Page 211 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 211
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
where I was teaching. Raymond spent a lot of time in his Daddy’s study out at the front of the
compound if Percy was home. If he wasn’t I took him down to the school with me.
Winnie and Arnold Strange had just been to Chefoo for the summer and to leave their little Kathleen at
school. The thought that in a few years we would have to be parting with Raymond for schooling was
never far from our minds. How could we bear to part with our precious little son? I tried to push it down
and forget it, trying to enjoy every minute of the present, but it wouldn’t stay forgotten for long.
By the end of 1937 Japanese planes were beginning to come as far as Hanzhong and we heard that
Xi’an, Fengxiang and Baoji had all been bombed. There didn’t seem much in Xixiang to attract them,
but we expected Hanzhong to be bombed at any time, and many people began to dig dugouts just in
case. Dr. Xiao decided to build a big one in his garden and Arthur thought he should do likewise in
our Mission compound, so it was not long before a place had been dug under the bamboos in the
Hanzhong garden and boarded in, with benches along the wall where we could sit if an air raid was
prolonged.
At first the war seemed rather remote from our lives, but gradually it began to affect us all. Motor
roads were built across the mountains from Xi’an to Chonqing to facilitate military movements. As the
war advanced further into China the people of the West who had never seen an aeroplane up to that
time, began to dread the air raid sirens which disturbed the peace and sent many of them fleeing from
the cities to the comparative safety of the country villages. The bell on the Roman Catholic Church
next door to our compound in Hanzhong was taken over by the Government as an air raid alarm, and
it clanged loudly and urgently when Japanese planes were approaching. The airfield was outside the
city, but not far over the wall from our compound, so as the bombings increased so did the danger to
us.
The Church Conference in Xixiang was held in November 1937 and we had a busy week with about
60 people sleeping and eating on the compound. The Bible School was still in progress and we had
class every morning till 11 am. After that I let the girls attend the Conference meetings, but they had
to take notes and make outlines of the addresses to hand in to me afterwards as part of their work.
The week ended with fourteen people being baptised down in the river. I was helping with the women
so Percy looked after Raymond and held him in his arms so that he could see what was going on. He
was scared stiff and every time anybody went under the water, he turned away and shut his eyes tight.
Afterwards he gave me a graphic description of it all in Chinese, “Mummy, they all fell in the water and
I was frightened as anything, but the Elder held them tight!”
That reminds me of another occasion when there was a funeral and, as Percy was away teaching, I
took Raymond with me. The coffin was outside in the courtyard and we all sat round it for a short
service. Suddenly Raymond’s voice piped up (in Chinese of course) “Mummy, what’s in the box?”
Grins from many of the crowd as they waited to see how I would get out of that one! I just whispered
to Raymond that we had to be quiet now, but I would tell him later. When we got home I told him that
Grannie Wang had gone up to Jesus in Heaven but she didn’t need the old body she had lived in here.
She would get a lovely new one up there so she had left the old one behind in that box!
Our children knew nothing of the beautiful and expensive toys which children at home often receive at
Christmas time, so they were quite happy with the things we made them to play with. The little
carrying pole we had made for Raymond’s birthday was still a constant source of joy a year later, as
was the wheelbarrow we had made out of old packing cases. For the next Christmas I made him a
hobby horse by designing a head on paper and getting the carpenter to cut it out in wood. Then all I
had to do was to paint it, attach a mane, bridle and reins, and add a pole for the body, and a round
piece of wood for a wheel at the end. It was a great success and gave him hours of fun.
211
Amy Moore
where I was teaching. Raymond spent a lot of time in his Daddy’s study out at the front of the
compound if Percy was home. If he wasn’t I took him down to the school with me.
Winnie and Arnold Strange had just been to Chefoo for the summer and to leave their little Kathleen at
school. The thought that in a few years we would have to be parting with Raymond for schooling was
never far from our minds. How could we bear to part with our precious little son? I tried to push it down
and forget it, trying to enjoy every minute of the present, but it wouldn’t stay forgotten for long.
By the end of 1937 Japanese planes were beginning to come as far as Hanzhong and we heard that
Xi’an, Fengxiang and Baoji had all been bombed. There didn’t seem much in Xixiang to attract them,
but we expected Hanzhong to be bombed at any time, and many people began to dig dugouts just in
case. Dr. Xiao decided to build a big one in his garden and Arthur thought he should do likewise in
our Mission compound, so it was not long before a place had been dug under the bamboos in the
Hanzhong garden and boarded in, with benches along the wall where we could sit if an air raid was
prolonged.
At first the war seemed rather remote from our lives, but gradually it began to affect us all. Motor
roads were built across the mountains from Xi’an to Chonqing to facilitate military movements. As the
war advanced further into China the people of the West who had never seen an aeroplane up to that
time, began to dread the air raid sirens which disturbed the peace and sent many of them fleeing from
the cities to the comparative safety of the country villages. The bell on the Roman Catholic Church
next door to our compound in Hanzhong was taken over by the Government as an air raid alarm, and
it clanged loudly and urgently when Japanese planes were approaching. The airfield was outside the
city, but not far over the wall from our compound, so as the bombings increased so did the danger to
us.
The Church Conference in Xixiang was held in November 1937 and we had a busy week with about
60 people sleeping and eating on the compound. The Bible School was still in progress and we had
class every morning till 11 am. After that I let the girls attend the Conference meetings, but they had
to take notes and make outlines of the addresses to hand in to me afterwards as part of their work.
The week ended with fourteen people being baptised down in the river. I was helping with the women
so Percy looked after Raymond and held him in his arms so that he could see what was going on. He
was scared stiff and every time anybody went under the water, he turned away and shut his eyes tight.
Afterwards he gave me a graphic description of it all in Chinese, “Mummy, they all fell in the water and
I was frightened as anything, but the Elder held them tight!”
That reminds me of another occasion when there was a funeral and, as Percy was away teaching, I
took Raymond with me. The coffin was outside in the courtyard and we all sat round it for a short
service. Suddenly Raymond’s voice piped up (in Chinese of course) “Mummy, what’s in the box?”
Grins from many of the crowd as they waited to see how I would get out of that one! I just whispered
to Raymond that we had to be quiet now, but I would tell him later. When we got home I told him that
Grannie Wang had gone up to Jesus in Heaven but she didn’t need the old body she had lived in here.
She would get a lovely new one up there so she had left the old one behind in that box!
Our children knew nothing of the beautiful and expensive toys which children at home often receive at
Christmas time, so they were quite happy with the things we made them to play with. The little
carrying pole we had made for Raymond’s birthday was still a constant source of joy a year later, as
was the wheelbarrow we had made out of old packing cases. For the next Christmas I made him a
hobby horse by designing a head on paper and getting the carpenter to cut it out in wood. Then all I
had to do was to paint it, attach a mane, bridle and reins, and add a pole for the body, and a round
piece of wood for a wheel at the end. It was a great success and gave him hours of fun.
211
