GIFTS FOR WIDOWS.

Waipukurau Press, 2 July 1908, Page 7

GIFTS FOR WIDOWS.

MONEY AND BUNS ON A GRAVESTONE. Twenty-one poor and . aged residing in the parish of ,HSt. Bartholomew' the Great, London, attended the church on Good Friday morning, and from a gravestone in the churchyard each picked up a,sixpence says the “ Manchester Guardian.” It is said that over 500 years ago a lady left money to provide doles for widows, on the condition that prayers for her soul were said on Good Friday, and it is suggested that the tomb from which the sixpences are picked up is hers. According to another account, however, the same stone has not always been used for the ceremony. It appears that about 1702 an inquiry was made into the origin of the custom, but the vestry-books threw no light upon the subject. The income from the charity is believed to have originally been one guinea, and the practice was to give half the sum to the rector of the church for _ preaching a sermon on charity, and to distribute the other half guinea in sixpences among 21 poor widows resident in the parish w’ho attended the service. In course of time the endowment lapsed, and the custom was in a fair w 7 ay of falling into disuse but for the endeavours of interested parishioners. A conservative estimate places the average age of this year’s beneficiaries at not less than /0 years. Most of them were hale and hearty, but a helping hand was necessary to a few of them in bending to pick up their sixpences. A number of interested persons watched the distribution, one being a man of 85, who had attended similar gatherings for forsy consecutive years. After receiving the coins the widows filed past Mr W. H. Irons, who gave a bun to each offthem. There is no likelihood of the custom lapsing through lack of funds, ■Lt it is possible that in a few there will not be a sufficient number of persons in the parish duly qualified, as the house property there is rapidly disappearing.