Page:Women of distinction.djvu/104

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WOMEN OF DISTINCTION.

As our apology for the course we pursue attention is called to her letter to us, which we take the liberty to publish without consulting her:

No. 64 Park St., Newark, N. J., October 13, 1892.

Dr. L. A. Scruggs:

Your very kind letter of October 8th I got on my return from Boston yesterday, and I hasten to reply. I should be glad to respond to your wish, but I am in the act of writing a little sketch of my life and work, which I hope to get in the hands of the publisher by December. Wishing you much success. I am yours in great haste,

Amanda Smith.

Amanda Berry was born March 17, 1836, according to her best information, at Long Green, Maryland. Among her earliest recollections is the kind face and gentle voice of her grandmother, who, she remembers hearing, was married three times. Her first husband's name was Mathews and the last Burgess. The name of the second is not remembered. They lived near Monkton, in the State of Maryland, and there her grandmother died. Her father died in Philadelphia, July. 1868. and her mother at York. Pennsylvania, but the year we do not know.

The deed of Mr. Berry's and his family's freedom is recorded in the Baltimore court-house. He had a copy of it. with the county seal attached in due form, which he often showed to his children, but his copy was lost after his death.

Her grandmother, father and mother were all truly pious people. Her grandmother was mighty in prayer, and her mother and father often said that to her grandmother's prayers they owed their freedom. Her mother, inheriting the spirit of her grandmother, was a woman of great faith and strong moral courage. And this faith and courage, in the third generation, has given to the world Amanda Smith.

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SOJOURNING AMONG THE FRIENDS.

The sweet, mild manner, unadorned costume, sturdy integrity, deep piety and all-embracing philanthropy characteristic of the Friends had charms for Sister Berry. So, about March. 1856, she went to