He was a very apt
scholar, and in a few months was promoted to a higher class.

But the lad was not allowed to stay long in the grammar school. His
father was a poor man. It would cost a great deal of money to give
Benjamin a college education. The times were very hard. The idea of
educating the boy for the ministry had to be given up.

In less than a year he was taken from the grammar school, and sent to
another school where arithmetic and writing were taught.

He learned to write very well, indeed; but he did not care so much for
arithmetic, and so failed to do what was expected of him.

When he was ten years old he had to leave school altogether. His father
needed his help; and though Benjamin was but a small boy, there were
many things that he could do.

He never attended school again. But he kept on studying and reading; and
we shall find that he afterwards became the most learned man in America.

Benjamin's father was a soap-boiler and candle-maker. And so when the
boy was taken from school, what kind of work do you think he had to do?

He was kept busy cutting wicks for the candles, pouring the melted
tallow into the candle-moulds, and selling soap to his father's
customers.

Do you suppose that he liked this business?

He did not like it at all. And when he saw the ships sailing in and out
of Boston harbor, he longed to be a sailor and go to strange, far-away
lands, where candles and soap were unknown.

But his father would not listen to any of his talk about going to sea.

* * * * *

III.--THE BOYS AND THE WHARF.

Busy as Benjamin was in his father's shop, he still had time to play a
good deal.

He was liked by all the boys of the neighborhood, and they looked up to
him as their leader. In all their games he was their captain; and
nothing was undertaken without asking his advice.

Not far from the home of the Franklins there was a millpond, where the
boys often went to swim. When the tide was high they liked to stand at a
certain spot on the shore of the pond and fish for minnows.

But the ground was marshy and wet, and the boys' feet sank deep in the
mud.

"Let us build a wharf along the water's edge," said Benjamin. "Then we
can stand and fish with some comfort."

"Agreed!" said the boys. "But what is the wharf to be made of?"

Benjamin pointed to a heap of stones that lay not far away. They had
been hauled there only a few days before, and were to be u