People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1894 — Philosophical Housekeeper. [ARTICLE]

Philosophical Housekeeper.

Among- Gen. Maury’s reminiscences of Fredericksburg, Va., are some of Col. Byrd Willis. Somewhat late in life, after breaking up his home in Florida, he returned to end his days in Fredericksburg. He boarded with a kinswoman of his own, Mrs. Carter, a decayed gentlewoman of great piety, but apparently not a first rate housekeeper. Col. Willis took his meals for the most part at a restaurant, although he paid Mrs. Carter liberally for the board she was supposed to furnish. One day. as Col. Willis used to tell the story, the old lady’s resources were exhausted —her material resources, that is to say—-but she was equal to the emergency. She took to her bed, leaving this order with the servant: “Nancy, there is nothing in the house but mush for dinner. Give that to the boarders. If they are Christians they will eat it and be thankful; if they are not Christians it is much better than they deserve.”—Youth’s Companion.