Page 161 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 161
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
efforts. My funny bone often made me want to laugh at what we must sound like, and I had to use
tremendous self control not to disgrace myself. At times I was sure the corner of his mouth twitched
too and that made me worse. Two other rules were, never to sit while the teacher was standing, and
never to turn our backs to him, the latter being the one I found most difficult as I tried to get across the
room from the table to the door without turning my back.
We also had an hour in a group with another Chinese teacher for conversation at which no English
must be used. Unfortunately the group teacher I had, was trying to learn English and would take
every opportunity he could, of tricking us into telling him the way we said something in English. He
was a fat jolly fellow and it was hard not to laugh in his class. Miss Griffith took us for another group
and gave us the chance to ask questions on things which we did not understand. In the afternoons we
did private study and in the evenings we relaxed, often together as different countries gave a concert,
or we joined in a musical evening or some other entertainment of mutual interest. We certainly
learned to know and understand other nations in a way which our very isolated position in the
southern hemisphere had kept us from previously.
Yangzhou was a very anti-foreign city and so we lived very quietly behind the high walls of our
compound and tried to make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. When we went for walks
outside the compound, only three or four went at a time and never alone, always with a Chinese lady
to go with us. We rarely went into the city itself, and our walks usually took us out into the open
country where there were less people.
Attached to the Language School was a small school for Chinese girls run by Miss Todman, another
CIM missionary. She had been approached recently by a number of student groups to know if she
would join them in an anti-Japanese movement. The students thought China should fight Japan and
they were trying to force the government into doing so. Miss Todman refused, but some of her own
staff and students wanted her to join and more recently, some groups outside the school had been
making threats against her. A wise old Chinese friend advised her to send the girls home for a few
days (they were all boarders), and let them have a holiday. She took his advice and the school was
closed except for two girls who lived too far away to go and come back again. Because the situation
was getting rather tense, we were warned to be as quiet as possible, especially when we were walking
in the garden or playing games for exercise. A little later we heard the sound of shouting coming
nearer, and in a very short time our compound and the school behind us were surrounded by a mob of
shouting, yelling students, screaming at the top of their voices, “Down with Japan, Down with the
Christian religion!” Then they began to throw rocks and paper slogans over our wall until we had to
board up all our windows that overlooked the street. They themselves boarded up Miss Todman’s
entrances so that she had to climb over the wall into our garden to take refuge with us. She had
already brought the two students in to hide with us rather than have them in the school in case of
attack. After a while some of the students came banging on our front gate. Miss Okey went to see
what they wanted and they demanded to know if we had any of the students from the school hidden
with us. In all good conscience Miss Okey said “No”, and they went away, but she had quite a shock
when she told Mrs. McFarlane and learned that we did actually have two there. She had been away
for the weekend and had only just returned so had not known the girls were there. During dinner that
day, the gatekeeper came in with a very scared face and said the mob were demanding admittance,
so two of the staff went out and told them they would not admit them without an official permit. That
stopped them for the time, and by 3 pm they had all moved off elsewhere.
Apart from learning the language and customs, we were learning some of the annual festivals. While
we were there an eclipse of the moon took place. One night we heard a most awful noise outside as if
hundreds of tin cans were being beaten all at once. We were still wondering whatever it could be,
161
Amy Moore
efforts. My funny bone often made me want to laugh at what we must sound like, and I had to use
tremendous self control not to disgrace myself. At times I was sure the corner of his mouth twitched
too and that made me worse. Two other rules were, never to sit while the teacher was standing, and
never to turn our backs to him, the latter being the one I found most difficult as I tried to get across the
room from the table to the door without turning my back.
We also had an hour in a group with another Chinese teacher for conversation at which no English
must be used. Unfortunately the group teacher I had, was trying to learn English and would take
every opportunity he could, of tricking us into telling him the way we said something in English. He
was a fat jolly fellow and it was hard not to laugh in his class. Miss Griffith took us for another group
and gave us the chance to ask questions on things which we did not understand. In the afternoons we
did private study and in the evenings we relaxed, often together as different countries gave a concert,
or we joined in a musical evening or some other entertainment of mutual interest. We certainly
learned to know and understand other nations in a way which our very isolated position in the
southern hemisphere had kept us from previously.
Yangzhou was a very anti-foreign city and so we lived very quietly behind the high walls of our
compound and tried to make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. When we went for walks
outside the compound, only three or four went at a time and never alone, always with a Chinese lady
to go with us. We rarely went into the city itself, and our walks usually took us out into the open
country where there were less people.
Attached to the Language School was a small school for Chinese girls run by Miss Todman, another
CIM missionary. She had been approached recently by a number of student groups to know if she
would join them in an anti-Japanese movement. The students thought China should fight Japan and
they were trying to force the government into doing so. Miss Todman refused, but some of her own
staff and students wanted her to join and more recently, some groups outside the school had been
making threats against her. A wise old Chinese friend advised her to send the girls home for a few
days (they were all boarders), and let them have a holiday. She took his advice and the school was
closed except for two girls who lived too far away to go and come back again. Because the situation
was getting rather tense, we were warned to be as quiet as possible, especially when we were walking
in the garden or playing games for exercise. A little later we heard the sound of shouting coming
nearer, and in a very short time our compound and the school behind us were surrounded by a mob of
shouting, yelling students, screaming at the top of their voices, “Down with Japan, Down with the
Christian religion!” Then they began to throw rocks and paper slogans over our wall until we had to
board up all our windows that overlooked the street. They themselves boarded up Miss Todman’s
entrances so that she had to climb over the wall into our garden to take refuge with us. She had
already brought the two students in to hide with us rather than have them in the school in case of
attack. After a while some of the students came banging on our front gate. Miss Okey went to see
what they wanted and they demanded to know if we had any of the students from the school hidden
with us. In all good conscience Miss Okey said “No”, and they went away, but she had quite a shock
when she told Mrs. McFarlane and learned that we did actually have two there. She had been away
for the weekend and had only just returned so had not known the girls were there. During dinner that
day, the gatekeeper came in with a very scared face and said the mob were demanding admittance,
so two of the staff went out and told them they would not admit them without an official permit. That
stopped them for the time, and by 3 pm they had all moved off elsewhere.
Apart from learning the language and customs, we were learning some of the annual festivals. While
we were there an eclipse of the moon took place. One night we heard a most awful noise outside as if
hundreds of tin cans were being beaten all at once. We were still wondering whatever it could be,
161
