so it grew all summer long till October. And when the bright days of
autumn came, the little leaf saw all the leaves around becoming very
beautiful. Some were yellow, and some scarlet, and some striped with
both colors.

Then it asked the tree what it meant. And the tree said, "All these
leaves are getting ready to fly away, and they have put on these
beautiful colors, because of joy."

Then the little leaf began to want to go, and grew very beautiful in
thinking of it, and when it was very gay in color, it saw that the
branches of the tree had no color in them, and so the leaf said, "Oh,
branches! why are you lead color and we golden?"

"We must keep on our work clothes, for our life is not done; but your
clothes are for holiday, because your tasks are over."

Just then, a little puff of wind came, and the leaf let go without
thinking of it, and the wind took it up, and turned it over and over,
and whirled it like a spark of fire in the air and then it fell gently
down under the edge of the fence among hundreds of leaves, and fell into
a dream and never waked up to tell what it dreamed about!

250

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), more than any
other American, has emphasized for us the value
of proverbial sayings and the significance of
the symbolic story. This account of how one may
pay too much for a whistle was written in 1779
while Franklin was representing the colonies at
Paris, and addressed to his friend Madame
Brillon. The making of apologues seemed to be a
favorite sort of game in the circle in which
Franklin moved, and his plain common sense is
always uppermost in whatever he produces. The
lesson of the whistle is always needed; we are
prone to put aside the essential thing for the
temporary and showy. More than a century ago
Noah Webster put this story in his
school-reader, and most school-readers since
have contained it. The selection is here
reprinted complete. Teachers usually omit some
of the opening and closing paragraphs.

THE WHISTLE

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of
living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that, in the mean
time, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my opinion,
we might all draw more good than we do, and suffer less evil, if we
w