Page:Noted Negro Women (1893) HathiTrust scan.pdf/22

18 L.L.D., will be interesting. The wife of a respectable citizen, of Boston, named Wheatley, went to the slave market in that city in 1761, to purchase a child-negress, that she might rear her to be a faithful nurse in the old age of her mistress. She saw many plump children, but one of delicate frame, modest demeanor and clad in nothing but a piece of dirty carpet wrapped about her, attracted her attention, and Mrs. Wheatley took her home in her chaise, and gave her the name of Phillis. The child seemed to be about seven years of age, and exhibited remarkable intelligence, and apt imitative powers. Mrs. Wheatley's daughter taught the child to read and write, and her progress was wonderful. She appeared to have very little recollection of her birthplace, but remembered seeing her mother pour out water before the sun at its rising. With the development of her intellectual faculties, her moral nature kept pace, and she was greatly loved by all who knew her for her amiability and perfect docility. She soon attracted the attention of men of learning; and as Phillis read books with great avidity, they supplied her. Piety was a ruling sentiment in her character, and tears born of gratitude and love for her mistress often moistened her eyes. As she grew to womanhood her thoughts found expression through her pen, sometimes in prose, but more often in poetry, and she was an invited guest in the families of the rich and learned, in Boston. Her mistress treated her as a child and was extremely proud of her. At the age of about sixteen years Phillis became a member of the "Old South Church," then under the charge of Dr. Sewall. It was about this time that she wrote the poem of which a verse below is an extract. Earlier than this she had written poetry, poems remarkable for both vigor of thought, and pathos in expression. Her memory in some particulars appears to have been extremely defective. If she composed a poem in the night and did not write it down, it would be gone from her forever in the morning. Her kind mistress gave her a light and writing materials at her bedside that she might lose nothing, and in cold weather a fire was always made in her room at night.