Clapp was of a jealous and envious disposition, and he was always fancying slights where they were not intended.
"If I thought so," said Harry, "I would not join the Society, but as they have elected me, I shall become a member, and see how things turn out."
"It is a good plan, Harry," said Ferguson. "It will be a great advantage to you."
"I wish I had a chance to attend the Academy for a couple of years," said our hero, thoughtfully.
"I don't," said Clapp. "What's the good of studying Latin and Greek, and all that rigmarole? It won't bring you money, will it?"
"Yes," said Ferguson. "Education will make a man more competent to earn money, at any rate in many cases. I have a cousin, who used to go to school with me, but his father was able to send him to college. He is now a lawyer in Boston, making four or five times my income. But it isn't for the money alone that an education is worth having. There is a pleasure in being educated."
"So I think," said Harry.
"I don't see it," said Clapp. "I wouldn't be a bookworm for anybody. There's Walton learning French. What good is it ever going to do him?"
"I can tell you better by and by, when I know a little more," said
Harry. "I am only a beginner now."
"Dr. Franklin would never have become distinguished if he had been satisfied with what he knew as an apprentice," said Ferguson.