KNITS FOR TROOPS AT 95

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 2 September 1942, Page 4

KNITS FOR TROOPS AT 95

WEEKLY PARCELS NOT DISTRACTED BY BIRTHDAY GIFT For more than 18 months now. Mrs | Elizabeth Carey, of Masterton, has , played fairy god-mother to the troops j in New Zealand’s biggest inland camp, i headquarters of the New Zealand Tank j Brigade. Others play similar ro’.cs. ' but not in their 96th year. Week after week despite her years, Mrs j Carey has sent a parcel of knitted wear j to the camp commandant for distribu- 1 tion. mittens, berets, balaclavas and me \ like, all her own handiwork. Ha:dly j a week passes without the arrival at the 1 camp of a parcel containing uo to half a dozen items. Mrs Carey buys all her own wool, and each article is turned out with meticulous skill. The mittens which she knits are particularly popular, as they are made full length with a slit across , the palm, so that they can be used either as fingerless gloves (he whole l and, or as mittens, according i to the >rk the user is doing. When it was learned in camp tiiat | Mrs Carey had been presented wilh a se* T en volume edition of Gibbon’s Decline ctid Fall of the Roman Empir j ' cn her 95th birthday, it was feared that she might be distracted from hci work for the troops. But the fears were groundless. It would take more than seven monumental volumes of Gibbon to upset her equanimity and quiet sense ! of humour, and her unselfish contx bui tions to the comfort of the boys m this i j camp havenerntinued to arrive regularly j j for distribution to a widening circle 'T ) appreciative recipients.