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

It was settled 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 years of golden opportunities in the
school-room. Does the young reader appreciate the privileges which he
enjoys?

"To-morrow for the work-shop, Benjamin!" exclaimed Mr. Franklin, with
a tone of pleasantry, on the evening before he was initiated into the
mysteries of making candles. "I am full of business, and need another
hand very much at present."

"You can't expect much help from me," said Benjamin, "till I learn how
to do the work. So I am thinking you will continue to be hurried for
a while, unless you have another hand besides me."

"You can do what I shall set you about just as well as a boy, or even
a man, who had worked at the business for a year."

"I wonder what that can be, that is so easy!" added Benjamin, with
some surprise.

"You can cut the wicks, fill the moulds for cast-candles, keep the
shop in order, run hither and thither upon errands, and do other
things that will save my time, and thus assist me just as much as a
man could in doing the same things."

"I am sure," said Mrs. Franklin, who had been listening to the
conversation attentively, "that is inducement enough for any boy, but
a lazy one, to work. You can make yourself about as useful to your
father as a man whom he would have to pay high wages."

"You will aid me just as much in going errands," said his father, "as
in doing anything else. I have a good deal of such running to do, and
if you do it, I can be employed in the more important part of my
business, which no one else can attend to. Besides, your nimble feet
can get over the ground much quicker than my older and clumsier ones,
so that you can really perform this part of the business better than I
can myself."

Benjamin made no reply to