o procure employment.

"Perhaps," he thought, "I can get a small job to do somewhere. It
would be better to earn a trifle than to be idle."

As this thought passed through Ben's mind, he glanced into Deacon
Sawyer's yard. The deacon was a near neighbor of his mother, and
was reputed rich, though he lived in an old-fashioned house, furnished
in the plain manner of forty years back. It was said that probably not
fifty dollars' worth of furniture had come into the house since the
deacon's marriage, two-and-forty years previous. Perhaps his tastes
were plain; but the uncharitable said that he was too fond of his
money to part with it.

A couple of loads of wood were just being deposited in the deacon's
yard. They were brought by a tenant of his, who paid a part of his
rent in that way.

When Ben saw the wood, a bright thought came to him.

"Perhaps I can get a chance to saw and split that wood," he said to
himself. "The deacon doesn't keep a man, and he is too old to do it
himself."

As Ben did not mean to let any chance slip, he instantly entered the
yard by the gate, and, walking up to the front door, rang the bell.
The bell had only been in place for a year. The deacon had been
contented with the old fashioned knocker, and had reluctantly
consented to the innovation of a bell, and he still spoke of it as a
new-fangled nonsense.

Nancy Sawyer, an old-maid daughter of the deacon, answered the
bell.

"Good morning, ma'am," said Ben politely.

"Good morning, Ben," the deacon's daughter responded. "How's
your aunt to-day?"

"Pretty well, thank you."

"Will you come in?"

"I called on business," said Ben. "Don't you want that wood sawed
and split?"

"Yes, I suppose it ought to be," said Nancy. "Do you want to do it?"

"Yes," said our hero. "I'm out of work and ready to do anything I
can find to do."

"Are you used to sawing and splitting wood?" inquired Nancy
cautiously. "We had a boy once who broke our saw, because he
didn't understand how to use it."

"You needn't be afraid of my meeting with such an accident," said
Ben confidently. "I saw and split all our wood at home, and have
ever since I was twelve years old."

"Come in and speak to father," said Nancy; "I guess he'll be willing to
hire you."

She led the way into a very plain sitting room, covered with a rag
carpet, where the deacon sat in a rocking chair, reading an
agricultural paper--the only one he subscribed to. His daughte