Edward.

"Well, my dear Edward," observed his mother, with a smile, "I am glad you
are convinced that your own lot is not the hardest in the world."

Chapter VII

It was a pleasant sight (for those who had eyes) to see how patiently the
blinded little boy now submitted to what he had at first deemed an
intolerable calamity. The beneficent Creator has not allowed our comfort
to depend on the enjoyment of any single sense. Though he has made the
world so very beautiful, yet it is possible to be happy without ever
beholding the blue sky, or the green and flowery earth, or the kind faces
of those whom we love. Thus it appears that all the external beauty of the
universe is a free gift from God, over and above what is necessary to our
comfort. How grateful, then, should we be to that Divine Benevolence,
which showers even superfluous bounties upon us!

One truth, therefore, which Edward's blindness had taught him, was, that
his mind and soul could dispense with the assistance of his eyes.
Doubtless, however, he would have found this lesson far more difficult to
learn, had it not been for the affection of those around him. His parents,
and George and Emily, aided him to bear his misfortune; if possible, they
would have lent him their own eyes. And this, too, was a good lesson for
him. It taught him how dependent on one another God has ordained us to be;
insomuch that all the necessities of mankind should incite them to mutual
love.

So Edward loved his friends, and perhaps all the world, better than he
ever did before. And he felt grateful towards his father for spending the
evenings in telling him stories--more grateful, probably, than any of my
little readers will feel towards me for so carefully writing those same
stories down.

"Come, dear father," said he, the next evening, "now tell us all about
some other little boy, who was destined to be a famous man."

"How would you like a story of a Boston boy?" asked his father.

"Oh, pray let us have it!" cried George eagerly. "It will be all the
better if he has been to our schools, and has coasted on the Common, and
sailed boats in the Frog Pond. I shall feel acquainted with him then."

"Well, then," said Mr. Temple, "I will introduce you to a Boston boy, whom
all the world became acquainted with, after he grew to be a man."

The story was as follows:--

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

BORN 1706. DIED 1790.

In the year 1716, or about that period, a boy used t