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 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 whistles_.
Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I consider, that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there are certain things in the world so tempting, for example, the apples of King John, which happily are not to be bought; for if they were put to sale by auction, I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase, and find that I had once more given too much for the _whistle_.
Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely and with unalterable affection,
B. Franklin.
A LETTER TO SAMUEL MATHER
Passy, May 12, 1784.
Revd Sir,
It is now more than 60 years since I left Boston, but I remember well both your father and grandfather, having heard them both in the pulpit, and seen them in their houses. The last time I saw your father was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library, and on my taking leave showed me a shorter way out of the house through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam overhead. We were still talking as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him, when he said hastily, "_Stoop, stoop!_" I did not understand him, till I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never missed any occasion of giving instruction, and upon this he said to me, "_You are young, and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard thumps_." This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it, when I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their carrying their heads too high.
B. Franklin.
THE END
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The last and most complete edition of Franklin's works is that by the late Professor Albert H. Smyth, published in ten volumes by the Macmillan Company, New York, under the title, _The Writings of Benjamin Franklin_. The other standard edition is the _Works of Benjamin Franklin_ by John Bigelow (New York, 1887). Mr. Bigelow's first edition of the _Autobiography_ in one volume was published by the J. B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia in 1868. The life of Franklin as a writer is well treated by J. B. McMaster in a volume of _The American Men of Letters Series_; his life as a statesman and diplomat, by J. T. Morse, _American Statesmen Series_, one volume; Houghton, Mifflin Company publish both books. A more exhaustive account of the life and times of Franklin may be found in James Parton's _Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin_ (2 vols., New York, 1864). Paul Leicester Ford's _The Many-Sided Franklin_ is a most chatty and readable book, replete with anecdotes and excellently and fully illustrated. An excellent criticism by Woodrow Wilson introduces an edition of the _Autobiography_ in _The Century Classics_ (Century Co., New York, 1901). Interesting magazine articles are those of E. E. Hale, _Christian Examiner_, lxxi, 447; W. P. Trent, _McClure's Magazine_, viii, 273; John Hay, _The Century Magazine_, lxxi, 447.
See also the histories of American literature by C. F. Richardson, Moses Coit Tyler, Brander Matthews, John Nichol, and Barrett Wendell, as well as the various encyclopedias. An excellent bibliography of Franklin is that of Paul Leicester Ford, entitled _A List of Books Written by, or Relating to Benjamin Franklin_ (New York, 1889).
The following list of Franklin's works contains the more interesting publications, together with the dates of first issue.
_1722. Dogood Papers._
Letters in the style of Addison's _Spectator_, contributed to James Franklin's newspaper and signed "Silence Dogood."
_1729. The Busybody._
A series of essays published in Bradford's Philadelphia _Weekly Mercury_, six of which only are ascribed to Franklin. They are essays on morality, philosophy and politics, similar to the _Dogood Papers_.
_1729. A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency._
_1732. to 1757. Prefaces to Poor Richard's Almanac._
Among these are _Hints for those that would be Rich_, 1737; and _Plan for saving one hundred thousand pounds to New Jersey, 1756_.
1_743. A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the British Plantations in America._
"This paper appears to contain the first suggestion, in any public form, for an _American Philosophical Society_." Sparks.
_1744. An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvania Fire-Places._
_1749. Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania._
Contains the plan for the school which later became the University of Pennsylvania.
_1752. Electrical Kite._
A description of the famous kite experiment, first written in a letter to Peter Collinson, dated Oct. 19, 1752, which was published later in the same year in _The Gentleman's Magazine_.
_1754. Plan of Union._
A plan for the union of the colonies presented to the colonial convention at Albany.
_1755. A Dialogue Between X, Y and Z._
An appeal to enlist in the provincial army for the defense of Pennsylvania.
_1758. Father Abraham's Speech._
Published as a preface to Poor Richard's Almanac and gathering into one writing the maxims of Poor Richard, which had already appeared in previous numbers of the Almanac. _The Speech_ was afterwards published in pamphlet form as the _Way to Wealth_.
_1760. Of the Means of disposing the Enemy to Peace._
A satirical plea for the prosecution of the war against France.
_1760. The Interest of Great Britain Considered, with regard to her Colonies, and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe._
_1764. Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our Public Affairs._
A pamphlet favoring a Royal Government for Pennsylvania in exchange for that of the Proprietors.
_1766. The Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, etc., in The British House of Commons, Relative to The Repeal of The American Stamp Act._
_1773. Rules by which A Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One._
Some twenty satirical rules embodying the line of conduct England was pursuing with America.
_1773. An Edict of The King of Prussia._
A satire in which the King of Prussia was made to treat England as England was treating America because England was originally settled by Germans.
_1777. Comparison of Great Britain and the United States in Regard to the Basis of Credit in The Two Countries._
One of several similar pamphlets written to effect loans for the American cause.
_1782. On the Theory of the Earth._
The best of Franklin's papers on geology.
_1782. Letter purporting to emanate from a petty German Prince and to be addressed to his officer in Command in America._
_1785. On the Causes and Cure of Smoky Chimneys._
_1786. Retort Courteous._
_Sending Felons to America._
Answers to the British clamor for the payment of American debts.
1789. _Address to the Public from the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting Abolition of Slavery._
1789. _An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania, viz. The Court of the Press._
1790. _Martin's Account of his Consulship._
A parody of a pro-slavery speech in Congress.
1791. _Autobiography._
The first edition.
1818. _Bagatelles._
The Bagatelles were first published in 1818 in William Temple Franklin's edition of his grandfather's works. The following are the most famous of these essays and the dates when they were written:
1774? _A Parable Against Persecution._
Franklin called this the LI Chapter of Genesis.
1774? _A Parable on Brotherly Love._
1778. _The Ephemera, an Emblem of Human Life._
A new rendition of an earlier essay on Human Vanity.
1779. _The Story of the Whistle._
1779? _The Levee._
1779? _Proposed New Version of the Bible._
Part of the first chapter of _Job_ modernized.
(1779. Published) _The Morals of Chess._
1780? _The Handsome and Deformed Leg._
1780. _Dialogue between Franklin and the Gout._
(Published in 1802.)
1802. _A Petition of the Left Hand._
1806. _The Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams._
[Illustration: MEDAL GIVEN BY THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM THE FRANKLIN FUND]
[Transcriptions of newspaper pages]
[Page 1 of _The Pennsylvania Gazette_,].
Numb. XL.
THE
Pennsylvania _GAZETTE_. Containing the freshest Advices Foreign and Domestick.
From Thursday, September 25. to Thursday, October 2. 1729.
_The_ Pennsylvania Gazette _being now to be carry'd on by other Hands, the Reader may expect some Account of the Method we design to proceed in._
_Upon a View of Chambers's great Dictionaries, from whence were taken the Materials of the_ Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, _which usually made the First Part of this Paper, we find that besides their containing many Things abstruse or insignificant to us, it will probably be fifty Years before the Whole can be gone thro' in this Manner of Publication. There are likewise in those Books continual References from Things under one Letter of the Alphabet to those under another, which relate to the same Subject, and are necessary to explain and compleat it; those are taken in their Turn may perhaps be Ten Years distant; and since it is likely that they who desire to acquaint themselves with any particular Art or Science, would gladly have the whole before them in a much less Time, we believe our Readers will not think such a Method of communicating Knowledge to be a proper One._