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The subject of our present sketch was born to James and Sarah Gordon, August 25, 1866, at Augusta, Ga. She stands third oldest in a family of nine children, and was always the personification of gentleness and kindness to her brothers and sisters. As a daughter she loved and obeyed in a way which most children never attain. As a younger sister she fondly served and looked up to her brothers, making them her ideals of youthful manliness; while as an elder sister she never sought her rights. Often the younger members of the family imposed slaps or other childish freaks on her without her even reporting them to their parents. The mother soon noticed in this child a peculiar domestic turn. Whatever the mother attempted to do her oldest daughter would be on hand offering help. At the age of six years she completed a patchivork quilt which excited much attention in the neighborhood, and the mother was pressed to place it upon exhibition at the State Fair.

At an early age this child was in school, and soon proved herself to be above the average aptness. Her book was put before everything in her mind, even her food. As she grew larger this love for books deepened. At her domestic duties she would have her book open on a table or chair so her hands and head could both be called into action at once. Her parents' pastor, Rev. A. W. De Lamotta, saw in this child something out of