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DXLVII: FROM HIS DAUGHTER SALLY - Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Vol. VI Letters and Misc. Writings 1772-1775 [1904]

Edition used:

The Works of Benjamin Franklin, including the Private as well as the Official and Scientific Correspondence, together with the Unmutilated and Correct Version of the Autobiography, compiled and edited by John Bigelow (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). The Federal Edition in 12 volumes. Vol. VI (Letters and Misc. Writings 1772-1775).

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DXLVII

FROM HIS DAUGHTER SALLY

30 October, 1773.

Dear and Honored Sir:—

We are all much disappointed at your not coming home this fall. I was in great hopes of seeing you and presenting you with two of the finest boys in the world. Do not let any thing, my dear sir, prevent your coming to your family in the spring, for indeed we want you here much. I give you many thanks for the very elegant silk; I never knew what it was to be proud of a new garment before—this I shall wear with pride and pleasure. Little William is just out of the small pox; had it most delightfully. He is for size and temper beyond all the boys of his age in America. How can Mrs. Stevenson wish for girls; the boy babies are infinitely cleverer. I dare say by this time she would not change her youngest grandson for a girl; I am sure I would not part with Will for a dozen girls. I have not seen Mr. Bache’s letter, but suppose he has given you an account of Ben’s manly behavior on his journey to New York, where he went in high expectation of meeting you, and would have stayed for the September packet, could they have had any hopes of your being in her. I must mention to you that I am no longer housekeeper; it gave my dear mamma so much uneasiness, and the money was given to me in a manner which made it impossible to save any thing by laying in things beforehand, so that my housekeeping answered no good purpose, and I have the more readily given it up, though I think it my duty, and would willingly take the care and trouble off of her, could I possibly please and make her happy. The dining-room wants new paper; the border, which is a gold one, never was put up; the handsome picture is in it, and it would make a sweet room if it was nicely done up. We have no plates or dishes fit to set before your friends, and the queen’s ware is thought very elegant here, particularly the spriged. I just mention this, as it would be much cheaper for you to bring them than to get them here, and you have them much handsomer. Mamma has sent a fine fellow in Mungo’s room1 ; the ground ones never can be tamed, they say; however, we will try to get some and send them. I have no news to write, as I know very little that passes out of the nursery, where indeed it is my greatest pleasure to be. After my mother and Mrs. Bache had done writing, a son of your old friend Potts, of Potts Grove, called to ask for a letter. Mentioning his name will, I know, be enough, and as my little boy wants me, I must conclude. With love to Mrs. Stevenson, Mr. and Mrs. Hewson, I am as ever, my dear papa, your dutiful and affectionate daughter.

S. Bache.

[1 ]Of this squirrel, sent out to replace poor Mungo in the affections of Miss Shipley, we have no farther tidings.—Ed.