"I am almost as strong as a man," he said, "and I can earn a great
deal more than my board the first year."

"I might be willin' to give you twenty dollars the first year," said
the deacon.

"I've been thinking," said Ben soberly, "that I ought to have a
hundred and fifty dollars and board the first year."

Deacon Pitkin fairly gasped for breath. He was fairly overpowered by
Ben's audacity.

"A-hundred-and-fifty-dollars!" he ejaculated, turning his wrinkled
face toward our hero.

"That's about the figure," said Ben cheerfully. "A hundred and fifty
dollars and board, or three hundred dollars, and I'll board with my
uncle."

"Is the boy crazy?" asked the deacon, in a bewildered tone.

"You'd have to pay a man as much as twenty dollars a month," pursued
Ben. "That's about a hundred dollars a year more."

"Benjamin," said the deacon solemnly, "do you want to ruin me?"

"No, sir, I hope not," answered our hero innocently.

"Then why do you ask such an unheard-of price?"