“Yes, we will educate him for a minister,” said his father.  For at that time all the most learned men were ministers.

And so, when he was eight years old, Benjamin Franklin was sent to a grammar school, where boys were prepared for college.  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 used in building a new house near the millpond.