Page 130 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 130
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
We still have a cap of Percy’s with the JR wolf head between a J and an R on the front. By the time
he reached the sixth form, Percy was the Captain of the JR’s and in fact, he was the last Captain as
the House system was introduced and the gangs were done away with.
It was the custom at Chefoo for the boys to wear shorts both winter and summer until they got into
upper fifth, when they graduated to ‘longs’. Percy remembered bitter north China winters when their
knees were chapped and bleeding but nothing could induce them to cover them up. Esther told me
that when Percy came home to them in Linmingguan on one occasion for the winter holidays, their
servant came with a gift of money for them to buy some cloth so that his knees could be covered!
The time for changing into winter clothes was the time when the upper fifth were presented by the
Wardrobe Mistress with their first part of longs.
The first Sunday to appear in them at church was both a pride and an agony, as they had to walk to
their places amid the stares and grins of both Boys’ and Girls’ Schools who got there early on
purpose. The razor edge crease which was the pride of every fifth former, was preserved by damping
the crease with water, fitting it between the folds of two leatherette covers, and placing the whole thing
carefully under their mattresses. There was an art apparently, in knowing just how much water to use,
as too much might mean the dye from the covers coming off on to the trousers.
(Left) Winners of the 1927 Sports
Awards Senior School boys in
centre row. Percy third from left.
(Below) Percy wins the High Jump
Percy became a Prefect and later was School Captain. He was not an academic and often recalled
with much amusement that Miss Wilson (‘Ma Nipp’) once gave him five out of one hundred for
arithmetic with the caustic remark, “It wasn’t because you got anything right, but because you were
neat!”
His prowess and popularity lay in sports in which he excelled. We still have medals which marked
him as Captain of cricket, Captain of football and Captain of boating. The high jump, long distance
running and swimming the three mile all added to his enjoyment of life at Chefoo, and it was no trial to
him in 1926 when it was suggested he stay on an extra year to try and improve his academic
standard. He and Irene Rouse both took a special course in book keeping that year, a course that
stood him in good stead in his later years, both in the Bank of Toronto and as a Field Superintendent
in the CIM/OMF. It was one of his jokes that Irene got the first prize and he got the second - there
were only the two of them to compete!
During his last two years at Chefoo, Percy’s uncle, George Findlay Andrew, was on the Boys School
staff and, though Percy and his sisters remained as boarders in the school, it was nice to feel that his
Auntie and Uncle had a home on the compound. His parents by this time were living at Linmingguan,
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Contents
Amy Moore
We still have a cap of Percy’s with the JR wolf head between a J and an R on the front. By the time
he reached the sixth form, Percy was the Captain of the JR’s and in fact, he was the last Captain as
the House system was introduced and the gangs were done away with.
It was the custom at Chefoo for the boys to wear shorts both winter and summer until they got into
upper fifth, when they graduated to ‘longs’. Percy remembered bitter north China winters when their
knees were chapped and bleeding but nothing could induce them to cover them up. Esther told me
that when Percy came home to them in Linmingguan on one occasion for the winter holidays, their
servant came with a gift of money for them to buy some cloth so that his knees could be covered!
The time for changing into winter clothes was the time when the upper fifth were presented by the
Wardrobe Mistress with their first part of longs.
The first Sunday to appear in them at church was both a pride and an agony, as they had to walk to
their places amid the stares and grins of both Boys’ and Girls’ Schools who got there early on
purpose. The razor edge crease which was the pride of every fifth former, was preserved by damping
the crease with water, fitting it between the folds of two leatherette covers, and placing the whole thing
carefully under their mattresses. There was an art apparently, in knowing just how much water to use,
as too much might mean the dye from the covers coming off on to the trousers.
(Left) Winners of the 1927 Sports
Awards Senior School boys in
centre row. Percy third from left.
(Below) Percy wins the High Jump
Percy became a Prefect and later was School Captain. He was not an academic and often recalled
with much amusement that Miss Wilson (‘Ma Nipp’) once gave him five out of one hundred for
arithmetic with the caustic remark, “It wasn’t because you got anything right, but because you were
neat!”
His prowess and popularity lay in sports in which he excelled. We still have medals which marked
him as Captain of cricket, Captain of football and Captain of boating. The high jump, long distance
running and swimming the three mile all added to his enjoyment of life at Chefoo, and it was no trial to
him in 1926 when it was suggested he stay on an extra year to try and improve his academic
standard. He and Irene Rouse both took a special course in book keeping that year, a course that
stood him in good stead in his later years, both in the Bank of Toronto and as a Field Superintendent
in the CIM/OMF. It was one of his jokes that Irene got the first prize and he got the second - there
were only the two of them to compete!
During his last two years at Chefoo, Percy’s uncle, George Findlay Andrew, was on the Boys School
staff and, though Percy and his sisters remained as boarders in the school, it was nice to feel that his
Auntie and Uncle had a home on the compound. His parents by this time were living at Linmingguan,
Return to Table of 130
Contents
