Page 202 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 202
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
RAYMOND’S FIRST BIRTHDAY
Raymond’s first Christmas and his first birthday were both spent in Hanzhong, the city of his birth. He
was showered with affection and received letters and gifts from a number of people, including Grannie
and Grandad Moore and the Xiaos. Their little Dorcas, who was some four or five years older than he,
loved him very much and was often in and out to see him, offering him all sorts of things that she liked
herself. The first year of his life was certainly an eventful one and I couldn’t help wondering what the
next would bring. He could not walk alone yet, but he liked to stand up behind his pram and push it
across the floor, hanging on for dear life when it went too fast for him. One morning he discovered
that, when the pram would not go any further, he had only to go to the other end and push in the
opposite direction. I thought that was pretty smart of him!
XIXIANG
At least a year after I had been there last, we were on our way back to Xixiang. The Church people
came out to the village to meet us, and of course Raymond was again the centre of attention. During
the winter of 1935/36 the Hanzhong plain had been experiencing a bad famine, and we were horrified
at the tales of distress and suffering all around us. Beggars abounded everywhere, and every morning
dead bodies were picked up on the riverside where we liked to have our evening stroll. I walked
down with Raymond one evening and was distressed to see a child’s dead body lying by the side of
the path. I almost felt guilty that my little son was so fat and well nourished, when others were dying of
starvation.
For miles around, the trees had been stripped of bark so that people could dry it, grind it to powder
and mix it with water to make something to eat. Tales of cannibalism filtered through to us from some
of the mountain villages. Soon after our return, we took Raymond and went to stay at a mountain
village called Liushutian where the Church had an outstation, and there was quite a good group of
Christians who wanted us to stay a couple of weeks to teach them more about the Scriptures and the
Christian life.
Arrangements were made easier as the Xixiang Church owned a small building in Liushutian in which
we were able to sleep and make it our centre. There were three rooms in all, one big one we could
use for meeting people, and two smaller ones, one of which we gave to Mrs. Wu the Biblewoman we
took with us, and the other we slept in. I took a big basket for Raymond to sleep in and, by putting him
against the wall on the far side of the bed, he was shut in on three sides. I barricaded the fourth side
when he was asleep with the basket lid, so he managed to get through the time without any falls!
It was something of an experiment taking him, as he had not been to outstations before, but it proved
a great success. Crowds of people came in every day for no other purpose than to see the foreign
baby and having come, they stayed to hear our message. There were no lack of opportunities to give
them the Gospel and we received invitations everywhere to come in and sit down. Percy was much
amused one day that through his little son, he actually managed to get inside the taxation office! He
was sitting in a tea shop talking to a crowd of people with Raymond on his knee, when one of the chief
tax collectors came along, saw Raymond and held out his arms, and before Percy realised what was
happening, Raymond had gone to him and they were half way down the street to buy buns! Percy
departed in pursuit and when he caught up with them, there was Raymond beaming all over his face
waving a bun in each hand, and the tax collector inviting Percy to his office, and he spent half an hour
or more talking to him there.
202
Amy Moore
RAYMOND’S FIRST BIRTHDAY
Raymond’s first Christmas and his first birthday were both spent in Hanzhong, the city of his birth. He
was showered with affection and received letters and gifts from a number of people, including Grannie
and Grandad Moore and the Xiaos. Their little Dorcas, who was some four or five years older than he,
loved him very much and was often in and out to see him, offering him all sorts of things that she liked
herself. The first year of his life was certainly an eventful one and I couldn’t help wondering what the
next would bring. He could not walk alone yet, but he liked to stand up behind his pram and push it
across the floor, hanging on for dear life when it went too fast for him. One morning he discovered
that, when the pram would not go any further, he had only to go to the other end and push in the
opposite direction. I thought that was pretty smart of him!
XIXIANG
At least a year after I had been there last, we were on our way back to Xixiang. The Church people
came out to the village to meet us, and of course Raymond was again the centre of attention. During
the winter of 1935/36 the Hanzhong plain had been experiencing a bad famine, and we were horrified
at the tales of distress and suffering all around us. Beggars abounded everywhere, and every morning
dead bodies were picked up on the riverside where we liked to have our evening stroll. I walked
down with Raymond one evening and was distressed to see a child’s dead body lying by the side of
the path. I almost felt guilty that my little son was so fat and well nourished, when others were dying of
starvation.
For miles around, the trees had been stripped of bark so that people could dry it, grind it to powder
and mix it with water to make something to eat. Tales of cannibalism filtered through to us from some
of the mountain villages. Soon after our return, we took Raymond and went to stay at a mountain
village called Liushutian where the Church had an outstation, and there was quite a good group of
Christians who wanted us to stay a couple of weeks to teach them more about the Scriptures and the
Christian life.
Arrangements were made easier as the Xixiang Church owned a small building in Liushutian in which
we were able to sleep and make it our centre. There were three rooms in all, one big one we could
use for meeting people, and two smaller ones, one of which we gave to Mrs. Wu the Biblewoman we
took with us, and the other we slept in. I took a big basket for Raymond to sleep in and, by putting him
against the wall on the far side of the bed, he was shut in on three sides. I barricaded the fourth side
when he was asleep with the basket lid, so he managed to get through the time without any falls!
It was something of an experiment taking him, as he had not been to outstations before, but it proved
a great success. Crowds of people came in every day for no other purpose than to see the foreign
baby and having come, they stayed to hear our message. There were no lack of opportunities to give
them the Gospel and we received invitations everywhere to come in and sit down. Percy was much
amused one day that through his little son, he actually managed to get inside the taxation office! He
was sitting in a tea shop talking to a crowd of people with Raymond on his knee, when one of the chief
tax collectors came along, saw Raymond and held out his arms, and before Percy realised what was
happening, Raymond had gone to him and they were half way down the street to buy buns! Percy
departed in pursuit and when he caught up with them, there was Raymond beaming all over his face
waving a bun in each hand, and the tax collector inviting Percy to his office, and he spent half an hour
or more talking to him there.
202
