Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1889-05-12
QUEER . woMAN.
Tho Idiosyncrasy OF Amt Nancy Rroun
ho q 100 Y+srs old.

Tho ldiosynerasy OF Amt Nancy Rroun
ho q 100 Y-nrs Old.
Over ON Browns Hill. in the eastern
suburbs OF the city, In u little log COT,
tase. lives Aunt Nancy Brown. Aunt
Nuncy. as hor neighbours call her, Is
one hundred years old. In this samo
little log cottage Aunt Nancy has lived
for almost iifty-fivo years. and, like its
owner. the little cottage is beginning
to o very old. Standing in the door
OF this cottage by day. smoke can be
seen curling slowly upward from u
dozen great furnace stacks; the shrie,S-
Ing OF tho whistles and the rumble and
roar Of countless locomotives can be
heard, and at night electric lights and
tho glaro of furnaces aud coke ovens
light up tho heavens; but Aunt Nancy
has seen u railroad train or y
furnace. For fifteen u she has not
been four blocks from her home. A
dummy railroad to one OF the parks
passes the house only u block away,
occasionally she will walk to tho
door and see u train pass. but she can
not be induced to go any nearer. In NIL
the IL hundred years OF her existence
she has never been in u carringe. or
over n buggy. Aunt Nancy owns some
valuable property, and has an income
OF several thousand II year.. but She
lives in the style of three-quartcrs OF u
century ago. She has never worn q
dress made of liner fabric than calico,
ind has never engaged the services OF
n dressmaker. Nine yards OF calico Is
all h will put into u dress. declaring
that more tina that quantity would ba
n waste Of material.
Mrs. Brown was born in South Caro-.
lima on March Q, 1889. She hurried
when about twenty years OF age. and
soon aftcrward removed with her hus-
band to Georgia. About fifty-live ears
ago they came to Alabama and settled
mt the place where she nov lives. Her
husband secured l60 acres OF land from
the Government by homestead entry.
When tho city OF Birmingham was
founded by the Elyton Land Company
in 1870, Mrs. Brown sold all the land
except four acres to that
Her husband had Their been dead
e years, and her family consisted
OF n maiden daughter and n married
son, who Is now nearly seventy years
OF age. After n few years, when
property became valuable. Mrs. Brown
sold several lots, and with the money
built houses on the lots which she re-
tanned. From those houses she derives
IN income OF several thousand dollars
Il year. She would not consent to give
up the old log cabin, and there she still
lives with her maiden daughter. Mrs.
Brown n not read. but she can count
money, and every month she calls on
tenants and collects her rents. She
AN not understand the modern system
OF banking, and has no faith in banks.
All her money she keeps in the house
in purses knit by her own hands.
In the shed room OF the little cottage
there is. an old-fashioned spinning
wheel. and occasionally Aunt Nancy
spins IL brooch, MS she says. to remind
her OF old times.
She Gun not be induced TO visit the
great industrial city which nus grown
up where only II few years ngo she saw
tangled woods and corr fields. She
has been told Of the wonderful inven-
tions of Morse and Ellison, but she re-
fuses to believe the story. Some Years
ago her son bought II sewing machine
and presented it to her, but she refused
to touch it. She says she lived hap.
PLY many years without knowing any
thing about these modern inventions.
and she does not care to sec them now.
She will moi even allow II cooking stove
In the house. Aunt Nancy says she
wants to live and do as people did in
the good old times Of long ago. She is
In excellent health, and her cycsight,
hearing aud memory are unimpaired.
birmingham Gala Letter.