She further said, "When I was able, I went often to see the sick, and the suffering poor, and do something for them, and I sometimes prayed by their bedside;" and added, "I believe the Lord heard my prayers." Placing her hands in an attitude of supplication, and turning her eyes upward, "I often pray now, and I leave it to Him, and He gives me what I pray for. If He thinks it best for me to live longer yet, I am willing to stay; and if He thinks best to take me away, I am ready to go."
On being asked how old she was, she replied, "When Peter Williams was going to Hayti, and he came to see me and bid me farewell, he said, 'Belinda, I have been calculating your age, as near as I can from circumstances, and I believe you are about a hundred years old.' I thought I was older, but I suppose he must be correct.
"I used to work for the rich folks, and they seemed to love me, and treated me very kindly. Mrs. T——, and Mrs. H——, and many others, have been to see me a great many times. Mr. Livingston, the lawyer, who died at Washington, you remember—with his first wife's father, Mr. Kittletas, I lived, and of him I bought my freedom. And when I went to Mr. Livingston's, he would say, 'Why, Belinda, you have a long life of it here.' I would say, 'Yes, master, the Lord knows, but I don't, why I stay so long'—but, dear man, he is gone!"
On being asked why she lived alone, she said, "If I have somebody with me, they will want other company, and that will make more noise than I like. I love to be still; then I can think. And when I am sick, the people up stairs are kind to me, and do what little I want done."
When speaking of reading, she said, "I met with a bad accident lately; I dropped my spectacles in the fire, and it spoiled them: when I can get into the Bowery, to Mr. ——'s store, I can get another pair; but nobody can get them for me—they would not know how to suit my eyes—and then I always pay cash for what I get—I have found it the best way. In all my life long, there has never anybody had the scratch of a pen against me. I have been saving too: them plates there" (pointing to her closet), "I brought them with me from Charleston before Washington's war."
In this unpolished narrative, we see the benefit of acquiring steady habits in early life—of honest, persevering industry—and frugality in the use of what was so obtained. From the one hundred dollars put into church stock, she has in fifty years received three hundred and fifty dollars; and in such a way as to be particularly useful to her. Her pious care of the sick; her quiet, decent, and comely way of living; and her exertions in learning to read, even at the advanced age of eighty years, are also worthy of particular notice.
GUSTAVUS VASSA.
TAKEN FROM HIS NARRATIVE, WRITTEN ABOUT THE YEAR 1787.
"I offer here neither the history of a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant. I believe there are few events in my life, which have not happened to many; but when I compare my lot with that of many of my countrymen, I acknowledge the mercies of Providence in the occurrences that have taken place.