"Benjamin!" said his father, "what could induce you to take property
which did not belong to you?"

"Why, father," replied Ben, hanging his head at first, but then lifting
eyes to Mr. Franklin's face, "if it had been merely for my own benefit,
I never should have dreamed of it. But I knew that the wharf would be a
public convenience. If the owner of the stones should build a house
with them, nobody will enjoy any advantage except himself. Now, I made
use of them in a way that was for the advantage of many persons. I
thought it right to aim at doing good to the greatest number."

"My son," said Mr. Franklin, solemnly, "so far as it was in your power,
you have done a greater harm to the public than to the owner of the
stones."

"How can that he, father?" asked Ben.

"Because," answered his father, "in building your wharf with stolen
materials, you have committed a moral wrong. There is no more terrible
mistake than to violate what is eternally right for the sake of a
seeming expediency. Those who act upon such a principle do the utmost
in their power to destroy all that is good in the world."

"Heaven forbid!" said Benjamin.

"No act," continued Mr. Franklin, "can possibly be for the benefit of
the public generally which involves injustice to any individual. It
would be easy to prove this by examples. But, indeed, can we suppose
that our allwise and just Creator would have so ordered the affairs of