sed in
building a new house near the millpond.

The boys needed only a hint. Soon they were as busy as ants, dragging
the stones to the water's edge.

Before it was fully dark that evening, they had built a nice stone wharf
on which they could stand and fish without danger of sinking in the mud.

The next morning the workmen came to begin the building of the house.
They were surprised to find all the stones gone from the place where
they had been thrown. But the tracks of the boys in the mud told the
story.

It was easy enough to find out who had done the mischief.

When the boys' fathers were told of the trouble which they had caused,
you may imagine what they did.

Young Benjamin Franklin tried hard to explain that a wharf on the edge
of the millpond was a public necessity.

His father would not listen to him. He said, "My son, nothing can ever
be truly useful which is not at the same time truly honest."

And Benjamin never forgot this lesson.

* * * * *

IV.--CHOOSING A TRADE.

As I have already said, young Benjamin did not like the work which he
had to do in his father's shop.

His father was not very fond of the trade himself, and so he could not
blame the boy. One day he said:

"Benjamin, since you have made up your mind not to be a candle-maker,
what trade do you think you would like to learn?"

"You know I would like to be a sailor," said the boy.

"But you shall not be a sailor," said his father. "I intend that you
shall learn some useful business, on land; and, of course, you will
succeed best in that kind of business which is most pleasant to you."

The next day he took the boy to walk with him among the shops of Boston.
They saw all kinds of workmen busy at their various trades.

Benjamin was delighted. Long afterwards, when he had become a very great
man, he said, "It has ever since been a pleasure to me to see good
workmen handle their tools."

He gave up the thought of going to sea, and said that he would learn any
trade that his father would choose for him.

His father thought that the cutler's trade was a good one. His cousin,
Samuel Franklin, had just set up a cutler's shop in Boston, and he
agreed to take Benjamin a few days on trial.

Benjamin was pleased with the idea of learning how to make knives and
scissors and razors and all other kinds of cutting tools. But his cousin
wanted so much money for teaching him the trade that his father could