A Colonial Tale

by

       George Sontag

      In the fall of 1776 John Adams and Benjamin Franklin rented out a room for the night at a New Jersey tavern. They were headed to Staten Island from Philadelphia to engage in what would be failed peace talks with a British Admiral. The inn was busy that night, and only two rooms were available. Another man whom they were traveling with, Edward Rutledge, rented the other room forcing Adams and Franklin to share the same room. Adams and Franklin chose to share a bed in a room without a chimney and with only one small window. That small window proved to be a big problem for the two.

      The two men "argued fiercely" over whether or not to keep a window open that night. "The Window was open, and I, who was an invalid and afraid of the Air in the night blowing upon me, shut it close," Adams wrote in his diary. "Oh! says Franklin don’t shut the Window. We shall be suffocated. I answered I was afraid of the Evening Air. Dr. Franklin replied, the Air within this Chamber will soon be, and indeed is now worse than that without Doors: come! open the Window and come to bed."

      The two men bickered back and forth about the conditions, with Adams citing his frail nature and Franklin referring the younger man to his own "Theory of Colds" which held that, "Nobody ever got a cold by going into a cold church or any other cold Air." Eventually the two men agreed to disagree, with Adams falling asleep to the sounds of Franklin's "harangue, upon Air and cold and Respiration and Perspiration."

      Franklin insisted to Adams that the only way to catch a cold is to be around someone else who was already sick. This was not a commonly held view at the time. After more bickering the window was left open and Adams crawled into bed with Franklin and went to sleep. Thus ended their quarrel over a window remaining open.