Page 129 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 129
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
moved up into the Boys’ School, always looked back on her days there as a most unhappy period of
her life. Whether this was the fault of the staff or just something in Marj’s makeup, I have never
discovered.
BOYS SCHOOL
In September 1920, Percy graduated into the Boys’ School. At this time Mr. Frank McCarthy was the
head and had been since 1895. He made a great impression on Percy as he seems to have done on
all who came under his care, though it was probably in his later years as Senior Student and School
Captain that Percy really came to know him well. For three years, during Percy’s time in the Boys’
School, Mr. McCarthy had to return to England because of ill health. Dr. Fred Judd took his place
during that period. What the nature of his illness was, I don’t know, but he did suffer badly from gout
and was therefore given the nickname of ‘Gout’ by the boys. Percy always spoke of him with
affection, as strict and just, and they all admired him because he never tried to catch them unawares.
If he had cause to think something was going on in a dorm or class room which needed his attention,
his firm, heavy tread could always be heard long before he reached the door!
At the beginning of his life in the Boys’ School, Percy seemed to have been rather a rebel. Indeed he
told me himself that during his early years he was always in trouble, and his ‘Do You Remember?’
articles recall at least two other lickings received at that time. He remembered that the master
administering the licking always gave them a post licking lecture as well. Percy used this time to rub
his posterior against an iron safe standing next to the master’s desk. He felt ir rather unfair however,
that when given a licking in the Second Games Changing Room, he had to lean his elbows on the
window sill and keep his head down. The inevitable lecture was not given at the end, but in between
whacks, so that he was never sure when the next one was coming!
He must have built up some kind of reputation for bad behaviour because when, some time early in
1924 he suddenly decided he wanted to turn over a new leaf and asked for baptism, the staff felt he
should wait till the next year. Baptisms at Chefoo were by immersion and in the sea, usually at the end
of the summer term. They were carried out by parents or relations of the candidates rather than by
members of staff. The hurt of not being accepted at that time remained with Percy for a long time, and
to him it was inconceivable that the staff could not see what was so clear to him, that there was a
change inside him and he was really different. By the following year he had proved himself and he
was baptized in the sea at Chefoo on 26 July 1925. His parents gave him a copy of Daily Light in
memory of the occasion and he used it till he died, after which I gave it to Dorothy.
In fourth form Percy achieved one of his ambitions and that was to be able to join one of the two
gangs, the ‘Jolly Rovers’ or the ‘War Arrows’. In the Prep. School he had been a great admirer of the
War Arrows, and this was the gang he intended to join as soon as he got into the fourth form. Right
up through the third form he kept this loyalty but somewhere between third and fourth forms he
changed, to become a JR supporter, and it was to the JRs he applied for membership when he was
able. He wrote later:
“This incensed the WAs, for I was looked on as a potential member. One of the big
fellows in the WAs, who is now an honoured member of the CIM, took me into the
WAs gang room and, after verbal persuasion had failed, I was bent over the table and
given a hiding. Thus I entered the JRs with a halo of martyrdom around my head!”
129
Amy Moore
moved up into the Boys’ School, always looked back on her days there as a most unhappy period of
her life. Whether this was the fault of the staff or just something in Marj’s makeup, I have never
discovered.
BOYS SCHOOL
In September 1920, Percy graduated into the Boys’ School. At this time Mr. Frank McCarthy was the
head and had been since 1895. He made a great impression on Percy as he seems to have done on
all who came under his care, though it was probably in his later years as Senior Student and School
Captain that Percy really came to know him well. For three years, during Percy’s time in the Boys’
School, Mr. McCarthy had to return to England because of ill health. Dr. Fred Judd took his place
during that period. What the nature of his illness was, I don’t know, but he did suffer badly from gout
and was therefore given the nickname of ‘Gout’ by the boys. Percy always spoke of him with
affection, as strict and just, and they all admired him because he never tried to catch them unawares.
If he had cause to think something was going on in a dorm or class room which needed his attention,
his firm, heavy tread could always be heard long before he reached the door!
At the beginning of his life in the Boys’ School, Percy seemed to have been rather a rebel. Indeed he
told me himself that during his early years he was always in trouble, and his ‘Do You Remember?’
articles recall at least two other lickings received at that time. He remembered that the master
administering the licking always gave them a post licking lecture as well. Percy used this time to rub
his posterior against an iron safe standing next to the master’s desk. He felt ir rather unfair however,
that when given a licking in the Second Games Changing Room, he had to lean his elbows on the
window sill and keep his head down. The inevitable lecture was not given at the end, but in between
whacks, so that he was never sure when the next one was coming!
He must have built up some kind of reputation for bad behaviour because when, some time early in
1924 he suddenly decided he wanted to turn over a new leaf and asked for baptism, the staff felt he
should wait till the next year. Baptisms at Chefoo were by immersion and in the sea, usually at the end
of the summer term. They were carried out by parents or relations of the candidates rather than by
members of staff. The hurt of not being accepted at that time remained with Percy for a long time, and
to him it was inconceivable that the staff could not see what was so clear to him, that there was a
change inside him and he was really different. By the following year he had proved himself and he
was baptized in the sea at Chefoo on 26 July 1925. His parents gave him a copy of Daily Light in
memory of the occasion and he used it till he died, after which I gave it to Dorothy.
In fourth form Percy achieved one of his ambitions and that was to be able to join one of the two
gangs, the ‘Jolly Rovers’ or the ‘War Arrows’. In the Prep. School he had been a great admirer of the
War Arrows, and this was the gang he intended to join as soon as he got into the fourth form. Right
up through the third form he kept this loyalty but somewhere between third and fourth forms he
changed, to become a JR supporter, and it was to the JRs he applied for membership when he was
able. He wrote later:
“This incensed the WAs, for I was looked on as a potential member. One of the big
fellows in the WAs, who is now an honoured member of the CIM, took me into the
WAs gang room and, after verbal persuasion had failed, I was bent over the table and
given a hiding. Thus I entered the JRs with a halo of martyrdom around my head!”
129
