The New McGuffey Fourth Reader | Page 4

Marie La Coste The Captive -- John R. Musick The Star-Spangled Banner -- F. S. Key Our National Banner -- Edward Everett Burning the Fallow -- Susanna Moodie Piccola -- Celia L. Thaxter The Mountain and the Squirrel -- R. W. Emerson Srange Stories of Ants: White Ants -- Henry Drummond Red Ants -- Jules Michelet Dear Country Mine -- R. W. Gilder My Country The Four MacNicols -- William Black The Blue and the Gray -- Ellen H. Flagg The Captain's Feather -- Samuel M. Peck The Ride to London -- Charles Dickens The Planting of the Apple Tree -- W. C. Bryant The Apple -- John Burroughs The Bugle Song -- Alfred Tennyson The Story of Captain John Smith -- John Esten Cooke On the Banks of the Tennessee -- W. D. Gallagher Good Will -- J. T. Trowbridge The Good Reader A Legend of Bregenz -- Adelaide A. Procter The Golden Touch -- Nathaniel Hawthorne The Brook -- Alfred Tennyson The Sermon on the Mount -- Bible The Song of Steam -- G. W. Cutter The Gentle Hand -- T. S. Arthur Spring -- Henry Timrod Marion's Men -- William Gilmore Simms The Pied Piper of Hamelin -- Robert Browning

FOURTH READER
YOUNG BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
When Benjamin Franklin was a boy he was very fond of fishing; and many of his leisure hours were spent on the margin of the mill pond catching flounders, perch, and eels that came up thither with the tide.
The place where Ben and his playmates did most of their fishing was a marshy spot on the outskirts of Boston. On the edge of the water there was a deep bed of clay, in which the boys were forced to stand while they caught their fish.
"This is very uncomfortable," said Ben Franklin one day to his comrades, while they were standing in the quagmire.
"So it is," said the other boys. "What a pity we have no better place to stand on!"
On the dry land, not far from the quagmire, there were at that time a great many large stones that had been brought there to be used in building the foundation of a new house. Ben mounted upon the highest of these stones.
"Boys," said he, "I have thought of a plan. You know what a plague it is to have to stand in the quagmire yonder. See, I am bedaubed to the knees, and you are all in the same plight.
"Now I propose that we build a wharf. You see these stones? The workmen mean to use them for building a house here. My plan is to take these same stones, carry them to the edge of the water, and build a wharf with them. What say you, lads? Shall we build the wharf?"
"Yes, yes," cried the boys; "let's set about it!"
It was agreed that they should all be on the spot that evening, and begin their grand public enterprise by moonlight.
Accordingly, at the appointed time, the boys met and eagerly began to remove the stones. They worked like a colony of ants, sometimes two or three of them taking hold of one stone; and at last they had carried them all away, and built their little wharf.
"Now, boys," cried Ben, when the job was done, "let's give three cheers, and go home to bed. To-morrow we may catch fish at our ease."
"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" shouted his comrades, and all scampered off home and to bed, to dream of to-morrow's sport.
In the morning the masons came to begin their work. But what was their surprise to find the stones all gone! The master mason, looking carefully on the ground, saw the tracks of many little feet, some with shoes and some barefoot. Following these to the water side, he soon found what had become of the missing building stones.
"Ah! I see what the mischief is," said he; "those little rascals who were here yesterday have stolen the stones to build a wharf with. And I must say that they understand their business well."
He was so angry that he at once went to make a complaint before the magistrate; and his Honor wrote an order to "take the bodies of Benjamin Franklin, and other evil-disposed persons," who had stolen a heap of stones.
If the owner of the stolen property had not been more merciful than the master mason, it might have gone hard with our friend Benjamin and his comrades. But, luckily for them, the gentleman had a respect for Ben's father, and, moreover, was pleased with the spirit of the whole affair. He therefore let the culprits off easily.
But the poor boys had to go through another trial, and receive sentence, and suffer punishment, too, from their own fathers. Many a rod was worn to the stump on that unlucky night. As for Ben,