NATCHEZ &045; Pilgrimage means house tours, hoop skirts, carriage rides &045; and pralines.

If you look through the azaleas and below the antebellum columns you’ll usually find a friendly lady selling homemade pralines. Sometimes the snack is just what a weary tourist needs.

&uot;Delicious!&uot; said Helen Mills of Chevy Chase, Md. &uot;They are wonderful.&uot;

Mills and her friends had just finished a tour of Lansdowne when they stopped at Marshall Clark’s small praline stand.

Clark said she has been selling the homemade treats at pilgrimage for about 25 years.

&uot;I was working at Diamond International Egg Carton Company and it closed down,&uot; she said. &uot;I decided to make some pralines and go to the river and try to sell them. I’ve been selling ever since.&uot;

Clark continues to sell to the steamboats where she started but also spends fall and spring pilgrimage in front of an antebellum home.

Clark, who also works at Glenburney Nursing Home, said business depends entirely on the people but said her bag is empty when she goes home every night.

&uot;I just stay until the candy is gone,&uot; she said. &uot;When there’s none left I go home.&uot;

Clark sells three types of pralines, all brown sugar, all white sugar and a mixture of the two. A bag sells for $3, while a box containing a dozen sells for $10.

Clark said she did not know exactly how much she made in a given day, but that she did well selling the candy.

She also said she enjoys sitting at the house and meeting the tourists.

&uot;It’s a nice side something to be doing,&uot; she said. &uot;You meet different people.&uot;

Clark said she was not affiliated with a group of praline sellers but knows that other ladies sell at various houses.

Sellers set their own prices and prices vary depending on the house. A bag of pralines at D’Evereux was $7 Saturday afternoon.