To Benjamin Franklin from Catharine Greene, [14 May 1775]
From Catharine Greene2
ALS: Yale University Library
[May 14, 1775]
My Dear Dear Friend
Welcom a Hundred times Welcom to our once happy Land. Are you in Health and allow me to ask you the old question over again if you are the Same good old Soul you used to be? Your arrival gives New Spring to all have heard mention it. When Shall We See you here? Do let it be as Soon as the Congress is adjournd or dont know but your good Sister and Self Shall mount our old Naggs and Come and See you. Mr. Greene would Send Plenty of love if at home. We are all well hope you found all that is Dear to you So. We Receivd your favors by Mr. Marchant3 many thanks to you for them. This is but the forerunner of a longer letter from your affectionate Real Friend
Caty Greene
2. For BF’s old friend, and her husband William, see the long biographical note above, V, 502 n. We have published BF’s many letters to Catharine in 1772; this is the first but far from the last extant letter from her. It was written as a postscript to the one from Jane Mecom that follows.
3. Doubtless the Parmesan cheese, the recipe, and BF’s covering letter, which we believe was written in January, 1772. Although Marchant did not sail until the following July, he was a natural person to carry the packet, because he was not only a Rhode Islander but also a distant relative of the Greenes. Above, X, 316 n; XIX, 25–6, 377 n.