asked her, Why? Says she, I
love to hear 'em talk.

She seems to have very much of the fear of God before her eyes, and an
extraordinary dread of sinning against Him; of which her mother
mentioned the following remarkable instance. Some time in August, the
last year, she went with some bigger children to get some plums in a
neighbor's lot, knowing nothing of any harm in what she did; but when
she brought some of the plums into the house, her mother mildly reproved
her, and told her that she must not get plums without leave, because it
was sin: God had commanded her not to steal. The child seemed greatly
surprised, and burst out in tears, and cried out, I won't have these
plums! and turning to her sister Eunice, very earnestly said to her, Why
did you ask me to go to that plum tree? I should not have gone, if you
had not asked me. The other children did not seem to be much affected or
concerned; but there was no pacifying Phebe. Her mother told her, she
might go and ask leave, and then it would not be sin for her to eat
them; and sent one of the children to that end; and, when she returned,
her mother told her that the owner had given leave, now she might eat
them, and it would not be stealing. This stilled her a little while; but