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Mrs. Willie Ann Smith, nee Burnett, was born in Goldsboro, N. C., of pious parents. She exhibited an early love for books and was a remarkably apt pupil. Her intellectual aspirations and moral endowments soon reached a degree of prominence in the school and community to call forth frequent commendations, and gained



for her the deepest interest of her teachers and the highest respect of her acquaintances.

When quite a child she read and re-read the Bible, "Pilgrim's Progress," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and other publications which cultivated a taste and inspired an abiding love for the pure and the good.