Don't give too much for a whistle
As one of the youngest, Ben necessarily learned to get along with others; outnumbered and outweighed by his elder siblings, he relied on wits where force failed. Often insight came after the fact.
"When I was a child of seven years old", he recounted several decades later,"my friends on a holiday filled my little pocket with half-pence. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way, in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for it. When I came home, whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family, my brothers, sisters and cousins,understanding the bargain I had made,told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth, put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money and laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation, and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure."
With the wisdom of age Franklin added, "As I came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met many who gave too much for the whistle"
"When I was a child of seven years old", he recounted several decades later,"my friends on a holiday filled my little pocket with half-pence. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way, in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for it. When I came home, whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family, my brothers, sisters and cousins,understanding the bargain I had made,told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth, put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money and laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation, and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure."
With the wisdom of age Franklin added, "As I came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met many who gave too much for the whistle"