The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1872-03-19
Gbe Ginles, Mem Bloonthelo, 1)a.

thing and this is one of his attempts in
that way: cgU,h u.rI
"Taken out Of a pew in the church,
some months since,a common prayer book,
bound in red gilt, and letters d. f. (De-
borah Franklin) on each cover.---Tbe person
who took it is desired to open it and read
the Eighth Commandment, and afterwards
return it into the same pew again; upon
which no further notice will be taken"
The first great sorrow of her married
life was the death Of their first child most
beautiful and intelligent boy, four years of
age. So engaging was he, and so rooted
in the hearts of his parents, that Franklin
declared, thirty-six years after, he could
never think of him even without a sigh.
When the reader visits the grave of Frank
lin in Christ Church burying ground in
Philadelphia he will observe near it a little
stone, not two feet high, which Franklin
placed over the grave of this boy He add
ed to the usual inscription these words,
"The delight Of all who knew him." Their
only other child, Sarah, grew to woman
hood, inheriting and transmitting her
mothers beauty.
a During the last fifteen years of their
married life, Franklin spent most of his
time in England, as agent for tho colonies.
Such was his wife's dread of the ocean, that
she never could be persuaded to accompany
him Or visit him. During his absence she
took care of all his affairs, better in some
respects, than he could have done it him
self
BY almost every ship she sent him Amer
ican nuts, apples, and other products, and
he sent her in return all sorts of rare and
beautiful things in fabric and household
furniture, such as sots of china, articles of
silver ware, table cloths, tea trays, blank
cts, silk for dresses, and any curious house
hold implement which he thought might
be useful. On one occasion he sent her a
large handsome beer jug.
"I fell in love with it," he told her, cat
first sight, for l thought that it looked like
a fat jolly dame, clean and tidy, with a neat
blue calico gown on, good natured and
lovely, and put me iii mind of--somebody."
To make the jug more welcome, he filed
it with pretty little coffee cups, packed
in salt.
During the Stamp Act troubles of 1865,
when the false report reached Philadelphia
that her husband had favored the odious
measure, the mob threatened to sack his
house. ...I
On this occasion she proved herself
worthy to be the wife of Pennsylvania
representative. Governor Franklin en-
treated her to take refuge in his own house
at Burlington, and all her friends urged her
to 60.
For nine days, she says, people kept
persuading her to leave her house. At
length she let her daughter go to Burling-
ton; but for herself, she would not bulge
81 am sure, said she, "that my hus-
band has done nothing to hurt anybody,
nor have given offence to any person at
all, nor will be made uneasy by anybody.
will not stir, nor show the least uneasiness
But if anybody comes to disturb me, l will
show proper resentment"
And, indeed, she armed and fortified her
house, stationing her brother and cousin
below with guns and ammunition, and mount
ing guard up stairs herself, prepared to
defend her abode. The storm blew over
and very soon the truth respecting her hus-
bands conduct was known.
For forty-four years Benjamin Franklin
and Deborah Read were united in mar
riage.
She lived to see her husband the most
honored of Americans on both continents,
and she lived also to see her daughter suita-
bly, married to merchant of Philadelphia,
Richard Bache. Her last years were
greatly cheered by her beautiful grand
children.
She had the happiness of escaping the
anxieties and terrors of the Revolutionary
War. She died in December 1774, with
only one regret, that she could not live to
see her husband once again. Indeed, she
had been for ten years longing and pining
for his return ;but the pressing business of
the colonies still detained him, and she
died at last when he was making his prepar-
ations for his homeward voyage. Her
body was borne to the grave by some of
Franklin's oldest friends, men who had
known them when forty-four years before,
they had begun housekeeping, and ate
their breakfast of bread and milk.
There were scarcely any women at that
period who were what we now call educa-