A Piece of Poetry--Pronounced Good--Proposition to Print his Articles--"The Lighthouse Tragedy"--A Sailor's Song--Printing them--Selling them in the Streets--A Successful Enterprise--His Father opposes--Condemns Poetry in general and Benjamin's in particular--A severe Rebuke--Crestfallen--Conference with James-- His Father's Censure a Benefit--Practice of writing Composition excellent--How it Benefited Benjamin, even Pecuniarily--The Farmer's Son and Minister 85-92 CHAPTER X. THE DISPUTE. Dispute with John Collins--A Bookish Fellow--The Education of Girls--The Controversial Correspondence--His Father finds the Letters--His Criticisms--Collins _versus_ Benjamin--Bought a Copy of the Spectator and studied it laboriously--Sorry that he did not continue to write Poetry--His Father's Counsel--His Economy of Time--A Book always by his side--His Maxims on this Subject-- Violating the Sabbath to gain Time for Study--Useful Conversation and Talking Nonsense--Hundreds ruined by a similar cause--Walter Scott hiding Novels from his Father--Pope going to the Theatre-- Exceptions to the General Rule 93-103 CHAPTER XI. PLAIN FARE. Proposition to board Himself--Became a Vegetarian by Reading Tryon's Book--Why he did it--How much Money he saved by doing it--Spent it for Books--How much Time saved also--Cocker's Arithmetic--Other Books read at odd moments--His Plan to save Time--His Maxims on saving Time--Aim to be Useful--The English Grammar--Shaftesbury's Works--Benjamin a Doubter--Makes known his Doubts to Collins--Danger of Reading Attacks upon the Gospel 104-113 CHAPTER XII. THE NEWSPAPER. Starting the Third Newspaper in America--Opposition to it--Number of Newspapers now--Forty Million Sheets from Eight Presses--Seventy-one Miles a day of Newspapers from One Office--Almost enough to reach around the Earth in a Year--Weigh these Papers--Four Million Pounds in a Year--Two Thousand Two-Horse Loads--The New England Courant started--Printer, News-carrier, and Collector--The Club--Incited to write an Article--Tucks it under Printing-office Door--Hears it favourably commented on--Writes other Articles--This an Incident that decides his Career--Canning at Eton and the "Microcosm"--Similar Paper in Seminaries now 114-122 CHAPTER XIII. THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG.