"This, however, was afterward of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, _Don't give too much for the whistle_, and so I saved my money. "As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who _gave too much for the whistle_. "When I saw any one too ambitious of court favor, sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, _This man gave too much for his whistle._ "When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by neglect, _He pays, indeed_, says I, _too much for this whistle._ "If I knew a miser who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship for the sake of accumulating wealth, _Poor man_, says I, _you do, indeed, pay too much for your whistle._ "When I meet a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, _Mistaken man_, says I, _you are providing pain for yourself instead of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle._ "If I see one fond of fine clothes, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he contracts debts, and ends his career in prison, _Alas!_ says I, _he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle._ "When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured brute of a husband, _What a pity it is_, says I, _that she had paid so much for a whistle!_ "In short, I conceived that great part of the miseries of mankind were brought upon them by the false estimates they had made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their _whistle_." CHAPTER V. THE BOY FRANKLIN'S KITE. LITTLE Ben now began to lead the sports of the boys. As there came to Froebel an inspiration to found a system of education in which the playground should be made a means of forming character when life was in the clay, so to young Franklin came a desire to make sports and pastimes useful. This caused him to build the little wharf in the soft marsh whence the boys might catch minnows and sail their boats. Boys of nearly all countries and ages have found delight in flying kites. A light frame of wood, covered with paper, held by a long string, and raised by propelling it against the air, has always peculiar attractions for the young. To see an object rise from the earth by a law of Nature which seems to overcome gravitation to the sky while the string is yet in the hand, gives a boy a sense of power which excites his imagination and thrills his blood.