Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-10-06
TOO DEAR FOR THE WHISTLE.

run with fellow by the pane of BenJa-
min Franklin. He afterwards turned
printer, and sunk gradually through the
different grades of degradation, from
printer to signer of the Declaration OF IN
dependence from thence TO Minister TO
France; from thence to bone-yardi III
which present position it affords us pleas
ure to say that he is rotting away about
as fast as George the III, or any other
King that did not have too much the start
of him. Well, as we were saying; as we
and Ben. were sitting one day on the
pleasant banks of Poestenkin, making
"willer whistles" we made one which,
without any exaggeration, might have
been denominated buster" Says Ben,
says he, "give us that are whistle" mot
if we know ourselves" saws we, "my
uncle Ben" Ben, however, was bound
to have that whistle, and being pretty
heavy on trade-having been raised in
Boston-opened negotiations for swap.
He had in his trowsers pocket Bar
low" knife, on which for time we had
set great store. He benjamin Franklin)
proposed to swap his Barlow" for the
willow whistle. which we had with our
own right hand constructed. In the
classic language in use in that early day,
we replied, "it's a go!" Whereupon
Benjamin and ourSelf thereupon executed
the exchange. He went off blowing the
whistle through Boston, Philadelphia,
Paris, and the other cities in that neigh
borhood, and created quite sensation for
fellow of his ability. One day, how
ever, he got as drunk as beast, and sat
down the whistle, and as the reader
will instantly perceive the whistle was,
what might be called, "goner." He
got up, and walked back that morning
from Paris, in France, to the banks of the
Poestenkill, near the Hudson River, where
we had been sitting since he left. To
make long story short Benjamin
Franklin had the impudence to demand
that we should take back the busted
whistle, and give him back the Barlow"
In our usupl affable manner, we declined.
Then" quoth he, 81 have paid too dear
for my whistle" That was the origin of
that expression, for which Franklin has
received so much credit. We were re-
minded of that little circumstance, just
now, by reading an article in the San
Francisco Flag, headed 1.-The Price of
Peace" from which we make the follow
ing extract:
Life is blessing yet it may be offered at
price too high for any honorable man to pay.
Peace is also a blessing; yet there are crises
in which high-spirited people feel that war,
with all its burdens and horrors, must be
accepted as the alternative Of dishonor. In
the history of every nation the time comes,
sooner or later, when it must choose between
war and degradation-whenit must relinquisb
the blessings of peace, or sacrifice its own
self-respect and its position before the world
No people can long enjoy the privilege Of
Self-government, and the respects Of its
contemporaries, if it is not willing to fight. |
In l776 this nation had reached such n crisis. |
II it had not then been willing to fight, it |
must have accepted the position Of conf |
munity Of slaves. But it was willing to fight; !
and for seven years it wagcd terrible and |
gu ,Sa SOME war aSDHs' 'H a 0"e
The year 1861 brought another and more ter |
rible crisis, when the existence Of the nation |
was threatened by gigantic rebellion. We |
we're then obliged to choose between disunion,
and a war to preserve the Union. Again,
the people manifested spirit equal to the |
emergency, and the first shot fred against |
Sumter called the nation TO arms. For |
nearly four years the struggle has continued |
with varied success. To day, in view Of an
approaching Presidential election, the ques-
ton is presented anew to the people. Once
more they are called upon to decide between
peace and war. Hundreds Of millions of
money and thousands Of lives have already
been sacrificed in the attempt to crush rebel
lion peace can be obtained by yielding all
that our enemies demanded at the outset, and
thus virtually acknowledging that we were
wrong in not yielding at first.
Wemust assume the Confederate
debt, break our solemn pledges to the eman-
cipated bondmen, send back the fugitive
slave TO the torture of the lash, admit the
pretensions of the chivalry" as superior
race, humiliate ourselves in the sight Of
Christendom, prove recreant to the great
cause of freedom and humanity, and blacken
the memory of the heroes who have fallen in
the struggle as that Of men who persisted ip
the prosecution OF a useless and wicked
war" II we are not prepared to pay this
price, even to the utmost farthing, the war
must go on. Whether they are willing to
purchase peace upon terms so hard and so
is the question which the Amer
lean people are called upon to decide in the
coming election.
We think that man with glass eye
can draw a parallel between the peace
and the willow whistle with
which We fooled old Ben. Franklin, that
on the banks of the pleasant