Read "Plane and Plank" by Oliver Optic online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"What do you think you shall do for a living, Phil Farringford, when you arrive at St. Louis? " asked Mr. Gracewood, as we sat on the hurricane deck of a Missouri River steamer.
"I don't care much what I do, if I can only get into some mechanical business," I replied. "I want to learn a trade. I don't think I'm very vain when I say that I have about half learned one now."