NINETY YEARS OF AGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19050, 22 June 1925, Page 10

NINETY YEARS OF AGE.

MOTHER JOSEPH AUBERT. GIFT OF. £2OO PURSE. A large number of friends attended the Home of Compassion, Wellington, last Friday, to congratulate the Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Aubert on the occasion of her ninetieth birthday. All day long there was a procession of cars and pedestrians. An address of congratulation was made by Mr. J. J. McGrath, who handed the Rev. Mother a purse of £2OO 011 behalf of the subscribers. In her reply tho Rev. Mother recited with great humour the financial troubles she had to meet and overcome in (>llO way or another in her work, from tho making of the-first great basket perambulator in which the sisters gathered foodstuffs from whomsoever would give. When she had approached the late Mr. Edwin Arnold for such a vehicle he quoted £2O as tho price, "at a time when I had not twenty shillings," added the Rev. Mother. But when she explained herself the price was reduced at first to £lO and then to nothing. Laughingly the Rev. Mother told a story of a banker who informed her that £2500 had to be found by the end of the month. "Two thousand five hundred pounds, and I had not. twenty !" she added. When she told the banker her condition he asked what ho was to do. "Sell me up, I suppose," answered the Rev. Mother cheerfully, but needless to say she was never sold up. Tho Lord had always provided. . The Rev. Mother related how the firstcontribution to the Home of Compassion had come from a child, the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. He had asked her if she accepted pennies, and when he was answered in the affirmative, the little boy had given her twopence. She had never been able to trace that child, though she had made diligent inquiries, and now, after a quarter of a century, sho would give, anything to find him. People of every kind, irrespective of race or creed, had helped, from the highest to the lowest. and they were as thankful for that child's twopence as for some of the larger sums they received from other people. Among the many gifts to the Rev. Mother was a beautiful birthday cake, 18 inches in diameter, fringed with ninety diminutive candles—one for each year of the Rev. Mother's life, sent by Mrs. .R. Dwyer, and a profusion of flowers from many friends, including a lovely bouquet from the Public Trustee. Apart from tho £2OO presented by Mr. McGrath on behalf of subscribers, several cheques for substantial amounts were received from well-wishers near and far.