Contents ▼▲
Front Matter The First Governor in Boston Marquette in Iowa Indian Pictures William Penn and the Indians One Little Bag of Rice The Story of a Wise Woman Franklin His Own Teacher How Franklin Found Out Things Franklin Asks the Sunshine Franklin and the Kite Franklin's Whistle John Stark and the Indians A Great Good Man Putnam and the Wolf Washington and His Hatchet Ben West Learns to Painter Washington's Christmas Gift Washington Escapes a Trap Washington's Last Battle Marion's Tower Clark and His Men Daniel Boone and His Swing Daniel Boone's Daughter Decatur and the Pirates Stories about Jefferson A Long Journey Capt. Clark's Burning Glass Quicksilver Bob The First Steamboat Washington Irving as a Boy Don't Give up the Ship The Star-Spangled Banner How Audubon Knew About Birds Audubon in the Wild Woods Hunting a Panther Boys Who Became Authors Daniel Webster and His Brother Webster and the Poor Woman The India-Rubber Man Dr Kane in the Frozen Sea A Dinner on the Ice Getting Out of the Frozen Sea Longfellow as a Boy Kit Carson and the Bears Horace Greeley as a Boy Greeley Learns to Print A Wonderful Woman The Author of "Little Women"

Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans - Edward Eggleston




Franklin's Whistle

When Franklin was an old man, he wrote a curious letter. In that letter he told a story. It was about something that happened to him when he was a boy.

Franklin as a boy

Here is the story put into verses, so that you will remember it better. Some day you can read the story as Franklin told it himself. You will hear people say, "He paid too much for the whistle." The saying came from this story.



TOO MUCH FOR THE WHISTLE


As Ben with pennies in his pocket

Went strolling down the street,

"Toot-toot! toot-toot!" there came a whistle

From a boy he chanced to meet,


Whistling fit to burst his buttons,

Blowing hard and stepping high.

Then Benny said, "I'll buy your whistle;"

But "Toot! toot-toot!" was the reply.


But Benny counted out his pennies,

The whistling boy began to smile;

With one last toot he gave the whistle

To Ben, and took his penny pile.


Now homeward goes the whistling Benny,

As proud as any foolish boy,

And in his pockets not a penny,

But in his mouth a noisy toy.


"Ah, Benny, Benny!" cries his mother,

"I cannot stand your ugly noise."

"Stop, Benny, Benny!" says his father,

"I cannot talk, you drown my voice."


At last the whistling boy remembers

How much his money might have bought.

"Too many pennies for a whistle,"

Is little Benny's ugly thought.


Too many pennies for a whistle

Is what we all pay, you and I,

Just for a little foolish pleasure

Pay a price that's quite too high.