CHAPTER IV.
MRS. N. F. MOSSELL.
A heart true as steel; a manner without affectation or reserve; at once sincere and direct; a plump, compactly built body, five feet high; a symmetrical head and speaking countenance; eyes which dance with fun, or are eloquent with tender feeling; a musical laugh, a bright, cheery personality that looks determined on the bright side of life; a keen sense of the humorous and ridiculous, yet a nature bubbling over with the milk of human kindness; a shrewed business woman, yet counting no labor too arduous for the comfort of those she loves; a woman who is intensely interested in her race and sex and who has done more varied newspaper work than any other woman of her race in the country. This, gentle reader, is Mrs. N. F. Mossell, of Philadelphia, Pa. The ancestors of Mrs. Mossell, for three generations, were Philadelphians. Her parents, Charles and Emily Bustell, were raised in the faith of the Society of Friends, but they afterward joined the Presbyterian Church.
Her mother dying when she was an infant, Gertrude and her sister were reared without the tender knowledge of a mother's care. She attended the schools established by the Friends, also public schools, especially the Robert Vaux Grammar School, of which the noted Jacob C. White was teacher. While a pupil at this school she read an essay on "Influence" at commencement exercises which attracted the attention of Hon. Isaiah Wears and Bishop, then Doctor, B. T. Tanner. This essay was published in the Christian Recorder, of which Bishop Tanner was then editor. Leaving school at seventeen, she taught the Terry Road School, Camden, N. J., for one year; then the Wilmot School, at Frankford, a suburb of Philadelphia, for seven years. This work she gave up to marry Dr. N. F. Mossell, of Lockport, N. Y. During this time she contributed essays, stories and poems to the Recorder, the publication of which stamped them of unusual merit, as Dr. Tanner's literary standard was well known to be the most critical of all the Afro-American editors. Four years after marriage she assumed charge of the Woman's s Department of The New York Age, and Philadelphia Echo. She has written for the Alumni Magazine and the A. M. E. Review of her native city, the Indianapolis Worlds and other race journals. For seven years she wrote specials and reported for the Press, Times and Inquirer, the three most influential dailies of Philadelphia.
The past two years have brought increasing household cares. Her two growing daughters and her husband's large office practice leave her little time for literary or newspaper work. Yet, even now, she finds time to edit the Woman's Department of the Indianapolis World. So great is her love for the work I predict she will vet find time to give the literary world something more substantial and tangible than it has vet had from her pen. She has a rare collection of race literature, among which are two of the oldest books published concerning the race. They are, "An Inquiry Concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties and Literature of Negroes," by Abbe Gregorie, and "A Narrative of Gustavus Vassa, by Himself" She has also a copy of the original edition of Phillis Wheatley's poems.
Most of Mrs. Mossell's literary work having been done since her marriao-e and with the care of home and children, what an inspiration and incentive her life should be to the young woman of literary tastes and aspirations! The race needs more of forceful, earnest, able workers like Mrs. Mossell in the literary field. The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. How many will forsake indolence, ease and pleasure, and gathering inspiration from the work of such pioneers will answer the call to work and go gleaning in the literary field?