"Locke!" cried the governor with surprise, "you studied Locke!"
"Yes, sir, I studied Locke on the Understanding three years ago, when I was thirteen."
"You amaze me, sir. You studied Locke on the Understanding at thirteen!"
"Yes, sir, I did."
"Well, and pray at what college did you study Locke at thirteen; for at Cambridge college in Old England, where I got my education, they never allowed the senior class to look at Locke till eighteen?"
"Why, sir, it was my misfortune never to be at a college, nor even at a grammar school, except nine months when I was a child."
Here the governor sprung from his seat, and staring at Ben, cried out, "the devil! well, and where—where did you get your education, pray?"
"At home, sir, in a tallow chandler's shop."
"In a tallow chandler's shop!" screamed the governor.
"Yes, sir; my father was a poor old tallow chandler, with sixteen children, and I the youngest of all. At eight he put me to school, but finding he could not spare the money from the rest of the children to keep me there, he took me home into the shop, where I assisted him by twisting the candle wicks and filling the moulds all day, and at night I read by myself. At twelve, my father bound me to my brother, a printer, in Boston, and with him I worked hard all day at the press and cases, and again read by myself at night."