Mr. Franklin: A Selection from His Personal Letters

any thing I send, and showing it as your father's tastes;" I must avoid giving you an opportunity of doing that with either lace or feathers. If you wear your cambric ruffles as I do, and take care not to mend the holes, they will come in time to be lace; and feathers, my dear girl, may be had in America from every cock's tail.

If you happen again to see General Washington, assure him of my very great and sincere respect, and tell him that all the old Generals here amuse themselves in studying the accounts of his operations, and approve highly of his conduct.

Present my affectionate regards to all friends that enquire after me, particularly Mr. Duffield and family, and write oftener, my dear child, to

Your loving father,

B. Franklin

EDWARD BRIDGEN, London merchant and Fellow of the Royal Society, was, according to Franklin, "a particular Friend of mine and a zealous one of the American cause." In September 1779 he wrote Franklin offering to furnish the Americans with copper for small coins and even expressed willingness to have them stamped out in England, if necessary, despite the war, if Franklin would supply the designs. The author of Poor Richard's Almanack, always interested in the improvement of mankind, saw a chance here to use again, and even more effectively, a device for mass education inculcating "industry and frugality" which had been so popular and successful in his days as a young printer. And, as an alert and imaginative public official in time of war, he also saw an opportunity for useful political propaganda.

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