Franklin or the life of Patrick Henry will
be in the library at the factory?"

"I have no doubt that both of them are there, and you can take the first
opportunity to draw one of them out."

This last suggestion was a very important one to Nat. The prospect of
having access to a good library made Nat almost willing to go into the
factory. At any rate, after thinking the matter over, and becoming
convinced that it was best for the family, as his mother said, that he
should become a bobbin boy, and weighing the advantage of having a
library to visit, he was quite reconciled to the arrangement. He was the
eldest of the children, a large family, and it seemed reasonable that
he should be required to do something for a livelihood, if necessity
demanded. He knew very well that his parents would not have made such an
arrangement, unless their low circumstances had forced them to it. Both
of them highly valued a good school, and were interested in the
education of their children, but their desires could not be gratified.

Saturday evening wore away, and the family dispersed for nightly repose.
The last thoughts of Nat, ere he resigned himself to the arms of
Morpheus, were of school and bobbins.

CHAPTER X.

THE NEW CALL.

Monday morning came to Nat, seemingly, before Sunday had time to get by.
Thirty-six hours scarcely ever passed away so rapidly to him before. But
it found him ready. He was one of the few boys who are always on hand,
whether it was for school, or any thing else. Teachers never complained
of him for being tardy, for they never had occasion to do it; and he was
as prompt to recite his lessons as he was to be in school at nine
o'clock. He was punctual to a second. If his mother told him to be at
home at a given time from an afternoon visit or ramble, he was sure to
be on the mark. He performed errands on the same principle, and never
had to be called twice in the morning. The fact is, there was not a lazy
bone in his whole body; each finger, toe, joint, and muscle, seemed to
understand that it was made for action, and that it must hold itself in
readiness to obey orders. His will, too, was king of his faculties, and
not one of them would have presumed to disobey its ruler. The first
little finger that would have dared to say "_no_" to his mandates, would
have fared severely for its presumption.

Now, such a boy would not find it so difficult to rise early in the
morning, at a precise time, to wor