Endnotes - Variations

(1) Variation: ”I understood what had happened. The relatives had nothing in common that they could discuss with Kathleen, they found it hard at times to understand her broad Scotch accent, and they were not at ease with TB patients near them. They went to see another patient who was one of their neighbours, and had to rush to catch a bus and had no time to call and say goodbye to Kathleen.”

(2) Variation: ”It is nice to remember these evenings of long ago, when you were so near a saint, and you felt that God was with you and all about you in the home of the sick and the dying.”

(3) The origin of the half-crown is unclear. One handwritten copy of the story says: ”Some visitors who had come to see their friends had given her the half-crown." But on 24th May 1969, a lady making a typewritten copy of an original manuscript added what she called ‘an epilogue’. In it she wrote: “As you read through these chapters you will, like me, become emotionally upset many times. It is a very touching and inspiring story. “Only a few days ago I was speaking to a man whom I knew worked in Creagh on construction work in the 1940s I asked him if he knew Kathleen, and he said yes, that he had heard the nurses telling little things about her. I began to tell him bits of the story here and there, and when I told him about the half-crown referred to in these pages he broke down and cried. Amidst his sobbing, he said ‘and I was the one who gave her the half-crown.' "After we had both dried our tears he told me that while he was working there, he, like the other workers, were told not to go near the patients or speak to them. "Having heard the whispers about the only little child in the Sanatorium he was passing alone by the veranda one day. The child was sitting on a chair, all by herself. He ran up the stairs or steps and took the half-crown out of his pocket and handed it to her. She beamed all over her face and said ‘Oh, thank you’ or ‘Oh thanks’. Then he ran down the stairs again." This unnamed man was, in fact, the lady's own husband.

(4) Variation: ”But to those who knew her well it was quite evident that she had a lot in common with the ever-popular Saint Thérese, the Little Flower, and with the latest canonized girl-saint, St Maria Goretti. They all had an ardent love for God and a willingness to suffer if he willed. And although Kathleen is not canonized who knows but that she may be as high in glory and in merit as those who are.

“It can be noticed that in features there is somewhat of a resemblance between those of Kathleen and the pictures of Saint Maria which have been published since her canonization. But in other matters they differed a great deal. Maria had a home and a mother to console her, and brothers and sisters to play with, while Kathleen had no home and her memory of her mother was just a dim memory of her babyhood days.

“Maria had an affectionate father whom she called ’Beppo’, and it was her greatest happiness to sit outside their home on a summer evening with her ’Beppo’, holding his hand while he smoked. But when Kathleen's mother died her father also became only a dim memory to her.

“Maria suffered intense pain for about twenty hours, that is, from the time she was stabbed until she died. But Kathleen suffered for months before she died. Maria spent most of the day working, but Kathleen spent most of the day praying, as she was not capable of doing any work."

(5) Variation: "Modern remedies for this disease were then unknown, and owing to a long waiting list, patients were admitted when it was too late; few were ever cured, and it was a common saying that a person was sent to Creagh to die.”

(6) Variation: “By this time many people in the town had heard about her and I was supplied with sweets and fruit for her. One evening I was given some nice juicy plums for her. As I halved them with a knife and took out the seeds I could see that her teeth were watering as she watched me.”

(7) Variation: "I hesitated about going in because I realised what I would witness. The choking death struggle of a child whose lungs were practically gone. The nurse noticed my hesitation. ‘You can go in’, she said, ‘she is quiet.’’

(8) Variation: "There is something peculiar about an October evening, with its little nip of frost in the air, which makes far away sounds like the lowing of a calf or the chattering of a stream sound so near and distinct. In a golf links not far away people were enjoying themselves, life in the town went on as usual, men bought and sold, drank and sang songs, and just because the world went on as usual made it more strange to be sitting alone with a dying child.

“It cannot be described what it feels like to hold a glass of water to the lips of a dying child and watch her sipping it, knowing that soon, very soon, she was going on that long, long journey to the world beyond the grave.”

(9) Variation: “I could not leave her while she was still conscious. I laid her back on the pillow and made her comfortable. Then I rubbed her cheeks and kept saying softly, "Sleep, fall asleep.” Soon the eyes closed and she was back again in a coma. From the doorway I spent some time looking at her for the

last time."

(10) Kathleen's grandmother died a year after Kathleen.

(11) This is a reference to ten teenagers from the locality who were burnt in a bothy (or sleeping quarters for seasonal farm workers) in Kirkintillock, Scotland, in September 1937. Their remains were taken home on the last train to go to Achill.

(12) Variation: "While you have been reading all about her you may have felt sorry that you did not know she was in hospital, craving friendship and remembrance, or otherwise you would have sent her a present, knowing that tears of joy would come to her eyes.”