Poor Richard's Women by Nancy Rubin Stuart

Author:Nancy Rubin Stuart [Stuart, Nancy Rubin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2022-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

10

“I Desire That You May Love Me Forever”

DEBORAH WAS GONE AND so was the world Ben once knew. No sooner had he stepped onto the Philadelphia wharf on May 5, 1775, than he heard about the April 19 battle of Lexington and Concord. Then Ben learned the heartening news that the Redcoats had been forced into a humiliating retreat to Boston. Encouraged, Ben wrote the sympathetic parliamentarian David Hartley on May 6, “I arrived here last night and have the pleasure to learn . . . there is the most perfect unanimity throughout the colonies.” Even New York had become “as hearty and zealous as the rest.”1

By then Ben was happily settled at Franklin Court, where he and Temple (who accompanied him from England) were greeted by the newly pregnant Sally and her husband, Richard. Nearby played the two grandchildren born in Ben’s absence: Deborah’s “kingbird,” five-year-old Benny, and two-year-old Willy.

As Ben walked through Franklin Court, he realized how carefully Deborah had followed his instructions. Every detail, from the sidewalk to the railings leading to the roof, was complete. The parlor contained a sideboard, two tables, a set of chairs, and a handsome English mirror. A large carpet covered the floor of the Blue Room, which housed the armonica and harpsichord. The dining room displayed the fine china and crystal Ben once sent from London; his own room was furnished with his desk, a sideboard with his papers, music, electrical equipment, and paintings. Indeed, Deborah had “proved a good and a faithful helpmate,” as Ben observed in his Autobiography.2

Still, there was little time for grief. That same morning, friends and neighbors rushed into his house with more news about the revolution. Philadelphia was in an uproar. Express riders appeared daily on lathered horses from Massachusetts with bulletins about the latest skirmishes with the British. Church bells announced their arrival; newspapers churned out reports, kiosks displayed handbills with the latest news as Patriots gathered in groups and readied arms. Added to the commotion were fifty-six delegates and their assistants arriving for the May 10 start of the Second Continental Congress. Some came in carriages; others arrived on vessels docked at the wharves and were then seen gathering for meals at the City Tavern and other fashionable eateries.

Regardless of the delegates’ show of colonial “unanimity,” the two men closest to Ben remained faithful to the Crown. One was his former political ally in the Assembly, Galloway. From England Ben vainly tried to explain the wisdom of the patriotic rebellion. Why, he had argued, should any colony “grant a revenue to a government that holds a sword over their head?”3 Galloway dismissed the comment, although he and Ben remained friends. Soon after Ben’s return Galloway invited him to his country house in Bucks County. For weeks, Galloway had hidden there after receiving death threats from the Patriots. Ben initially hesitated, claiming he was “so taken up with people coming in continually, that I cannot stir, and can scarce think what is proper or practicable.

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