A Shining Thread of Hope

Chapter One

Every small town has its honored citizens.  You can find their names on plaques in the library and in the history of the town, bound in leather and getting dusty on the shelves.  Parks are created in tribute to them, and streets are named after them, and the people of the town remember them, even if they don't always know why.

Deerfield, Massachusetts, remembers Lucy Terry Prince.  She came to the town when she was only about five years old.  Ebenezer Wells bought her off a slave ship to help him with his housework.  She was baptized in the First Church of Deerfield on June 15, 1735.  The town history remembers that, when she was grown up, "she was noted for her wit and shrewdness" and the boys of the town flocked to her house "to hear her talk," so we can assume that she learned her new language quickly and was a sociable child.  When she was fourteen, she was admitted to "the fellowship of the church."  When she was sixteen, nearby Indians attacked that part of Deerfield known as " ... read full excerpt from: A Shining Thread of Hope ebook