The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-04-27

all exemplars to the coming generation
or her young heroes. Chief among his
triumphs will it be reckoned that in the
midst of his elevation and of the highest
hopes which possessed his soul, he so de-
meaned himself as to secure place.
! hallowed by grief, in many an humble
4 heart throughout North Carolina. His
name is to be pronounced reverently and
| with tears by the winter freside of
many hut; and curious childhood will
beg to nave often repeated the rude
stories in which soldiers shall celebrate
his generosity, his impartiality, his
courtesy and his daring" "a young man
OF very rare accomplishments and en-
ergy, fitted equally for the cloister of
the scholar and for the field of battle,
has been snatched from our midst. What
| impresses the observer most forcbly is
that such vast preparation should in the
course of Providence, be defeated of an
opportunity for display at all commenSE-
rate with what seemed it's reasonable re-
quirements. Under the circumstances,
his death looks like prodigious waste of
material. 1t appears very clearly that
the Ruler of all things is under no neces-
Slty to employ rare talents and acquire
ments in the course of His awful admin
lstration, but, in the crisis of great af
/ 1airs, can lay aside Pettigrew with as
little concern as any other instrument,
even the meanest."
To me it was personal delight when
she published in 1SS6-'S7 in the Univer-
sity Magazine, "Old Times in Chapel
| HILL 1t seemed to take me back to
| those old times and give me strength to
live my time more wOrthjlv
Her two books are Last Ninety Days
OF War;" having much that is terrible
and sad and some beautiful descriptions
OF nature Then 20 years later she wrote
"a Child's History of North Carolina" a
small volume much praised and generally
studied in the public schools of our
State. She was always witty, always
keen and spicy, sometimes sharp with
her tongue, but at those times there was
wrong to right. She was very public
spirited.
Mrs. Spencer loves music and often
plays for her own entertainment. She
paints on china and the graceful dainty
cards for Christmas or Easter gifts,
doing beautiful lettering and having a
delightful reminder of philosophy, beauty
or wisdom in poetic quotation or orr
\ L
at a dainty picture painted by
her on my room wall, the
spring flowers, iessamine, Japan ounce
and white lilac with ferns for back
ground 1t was her habit in Chapel Hill
to take walk in Battle Park or over
Tenney's farm for a handful of flowers,
| return to her room, arrange and keep
their beauty by painting on "a card,
| nj Ch-;c
Easter card she would add pretty poem
and even the lettering was beautifully
done. l have on the table where | write
her Christmas card, a curious gray brown
background and starting from a lower
| corner the bunch of e-everlas ting
golden rod (yellow and gray, a fern and
pine sprig and cone and a bunch of holly
berries and one glossy leaf. Turning che
card over it is the size of a cabinet
photography is 80
| 1.-THE Christmas bells ring in the wish
Peace and good will to all mankind
A merry Christmas 'SS
And glad New Year 80.
To Prof. Winston and all whom he
| loves. c. P. S.
Her daughter has quite a cupboard full,
of her mothers pretty decorated china
The daughter studied at Cooper Institute
in New York, once taught in one of our
city boarding schools, and the neigh
bors used to say that after the daughters
lessons the mother worked better than
the teacher.
Mrs. Spencer was a ministering angel
to needy and suffering neighbors, both
white and black, rich and poor. In time
of sickness her help never failed once
when depressed from sickness she car
ried from our house a chdId's cotton mar
BILE bag; next day it was returned danti-
ly painted and witty letter sent too,
a trifle | still value.
| Sometimes it was a pile of mending
she took up to tighten my work, quoting
what her wise mother said CT the mental
help such kindnesses gave, or it was
brushing the hearth and quoting English
writer's who told of the bright fire and
| clean hearth. She never was too busy
| or tired to write the note of sympathy
when neighbors needed congratulations
| or coincidence; often a bunch of flowers
went too, sometimes delicacy to tempt
| the sick. With colored as with white
her charities were many. At Christmas
she loved the old custom of giving any
who called, black or white, a glass Of
egg-nOg.
For several years after her daughter
moved to Cambridge Mrs. Spencer still
Kept house in Chapel Hill, but attacks
of sickness and urgent letters from
tacks of sickness and urgent letters from
her only child decided her to leave her
loved State for a home under her daugh-
ter's roof, where she now lives, in Cam
bridge, Mass, now as always devouring
books, books of all kinds and on all sub
jects, but finding time to write the most
delightful letters / ever read-I think as
fine as were ever written-and being still
| a skilled needlewoman and sometimes
painting cup or saucer or beautiful
Christmas card, a gift for a distant
friend; then again watching and in
structing her two grand children or it
may be going into Boston for shopping
| or to some art exhibition, or possibly
| attending some Harvard exercises.
She is distinctly old fashioned in her
ideas, not at all a new woman" In the
early days at Cambridge she often saw
a woman bicycle rider, perhaps with a
l divided skirt ,,itb