbers."

"I care more about writing than I do about arithmetic,"

said Benjamin.

well."

“I don't think I shall like arithmetic very

"People have to study many things they don't like," responded his father. "It is the only way they can qualify themselves for business. You would not make much of an appearance in the world without some acquaintance with numbers."

"I know that," said Benjamin; "and I shall try to master it, even if I do not like it. I am willing to do what you think is best."

"I hope you will always be as willing to yield to my judgment. It is a good sign for a boy to accept cheerfully the plans of his father, who has had more experience."

Benjamin was generally very prompt to obey his parents, even when he did not exactly see the necessity of their commands. He understood well that obedience was a law of the household, which could not be violated with impunity; therefore he wisely obeyed.

Benjamin was taken away from school, agreeably to his father's decision, and sent to perfect himself in arithmetic and penmanship. He had attended the grammar-school less than a year, and had little or no prospect of returning to his studies. But the disappointment was somewhat alleviated by the advantages offered at the writing-class. Here he made rapid progress in penmanship, though he failed in mastering the science of numbers. He had more taste, and perhaps tact, for penmanship than he had for arithmetical rules and problems, and this may account for the difference of his improvement in the two branches.

We should have remarked that Benjamin endeared himself to his teacher while he was a member of the public school, and it was with regret that the latter parted with his studious pupil. His close attention to his duties, and his habitual good deportment, in connexion with his progress, made him such a scholar as teachers love.

CHAPTER III.

MAKING CANDLES.

WHEN Benjamin was ten years old he could write a very good hand, and read fluently, though his knowledge of arithmetic was very limited.

"Are you about ready, Benjamin, to come into the shop and help me?" inquired his father, one day at the dinner table.

"Am I going to school any longer?" he asked.

"I think the close of this term will complete the education I am able to give you," replied his father, with apparent regret.

"I

"I had rather not go into the shop," said Benjamin. think I shall not like to make candles, and I really wish you would engage in some other business."

"In such times as

"And starve, too," said his father. these we must be willing to do what will insure us a livelihood. I know of no other business that would give me a

living at present, certainly none that I am qualified to pursue."

"Well, I should rather make soap and candles than starve," said Benjamin; "but nothing else could make me willing to follow the business."

"One other thing ought to make you willing to do such work," added his father. "You had better do this than do nothing, for idleness is the parent of vice. Boys like you should be industrious, even if they do not earn their bread. It is better for them to work for nothing than not to work at all. It is so important for the young to form industrious habits, that they had better work for nothing than be idle. If they are idle when they are young, they will be so when they become men, and idleness will finally be their ruin. The devil tempts all other men, but idle men tempt the devil,' is an old and truthful proverb."

Mr Franklin has been a close observer all his life, and he had noticed that industry was characteristic of those who accomplished anything commendable. Consequently, he insisted that his children should have employment. He allowed no drones in his family hive. All had something to do as soon as they were old enough to toil. Under such influences Benjamin was reared, and he grew up to be as much in love with industry as his father was. Some of his best counsels, and most interesting sayings, when he became a man, related to this subject. The following are among the maxims which he uttered in his riper years :

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Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears; while the used key is always bright."

"But dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

"If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality."

"Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy; and he that ariseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him."

"At the working man's house hunger looks in, but dares not enter."

"Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry."

"One to-day is worth two to-morrows."

"Drive thy business, let not thy business drive thee. "God helps them that help themselves."

But we need not enlarge upon these sayings of Franklin. They are all charged with wisdom, and might be expanded The more we study them, the more beauty

into volumes.

we perceive.

It was settted that Benjamin should assist his father in the manufacture of candles, notwithstanding his disinclination to engage in the business. His prospects of more schooling were thus cut off at ten years of age, and now he was obliged to turn his attention to hard work. It was rather an unpromising future to a little boy. No more schooling after ten years of age! What small opportunities in comparison with those enjoyed by nearly every boy at the present day! Now they are just beginning to learn at this early age. From ten they can look forward to six or eight