Fred, and Maria, and Me by Elizabeth Prentiss

This is an amusing story of Aunt Avery and her nephew, Fred, who was always asking for help. Her soft heart gave him money to get his business going and for whatever else. Aunt Avery, who had never been 20 miles from where she was born, lacked knowledge in the ways of the world. She was unsettled when she went to New York and saw what Fred was doing with the money, but Aunt Avery's quaint ways that were based on the Bible were honored by God.

Paperback 6X9, 52 pages, 5 illustrations. ISBN 9781941281024

Elizabeth Payson (1818–1878) was born in Portland, Maine. She had a feeble constitution and often battled sickness. Her writing talent became evident at an early age and she wrote for "The Youth's Companion" magazine. She had a natural gift for teaching and taught in a school in Richmond, Virginia. She had a religious life, but it wasn't until 1840 that the love of Christ became alive in her soul. She married Rev. George Lewis Prentiss in 1845, who was a pastor and became a professor of pastoral theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She published "Stepping Heavenward" in 1869 and it became very popular.