Isaac and his elder brother were accustomed to set traps in the woods to catch partridges.  One day, when he was about six years old, he went to look at the traps early in the morning, and finding his empty, he took a plump partridge from his brother’s trap, put it in his own, and carried it home as his.  When his brother examined the traps, he said he was sure he caught the bird, because there were feathers sticking to his trap; but Isaac maintained that there were feathers sticking to his also.  After he went to bed, his conscience scorched him for what he had done.  As soon as he rose in the morning, he went to his mother and said, “What shall I do?  I have told a lie, and I feel dreadfully about it.  That was Sam’s partridge.  I said I took it from my trap; and so I did; but I put it in there first.”

“My son, it is a wicked thing to tell a lie,” replied his mother.  “You must go to Sam and confess, and give him the bird.”

Accordingly, he went to his brother, and said, “Sam, here’s your partridge.  I did take it out of my trap; but I put it in there first.”  His brother gave him a talking, and then forgave him.

Being a very bright, manly boy, he was intrusted to carry grain several miles to mill, when he was only eight years old.  On one of these occasions, he arrived just as another boy, who preceded him, had alighted to open the gate.  “Just let me drive in before you shut it,” said Isaac, “and then I shall have no need to get down from my wagon.”  The boy patiently held the gate for him to pass through; but, Isaac, without stopping to thank him, whipped up his horse, arrived at the mill post haste, and claimed the right to be first served, because he was the first comer.  When the other boy found he was compelled to wait, he looked very much dissatisfied, but said nothing.  Isaac chuckled over his victory at first, but his natural sense of justice soon suggested better thoughts.  He asked himself whether he had done right thus to take advantage of that obliging boy?  The longer he reflected upon it, the more uncomfortable he felt.  At last, he went up to the stranger and said frankly, “I did wrong to drive up to the mill so fast, and get my corn ground, when you were the one who arrived first; especially as you were so obliging as to hold the gate open for me to pass through.  I was thinking of nothing but fun when I did it.  Here’s sixpence to make up for it.”  The boy was well pleased with the amend thus honorably offered, and they parted right good friends.

At nine years old, he began to drive a wagon to Philadelphia, to sell vegetables and other articles from his father’s farm; which he did very satisfactorily, with the assistance of a neighbor, who occupied the next stall in the market.  According to the fashion of the times, he wore a broad-brimmed hat, and small-clothes with long stockings.  Being something of a dandy, he prided himself upon having his shoes very clean, and