Page 139 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 139
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Mr. Lewis felt CIM habits must be instilled into them even during a sea voyage, so every day after
lunch they all met on one of the cabins for ‘Prayer for Provinces’ i.e. prayer for the work and workers in
the various provinces in China. By the time they reached Suez and the Red Sea, the heat was
beginning to tell on them and all they wanted to do after lunch was lie down and sleep. It was at that
time that anything in the nature of a steamed pudding partaken of during the lunch hour became
known as ‘prayer meeting pudding’, as it always made them extra sleepy. Desmond (Dizzy) Guiness
dozed off during one prayer meeting, half woke when somebody’s elbow gave him a dig in the ribs,
and thinking he was being called upon to pray, still half asleep, scrambled to his feet and automatically
opened his mouth, “Our Heavenly Father . .” only to be dragged down again by those next to him
before he could interrupt any further the person who was already praying. There were many
humorous interludes in some of the ports as they tried to bargain with the local traders while crowds of
onlookers listened with interest.
Shanghai at last, not the old Wusong Road Mission Home which Percy and Arnold Lea and Ray Joyce
had all known so well as schoolboys in Shanghai, but the big new Xinzha Road compound with its
large Mission Home and hospital building on one side, and on the other the equally large
administrative building with Business Department, HQ, staff homes and offices and, on the ground
floor, the big Prayer Hall where the main prayer meetings and other functions were held.
LANGUAGE SCHOOL
They were not there long, but in a few days were on one of the Yangze river boats on their way to
Anqing where the Language School for men was situated. Mr. and Mrs. Mair were in charge and the
large group of some 70 young men with a few wives quickly settled down to language study. Percy
not only kept his own close circle of friends, but made many new ones too and often found himself
becoming the interpreter between the British and the North Americans. Having lived on both sides of
the Atlantic, he was familiar with the idiom of both.
Stanley Rowe, who was his room mate, became a lifelong friend and Stanley’s loyalty could always be
depended upon. During one ‘rag’ when some of Percy’s friends decided to cut off half his moustache,
they chased him to his bedroom and finally bound him, still struggling and kicking, to a chair, where
they proceeded to lather his face well with soapy water. Stanley got word of what was going on and,
finding the door locked against him, hurled himself through the window, glass and all, to rescue his
room mate. Without his thick glasses, Stanley was half blind, so probably didn’t know the pane was
there!
International concerts and skits as well as international sports were zealously planned for their spare
time and there certainly seemed to be ‘never a dull moment’. Many years later, when Percy and
Arnold and some of the others who went to China first in 1931 were recognised leaders in the
CIM/OMF, we met for a reunion in Singapore. As they reminisced and recalled some of the antics of
those days, I asked Arnold as a Director of the OMF what he would do of he learned of such things in
the language groups today. He looked at me with a twinkle and said, “I’m afraid they would have to
leave the Mission!”
Chinese study was no great hardship to the men who had been born in China and, being put into a
study group by themselves, they were able to write their first section language exam before they left
Anqing. Other groups were slower and had to wait till they reached their sphere of work with its
possible change of tones and dialect before they could write theirs. Percy had forgotten a lot of his
Chinese and, had he been asked, would have said he could no longer speak it, but as he studied and
read and listened, it all began to come back.
139
Amy Moore
Mr. Lewis felt CIM habits must be instilled into them even during a sea voyage, so every day after
lunch they all met on one of the cabins for ‘Prayer for Provinces’ i.e. prayer for the work and workers in
the various provinces in China. By the time they reached Suez and the Red Sea, the heat was
beginning to tell on them and all they wanted to do after lunch was lie down and sleep. It was at that
time that anything in the nature of a steamed pudding partaken of during the lunch hour became
known as ‘prayer meeting pudding’, as it always made them extra sleepy. Desmond (Dizzy) Guiness
dozed off during one prayer meeting, half woke when somebody’s elbow gave him a dig in the ribs,
and thinking he was being called upon to pray, still half asleep, scrambled to his feet and automatically
opened his mouth, “Our Heavenly Father . .” only to be dragged down again by those next to him
before he could interrupt any further the person who was already praying. There were many
humorous interludes in some of the ports as they tried to bargain with the local traders while crowds of
onlookers listened with interest.
Shanghai at last, not the old Wusong Road Mission Home which Percy and Arnold Lea and Ray Joyce
had all known so well as schoolboys in Shanghai, but the big new Xinzha Road compound with its
large Mission Home and hospital building on one side, and on the other the equally large
administrative building with Business Department, HQ, staff homes and offices and, on the ground
floor, the big Prayer Hall where the main prayer meetings and other functions were held.
LANGUAGE SCHOOL
They were not there long, but in a few days were on one of the Yangze river boats on their way to
Anqing where the Language School for men was situated. Mr. and Mrs. Mair were in charge and the
large group of some 70 young men with a few wives quickly settled down to language study. Percy
not only kept his own close circle of friends, but made many new ones too and often found himself
becoming the interpreter between the British and the North Americans. Having lived on both sides of
the Atlantic, he was familiar with the idiom of both.
Stanley Rowe, who was his room mate, became a lifelong friend and Stanley’s loyalty could always be
depended upon. During one ‘rag’ when some of Percy’s friends decided to cut off half his moustache,
they chased him to his bedroom and finally bound him, still struggling and kicking, to a chair, where
they proceeded to lather his face well with soapy water. Stanley got word of what was going on and,
finding the door locked against him, hurled himself through the window, glass and all, to rescue his
room mate. Without his thick glasses, Stanley was half blind, so probably didn’t know the pane was
there!
International concerts and skits as well as international sports were zealously planned for their spare
time and there certainly seemed to be ‘never a dull moment’. Many years later, when Percy and
Arnold and some of the others who went to China first in 1931 were recognised leaders in the
CIM/OMF, we met for a reunion in Singapore. As they reminisced and recalled some of the antics of
those days, I asked Arnold as a Director of the OMF what he would do of he learned of such things in
the language groups today. He looked at me with a twinkle and said, “I’m afraid they would have to
leave the Mission!”
Chinese study was no great hardship to the men who had been born in China and, being put into a
study group by themselves, they were able to write their first section language exam before they left
Anqing. Other groups were slower and had to wait till they reached their sphere of work with its
possible change of tones and dialect before they could write theirs. Percy had forgotten a lot of his
Chinese and, had he been asked, would have said he could no longer speak it, but as he studied and
read and listened, it all began to come back.
139
