Bennie has found that it is not always to best to follow the example of larger boys. His ears are beginning to tell him whether they are the right company or not.
He learned a severe lesson once which he will never forget, when his ears and his tongue got him in sore trouble. Some big boys, rough and coarse, invited him to go fishing with them. He felt very big, and willingly dug all the bait. Some of the boys chewed tobacco and squirted the filthy tobacco juice all around. But this was not the worst they did. The words they used were not nice, clean words. If they got provoked, or lost a fish, one or two swore.
The next day he was in his yard playing. Something went wrong, and Bennie used some of the words he had heard the day before. They reached his mother's ears. She was shocked. Putting her head outside the window she cried: "Benjamin, come in her at once!" He knew by her tone that something was the matter. She made him open his mouth wide, and then took a rag and some strong soap, and gave his mouth a good scouring. Bennie cried, but had to submit. His tongue and mouth felt very sore afterward, and he could not relish his supper very well. His mother asked where he had heard such naughty words, and when he told her she said he must never go with those boys again. They talked that way because they wanted to appear smart. She told him she should certainly wash his mouth every time he used naughty words and probably the next time would scour it with sand. Bennie does not intend that there shall be a "next time." He has learned that it is best to "think twice before you speak once."