LIFE OF A KELLS WOMAN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume X, Issue 489, 25 August 1882, Page 13

LIFE OF A KELLS WOMAN.

(From the Meath Advertiser.') Elizabeth Hoey, familiarly known aa " Betty the Pao-xn » was in early lifa an under servant to the late Marquis of Headford • but having lo6t the use of one of her hands, she was dismissed with a small weekly allowance. It was about the year 1856 that she was obliged to leave the service of the Marquis, and went to live in Kells, where she chiefly depended for her support on the charity of the people. Here some of the annals of the Holy Childhood fell into her bauds, aud so touched was she by what she read about the destitute slate of children in heathen lands, that she thenceforth devoted herself with extraordinary zeal and self sacrifice to collecting and saving money for the missions of the Holy Childhood Betty would go through the town on market days, asking everyone she met, Protestant as well as Catholic, to give her a small aim for " her pagan childher," as she called them, and pleading their cause in such a truly maternal manner, that Bhe rarely failed to enlist the sympathy of those to whom she appealed. She always continued to read the Annals herself, and thus was enabled to urged the wants of her «• pagan childher " with an eloquence peculiar to herself Her ingenuity to devise plans for increasing her little store was something truly admirable and touching. As soon as a sufficient sum was collected, the noble-hearted missioner of the Holy Childhood would buy a calf, and get a farmer to keep it for a year or two When it was sold, the profit all went to her dear " pagan childher "—not a P « nr V y °I L fc for ,herß?, herB ?, f ' who was livin S on tbe chanty of others. The effect of Betty's noble example and zeal in this respect have not ceased with her own life ; for the farmer whose generosity our m ssioner turned to so good account, still sets aside each year a calf which he calls tbe " pagan calf," to be sold for the benefit of the' missions of the Holy Childhood. May He who has promised a reward even for a cup of cold water given in His name, reward a hundredfold, here and hereafter, that generous Christian, and all who will imitate bis example. Another of Betty's plans was to gather np all the old newsuaoers she could find and sell them to small dealers in the town and country and with the same view she would go regularly to the convent school at Kells, and hunt up all the old copy-books aud other wa^te paper, encouraging the children also to help by making them little presents of toys or sweets. Oace a little girl refnsei either to accebt the sweets or gather the papers, upon which Betty rebuked the little thing seveiely, telling her she was only a lukewarm Catholic Tbua did this zealous servant of God often succeed in gettin* together aa much as sixteen or seventeen pounds a year— a sum whioh, to one in ncr p )sition, might seem a very large amount, yet which was always too little to satisfy her truly apostolic charity. No words could do justice to the ever-incr -asing zeal and charity of Betty Hoey She was known to deprive herself of the few shillings allowed her for her supi ort. to make them over to her dear pagan children, trusting to the Providence of God to supply her owu wants. Nor was she ever disappointed. Often when the pooT old woman had given away ter last sixpence to tbe obj ct for which she lived. God would reward the sacrifice by inspiring some kind neighbour to call Betty in as she was passing, to a hot dinner she never expected, or to do so'ma other kindly service for her. Though her labour of love, the work she felt to be her special mis ion, was the Holy Childhood, yet Elizabeth Hoey never refused herself to any good work within her reach. If her charity was great towards the poor outcasts of Cbina and Africa, it was no less earnest towards those about her at home. I his true-Learted Christian woman was kno vn to lend the clothes off her back to enable poor people to g ) to Mass on Sunday, fit. Martin's act of dividing bis cloak with the mendicant he met on the way has been lightly recorded for the example and admiiation of all ages ; but in what is this other inferior to it ? Next to her care of the pagan children was her devotion to the holy suffering souls. Many a pound old Betty collected every November, to have Masses offered up for the souls in purgatory In truth, she lived only to do go id. Her first and chief business however, the cherished work of her heart and soul, was ever and 'alway the mission of the Holy i bildb >od. One of the Sisters of St. Columba's wished to engage Betty's services for the Propagation of the Faith. At first she agreed to it, but after some time gave it np thinking she had best Sevote herself entiiely to the cause of the Holy ( hildhood. Even on her death-bed her favourite object continued to engross all her thoughts. When visiting h( r, the nuns usually found this devoted mother of many souls, infirm and broken down though she was, sorting the pipers the children had brought htr, aud seeking to impart to the attentive little ones some sharu of her own zeal for the cause of dear " pagan childher." Feeling that her end was not far off, Betty, while perfectly and calmly resigned to the Divine will, once expressed to the Sisters a wish that she might not die till after Christmas. " Why, Betty," asked one of them. "Because," she replied, "I expect to get a good jnany presents from ray friends, and I can make something by them for my poor little pagan childher." After a life thus spent iv labouring for God and for souls, Elizabeth Hoey died on Christmas Eve. 1872 in the 70th year of her age, and was welcomed, oh, how gladly how triumphantly, to the heavenly courts by hundreds of redeemed 'little ones whom she was instrmneatal in sending there.