First he made a kite. It was not a kite just like a boy’s kite. He wanted a kite that would fly when it rained. Rain would spoil a paper kite in a minute. So Franklin used a silk hand-ker-chief to cover his kite, instead of paper.
He put a little sharp-pointed wire at the top of his kite. This was a kind of lightning rod to draw the lightning into the kite. His kite string was a common hemp string. To this he tied a key, because lightning will follow metal. The end of the string that he held in his hand was a silk ribbon, which was tied to the hemp string of the kite. E-lec-tric-ity will not follow silk.
One night when there was a storm coming, he went out with his son. They stood under a cow shed, and he sent his kite up in the air.
After a while he held his knuckle to the key. A tiny spark flashed between the key and his knuckle. It was a little flash of lightning.
Then he took his little bottle fixed to hold e-lec-tric-i-ty. He filled it with the e-lec-tric-i-ty that came from the key. He carried home a bottle of lightning. So he found out what made it thunder and lighten.
After that he used to bring the lightning into his house on rods and wires. He made the lightning ring bells and do many other strange things.
When Franklin was an old man, he wrote a cu-ri-ous letter. In that letter he told a story. It was about some-thing that happened to him when he was a boy.
Here is the story put into verses, so that you will re-member it better. Some day you can read the story as Franklin told it himself. You will hear people say, “He paid too much for the whistle.” The saying came from this story.
As Ben with pennies in his pocket Went strolling down the street, “Toot-toot! toot-toot!” there came a whistle From a boy he chanced to meet,
Whistling fit to burst his buttons, Blowing hard and stepping high. Then Benny said, “I’ll buy your whistle;” But “Toot! toot-toot!” was the reply.
But Benny counted out his pennies, The whistling boy began to smile; With one last toot he gave the whistle To Ben, and took his penny pile.
Now homeward goes the whistling Benny, As proud as any foolish boy, And in his pockets not a penny, But in his mouth a noisy toy.
“Ah, Benny, Benny!” cries his mother, “I cannot stand your ugly noise.” “Stop, Benny, Benny!” says his father, “I cannot talk, you drown my voice.”