d
had written to her only a single letter. Many years afterward, writing
to Catharine Ray in 1755, he said: "The cords of love and friendship ...
in times past have drawn me ... back from England to Philadelphia." If
the remark referred to an affection for Miss Read, it was probably no
more trustworthy than are most such allegations made when lapsing years
have given a fictitious coloring to a remote past. If indeed Franklin's
profligacy and his readiness to marry any girl financially eligible were
symptoms attendant upon his being in love, it somewhat taxes the
imagination to fancy how he would have conducted himself had he not been
the victim of romantic passion. Miss Read, meanwhile, apparently about
as much in love as her lover, had wedded another man, "one Rogers, a
potter," a good workman but worthless fellow, who soon took flight from
his bride and his creditors. Her position had since become somewhat
questionable; for there was a story that her husband had an earlier wife
living, in which case of course her marriage with him was null. There
was also a story that he was dead. But there was little evidence of the
truth of either tale. Franklin, therefore, hardly knew what he was
wedding, a maid, a widow, or another man's wife. Moreover the runaway
husband "had left many debts, which his successor might be call'd upon
to pay." Few men, even if warmly enamored, would have entered into the
matrimonial contract under circumstances so discouraging; and there are
no indications save the marriage itself that Franklin was deeply in
love. Yet on September 1, 1730, the pair were wedded. Mrs. Franklin
survived for forty years thereafter, and neither seems ever to have
regretted the step. "None of the inconveniences happened that we had
apprehended," wrote Franklin; "she proved a good and faithful helpmate;
assisted me much by attending the shop; we throve together, and have
ever mutually endeavored to make each other happy." A sensible,
comfortable, satisfactory union it was, showing how much better is sense
than sensibility as an ingredient in matrimony. Mrs. Franklin was a
handsome woman, of comely figure, yet nevertheless an industrious and
frugal one; later on in life Franklin boasted that he had "been clothed
from head to foot in linen of [his] wife's manufacture." An early
contribution of his own to the domestic _menage_ was his illegitimate
son, William, born soon after his wedding, of a mother of whom no record
or tra