Excerpt from Ben Thorpe Lanville boys were an unknown type to Ben and a brand-new experience. Hackett selected two for that first walk back to the Saw Mill River, and they in turn per formed later ou such introductions to the crowd as were necessary. Heaven had bestowed upon Ben a gift of inestimable value, a personality that attracted those whom he liked, and he liked nearly every one who was of the male persuasion. He made no attempt to push himself to the fore among the Lanville boys, he made no claim to prowess in sports or in anything else, he did not bully boys smaller than himself, nor toady to bigger boys. He agreed with their Opinions almost always, he fell in with their plans; if sometimes he made suggestions he did it quietly, with a smile, without antagonizing. The boys learned quickly that he was a far better ball-player and swimmer than any other boy of his age in town, and that gave him prestige; there was about him, too, a certain calmness and good judgment that won respect. He quickly became a leader among them, though he made no attempt to as sume leadership. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.