读富兰克林的一点八卦

一个朋友给富兰克林介绍结婚对象，富兰克林表示满意。但是要求一百法郎的嫁妆，女方父母表示没法负担，富兰克林unrommantically 表示可以they could mortgage their home. 女方家庭断了这份关系，书中写道， 因为愤怒或者暗下希望女儿和富兰克林私奔，嫁妆就不了了之了 。原句是这麽写的： The girl's family promptly broke off the relationship, either out of rage or ( as Franklin suspected) in the hope that the courtship has gone so far that they would elope without a dowry. 

Benjamin Franklin Walter Isaacson