county. This school was under the control of the Freedmen's Bureau, and taught by a Mr. A. B. Colis, of New Jersey. The next year her parents moved from Nansemond county to Franklin, Southampton county, Va., where she entered the public school.
In school she was obedient, docile, kind and punctual, Out of school she was the delight of her playmates and apparently the life of the school. Early in her life she was converted and joined the Baptist Church. As a Christian she was a shining light and an ardent worker in the cause of Christianity.
Years and deeds having hastened her near the verge of womanhood, she became a faithful teacher and an earnest worker in the Sabbath-school, to which work she became very much attached. She was secretary for Sunday-school and church clerk for several years.
In 1872 she entered the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute with very limited means, with none to look to but a widowed mother. But she was not too proud to do any work assigned her to assist her in paying school bills.
Lapse of years having brought her to womanhood, we may now call her Miss Irving.
During her school-days at Hampton she stood high in the esteem of both her school-mates and teachers. In her second term in school she made the acquaintance of Mrs. G. M. Jones, of Philadelphia, who gave some financial aid and has ever since been a warm and devoted friend.
In 1874, Miss Irving (as she was then), having a deter-
