MARY “POLLY” STEVENSON was grateful for the long letter Benjamin Franklin wrote her justifying the study of insects as part of her education. Wanstead, where Polly was caring for an aunt, was not very far from Franklin’s lodgings on Craven Street in London which he rented from Polly’s mother. Just far enough for the two to rely on letter writing to communicate. Lucky for us. Illustrated are some instructions for writing a fine hand.

Wanstead June 23d. 1760Dear Sir
. . . . You can’t imagine how important I felt to find you thought me worthy so much of your time and attention. I thank you my dear Preceptor for your Indulgence in satisfying my Curiosity, and for the pleasing Instruction you give, which I will endeavour shall not be lost. As my greatest Ambition is to render myself amiable in your Eyes I will be careful never to transgress the bounds of Moderation you prescribe. I have so firm a reliance on your sincerity and regard, that I think, if you imagin’d my pursuit of Knowledge would be detrimental, you would not have given me any encouragement, but have check’d my Curiosity, knowing I should have chearfully submitted to your Judgement.
I regard you as one of my best Friends, and to continue you such is the wish nearest my Heart. I am with the highest Esteem and Gratitude Dear Sir your affectionate and obedient humble Servant
M Stevenson.

“To Benjamin Franklin from Mary Stevenson, 23 June 1760,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-09-02-0044. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 9, January 1, 1760, through December 31, 1761, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, p. 125.]

The letters between MARY “POLLY” STEVENSON and Benjamin Franklin are so interesting and charming I have decided to include Franklin’s letters as well as Polly’s as they form a personal conversation providing a window into the life and times of both. I am so impressed by Franklin the scientist and his belief that science was an appropriate topic of study for a woman seeking to educate herself. In the following letter he replied to Polly’s query about how a barometer works and then launched into a rather lengthy defense of insects which had been the subject of her reading.

Your Observation on what you have lately read concerning Insects, is very just and solid. Superficial Minds are apt to despise those who make that Part of Creation their Study, as mere Triflers; but certainly the World has been much oblig’d to them. Under the Care and Management of Man, the Labours of the little Silkworm afford Employment and Subsistence to Thousands of Families, and become an immense Article of Commerce. The Bee, too, yields us its delicious Honey, and its Wax useful to a multitude of Purposes. Another Insect, it is said, produces the Cochineal, from whence we have our rich Scarlet Dye. . . . By human Industry and Observation, other Properties of other Insects may possibly be hereafter discovered, and of equal Utility. A thorough Acquaintance with the Nature of these little Creatures, may also enable Mankind to prevent the Increase of such as are noxious or secure us against the Mischiefs they occasion. These Things doubtless your Books make mention of: I can only add a particular late Instance which I had from a Swedish Gentleman of good Credit. In the green Timber intended for Ship-building at the King’s Yards in that Country, a kind of Worms were found, which every Year became more numerous and more pernicious, so that the Ships were greatly damag’d before they came into Use. The King sent Linnaeus, the great Naturalist, from Stockholm, to enquire into the Affair, and see if the Mischief was capable of any Remedy. He found on Examination, that the Worm was produc’d from a small Egg deposited in the little Roughnesses on the Surface of the Wood, by a particular kind of Fly or Beetle; from whence the Worm, as soon as it was hatch’d, began to eat into the Substance of the Wood, and after some time came out again a Fly of the Parent kind, and so the Species increas’d. The Season in which this Fly laid its Eggs, Linnaeus knew to be about a Fortnight (I think) in the Month of May, and at no other time of the Year. He therefore advis’d, that some Days before that Season, all the green Timber should be thrown into the Water, and kept under Water till the Season was over. Which being done by the King’s Order, the Flies missing their usual Nests, could not increase; and the Species was either destroy’d or went elsewhere; and the Wood was effectually preserved, for after the first Year, it became too dry and hard for their purpose.
There is, however, a prudent Moderation to be used in Studies of this kind. The Knowledge of Nature may be ornamental, and it may be useful, but if to attain an Eminence in that, we neglect the Knowledge and Practice of essential Duties, we deserve Reprehension. For there is no Rank in Natural Knowledge of equal Dignity and Importance with that of being a good Parent, a good Child, a good Husband, or Wife, a good Neighbour or Friend, a good Subject or Citizen, that is, in short, a good Christian. . . .
Adieu, my dear Friend, and believe me ever Yours affectionately
B Franklin
Your good Mother is well, and gives her Love and Blessing to you. My Compliments to your Aunts, Miss Pitt, &c. Miss Stevenson

“From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 11 June 1760,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-09-02-0041. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 9, January 1, 1760, through December 31, 1761, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 119–122.]

Benjamin Franklin apparently visited POLLY STEVENSON at Wanstead (“last Friday”) as she refers to it in the following letter—June 6, 1760. Don’t you love her curiosity about the barometer which prompts her to ask Franklin for an explanation of how it works?

Dear Sir
The Happiness I enjoy’d last friday has afforded me pleasing reflections for the week past. I attended with delight to your kind Instructions, and my highest Amusement ever since has been to recollect them. You obligingly condescended to satisfy my Curiosity about the Barometer, and by your explanation I clearly conceived the cause of the rise and fall of the Mercury; but, upon looking at it after you were gone, I was puzzl’d to find out how the Air has access to the end of the Tube which you told me was left open to relieve its pressure, it being cover’d with Wood. You bid me not apprehend you should think it a Trouble to receive and answer my Questions, therefore I take the liberty of desiring you to solve this difficulty when you can afford to bestow a little time upon your grateful Polly.
I have read the first Volume of your Books, which has afforded me great entertainment. I was highly pleas’d with the discription of Insects, which lead me to admire that Wisdom and Power that created them, and assign’d to each their proper use and employment: and taught me to observe there is nothing so trifling but it is necessary and worthy our attention. The Opinion that Corruption produces Insects is very well refuted from the certainty that Chance has no agency, and their always appearing in Putrified Meats is very well accounted for; but I am left in the dark, whether those Insects would ever arrive at the state of their parent. I find moral reflections frequently inserted so that my reading will not be a useless amusement only to satisfy an Idle Curiosity. I am my dear and honourd Friend most gratefully and affectionately yours
M Stevenson

Polly had apparently read the first volume of the books Franklin had sent her: Pluche’s Spectacle de la Nature. It contains eight dialogues about insects.

“To Benjamin Franklin from Mary Stevenson, 6 June 1760,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-09-02-0040. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 9, January 1, 1760, through December 31, 1761, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 118–119.] Portrait of “Polly” from the “Polly” Stevenson Collection of Theodore E. Wiederseim, a direct descendant of the Stevenson-Hewson-Bradford family.

Recall in the previous post that Benjamin Franklin sent POLLY STEVENSON some books that he thought would further her education. His advice to Polly on how to approach them so as to best profit from the reading are those of an experienced reader and teacher. They apply today.

Cravenstreet, May 17. 1760.I send my dear good Girl the Books I mention’d to her last Night.1 I beg her to accept them as a small Mark of my Esteem and Friendship. They are written in the familiar easy Manner for which the French are so remarkable, and afford a good deal of philosophic and practical Knowledge, unembarras’d with the dry Mathematics us’d by more exact Reasoners, but which is apt to discourage young Beginners. I would advise you to read with a Pen in your Hand, and enter in a little Book short Hints of what you find that is curious or that may be useful; for this will be the best Method of imprinting such Particulars in your Memory, where they will be ready either for Practice on some future Occasion if they are Matters of Utility, or at least to adorn and improve your Conversation if they are rather Points of Curiosity. And, as many of the Terms of Science are such as you cannot have met with in your common Reading, and may therefore be unacquainted with, I think it would be well for you to have a good Dictionary at hand, to consult immediately when you meet with a Word you do not comprehend the precise Meaning of. This may at first seem troublesome and interrupting; but ’tis a Trouble that will daily diminish as you will daily find less and less Occasion for your Dictionary as you become more acquainted with the Terms; and in the meantime you will read with more Satisfaction because with more Understanding. When any Point occurs in which you would be glad to have farther Information than your Book affords you, I beg you would not in the least apprehend that I should think it a Trouble to receive and answer your Questions. It will be a Pleasure, and no Trouble. For tho’ I may not be able, out of my own little Stock of Knowledge to afford you what you require, I can easily direct you to the Books where it may most readily be found. Adieu, and believe me ever, my dear Friend, Yours affectionately
B Franklin

“From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 17 May 1760,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-09-02-0038. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 9, January 1, 1760, through December 31, 1761, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 117–118.]

In a letter to POLLY STEVENSON in February 1760 Benjamin Franklin expresses his thanks for her New Year’s greeting: “I receiv’d your kind Congratulations on occasion of the new Year; and though you had not mine in writing, be assured that I did and do daily wish you every kind of Happiness, and of the longest Continuance.” The next month, in an apparent answer to Polly’s request for guidance in her education, Benjamin Franklin undertook the role of tutor, writing:

Cravenstreet, May 1. 1760I embrace most gladly my dear Friend’s Proposal of a Subject for our future Correspondence; not only as it will occasion my hearing from her more frequently, but as it will lay me under a Necessity of improving my own Knowledge that I may be better able to assist in her Improvement. I only fear my necessary Business and Journeys with the natural Indolence of an old Man, will make me too unpunctual a Correspondent. For this I must hope some Indulgence.
But why will you, by the Cultivation of your Mind, make yourself still more amiable, and a more desirable Companion for a Man of Understanding, when you are determin’d, as I hear, to live Single? If we enter, as you propose, into moral as well as natural Philosophy, I fancy, when I have fully establish’d my Authority as a Tutor, I shall take upon me to lecture you a little on that Chapter of Duty. But to be serious.
Our easiest Method of Proceeding I think will be for you to read some Books, that I may recommend to you; and in the Course of your Reading, whatever occurs that you do not thoroughly apprehend, or that you clearly conceive and find Pleasure in, may occasion either some Questions for farther Information or some Observations that show how far you are satisfy’d and pleas’d with your Author. Those will furnish Matter for your Letters to me, and, in consequence, of mine also to you.
Let me know then, what Books you have already perus’d on the Subject intended, that I may better judge what to advise for your next Reading. And believe me ever, my dear good Girl, Your affectionate Friend and Servant
B Franklin

On May 17, 1760, Franklin sent Polly books on natural philosophy, probably the first volumes of the popular Spectacle de la Nature: or, Nature Display’d being Discourses … to Excite the Curiosity, and Form the Minds of Youth translated by Samuel Humphreys (8th edit., 7 vols., London, 1754–63) from the French of Noël-Antoine Pluche. As a former teacher I am interested in and delighted by the instructions Franklin gives Polly about how to approach the readings in order to understand and retain the knowledge therein.

“From Benjamin Franklin to Mary Stevenson, 1 May 1760,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-09-02-0032. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 9, January 1, 1760, through December 31, 1761, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 102–103.]