Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-01-12
$4,000 WAS LEFT
TO NEGRO SERVANT

ct give and bequest to my faithful col
cred servant, Pinkey Gambler, $500"
ION account of her long and faithful
service to me, I do hereby will and be-
queath to Pinkey Gambler the sum of So
600, this to be in lieu OF the former be-
quest made in her favor"
(Codicils extracted from the will of the
late Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Duncan.
Hundreds were moved with deep regret
when the light burned no longer each
night behind the green blinds of the little
white home at Peachtree and Harris
streets-the little home with the box
hedges along the sanded walks and with
the big magnolia trees in the yard. The
light had burned there for years and
years, and its soft rays through the shut
tiers were missed, a few weeks ago.
With the light had gone out the soul
Of Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Duncan, the pa
tient little lady upon whom for twenty
years the blighting hand of paralysis had
rested. An invalid she had been, help
less. Neighbors knew her loveable char
acter. Older citizens knew her and re-
membered her husband, who had made a
success in bushes and had passed to the
Great Beyond when Atlanta was a town,
about IS years ago. And when the light
shone no more and the patient little in
valid's face lay pale and still, there were
many who mourned, though they had no
tie of blood.
But there was none who mourned more
than the old negro woman, Pinky, who
for nineteen years had been constantly at
the call of the invalid lady. Pinlxy saw
her mistress laid away-the mistress
whose low call had stirred her from
sleep, mayhap, during the still hours OF
nights and had summoned her during the
waking hours of days; the mistress who
had smiled upon her children, Pink's chill
dren, when Pinky began her services as q
woman of 80 with a small family; the
mistress under whose eyes the children
had grown up, in the big back yard OF
the home, and who had smiled and been
interested in their affairs when they mar
ried, and who had smiled upon their chill
dren, Pink's grandchildren, and given
them Christmas presents on eventful
mornings when their elders had been
made happy, too. During the long I'm
disturbed stretch Of the 10 years, only two
nights-just two-had Pinky been absent
from her mistress bedside.
When the will came to be read, after the
death of Mrs. Duncan, the codicils were
found that recognized Pink's devotion as
II should have been. But Pinky had not
expected it. True, she had performed the
services of general housekeeper-had al
most been the steward of the invalid s
possessions, and had discharged RESPONSE
BILE duty. But she had been well paid
and had saved money and had raised her
children we'll. And she expected no furth-
er recognition.
But the will was read and then it be-
came known that Pinky had been named
to receive 5000 of the large estate, and
that not only Pinky, but a number of
friends as we'll, had received legacies
varying in amount from 500 to 5000 'for
kindly attentions ministered." One legacy
of 81, 900 had been left to Mrs. Nat Ham
mond, but that lady herself died before
the executors had delivered to her the
remembrance of a lifelong friend. Her
husband, the late Col. N. ]. Hammond,
was named for $500. other friends to the
number of more than a dozen had been
similarly remembered. And in what was
left of the estate, valued at $4,000, the
brother of Mrs. Duncan, s. G. Fort, of
Jonesboro, and his children shared.