Page 186 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 186
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
overheard many conversations between some of these middle aged single women, not only
disapproving of married missionaries (the celibate life was to be preferred), but also of missionaries
who were married having children who would have to be supported by Mission funds and so decrease
the amount which should be going to other missionaries. To ask a Chinese doctor to help in childbirth
was very much taboo and a shameful thing for any young woman to do. At that time I had not even
thought of asking Dr. Xiao, though I trusted and liked him, but now the thought of him as a possibility
did begin to enter my mind. However, a lovely letter came from Miss Begbie to me saying that Mr.
Gibb, who by that time was our General Director, had written and asked her to look after me and
deliver my baby. She would never refuse to ‘help a woman in her time of trouble’ and would be
prepared to come when I needed her. So with that, we got ready a room for her, and Mother was
ready to stay on and take care of the housekeeping, even if Arthur must return to Hanzhong.
Christmas came and went and it was round New Year time, when a letter from Miss Begbie came for
Percy’s father one afternoon while we were sitting having afternoon tea together. I saw his face
change and he gave the letter to Mother to read. She looked at me and I could see there was
something wrong, so I asked, “Is something wrong?” They gave me the letter to read. At Shiquan,
where Miss Begbie lived, they were having some very good times in the work, and it was going to be a
great sacrifice to the work and to herself if she came to Xixiang at that time. I think she was trying to
say she would like somebody else to come and act as midwife instead of her. I was upset, as it was
right at the end of my time, and I thought all was going well, and now it looked as if I was being
deserted. Then I got my back up and thought, “Well, if none of our own people want to help me, I’ll
ask Dr. Xiao, whatever they may think about that!!” I told the others what I felt and they agreed that
we should pack up and go right through to Hanzhong to ask Dr. Xiao to deliver my baby.
Arthur wrote a very polite letter to Miss Begbie saying it would not be necessary for her to come to
Xixiang as we were all going to Hanzhong. The men went out and hired sedan chairs for Mother
Moore and myself and a carrier for our baggage, and the three men walked. The first night had to be
spent at Shahougan in a Chinese inn. Mother and I shared a room, but I don’t think either of us got
much sleep, I because I was uncomfortable on the hard Chinese bed, and she because every time I
moved or turned, she was afraid the baby might be coming. Chinese custom does not allow a woman
to appear in public for a month after the baby’s birth, and the thought of us all being stuck in a Chinese
inn for a month was unbearable.
We moved on to Chenggu the second day and were looked after in the Mission home there by Winnie
and Arnold Strange, and on the third evening we were back in Hanzhong. Esther immediately got
everything organised for a stay of at least a month, while Arthur went round to see Dr. Xiao. He came
round, examined me (the first I had had) and said everything seemed alright but it might be a week
before the baby arrived.
RAYMOND
By the time we had been in Hanzhong a few days and there was still no sign of the baby’s arrival,
Percy was beginning to think of all the things he had left undone in our hasty exit from Xixiang and
wondering whether there would not still be time to go back and pick up the pieces. Our big concern
was that two of Andrew Ji’s Bethel Band evangelists who had been holding meetings all round the
district, were due to start in Xixiang on the first Sunday in January. Percy felt he should be there to
welcome them and give them all the help he could. We talked it over and decided that he and Rob
Ament, Marj Smith’s younger brother, who had just arrived in Hanzhong after Language School,
should cycle together to Xixiang, be there for the beginning of the meetings, and then come back,
hopefully in time for the birth of our baby. It was on that Sunday that the labour pains began, not very
186
Amy Moore
overheard many conversations between some of these middle aged single women, not only
disapproving of married missionaries (the celibate life was to be preferred), but also of missionaries
who were married having children who would have to be supported by Mission funds and so decrease
the amount which should be going to other missionaries. To ask a Chinese doctor to help in childbirth
was very much taboo and a shameful thing for any young woman to do. At that time I had not even
thought of asking Dr. Xiao, though I trusted and liked him, but now the thought of him as a possibility
did begin to enter my mind. However, a lovely letter came from Miss Begbie to me saying that Mr.
Gibb, who by that time was our General Director, had written and asked her to look after me and
deliver my baby. She would never refuse to ‘help a woman in her time of trouble’ and would be
prepared to come when I needed her. So with that, we got ready a room for her, and Mother was
ready to stay on and take care of the housekeeping, even if Arthur must return to Hanzhong.
Christmas came and went and it was round New Year time, when a letter from Miss Begbie came for
Percy’s father one afternoon while we were sitting having afternoon tea together. I saw his face
change and he gave the letter to Mother to read. She looked at me and I could see there was
something wrong, so I asked, “Is something wrong?” They gave me the letter to read. At Shiquan,
where Miss Begbie lived, they were having some very good times in the work, and it was going to be a
great sacrifice to the work and to herself if she came to Xixiang at that time. I think she was trying to
say she would like somebody else to come and act as midwife instead of her. I was upset, as it was
right at the end of my time, and I thought all was going well, and now it looked as if I was being
deserted. Then I got my back up and thought, “Well, if none of our own people want to help me, I’ll
ask Dr. Xiao, whatever they may think about that!!” I told the others what I felt and they agreed that
we should pack up and go right through to Hanzhong to ask Dr. Xiao to deliver my baby.
Arthur wrote a very polite letter to Miss Begbie saying it would not be necessary for her to come to
Xixiang as we were all going to Hanzhong. The men went out and hired sedan chairs for Mother
Moore and myself and a carrier for our baggage, and the three men walked. The first night had to be
spent at Shahougan in a Chinese inn. Mother and I shared a room, but I don’t think either of us got
much sleep, I because I was uncomfortable on the hard Chinese bed, and she because every time I
moved or turned, she was afraid the baby might be coming. Chinese custom does not allow a woman
to appear in public for a month after the baby’s birth, and the thought of us all being stuck in a Chinese
inn for a month was unbearable.
We moved on to Chenggu the second day and were looked after in the Mission home there by Winnie
and Arnold Strange, and on the third evening we were back in Hanzhong. Esther immediately got
everything organised for a stay of at least a month, while Arthur went round to see Dr. Xiao. He came
round, examined me (the first I had had) and said everything seemed alright but it might be a week
before the baby arrived.
RAYMOND
By the time we had been in Hanzhong a few days and there was still no sign of the baby’s arrival,
Percy was beginning to think of all the things he had left undone in our hasty exit from Xixiang and
wondering whether there would not still be time to go back and pick up the pieces. Our big concern
was that two of Andrew Ji’s Bethel Band evangelists who had been holding meetings all round the
district, were due to start in Xixiang on the first Sunday in January. Percy felt he should be there to
welcome them and give them all the help he could. We talked it over and decided that he and Rob
Ament, Marj Smith’s younger brother, who had just arrived in Hanzhong after Language School,
should cycle together to Xixiang, be there for the beginning of the meetings, and then come back,
hopefully in time for the birth of our baby. It was on that Sunday that the labour pains began, not very
186
