Page 213 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 213
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Our first parting from Raymond came in February 1938 when we went up to Hanzhong for a change
while the Bible School was having a mid term break. Several stations had asked to have one of the
students there during the holidays to help with women’s work, so I was anxiously waiting to hear how
they got on and if they were a help or not. The whole purpose of the school was to train them to work
in the Churches and to be responsible for work among women and children of South Shaanxi in
places where missionaries were not available. To train leaders in the Churches would be an important
step towards an independent Church and that was our goal.
In the meantime Percy and I both needed a rest, so we took the children and went up to Hanzhong
where Percy’s parents were always glad to see us and their little grandsons. While there, Bertha and
Sadie invited us out to Xinji for a few days as I had never actually seen where they lived though Percy
had been there for the Bible classes. Grannie begged us to leave Raymond with her so we did and
only took Alan. We found ourselves missing our little son, and though we enjoyed our time with the
girls, and I was able to catch up with dear old Mrs. Wu again, we both got quite excited over seeing
Raymond again. His Grannie said he hadn’t fussed at all and just said that Mummy and Daddy and
Alan had all gone to Church! I hadn’t realised how much he had grown till we were away from him for
a few days and then my first impression was of how big and tall he was. His Grannie had loved
having him there and I always felt she had a special spot for him in her heart because of all we went
through together at his birth.
We had a rather nasty experience on our way back from Xinji. We were approaching a small village
and Percy and I were walking behind the boy who was carrying Alan in his basket on the carrying
pole. Suddenly without any warning there was a ‘ping’ right in front of us and a bullet skimmed past
Alan and Percy who was directly behind him. It was so near that Percy said he felt it whizz past his
leg and I involuntarily had looked across at Alan because it seemed so near him. There was no sign
of anybody about and the street which we entered a few minutes later was crowded with people.
There was nothing we could do though we wondered if it was accidental or on purpose, and we just
thanked the Lord for protecting us.
That was a very minor affair to the one which the Smails went through a few months later. Jim and
Alma Smail were a young American couple who were working up nearer Xi’an, but Arthur was in
charge of them too. Their first little daughter was about nine months old and because Jim had not
been very well and Alma needed to get some dentistry done, they asked permission to go down to
Sichuan for the summer. This was granted so they sent some luggage ahead to Hanzhong and a few
days later set out by bus with the baby. The bus was delayed for some reason and they didn’t reach
the regular stage that night so all the passengers had to spend the night in a small wayside village
which had very little accommodation - rather as we had to do when returning from Henan. There was
no mosquito net and Alma had a difficult time getting the baby settled and trying to protect her from
the swarms of mosquitoes that plagued them. It was quite late before they finally dropped off to sleep,
but they seemed to have only slept for a few minutes when they were wakened by lights flashing and
guns being fired and jumped up to find themselves surrounded by brigands. Several of these men
guarded the door while the rest searched the passengers. Most of those travelling were military
people and one man had $980 in military funds with him, all of which they took. One Chinese lady and
gentleman who were travelling with their two little girls, had quite a lot of money with them and the lady
managed to hide some of it for quite a while, but it was eventually found and the brigand was so mad
with her that he slapped her face. Alma said she saw the husband bite his lips hard and clench his
fists, but the men were shooting so wildly that he would probably have been shot dead if he had said
anything. They were furious with the Smails because they had so little money with them and searched
both of them thoroughly, finally slashing Jim around the shoulders with their knives. At last they went,
leaving everything they didn’t want to take in a confused heap on the floor. Alma’s skirt had been torn
213
Amy Moore
Our first parting from Raymond came in February 1938 when we went up to Hanzhong for a change
while the Bible School was having a mid term break. Several stations had asked to have one of the
students there during the holidays to help with women’s work, so I was anxiously waiting to hear how
they got on and if they were a help or not. The whole purpose of the school was to train them to work
in the Churches and to be responsible for work among women and children of South Shaanxi in
places where missionaries were not available. To train leaders in the Churches would be an important
step towards an independent Church and that was our goal.
In the meantime Percy and I both needed a rest, so we took the children and went up to Hanzhong
where Percy’s parents were always glad to see us and their little grandsons. While there, Bertha and
Sadie invited us out to Xinji for a few days as I had never actually seen where they lived though Percy
had been there for the Bible classes. Grannie begged us to leave Raymond with her so we did and
only took Alan. We found ourselves missing our little son, and though we enjoyed our time with the
girls, and I was able to catch up with dear old Mrs. Wu again, we both got quite excited over seeing
Raymond again. His Grannie said he hadn’t fussed at all and just said that Mummy and Daddy and
Alan had all gone to Church! I hadn’t realised how much he had grown till we were away from him for
a few days and then my first impression was of how big and tall he was. His Grannie had loved
having him there and I always felt she had a special spot for him in her heart because of all we went
through together at his birth.
We had a rather nasty experience on our way back from Xinji. We were approaching a small village
and Percy and I were walking behind the boy who was carrying Alan in his basket on the carrying
pole. Suddenly without any warning there was a ‘ping’ right in front of us and a bullet skimmed past
Alan and Percy who was directly behind him. It was so near that Percy said he felt it whizz past his
leg and I involuntarily had looked across at Alan because it seemed so near him. There was no sign
of anybody about and the street which we entered a few minutes later was crowded with people.
There was nothing we could do though we wondered if it was accidental or on purpose, and we just
thanked the Lord for protecting us.
That was a very minor affair to the one which the Smails went through a few months later. Jim and
Alma Smail were a young American couple who were working up nearer Xi’an, but Arthur was in
charge of them too. Their first little daughter was about nine months old and because Jim had not
been very well and Alma needed to get some dentistry done, they asked permission to go down to
Sichuan for the summer. This was granted so they sent some luggage ahead to Hanzhong and a few
days later set out by bus with the baby. The bus was delayed for some reason and they didn’t reach
the regular stage that night so all the passengers had to spend the night in a small wayside village
which had very little accommodation - rather as we had to do when returning from Henan. There was
no mosquito net and Alma had a difficult time getting the baby settled and trying to protect her from
the swarms of mosquitoes that plagued them. It was quite late before they finally dropped off to sleep,
but they seemed to have only slept for a few minutes when they were wakened by lights flashing and
guns being fired and jumped up to find themselves surrounded by brigands. Several of these men
guarded the door while the rest searched the passengers. Most of those travelling were military
people and one man had $980 in military funds with him, all of which they took. One Chinese lady and
gentleman who were travelling with their two little girls, had quite a lot of money with them and the lady
managed to hide some of it for quite a while, but it was eventually found and the brigand was so mad
with her that he slapped her face. Alma said she saw the husband bite his lips hard and clench his
fists, but the men were shooting so wildly that he would probably have been shot dead if he had said
anything. They were furious with the Smails because they had so little money with them and searched
both of them thoroughly, finally slashing Jim around the shoulders with their knives. At last they went,
leaving everything they didn’t want to take in a confused heap on the floor. Alma’s skirt had been torn
213
