By Margaret Evans, Editor

 “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more . . . He became as good a friend, as good a master, as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol 

            I love a conversion story. Especially at Christmas. You can have your Rudolph, your Frosty, your “Wonderful Life” and all those other yuletide tales of kindly underdogs who deservedly triumph over adversity. I, myself, am a sucker for that far less common narrative – the black heart utterly transformed. The undeserving, unbearable wretch redeemed.

Last Saturday, I took part in a writers’ conference in Summerville sponsored by the Pat Conroy Literary Center. I was officially an "instructor," but I learned more than I taught. Love it when that happens! The “faculty” was made up of contributors to Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, and we ended the day with a panel discussion during which we… well, remembered Pat Conroy.

God’s time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; 
He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.

      - Harriet Tubman to Ednah Dow Cheney, New York City, circa 1859

            When Harrier Tubman died in 1913, she told the people in the room with her, “I go to prepare a place for you.” At this very moment in time, Beaufort is hard at work preparing a special place on Craven Street to remember and honor an American treasure.