Page 133 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 133
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
all the activities. I still have his SU badge from those days and, till the end of his life, he read the SU
notes before he started any other Bible reading. The Bible became very precious to him and part of
my memories of our married life centre around his tremendous enthusiasm as he dug out ‘treasures
old and new’ morning by morning and shared them with me later.
CANADA
In 1927 the time came at last for Percy to leave school and go to England to find work. But those
were depression years and as his parents wrote back and forth to relatives in England, both Arthur’s
and Esther’s, the advice they got from them all was that job opportunities were few and far between,
and he would stand a better chance in ‘the Colonies’. It was decided he should go to Canada, to
Toronto, where Mr. and Mrs. Brownlee who were in charge of the CIM home, were close friends, and
could be trusted to keep an eye on him. So the long connection of the Moore/Andrew clan with
Canada began, for Percy’s going there meant that one by one, his sisters and brother, Doug, followed,
as did his cousins, George Findlay Andrew’s children.
So in 1927 Percy left China for the first time in his life. The world beyond was all new to him, and he
often laughed later at some of his first impressions. The great passenger liner from Shanghai pulled in
to the Toronto wharf but instead of shouting Chinese rushing from all directions to grab the ropes, a
few casual looking white workmen strolled leisurely to catch the ropes thrown to them and secure
them. To see white men doing coolie’s work was altogether foreign to anything in Percy’s
background.
Then there were the GIRLS! Percy’s experience of girls in China, apart from his own sisters and his
cousin Aileen, was mainly to admire from a distance or through clandestine letters. He had not been
in Toronto long before Mr. Brownlee found a job for him in the Bank of Nova Scotia on the corner of
Bloor and Spandina Streets. It was a branch used by a good many young people studying at the
University, and when Percy became a teller and had to face these bright young girls across the
counter, he was almost petrified with embarrassment. In fact, for the first time or two he flatly refused
to deal with them and called another teller to take his place.
Before long, quite a number of boys of Percy’s vintage had come from Chefoo to take up life in
Toronto and find work there. It was not long before they decided to
move out of the CIM home and take a flat together. Harold Warren,
Bruce Clinton, Walter Tyler, Percy and, later his cousin Les Andrew,
all shared everything, even their clothes when necessary.
If one of them had a date and others didn’t, they all rallied around to
make sure he lacked nothing to make it a good evening, or to make
a good impression on the lady of his choice. Percy’s parents were
not altogether happy about this arrangement, but he looked back on
it as a ‘fun’ time, and so do most of those who lived there with him.
It was during this period that Mrs. Beal and daughter Barbara came
into his life. Mrs. Beal was a comfortably well-to-do widow who felt
that part of her mission in life was to help the children of
Barbara missionaries, and to try and keep them on the ‘straight and narrow’.
Certainly her home and her hospitality did much to make the boys
who had no home of their own, feel they had a centre where they were always welcome. Barbara
was about their own age and brought into their lives girls from Christian families who gave them
133
Amy Moore
all the activities. I still have his SU badge from those days and, till the end of his life, he read the SU
notes before he started any other Bible reading. The Bible became very precious to him and part of
my memories of our married life centre around his tremendous enthusiasm as he dug out ‘treasures
old and new’ morning by morning and shared them with me later.
CANADA
In 1927 the time came at last for Percy to leave school and go to England to find work. But those
were depression years and as his parents wrote back and forth to relatives in England, both Arthur’s
and Esther’s, the advice they got from them all was that job opportunities were few and far between,
and he would stand a better chance in ‘the Colonies’. It was decided he should go to Canada, to
Toronto, where Mr. and Mrs. Brownlee who were in charge of the CIM home, were close friends, and
could be trusted to keep an eye on him. So the long connection of the Moore/Andrew clan with
Canada began, for Percy’s going there meant that one by one, his sisters and brother, Doug, followed,
as did his cousins, George Findlay Andrew’s children.
So in 1927 Percy left China for the first time in his life. The world beyond was all new to him, and he
often laughed later at some of his first impressions. The great passenger liner from Shanghai pulled in
to the Toronto wharf but instead of shouting Chinese rushing from all directions to grab the ropes, a
few casual looking white workmen strolled leisurely to catch the ropes thrown to them and secure
them. To see white men doing coolie’s work was altogether foreign to anything in Percy’s
background.
Then there were the GIRLS! Percy’s experience of girls in China, apart from his own sisters and his
cousin Aileen, was mainly to admire from a distance or through clandestine letters. He had not been
in Toronto long before Mr. Brownlee found a job for him in the Bank of Nova Scotia on the corner of
Bloor and Spandina Streets. It was a branch used by a good many young people studying at the
University, and when Percy became a teller and had to face these bright young girls across the
counter, he was almost petrified with embarrassment. In fact, for the first time or two he flatly refused
to deal with them and called another teller to take his place.
Before long, quite a number of boys of Percy’s vintage had come from Chefoo to take up life in
Toronto and find work there. It was not long before they decided to
move out of the CIM home and take a flat together. Harold Warren,
Bruce Clinton, Walter Tyler, Percy and, later his cousin Les Andrew,
all shared everything, even their clothes when necessary.
If one of them had a date and others didn’t, they all rallied around to
make sure he lacked nothing to make it a good evening, or to make
a good impression on the lady of his choice. Percy’s parents were
not altogether happy about this arrangement, but he looked back on
it as a ‘fun’ time, and so do most of those who lived there with him.
It was during this period that Mrs. Beal and daughter Barbara came
into his life. Mrs. Beal was a comfortably well-to-do widow who felt
that part of her mission in life was to help the children of
Barbara missionaries, and to try and keep them on the ‘straight and narrow’.
Certainly her home and her hospitality did much to make the boys
who had no home of their own, feel they had a centre where they were always welcome. Barbara
was about their own age and brought into their lives girls from Christian families who gave them
133
