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[Illustration: CONTENTMENT]
INDUSTRY.
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"There is work enough in the world for every one to do something. There
is no proper place for idle people." This is what old Michael the basket
maker used to say to his children; and as they grew up, they found
reason enough to thank him for the lesson.
Michael had been a sailor in his youth, but when he married, he settled
in a country place, and took up the trade of a basket maker. At first,
he could hardly get money enough to buy rods: but by working very hard,
he soon got money and credit too. No one in the village was now up
before Michael, and most people went to bed before he left off work.
Small as was the sum of money that he could earn in a week, he would
always put by something, if it was but a penny. Every month he put these
savings into the savings' bank; and in the course of the first six
years, he found he had got twenty-five pounds.
By this time he had got two children, and the eldest was old enough to
learn to read. She used to sit by him with her book as he worked, and he
taught her when she wanted help. His wife was in the mean time doing
something in the house, or working for some of the farmers who lived
near.
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