ales," and the other
dear immortal stories that will delight children for centuries to come.
This opened a new world to Nat, and his eagerness to see what came next
in the story helped him on till he could read as well as anybody, and
felt so rich and proud with his new accomplishment, that there was
danger of his being as much of a bookworm as Demi.

Another helpful thing happened in a most unexpected and agreeable
manner. Several of the boys were "in business," as they called it, for
most of them were poor, and knowing that they would have their own way
to make by and by, the Bhaers encouraged any efforts at independence.
Tommy sold his eggs; Jack speculated in live stock; Franz helped in
the teaching, and was paid for it; Ned had a taste for carpentry, and a
turning-lathe was set up for him in which he turned all sorts of useful
or pretty things, and sold them; while Demi constructed water-mills,
whirligigs, and unknown machines of an intricate and useless nature, and
disposed of them to the boys.

"Let him be a mechanic if he likes," said Mr. Bhaer. "Give a boy a
trade, and he is independent. Work is wholesome, and whatever talent
these lads possess, be it for poetry or ploughing, it shall be
cultivated and made useful to them if possible."

So, when Nat came running to him one day to ask with an excited face:

"Can I go and fiddle for some people who are to have a picnic in our
woods? They will pay me, and I'd like to earn some money as the other
boys do, and fiddling is the only way I know how to do it."

Mr. Bhaer answered readily:

"Go, and welcome. It is an easy and a pleasant way to work, and I am
glad it is offered you."

Nat went, and did so well that when he came home he had two dollars in
his pocket, which he displayed with intense satisfaction, as he told how
much he had enjoyed the afternoon, how kind the young people were, and
how they had praised his dance music, and promised to have him again.

"It is so much nicer than fiddling in the street, for then I got none
of the money, and now I have it all, and a good time besides. I'm in
business now as well as Tommy and Jack, and I like it ever so much,"
said Nat, proudly patting the old pocketbook, and feeling like a
millionaire already.

He was in business truly, for picnics were plenty as summer opened,
and Nat's skill was in great demand. He was always at liberty to go if
lessons were not neglected, and if the picnickers were respectable young