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V.—HOW FRANKLIN EDUCATED HIMSELF.
When Benjamin Franklin was a boy there were no books for children. Yet he spent most of his spare time in reading.
His father's books were not easy to understand. People nowadays would think them very dull and heavy.
[Illustration: Birthplace of Franklin Boston U.S.]
[Illustration: Press at which Franklin worked.]
But before he was twelve years old, Benjamin had read the most of them. He read everything that he could get.
After he went to work for his brother he found it easier to obtain good books. Often he would borrow a book in the evening, and then sit up nearly all night reading it so as to return it in the morning.
When the owners of books found that he always returned them soon and clean, they were very willing to lend him whatever he wished.
He was about fourteen years of age when he began to study how to write clearly and correctly. He afterwards told how he did this. He said: