Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/180

170 any indiſpoſition ſhould attack my ſiſter—and I mention it in confidence, upon this occaſion, that ſhe is ſubject to the gout, the rheumatiſm, and cramp, without making mention of other accidents—what would be the fate of our poor family? Muſt not the regret of our parents be exceſſive, at having placed ſo great a difference between ſiſters who are ſo perfectly equal? Alas! we muſt periſh from diſtreſs: for it would not be in my power to ſcrawl a ſuppliant petition for relief, having been obliged to employ the hand of another in tranſcribing the requeſt which I have now the honour to prefer to you.

Condeſcend, Sirs, to make my parents ſenſible of the injuſtice of an excluſive tenderneſs, and of the neceſſity of diſtributing their care and affection among all their children equally.

I am, with a profound reſpect, ,

Your obedient ſervant, THE LEFT HAND