The hand-inscribed poem in the Cradle quilt’s center block is attributed to Quaker poet Elizabeth Margaret Chandler. Chandler often wrote of the traumatic experiences of slave women, an approach that connected with her female readers’ sympathies. This inscription says, “Mother! when around your child/ You clasp your arms in love,/ And when with grateful joy you raise/ Your eyes to God above,-/ Think of the negro mother,when/ Her child is torn away,/ Sold for a little slave-oh then/ For that poor mother pray!” Image courtesy of Historic New England