ntion to
geology and chemistry, and the little knowledge he had gleaned
therefrom enabled him to discover the nature of the clay on the farm.
Thus, even a little knowledge gleaned from a book in a single leisure
half-hour, will sometimes prove the key to a valuable treasure; much
more valuable than the farm which the young man purchased. For this
pecuniary benefit is, after all, the least important advantage derived
from reading. The discipline of the mind and heart, and the refined
and elevated pleasure which it secures, are far more desirable than
any pecuniary good it bestows. A little reading, also, sometimes gives
an impulse to the mind in the direction of learning and renown. It was
the reading of Echard's Roman History, which Gibbon met with while on
a visit to Wiltshire, that opened before him the historic path to
distinction.

Let the reader consider these things. Never say, as hundred's of boys
do, "I hate books, and wish that I was not obliged to go to school.
There is no use in reading and studying so much; we shall get along
just as well without it." This class of boys usually will have to
regret, under mortifying circumstances, in later life, that they
wasted their early opportunities to acquire knowledge. Sir Walter
Scott, in his boyhood, joined in the tirade of idlers against books;
but in manhood he said: "If it should ever fall to the lot of youth to
peruse these pages, let such readers remember that it is with the
deepest regret that I recollect, in my manhood, the opportunities of
learning which I neglected in my youth; that through every part of my
literary career I have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance;
and I would at this moment give half the reputation I have had the
good fortune to acquire, if by so doing I could rest the remaining
part upon a sound foundation of learning and science."

But we have lost sight of Benjamin. We left him at the tavern in
Amboy, after having passed the night in a cold-water sweat, ready for
another start on his journey. Burlington was fifty miles from Amboy,
and there was no public conveyance, so that he was obliged to go on
foot, expecting to find a boat there bound for Philadelphia. It was
raining hard, and yet he started upon the journey, and trudged on
through the storm and the mud, eager to see Burlington. He was
thoroughly drenched before he had travelled five miles, and, in this
condition, he walked on rapidly till noon, when he came to a "poor