h
for me. I mean to work the next ten years. You see there are
things that you've got to work out--you can't sleep them out."
11. "I hate work," said Charlie, "that is, such work as
sawing and splitting wood, and doing chores. I'd like to do
some big work, like being a clerk in a bank or something of
that sort."
12. "Wood has to be sawed and split before it can be
burned," said Rob. "I do n't know but I'll be a clerk in a bank
some time; I'm working towards it. I'm keeping father's
accounts for him."
13. How Charlie laughed! "I should think that was a long
way from being a bank clerk. I suppose your father sells two
tables and six chairs, some days, does n't he?"
14. "Sometimes more than that, and sometimes not so
much," said Rob, in perfect good humor.
15. "I did n't say I was a bank clerk now. I said I was
working towards it. Am I not nearer it by keeping a little bit
of a book than I should be if I did n't keep any book at all?"

THIRD READER. 107
16. "Not a whit--such things happen," said Charlie, as he
started to go.
17. Now, which of these boys, do you think, grew up to be
a rich and useful man, and which of them joined a party of
tramps before he was thirty years old?

LESSON XLI.

RAY AND HIS KITE.
1. Ray was thought to be an odd boy. You will think him
so, too, when you have read this story.
2. Ray liked well enough to play with the boys at school;
yet he liked better to be alone under the shade of some tree,
reading a fairy tale or dreaming daydreams. But there was
one sport that he liked as well as his companions; that was
kiteflying.
3. One day when he was flying his kite, he said to himself,
"I wonder if anybody ever tried to fly a kite at night. It seems

108 ECLECTIC SERIES.
to me it would be nice. But then, if it were very dark, the kite
could not be seen. What if I should fasten a light to it,
though? That would make it show. I'll try it this very night."
4. As soon as it was dark, without saying a word to
anybody, he took his kite and lantern, and went to a large,
open lot, about a quarter of a mile from his home. "Well,"
thought he, "this is queer. How lonely and still it seems
without any other boys around! But I am going to fly my
kite, anyway."
5. So he tied the lantern, which was made of tin punched
full of small holes, to the tail of his kite. Then he pitched the
kite, and,

THIRD READER. 109
after several attempts, succeeded in making it rise. Up it
went, higher a