ODDS AND ENDS In an age when organized charity was almost unknown the burden of such work fell mainly upon individuals.

Being a man of great prominence and known to be wealthy, the proprietor of Mount Vernon was the recipient of many requests for assistance.

Ministers wrote to beg money to rebuild churches or to convert the heathen; old soldiers wrote to ask for money to relieve family distresses or to use in business; from all classes and sections poured in requests for aid, financial and otherwise.
It was inevitable that among these requests there should be some that were unusual.

Perhaps the most amusing that I have discovered is one written by a young man named Thomas Bruff, from the Fountain Inn, Georgetown.

He states that this is his second letter, but I have not found the first.