This story was published in the April 2005 issue of Country Roads Magazine pg. 68. This was also published on www.visitnatchez.com in the summer and fall of 2005!

Miss Sophronia's first attempt at pralines was a disaster! "My grandmother said I didn't cook it long enough. You have to stand and stand and stir and stir. You need patience."

That was thirty years ago.

For thirty years, Miss Sophronia has supplemented her income by making pralines for the tourists of Natchez, Mississippi.

In that time she has raised four children and sent them to college. One is a nurse, one is a teacher, one is in sales and one works with computers.

Miss Sophronia's pride in her children gives her plenty to think about as she stands over her stove at night and stirs and stirs the bubbling sugar and pecan praline mixture.

She has probably never tasted a praline from New Orleans, the reported ancestral home of the candy. She has probably never tasted a praline made by any recipe other than her grandmother's recipe.

For thirty years Miss Sophronia has sold the golden delicacies at the entrance of Rosalie Mansion. During Pilgrimage season in Natchez, se sets up her folding "TV tray" by the Pilgrimage headquarters in the old Depot in downtown Natchez.

She is known by all the staffs of all the major Pilgrimage mansions in Natchez. Bus Tour directors let her know when they have a bus of tourists arriving at a particular house in Natchez.

Miss Sophronia is truly a Natchez icon.

"People ahve their pictures taken with me. Sometimes they write me when they get back home," Miss Sophronia said. "Sometimes I see people who met me years ago here in Natchez. They always remember me."

When Miss Sophronia takes time to make a scrapbook one day, she will be able to fill the pages with letters from all around the world, re-orders from tourists, and photos of hundreds, maybe thousands of people who have formed their opinion of Natchez and Mississippi from Miss Sophronia's happy personality.

"People think of Mississippi as a bad place in some ways', Miss Sophronia said. "I've never had anyone in Mississippi talk bad to me ever. One of my daughters says she wishes she could come back and do what I do. She wouldn't have the patience."

Whether you pronounce it "PRAYleans" or PRAULeans", Miss Sophronia confidently shares the fruits of her patience and experience. Her card dubs her creations the "Best Prualines in the South", but I suspect Miss Sophronia's pralines rank among the best in the world.