The Lord Saved Aunt Mary's House in Fire; Will He Now Save It from City Clearing Away Old Homes? Dec. 9, 1922

Down in the middle of the burned district stands a two room frame house of antiquated age. In it lives “Aunt Mary”—that’s what the “white folks” call her. Though her home is in the middle of a block,, surrounded by a forest of gaunt chimneys, and the ground, even in her front yard, is strewn with hot ashes, her house is not harmed.

Why, how?

As the fire raced toward her home, workers, who were doing all humanly possible to carry away to a place of safety the furnishings in the path of the flames, went to “Aunt Mary” and offered assistance.

“Chillens,” she told the workers, you all needn’t worry ‘bout me, cause de Lawn am looking after me.”

“But Aunt Mary, the fire is within a block now, and it can’t be stopped. Come! Come! They pleaded.”

“Now honey,” Aunt Mary reasoned, “don’t your all know dat Gawn, Almighty, done deliber de free chillens from de fiery furnace?”

“Bless de Lawd,” she shouted. “Bless His name. He knows I’se prayed to Him sice way for de war, dat I pray three times a day an when I wakes in de night, dat I has been praying dis mawning, Bless His name.”

The workers left her, and today—the house still stands.

From the front page of The Fayetteville Observer, Dec. 4, 1922. Three million in 1922 would be $48 million in 2022.