To Mrs. Jane Mecom
Philadelphia, February 12, 1756.
Dear Sister,
I condole with you on the loss of our dear brother.[50] As our number grows less, let us love one another proportionably more.
I am just returned from my military expedition, and now my time is taken up in the Assembly. Providence seems to require various duties of me. I know not what will be next; but I find, the more I seek for leisure and retirement from business, the more I am engaged in it. Benny, I understand, inclines to leave Antigua. He may be in the right. I have no objections. My love to brother and to your children. I am, dearest sister, your affectionate brother,
B. Franklin.