Benjamin learned to read almost as soon as he learned to talk, and he was so fond of books that his father wished to have him educated for the ministry. This plan had to be given up for lack of money. Mr. Franklin was a poor man with seventeen children, and when Benjamin was only ten years old he had to leave school and help his father in the shop. Mr. Franklin made and sold soap and candles, and it was Benjamin’s duty to cut candle-wicks and to pour tallow into molds to make candles. He did not like this work, and when he was twelve years old he was apprenticed to his brother James to learn the trade of a printer. He was so fond of books that it was thought he would like this work. He had read with interest his father’s few books, among which were Bunyan’s wonderful “Pilgrim’s Progress” and “Plutarch’s Lives.” With his brother James, Benjamin had access to more books and more opportunity for reading, but the two brothers did not get on well together. Partly this was James’s fault, for he was harsh and overbearing; partly it was Benjamin’s, for he tells us that he was pert and provoking. Although Benjamin Franklin’s school days had ended so early, his education was just beginning; he appreciated the value of learning and was spending his leisure in study. When he was an old man he wrote for his son the story of his life. In this autobiography he tells how he trained himself. He read carefully one of the papers of the “Spectator,” a model of good English, and afterwards wrote it down in his own words. Sometimes he changed it into verse and then later turned it back into prose. By comparing his version with the original, he discovered and corrected his faults. This is of interest because Franklin became one of our best writers of good English. His command of clear, simple, strong English won attention for what he had to say. Young Franklin and his brother got on so badly together that he resolved not to remain at home till the end of his apprenticeship. When he was seventeen, he sold some of his books and left home with a few dollars in his pocket. He went on board a vessel bound to New York. Three days after leaving home, he landed in that city where he hoped to find work. New York was then only a small town, and young Franklin found no demand for his services with “the printer in the place.” Therefore he went on to Philadelphia, which was then a much larger and more important place than New York. Part of the way he walked, part he traveled by boat; one Sunday morning in the autumn of 1723, he reached Philadelphia.