Page 158 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 158
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
The new buildings were put up under the direction of our own Mission architect and had been
occupied earlier in the year of our arrival. It was not long before we had further proof that our move
from Wusong Road had been in God’s planning, because that whole area became a centre for
Japanese people and, with trouble brewing between China and Japan, we were safer out of it. Later
that area became a centre for some of the worst bombings in Shanghai.
The new buildings in 1531 Xinzha Road consisted of two large five or six storey blocks. One was the
administrative block with all the offices, Post Office, financial department and business department
which served the whole Mission, and also flats for all the heads of departments and their wives, and
flats for their stenographers also. On the ground floor of that building was the big Prayer Hall where
meetings were often held. The other building was built with sufficient bedrooms to accommodate all
the various missionaries who came and went to and from the interior of China. The top floor was set
up as a hospital with our own doctors and nurses who took care of any of us who needed medical
attention. On the ground floor was a big sitting room with several other smaller rooms suitable for
private talks and also a huge dining room and the kitchens. Separate from all these was an enormous
boxroom (godown) where we spent a lot of time during the next few days sorting out what we would
need for the next six months or so we were to be at Language School, and leaving the rest until we
came back before setting off into the interior.
Our days were full as we each had to have a private interview with each of the Headquarters Staff
including Mr. Hoste, our General Director and Mr. Gibb, his assistant, as well as the Mission Secretary
and the Treasurer. We paid a visit to the Business Department where we were able to change our
Australian money and buy language study books as well as some of the heavier underwear we would
need for winter in Yangzhou.
YANGZHOU LANGUAGE SCHOOL
On the morning of 13 October 1931, we were up bright
and early, and as soon as breakfast was over, our
indefatigable transport manager took us off to the
railway station to get our train to Zhenjiang. Since
Miss Crystall had a few days to spare before she could
go inland, she was asked to escort us to Yanzhou.
She was pleased to do this as she felt we almost
belonged to her by now.
We found the train surprisingly comfortable in spite of
the black coal dust which blew in through the open
Miss Crystall in rickshaw windows. We had been warned not to drink anything
escorting new Australian/New which had not been boiled, so we drank only Chinese
Zealand lady missionaries to the tea, and it was easy to buy a good hot meal which we
Yangzhou Language School supplemented with the sandwiches and fruit Miss
Jeanie Anderson, the housekeeper, had provided us
with. Here also I had my first introduction to the delightful Chinese hot towel system. After our
meal, a man came along with a bucket of boiling water and an armful of small white towels, which he
proceeded to wring out in the water and hand out, one to each of us. It was wonderfully refreshing to
wipe our face and hands over with a steaming towel when we felt so grimy with the coal dust. Miss
Crystall had impressed upon us many rules of conduct for young women in China, so we tried hard to
speak quietly, laugh gently and never, never look at a man!
158
Amy Moore
The new buildings were put up under the direction of our own Mission architect and had been
occupied earlier in the year of our arrival. It was not long before we had further proof that our move
from Wusong Road had been in God’s planning, because that whole area became a centre for
Japanese people and, with trouble brewing between China and Japan, we were safer out of it. Later
that area became a centre for some of the worst bombings in Shanghai.
The new buildings in 1531 Xinzha Road consisted of two large five or six storey blocks. One was the
administrative block with all the offices, Post Office, financial department and business department
which served the whole Mission, and also flats for all the heads of departments and their wives, and
flats for their stenographers also. On the ground floor of that building was the big Prayer Hall where
meetings were often held. The other building was built with sufficient bedrooms to accommodate all
the various missionaries who came and went to and from the interior of China. The top floor was set
up as a hospital with our own doctors and nurses who took care of any of us who needed medical
attention. On the ground floor was a big sitting room with several other smaller rooms suitable for
private talks and also a huge dining room and the kitchens. Separate from all these was an enormous
boxroom (godown) where we spent a lot of time during the next few days sorting out what we would
need for the next six months or so we were to be at Language School, and leaving the rest until we
came back before setting off into the interior.
Our days were full as we each had to have a private interview with each of the Headquarters Staff
including Mr. Hoste, our General Director and Mr. Gibb, his assistant, as well as the Mission Secretary
and the Treasurer. We paid a visit to the Business Department where we were able to change our
Australian money and buy language study books as well as some of the heavier underwear we would
need for winter in Yangzhou.
YANGZHOU LANGUAGE SCHOOL
On the morning of 13 October 1931, we were up bright
and early, and as soon as breakfast was over, our
indefatigable transport manager took us off to the
railway station to get our train to Zhenjiang. Since
Miss Crystall had a few days to spare before she could
go inland, she was asked to escort us to Yanzhou.
She was pleased to do this as she felt we almost
belonged to her by now.
We found the train surprisingly comfortable in spite of
the black coal dust which blew in through the open
Miss Crystall in rickshaw windows. We had been warned not to drink anything
escorting new Australian/New which had not been boiled, so we drank only Chinese
Zealand lady missionaries to the tea, and it was easy to buy a good hot meal which we
Yangzhou Language School supplemented with the sandwiches and fruit Miss
Jeanie Anderson, the housekeeper, had provided us
with. Here also I had my first introduction to the delightful Chinese hot towel system. After our
meal, a man came along with a bucket of boiling water and an armful of small white towels, which he
proceeded to wring out in the water and hand out, one to each of us. It was wonderfully refreshing to
wipe our face and hands over with a steaming towel when we felt so grimy with the coal dust. Miss
Crystall had impressed upon us many rules of conduct for young women in China, so we tried hard to
speak quietly, laugh gently and never, never look at a man!
158
