Temperance

by Clement Harlow

“I swear, Abigail,” John huffed, pacing their parlor, “if I hear one more person praise Jefferson’s ‘eloquence,’ I’ll take up the pen again and drown him in adjectives.” Abigail, stitching calmly by the window, didn’t look up. “You were on the drafting committee, dear,” she said. “The ideas were ours," he said, "mine and Franklin’s, and the whole bloody Congress; but it’s all ‘Jefferson this’ and ‘Jefferson that,’ like he wrote it in a single divine breath.” He stopped, rubbed his temples, then added more quietly, “I want history to remember me for more than being a loud, obstinate Yankee.” Abigail smiled gently and said, “Be loud or be modest, John; you can't be both.”

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Clement Harlow, a lifelong admirer of overlooked Founding Fathers, lives in Concord, Massachusetts.