Take Care Not to Give Too Much for Whistles
Until I was 12 years old or so, my prized possession was a small, stuffed lion that I had for as long as I could remember. When I made my bed in the morning (I really did make my bed most mornings), that little lion would sit proudly on my pillow until night came when I would tuck it into bed with me.
When my older brother and I decided to convert our bunk bed into a trundle-style bed, there wasn’t room for my little lion on the pillow when I pushed my bed under my brother’s for the day. So, I would place him atop the mound of stuffed animals in my “pet net” that hung from the corner of my room. He would watch over the room majestically until I’d pull him down again each night.
That lion was my favorite non-human companion for years, and thinking back on my little lion reminds me of something Benjamin Franklin once wrote. In November of 1779, Franklin shared a story in a letter to a Madame Brillon, which came to be known as The Whistle. In it, Franklin recalled how, when he was seven, he eagerly spent all the money in his pockets to buy a whistle that had caught his ear.
He reported going home, whistling all over the house, but recounted:
My brothers, and 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…
