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.

In Franklin's time the boy who could fly his kite the highest, or who
could make his kite appear to be the most picturesque in the far-away
blue sky, was regarded as a leader among his fellows, and young
Franklin, as we may infer, made his kite fly very high.

But he was not content with the altitude to which he could raise his
kite or its beauty in the sky. His inquiry was, What can the kite be
made to teach that is useful? What can it be made to _do_? What good can
it accomplish?

Ben was an expert swimmer. After he had mastered the art of overcoming
the water, he sought how to make swimming safe and easy;