In like manner the boy who thinks it is manly to smoke and drink beer,
will find that he has a very expensive whistle, when he becomes "a hale
fellow well met" among a miserable class of young men, and is discarded
by the virtuous and good.

So, in general, the young person who is fascinated by mere pleasure,
and supposes that wealth and honor are real apples of gold to the
possessor, thinking less of a good character than he does of show and
glitter, will find that he has been blowing a costly whistle when it is
too late to recall his mistake.




IV.


IN SCHOOL.

Uncle Benjamin was so deeply interested in his namesake that he wrote
many letters about him. Nearly every ship that sailed for Boston
brought a letter from him to the Franklin family, and almost every
letter contained a piece of poetry from his pen. One of his letters
about that time contained the following acrostic on Benjamin's name:

"Be to thy parents an obedient son;
Each day let duty constantly be done;
Never give way to sloth, or lust, or pride,
If free you'd be from thousand ills beside.
Above all ills be sure avoid the shelf,