"Never, brother; when we are not engaged in our traffic, we are
engaged in taking our relaxation: so we have no time to learn."

"You really should make an effort. If you were disposed to learn
to read, I would endeavour to assist you. You would be all the
better for knowing how to read."

"In what way, brother?"

"Why, you could read the Scriptures, and, by so doing, learn your
duty towards your fellow-creatures."

"We know that already, brother; the constables and justices have
contrived to knock that tolerably into our heads."

"Yet you frequently break the laws."

"So, I believe, do now and then those who know how to read,
brother."

"Very true, Jasper; but you really ought to learn to read, as, by
so doing, you might learn your duty towards yourselves: and your
chief duty is to take care of your own souls; did not the preacher
say, 'In what is a man profited, provided he gain the whole
world?'"

"We have not much of the world, brother."

"Very little indeed, Jasper. Did you not observe how the eyes of