The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-02-15

Europe who could be OF the slightest
help to him. To complete his misfor-
tunes one of his Philadelphia friends,
who had crossed the Atlantic with him,
and had come to London expecting to
live by literature, could obtain no en-
| ployment, and had no resources but
Franklin's purse. The printer was not
long in getting work at his trade but
as there were two to be supported, the
ten pounds rapidly melted away, and
Franklin saw no prospect even of his
being able to get back to Philadelphia
at all, still less of appearing there as a
master printer.
In these circumstances he should have
written to Miss Read plain statement
of the case, and asked her to wait for
him or released her from the engage
ment. Either he had not the courage to
do this or else, absorbed by the wonders
and pleasures of the town, he had be-
come Indifferent to her. He merely
wrote her short note, announcing his
safe arrival in London, and telling her
he was not likely to return soon. This
was one Of the great errors of his life,
which, he said, he could wish to correct
if he were to live it over again.
Month after month passed, and De-
borah Read anxious and forlorn, heard
no more from her faithless lover. A new
suitor presented himself, Rogers by
name, who carried on the trade of q
potter. He was an excellent hand at
his business, and for this reason Mrs.
Read favored his suit. Other relations
persuaded her to marry him, and at last
she gave her consent and the marriage
was celebrated. Soon the dreadful
rumor was noised abroad in Philadcl-
phia that Rogers the potter had another
wife. Such strong reasons appeared for
crediting this report that Deborah Read,
who had lived unhappily with him, re-
turned to her mother and resumed her
maiden name, sorrowful and hopeless
woman. Her most sanguine friends
could not have foreseen for her happy
and honorable future. Soon after
Rogers, who owed money in all direc-
tions, fed from his creditors to the West
Indies, whence came soon after report
of his death.
Franklin remained in London for
about two years, at the end of which he
returned as clerk to Philadelphia mer-
chant, whom he had met by chance in
London. Upon his arrival he renewed
his intimacy with Mrs. Read and her
daughter, and doubtless explained his
Inconsistency as best he could. He la
mentod Deborah Reads unhappy con-
dition; and, however he may have ex-
cused his behavior, he felt that she owed
the ruin of her life to his own "giddi-
ness and INCONSISTENCY" The mother,
however, insisted that it was she who was
most in fault, because she had urged on
the unhappy marriage, even against her
daughters inclination. She still con-
suited Franklin about her affairs, and
they were all excellent friends.
And SO passed three or four years
during which Franklin, through his own
industry and good conduct, became
master printer, and proprietor of news
paper, with the prospect of founding an
extensive business. Needing capital,
he tried to increase his store by mar
riage, and when that scheme failed he
turned his thoughts to his first love,
poor Deborah Read. Her runaway
potter was probably dead but he might
not be; and she seemed forever cut off
from marriage by the fact that her
second husband would be responsible
for the debts of her first. Such was the
law of the period.
Franklin, pitying her forlorn condi-
ton, always reproaching himself as the
cause of her woe, and not less fond of
her than before, at last proposed that
they should risk marriage. Nor was
the match so unequal as it seemed for
bachelor as he was, he had son a few
months old upon his hands, which was
good set off against the chances OF
Rogers temperance. In 1870, seven
years after Miss Read had seen Franklin
walk up Market street eating his roll,
they were married. Rogers, it turned
out, was really dead nor did any of his
creditors apply to Franklin for payment.
The child was taken home and reared as
though it had been born to them in we'd
lock. He was educated, and afterward
became Governor of New Jersey.
The marriage was eminently success
ful in every respect. One of Franklin's
maxims in Poor Richards Almanac was
this "A man must ask his wife to
thrive" Nothing more true. In VAN
shall young man, without much capi-
tai, toll and deny himself, if he has a
wife who squanders his gains, and takes
no interest in his career. Mrs. Franklin
was one of the most industrious, careful,
and friendly of women. Beside attend
ing her husbands little shop, she bought
rags, stitched pamphlets, folded newspa-
pers, tenderly nurtured his child, and
kept her husband from being extrava-
CANT. He was by no means of an eco
disposition He was penerous
to fault, and, am sure, was much in
debted to his wife for the rapidity with
which he made his fortune. In the ear
ly years of their married life he could
sometimes boast-and he did boast of it
that he was clothed FROM head to foot
in garments which his wife had first
woven, and then made.
1t seems, however, that she was not
averse to q reasonable amount of COM
fort and display. Franklin narrates that
for long time after his marriage he had
nothing for breakfast but bread and
milk, and he used to eat it out of two
penny bowl with pewter spoon.
"But," he continued, "mark how lux
lry will enter families. and make pro-
gress in spite of principle. Being call
ID one morning to breakfast, found it
N a china bowl with a spoon of silver.
They had been bought for me without
my knowledge by my wife, and had cost
her the enormous sum of three and
twenty shillings for which she had no
excuse or apology to make but that she
thought her husband deserved silver
spoon and china bowl as well as any of