e.

Thomas had one great help--his mother.

She had been a teacher.

Her greatest wish for her son was that he should love knowledge.

Thomas had a quick mind.

He inquired into everything.

He was fond of getting every little thing well learned.

He never did things by halves.

He loved to try experiments.

When Thomas was a very little boy, only six years old, and still
wearing dresses, he did a very funny thing.

He was one day found missing.

His frightened parents searched for him long and anxiously.

Where do you think he was found?

They found him in the barn, sitting on a nest of goose eggs, with
his dress spread out to keep them warm.

He thought he could hatch some goslings as well as the mother-goose.

He had placed some food near by so that he might stay as long as
necessary.

He went to a regular school only two months.

His father and mother were his teachers.

His father, to encourage him to read, paid him for every book which
he read.

But Thomas did not need to be paid to read, for he read with
pleasure every volume he could get hold of.

When he was ten years old, he was reading such books as Gibbon's
"History of Rome," Hume's "History of England," and Sear's "History
of the World."

Besides these, he had read several books about chemistry.

He loved to read about great men and their deeds.

When he played, it was at building plank roads, digging caves, and
exploring the banks of the canal.

When only twelve years of age, he was obliged to go out into the
world and earn his own living.

He obtained a place as train-boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad, in
Eastern Michigan.

He sold apples, peanuts, song-books, and papers.

He had such a pleasant, sunny face that everyone liked to buy of
him.

He succeeded so well that soon he had four boys working under him.

This was not enough to keep him busy.

He had never lost his liking for chemistry.

He managed to trade some of his papers for things with which to try
experiments.

He found a book which helped him.

He fitted up an old baggage car as a room for his experiments.

He was afraid some one would touch his chemicals; so he labelled
every bottle, "Poison."

Soon this busy boy had another business.

He bought three hundred pounds of old type from the "Detroit Free
Press."

He had gained a little knowledge of printing by keeping his eyes
open when buying papers.

Soon a paper, called the "Grand Trunk Heral