Page 128 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 128
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
CHEFOO
In April 1917, the family went by ship up the coast to Chefoo where Percy and Jessie would start
school after the summer holidays. They spent the holidays together there, and when they had seen
the children settled in at school, Arthur and Esther returned to Shanghai for the birth of their second
son, Douglas. Two years later, in 1919, they left for furlough in England, taking only Douglas with
them. During the two years they were in Shanghai, the children were able to go home for the long
holidays which would not have been possible if they had
Marj, Jesse and Percy at the been still in the far north west.
beach. May 1917
The years Percy spent at the Chefoo School made a
tremendous impact on all his future life. They were years
which he always looked back on with great happiness in
spite of the fact that many of his memories seem to have
been connected with some of the ‘lickings’ he received!
Mrs. Urquart was the Prep. School Principal when he
started in 1917, but she was succeeded in 1918 by Miss L.
Blackmore who had already been on the staff for some
twenty years.
PREP. SCHOOL
One of the first lickings must have been about half way
through his time in the Prep. School. “I forget now what I
had done”, he recalled, “but I had to go upstairs and get a
licking. Syd Best got one at the same time. I can still hear
him yelling! Anyway, after the licking, I was sent into the
teacher’s room where, after a talk and a few sweets, I was
told to sit down and write to my parents to tell them I was
sorry for what I had done. My mother still has the letter. She keeps it in the family Bible! ‘Dear
Daddy and Mummy, I am sorry I was a naughty boy. I want to be Willing and Obedient (evidently the
subject of a sermon heard the previous Sunday). How many teeth does Douglas have now? . . . . .
and so on’”
The other licking in the Prep. School which he and a number of others never forgot, was a vicarious
one. It made him a hero in the eyes of his sister Jessie and many other Prepites. His description of it
was written as a ‘Do You Remember?’ item in the Chefoo Magazine:
“The whole school was going for a walk, and we started out through the back way so
as to get on to the San Lane. Something went wrong. We probably started to talk in
line before we were given permission. Anyway, we all had to stand in a long line, and
the teacher on duty started with us elder ones and went on down the line giving each
one a licking. This went on until she reached the Kindergarten kids. Her heart must
have softened when she saw them, but the punishment must be given, so she
decided that an older one could take the licking in place of the small ones. I may have
offered, or possibly she picked me out as one to whom a double licking wouldn’t go
astray anyway. Be that as it may, I had to stand out in front of the whole school and
take a licking for a bunch of kids who, in those days, I probably hardly ever spoke to!”
In spite of these rather negative memories, Percy seems to have taken it all in his stride, whereas his
younger sister Marjorie, who must have commenced in the Prep. School about a year before Percy
128
Amy Moore
CHEFOO
In April 1917, the family went by ship up the coast to Chefoo where Percy and Jessie would start
school after the summer holidays. They spent the holidays together there, and when they had seen
the children settled in at school, Arthur and Esther returned to Shanghai for the birth of their second
son, Douglas. Two years later, in 1919, they left for furlough in England, taking only Douglas with
them. During the two years they were in Shanghai, the children were able to go home for the long
holidays which would not have been possible if they had
Marj, Jesse and Percy at the been still in the far north west.
beach. May 1917
The years Percy spent at the Chefoo School made a
tremendous impact on all his future life. They were years
which he always looked back on with great happiness in
spite of the fact that many of his memories seem to have
been connected with some of the ‘lickings’ he received!
Mrs. Urquart was the Prep. School Principal when he
started in 1917, but she was succeeded in 1918 by Miss L.
Blackmore who had already been on the staff for some
twenty years.
PREP. SCHOOL
One of the first lickings must have been about half way
through his time in the Prep. School. “I forget now what I
had done”, he recalled, “but I had to go upstairs and get a
licking. Syd Best got one at the same time. I can still hear
him yelling! Anyway, after the licking, I was sent into the
teacher’s room where, after a talk and a few sweets, I was
told to sit down and write to my parents to tell them I was
sorry for what I had done. My mother still has the letter. She keeps it in the family Bible! ‘Dear
Daddy and Mummy, I am sorry I was a naughty boy. I want to be Willing and Obedient (evidently the
subject of a sermon heard the previous Sunday). How many teeth does Douglas have now? . . . . .
and so on’”
The other licking in the Prep. School which he and a number of others never forgot, was a vicarious
one. It made him a hero in the eyes of his sister Jessie and many other Prepites. His description of it
was written as a ‘Do You Remember?’ item in the Chefoo Magazine:
“The whole school was going for a walk, and we started out through the back way so
as to get on to the San Lane. Something went wrong. We probably started to talk in
line before we were given permission. Anyway, we all had to stand in a long line, and
the teacher on duty started with us elder ones and went on down the line giving each
one a licking. This went on until she reached the Kindergarten kids. Her heart must
have softened when she saw them, but the punishment must be given, so she
decided that an older one could take the licking in place of the small ones. I may have
offered, or possibly she picked me out as one to whom a double licking wouldn’t go
astray anyway. Be that as it may, I had to stand out in front of the whole school and
take a licking for a bunch of kids who, in those days, I probably hardly ever spoke to!”
In spite of these rather negative memories, Percy seems to have taken it all in his stride, whereas his
younger sister Marjorie, who must have commenced in the Prep. School about a year before Percy
128
