WOMAN’S DEVOTION

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1934, Page 13

WOMAN’S DEVOTION

SOLE CHURCH WORSHIPPER. CONSECRATION TO IDEAL. Sydney, May 24. “A pathetic instance of a saint-like consecration to an ideal,” the devotion of an elderly Scots woman who is now the sole worshipper in a deserted Presbyterian church, was mentioned before the Presbyterian Assembly of New South Wales by the Rev. R. G. Macintyre. The church, Dr. Macintyre said, was an ol'& Scots kirk in Kangaroo Valley, in the south coast district of this State. It had been established by a little gathering of Scots settlers many years ago. In the little building they conducted their services Sunday after Sunday, until a sudden rise in land values demonstrated that the proverbial canniness of the Scot might sometimes be put to a distinct financial advantage.

“Prices of land went up in Kangaroo Valley,” said Dr. Macintyre, “and at the same time word was received that land was cheap in the Richmond River district, on the north coast. So these Scots folk got out while the going was good, sold their properties at a profit, and moved away to a district where the land was cheaper. AU except one.

The bun- of Scots voices has gone. The church stands empty and deserted, and no longer does the minister conduct his weekly services from the pulpit. Yet Miss E. Campbell, a member of one of the oldest Presbyterian families, stays on. “Miss CampbeU cares for the church

building, and every Sunday, properly attired for Sunday service, she makes her way to the little church. There, with unfailing regularity, she plays the organ and sings the old Presbyterian hymns. There, too, she bows her head in prayer, and when the lonely seiwice is concluded, she locks up the

building and makes her way home." But the church must make way for progress, and, on the recommendation of the committee dealing with the matter, the assembly decided to sell the property and devote the proceeds to the building of another church in the near by town of Berry.