The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-08-11
A RELIGIOUS PRODIGY.
A Negro Girl Nine Years Old breaches
the Gospel.

the Gospel.
The Columbia State,
The most wonderful religious prodigy
to be found in South Carolina is now to
be found in Cheraw. Her name is Clar-
eta Norah Avery, and she will be ten
years old on September IS, but for some
thing less than three years she has been
doing what she calls working for God''
among the members of her own, the ne
gro race.
During the past few weeks she has
developed into wonderful preacher and
all who come within the sound of her
voice are amazed at her utterances.
''In the very conservative section in
which she has been working for the past
two weeks there was much opposition to
her at first, because children were sup
posed to have ''place," and especially
girl children to ''be seen and not heard. :"
And there existed decided conviction that
women should not speak ont in meet
ing" But before she had ended her first
sermon, in the words of one of her audi
tors, the whole congregation had come
to the conclusion ''to let Gods business
be as He would have it..
"Claretta Avery has been preaching in
Marlboro county for two weeks, and she
now numbers her converts among both
the white people and the negroes by the
score. At first she preached only to
negroes, but, after few nights, her au
diences were composed of both races,
and her simple, straightforward, practical
sermons appealed equally to theologian
and layman.
''She was born in Washington, D. c.,
September IS, 1885 Her father was a
minister in that city, but he died soon
after her birth, and she was taken to
North Carolina, where her mother had
relatives. When eighteen months old
she claims to have been converted to the
Christian religion and since that time
she has felt that she was commissioned
to preach the word Of God to her people
Her mother had a struggle to make a
living for herself and her children and
up to this time, Claretta has been able
to go 10 school very little. She barely
can write but she &c ems to have commit
ted the whole Of the New Testament to
uEdEI. ILLS ShC udS 6uGGCCuEo III
by continually porting over it.
"Since she was three years Of age she
has never let Sunday pass without at
tending church, going two and three
times day whenever she could. She
seemed to prefer listening to the minis
tiers of the white people, and many a
time she has been found in the galleries
Of the white churches alone and listening
intently to what was said by the preach
er. Her memory was wonderful, and
she is now able to repeat sermon, word
for word, after hearing it preached once.
MANY believe that her sermons ale
dependent entirely upon the facility with
which she remembers the productions of
others, and that she merely reproduces
them. IL this be true, no one yet has
ever heard or read the originals Of the
sermons she breaches.
"Rev. A J, Streator, of Society Hill,
is authority for the following:
"She preached her first sermon at Raj
eigh, N. @. Then she went to oxford,
N. O., where she began series of meet
ings in a private house, but the attend
ance soon became so great that the lar
gest church in the town had to be en-
gagged. Here $50 persons protested reli
| gion as the result of her preaching
Sanford, N. c., was her next point, and
here she made thirty-four converts. Their
to Vass, for one day, with ten converts
as the result. Then to Wadesboro, and
fifty converts, and from there to Monroe
and there were thirty-nine converts
! From thera to Society Hill, where sh,