married in 1731 to Robert Scott, died in 1758; but the present investigation has found nothing about her daughter, even the date of her death.]
Philadelphia, 24 March, 1790.
MY DEAR SISTER,
I received your kind letter by your good neighbour, Captain Rich. The information it contained, that you continue well, gave me, as usual, great pleasure. As to myself, I have been quite free from pain for near three weeks past; and therefore not being obliged to take any laudanum, my appetite has returned, and I have recovered some part of my strength. Thus I continue to live on, while all the friends of my youth have left me, and gone to join the majority. I have, however, the pleasure of continued friendship and conversation with their children and grandchildren. I do not repine at my malady, though a severe one, when I consider how well I am provided with every convenience to palliate it, and to make me comfortable under it; and how many more horrible evils the human body is subject to; and what a long life of health I have been blessed with, free from them all.
You have done well not to send me any more fish at present. These continue good, and give me pleasure.
Do you know anything of our sister Scott's daughter; whether she is still living, and where? This family join in love to you and yours, and to cousins Williams, with your affectionate brother,
B. FRANKLIN.
P.S. It is early in the morning, and I write in bed. The awkward position has occasioned the crooked lines.
[Printed first in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxvii ( 1873), 252-253; here printed from the manuscript formerly in the possession of Josiah Flagg and now in the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The name of the friend through whom the letter was sent does not appear, as it was sent under a separate cover. Jane Mecom endorsed it: "to go into the Litle Trunk."]
-340-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Letters of Benjamin Franklin & Jane Mecom.
Contributors: Carl Van Doren - Editor, Benjamin Franklin - Author, Jane Mecom - Author.
Publisher: Princeton University Press.
Place of publication: Princeton, NJ.
Publication year: 1950.
Page number: 340.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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