"I can think of but one thing that you can do, Mr. Allen, and that will
not be much better than your present employment. It is a service for
which ordinary laborers are employed, that of chain carrying for the
surveyor to the proposed railroad expedition."
"What are the wages, sir?"
"Forty dollars a month."
"And found?"
"Certainly."
"I will accept it, sir, thankfully," the man said. "It will be much
better than my present employment."
"Then make yourself ready at once, for the company will start in a
week."
"I will be ready, sir," the poor man replied, and then withdrew.
In a week the company of engineers started, and Mr. Allen with them as a
chain carrier, when, had he, as a boy, taken the advice of his parents
and friends, and stored his mind with useful knowledge, he might have
filled the surveyor's office at more than double the wages paid to him
as chain carrier. Indeed, we cannot tell how high a position of
usefulness and profit he might have held, had he improved all the
opportunities afforded him in youth. But he perceived the use and value
of learning when it was too late.
I hope that none of my young readers will make the same discovery that
Mr. Allen did, when it is too late to reap any real benefit. Children
and youth cannot possibly know as well as their parents, guardians, and
teachers, what is best for them. They should, therefore, be obedient and
willing to learn, even if they cannot see of what use learning will be
to them.
[Illustration: "_It is chain carrying for the surveyor_."]
[Illustration]