Page 154 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 154
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
waving at the other end of the station. I had a loyalty to him which had made me promise that, if God
brought him to China, and it seemed right, I would marry him. There was certainly nobody else I
cared for as much, but somehow I hesitated to tie myself irrevocably till I was sure of what God wanted
for me. This was how I still felt when I arrived in Melbourne and met Wally Pike again. I soon
sensed his excitement that we were both going to China and maybe God had a future for us together,
but I felt quite clear that that was not to be, and told him at once that, if I had any commitment at all, it
was to Harry. Wally still had another year at MBI and in that year he and Jean Robinson, one of my
Armadale friends who started at MBI in 1931 and with whom I had often studied while I was with Miss
Howell, became close friends, and later became engaged. I had no regrets, and was happy for them
both.
Back in Melbourne I received a warm and loving welcome from Miss Howell who made her home my
home for those last few weeks. A round of farewell meetings in Melbourne kept me busy, but I was
able to spend a little time in Ballarat with the Aunties, my father’s two younger sisters, and Janet
before we sailed. Here I met for the first time my Uncle Frank from South Africa who was over on one
of his infrequent visits to Australia. He and the Aunties attended my farewell meeting in Ballarat, and
later came down to Melbourne on 3 September to see me off on the ‘Nellore’ for China.
TRIP TO CHINA 3 September 1931 - 9 October 1931
Dorothy Layfield and I left Melbourne together at 11 am on the morning of 3 September 1931, the day
before my 23rd birthday. We shared a cabin but she was feeling so ill from the influenza from which
she was only just beginning to recover, that she went straight to bed. I tidied up the cabin and sorted
out the multitudinous gifts and letters which people had left there for us, and was delighted to find that
many of them were for my birthday. I put those carefully away till the next morning so that when I
woke up, I could read them and feel the love and good wishes of so many on my special day.
We left Melbourne on a Thursday, and it was the following Tuesday before we reached Sydney where
Marjorie Ament and Muriel Farmer, two more MBI girls, were to join us, and also two New Zealand
girls, Maud King and Myrie Wood. We were to be joined in Brisbane by Miss Jessie Crystall, an older
CIM missionary, who would be our escort to China. We took so long getting to Sydney, because we
went first for a day to Newcastle to load scrap iron for Japan, and spent a very boring day there before
we turned south again. We passed through Sydney Heads at 7 am and I had my first glimpse of the
famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. With its tremendous steel arch thrown into relief against the first pink
tinges of sunrise in the sky beyond, it was a thing of beauty indeed. I have seen it many times since,
but that first sight always remains in my memory.
Mrs. Stanley Eaton welcomed us warmly and took us off to the CIM Home in Stanmore where we
found Mr. Eaton equally welcoming but laid up in bed with lumbago! Dorothy was still not well so she
went straight to bed too.
From Sydney, where we had been joined by the other four girls who made
up our party, we went on to Brisbane. Here we met Miss Crystall, and
from then on she was officially in charge of us. I had actually met her
once before, when we were staying in the same house at the Upwey
Convention. She was a striking looking woman with a mass of beautiful
white hair and a young unwrinkled face. I suppose at that time she would
be about fifty and her dignified air of authority as well as her general
appearance, made her noticeable in any group of people. All this, and the
fact that she was a member of the China Inland Mission which I was
154
Amy Moore
waving at the other end of the station. I had a loyalty to him which had made me promise that, if God
brought him to China, and it seemed right, I would marry him. There was certainly nobody else I
cared for as much, but somehow I hesitated to tie myself irrevocably till I was sure of what God wanted
for me. This was how I still felt when I arrived in Melbourne and met Wally Pike again. I soon
sensed his excitement that we were both going to China and maybe God had a future for us together,
but I felt quite clear that that was not to be, and told him at once that, if I had any commitment at all, it
was to Harry. Wally still had another year at MBI and in that year he and Jean Robinson, one of my
Armadale friends who started at MBI in 1931 and with whom I had often studied while I was with Miss
Howell, became close friends, and later became engaged. I had no regrets, and was happy for them
both.
Back in Melbourne I received a warm and loving welcome from Miss Howell who made her home my
home for those last few weeks. A round of farewell meetings in Melbourne kept me busy, but I was
able to spend a little time in Ballarat with the Aunties, my father’s two younger sisters, and Janet
before we sailed. Here I met for the first time my Uncle Frank from South Africa who was over on one
of his infrequent visits to Australia. He and the Aunties attended my farewell meeting in Ballarat, and
later came down to Melbourne on 3 September to see me off on the ‘Nellore’ for China.
TRIP TO CHINA 3 September 1931 - 9 October 1931
Dorothy Layfield and I left Melbourne together at 11 am on the morning of 3 September 1931, the day
before my 23rd birthday. We shared a cabin but she was feeling so ill from the influenza from which
she was only just beginning to recover, that she went straight to bed. I tidied up the cabin and sorted
out the multitudinous gifts and letters which people had left there for us, and was delighted to find that
many of them were for my birthday. I put those carefully away till the next morning so that when I
woke up, I could read them and feel the love and good wishes of so many on my special day.
We left Melbourne on a Thursday, and it was the following Tuesday before we reached Sydney where
Marjorie Ament and Muriel Farmer, two more MBI girls, were to join us, and also two New Zealand
girls, Maud King and Myrie Wood. We were to be joined in Brisbane by Miss Jessie Crystall, an older
CIM missionary, who would be our escort to China. We took so long getting to Sydney, because we
went first for a day to Newcastle to load scrap iron for Japan, and spent a very boring day there before
we turned south again. We passed through Sydney Heads at 7 am and I had my first glimpse of the
famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. With its tremendous steel arch thrown into relief against the first pink
tinges of sunrise in the sky beyond, it was a thing of beauty indeed. I have seen it many times since,
but that first sight always remains in my memory.
Mrs. Stanley Eaton welcomed us warmly and took us off to the CIM Home in Stanmore where we
found Mr. Eaton equally welcoming but laid up in bed with lumbago! Dorothy was still not well so she
went straight to bed too.
From Sydney, where we had been joined by the other four girls who made
up our party, we went on to Brisbane. Here we met Miss Crystall, and
from then on she was officially in charge of us. I had actually met her
once before, when we were staying in the same house at the Upwey
Convention. She was a striking looking woman with a mass of beautiful
white hair and a young unwrinkled face. I suppose at that time she would
be about fifty and her dignified air of authority as well as her general
appearance, made her noticeable in any group of people. All this, and the
fact that she was a member of the China Inland Mission which I was
154
