PLASTER OF PARIS IN AGRICULTURE 63 



teen children. Hence, as his father was a poor tal- 

 low-chandler and soap-hoiler, he could not acquire 

 at home anything beyond a knowledge of reading, 

 writing, and arithmetic. At ten years of age he 

 was taken from school and set to performing small 

 trfsks about the house. He cut candle-wicks and 

 poured the tallow into the molds, waited on cus- 

 tomers in his father's shop, and ran errands. His 

 work brought him in a few pence which he did not 

 yet know how to spend judiciously. He tells us the 

 following little story on this subject, which we may 

 all profit by. 



" 'One day,' says he, : finding myself the possessor 

 of a handful of coppers, I ran out to buy some toys, 

 when a little boy of about my own age happened to 

 pass that way with a whistle in his hand. Delighted 

 with the sound of the whistle, I proposed to my com- 

 rade to exchange all my money for his musical in- 

 strument. To this he very willingly agreed. Elated 

 with my purchase, which I thought very fine, I re- 

 turned home, where I continued whistling to my 

 great joy, but to the great displeasure of the ears of 

 my family. I told them of the magnificent exchange 

 I had just made. My brothers and sisters made fun 

 of me, saying that for the price I had paid I might 

 have bought dozens of such whistles at the toy-shop. 

 Only then did it occur to me what fine things I might 

 have bought with my money, and I began to cry with 

 vexation. Chagrin at the exchange I had made now 

 caused me more pain than the whistle had before 

 given me pleasure. This little incident made an im- 



