"You have!" said James, with sudden interest. "Did you find any?" "Yes, I found three." "What!" exclaimed James, in surprise. "I was offered three places." "Which did you take?" "I didn't take any; I didn't like them." "You are too particular, Ben. Just tell me where they are; I'll accept one." "All right!" said Ben. "I'll give you all the information you require. The first is a dry-goods store." "I'd like to be in a dry-goods store. What's the pay?" "Fifty cents a week for the first year." "Faugh!" ejaculated James, disgusted. "What's the second place?" "Experiment clerk at the druggist's." "Good pay?" "I don't know." "What are the duties?" "To taste all the medicines, to make sure there's no poison in them. The druggist offered me a pill, to begin with, about as large as my head." "I wouldn't take it for a hundred dollars a week. What's the third?" "In a cigar store. The pay is three dollars a week." "That's better than nothing. Where is it? I guess I'll take it." "I don't think you'll like the duties," said Ben, laughing. "I wouldn't mind selling cigars." "That isn't what you're wanted for. You are to be painted red, and stand outside as an Indian." "That's the worst yet. I don't wonder you didn't take any of those chances. What are you going to do this afternoon?" "Try and find some more places." "Leave that till tomorrow. You know there's going to be a big picnic at Lovell's Grounds, with all sorts of athletic sports. There are prizes for wrestling, jumping, and so on." "I would like it well enough, but I can't afford to go." "There'll be nothing to pay. Father subscribed for two tickets, so I've got a spare one. Come, will you go?" "Yes, I will, and thank you." "Then come round to the house as soon as you've got through dinner." "All right! I'll come." "I suppose you haven't found a place?" said Mrs. Bradford when Ben entered. "Not yet." "I don't know what's going to become of us if you don't," said Aunt Jane mournfully. "Don't get discouraged so quick, aunt. I've only been looking round one forenoon. Besides, I've been offered a place, and declined it." "Declined it! What could you have been thinking of?" Ben then told his aunt of the place at the druggist's. He thought he would not mention the others. "If you'd taken it, we might have got our medicine cheaper," said Aunt Jane, who did not comprehend a joke, and understood the offer literally. "I should have got mine for nothing," said Ben, laughing, "and more than I wanted, too." "What pay would you get?" "I didn't ask. The first pill the druggist offered me was too much for me. So I respectfully declined the position." "Pills are excellent for the constitution," said Mrs. Bradford, in a rather reproachful tone. "I never could get you to take them, Benjamin. Some day you'll lose your life, perhaps, because you are so set against them."