Page 180 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 180
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
little ‘daughter in love’. I have heard lots about you from your precious daughter who loves
her own folks so much
Esther Moore”.
KAIFENG HONEYMOON
We had about ten days with Tom and Cathie. Their baby Ian was not quite a year old at that time and
we enjoyed playing with him or taking him for walks. Cathie was dark haired and blue eyed and
vivacious with a delightful Scottish accent and a lovely sense of humour that kept us laughing. Tom
was tall and good looking, with a deep interest in people and an aura of authority which was probably
partly due to his responsibilities as a doctor in the hospital. He could laugh at and with Cathie, but he
was not given to much small talk, and we often had quite deep conversations with him round the fire in
the evenings. He and Cathie were both
working at the hospital and they had an
amah to care for Ian, so Percy and I had the
house to ourselves for most of the day. We
took long walks, wandered sometimes into
Kaifeng City and accepted a few invitations
to meals with some of the other CIM people
on the compound or with members of other
Missions in the city.
On one historic occasion, Percy asked Tom
if he could sit in on one operation, and Tom
agreed. I think it was some kind of a
gunshot wound, and Tom opened him up
and proceeded to pull out yards of intestines.
Percy’s head began to swim and his
Percy and Amy went to Kaifeng for their stomach to heave, and an observant young
honeymoon where they stayed with Dr. Tom nurse steered him outside the theatre to a
and Cathie Murray and baby Ian. seat in the fresh air. He decided the medical
world was not his scene!
RETURN TO SHAANXI
Dr. Xiao joined us in Kaifeng at the end of the week and, when he and we finally left Kaifeng, we all
joined Charlie and Ruth, who were now married and ready to return after a short honeymoon. It was
the middle of winter and our mountains were snow covered. Often we found the mule tracks covered
with ice where water had flowed across the road from high up the mountainside. We walked a lot to
keep ourselves warm, and there were some dramatic moments when the ice across the road was so
wide and so slippery that the mules baulked at being made to cross. Then several coolies got to each
side of the reluctant animal and, with much shouting and heaving and pushing, almost carried it across
while we stood on the sidelines and cheered. Then of course we had to get over ourselves, and that
was not so funny as a slip could mean a fall of several hundreds of feet to the rocks and stream down
below.
When we got to Miaotaizi, a famous old temple deep in the mountains, we found that the China Travel
Service had opened a number of reasonably clean guest rooms right inside the temple, so we
Return to Table of 180
Contents
Amy Moore
little ‘daughter in love’. I have heard lots about you from your precious daughter who loves
her own folks so much
Esther Moore”.
KAIFENG HONEYMOON
We had about ten days with Tom and Cathie. Their baby Ian was not quite a year old at that time and
we enjoyed playing with him or taking him for walks. Cathie was dark haired and blue eyed and
vivacious with a delightful Scottish accent and a lovely sense of humour that kept us laughing. Tom
was tall and good looking, with a deep interest in people and an aura of authority which was probably
partly due to his responsibilities as a doctor in the hospital. He could laugh at and with Cathie, but he
was not given to much small talk, and we often had quite deep conversations with him round the fire in
the evenings. He and Cathie were both
working at the hospital and they had an
amah to care for Ian, so Percy and I had the
house to ourselves for most of the day. We
took long walks, wandered sometimes into
Kaifeng City and accepted a few invitations
to meals with some of the other CIM people
on the compound or with members of other
Missions in the city.
On one historic occasion, Percy asked Tom
if he could sit in on one operation, and Tom
agreed. I think it was some kind of a
gunshot wound, and Tom opened him up
and proceeded to pull out yards of intestines.
Percy’s head began to swim and his
Percy and Amy went to Kaifeng for their stomach to heave, and an observant young
honeymoon where they stayed with Dr. Tom nurse steered him outside the theatre to a
and Cathie Murray and baby Ian. seat in the fresh air. He decided the medical
world was not his scene!
RETURN TO SHAANXI
Dr. Xiao joined us in Kaifeng at the end of the week and, when he and we finally left Kaifeng, we all
joined Charlie and Ruth, who were now married and ready to return after a short honeymoon. It was
the middle of winter and our mountains were snow covered. Often we found the mule tracks covered
with ice where water had flowed across the road from high up the mountainside. We walked a lot to
keep ourselves warm, and there were some dramatic moments when the ice across the road was so
wide and so slippery that the mules baulked at being made to cross. Then several coolies got to each
side of the reluctant animal and, with much shouting and heaving and pushing, almost carried it across
while we stood on the sidelines and cheered. Then of course we had to get over ourselves, and that
was not so funny as a slip could mean a fall of several hundreds of feet to the rocks and stream down
below.
When we got to Miaotaizi, a famous old temple deep in the mountains, we found that the China Travel
Service had opened a number of reasonably clean guest rooms right inside the temple, so we
Return to Table of 180
Contents
