If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he contracts debts and ends his days in prison, Alas! say 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, say I, that she should pay so much for a whistle!
In short, I can conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistle.
ENGRAVED BY H. DAVIDSON FROM THE SCULPTURE BY R. TAIT MCKENZIE. COURTESY OF THE CENTURY CO.
THE YOUNG BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 1723
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
His Life
ONE
