had only an eighth grade education and was deaf in one ear. She had, in fact, been completely deaf in her childhood, partial hearing coming to her unexpectedly in her teens. Still, her father had been headmaster of the Columbia Military Academy and had taken her with him to school when he taught, leaving her to play with whomever’s children might be about, and she had learned to fend for herself and to get along in diverse situations. Batesville did not daunt her, and she soon charmed most of the locals.

She told me that while she was working one day, a woman came in wanting to buy 3/8ths of a yard of ribbon at 3 cents a yard. Not having much math, Mammy (as I called her) was in a pickle. “But I figured it out,” she told me.