A few years later, after the end of the school term, Aunt Fannie, my father's sister in Memphis, invited me to live with her. She had three little kids and had been widowed by the same fever that took my parents. My Aunt Belle said that she would take care of Eugenia, and the two boys were put to work on their farm. I took the two little girls with me to Memphis.

At Memphis, I was able to secure a school in Shelby County, Tennessee that paid an even better salary. I immediately began studying for a teacher's job in the city. When I secured an assignment in Memphis I received another increase in salary. It seemed as though things were finally beginning to look up.