Page 216 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 216
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Alma with her baby and I, because I was nearly five months pregnant, were able to get seats in the
front with the driver, but Percy and Bertha with our two little boys and Kathleen Smail, had to perch on
top at the back. Our boys were wonderful little travellers and seemed to look on the whole thing as a
great adventure. They kept well and always cheerful all the way along in spite of early mornings and
long tiring days.
CHONGQING
We stayed a few days in Chengdu in the Mission Home there, and were glad of the chance to clean
up and rest a bit before pushing on to Chongqing, the wartime capital of China. It was of course a
constant target for the enemy and just before we arrived, they had gone through some of the worst
bombings of the war so far. A huge public dugout had been hit by bombs and over a thousand people
lost their lives. They were still pulling bodies out of the rubble. Mrs. Liversidge was the kindly hostess
at the CIM home and she did her best to make us all comfortable under the war time conditions. My
children tasted ice cream for the first time, made by Mrs. Liversidge herself. I thought they would love
it, but was very amused when Raymond made a funny face and said, “Mummy, it colds my teeth.”
One evening the children’s meal was just ready, when an air alarm sent us all flying down to the
dugout. We put the food on a tray and took it with us, and just as well we did as the raid was quite a
long one. Even after the ‘all clear’ had sounded, we could still hear the crash of falling buildings for
some considerable time afterwards. In the dugout I was sitting next to an old German missionary who
had been through a great number of air raids and was a bundle of nerves. Every time a bomb fell she
shuddered violently and I did my best to calm her. On my other side, Raymond was sitting quite
unconcerned about all the noise, and after one especially loud explosion, he said in a very matter of
fact way, “Mummy, that sounds a bit like bombs, doesn’t it?” I was so thankful that they were not
frightened at all, and didn’t really understand what it was all about.
GUIYANG
From Chongqing we went on again by truck to Guiyang in Guizhou Province. This is where Allison
had been working with her mother before her marriage and for some time after she married Roland
Butler. They were no longer there, but Dorothy and Wilfred Holland were, and we were glad to catch
up again with each other. They also had two little boys, twins, and were getting ready for their
furlough, but they welcomed us and we were thankful for the rest.
The trip between Chongqing and Guiyang had been hair raising, and I felt almost a nervous wreck
before it was over. The mountain road we had to travel had twenty seven hair pin bends, and our
driver more often than not, turned off the engine and coasted down. How good his brakes were, we
could not tell, but knowing how badly Chinese cared for their vehicles, we had our doubts. All we
could do was hang on and pray hard.
Percy had been able to get me and Alma a front seat again on this trip. I had Alan on my knee while
Alma had her baby, but being in the front and facing forwards was a mixed blessing as we watched
the hazards that lay ahead. Just before we reached Guiyang on our last day, something happened to
the flow of petrol, so our last few hours into the city after dark were spent with Percy perched
precariously on the side of the truck in the front, with the bonnet up as he slowly dripped petrol out of
our travelling teapot into the carburettor. We were never more thankful to reach journey’s end than we
were that night.
216
Amy Moore
Alma with her baby and I, because I was nearly five months pregnant, were able to get seats in the
front with the driver, but Percy and Bertha with our two little boys and Kathleen Smail, had to perch on
top at the back. Our boys were wonderful little travellers and seemed to look on the whole thing as a
great adventure. They kept well and always cheerful all the way along in spite of early mornings and
long tiring days.
CHONGQING
We stayed a few days in Chengdu in the Mission Home there, and were glad of the chance to clean
up and rest a bit before pushing on to Chongqing, the wartime capital of China. It was of course a
constant target for the enemy and just before we arrived, they had gone through some of the worst
bombings of the war so far. A huge public dugout had been hit by bombs and over a thousand people
lost their lives. They were still pulling bodies out of the rubble. Mrs. Liversidge was the kindly hostess
at the CIM home and she did her best to make us all comfortable under the war time conditions. My
children tasted ice cream for the first time, made by Mrs. Liversidge herself. I thought they would love
it, but was very amused when Raymond made a funny face and said, “Mummy, it colds my teeth.”
One evening the children’s meal was just ready, when an air alarm sent us all flying down to the
dugout. We put the food on a tray and took it with us, and just as well we did as the raid was quite a
long one. Even after the ‘all clear’ had sounded, we could still hear the crash of falling buildings for
some considerable time afterwards. In the dugout I was sitting next to an old German missionary who
had been through a great number of air raids and was a bundle of nerves. Every time a bomb fell she
shuddered violently and I did my best to calm her. On my other side, Raymond was sitting quite
unconcerned about all the noise, and after one especially loud explosion, he said in a very matter of
fact way, “Mummy, that sounds a bit like bombs, doesn’t it?” I was so thankful that they were not
frightened at all, and didn’t really understand what it was all about.
GUIYANG
From Chongqing we went on again by truck to Guiyang in Guizhou Province. This is where Allison
had been working with her mother before her marriage and for some time after she married Roland
Butler. They were no longer there, but Dorothy and Wilfred Holland were, and we were glad to catch
up again with each other. They also had two little boys, twins, and were getting ready for their
furlough, but they welcomed us and we were thankful for the rest.
The trip between Chongqing and Guiyang had been hair raising, and I felt almost a nervous wreck
before it was over. The mountain road we had to travel had twenty seven hair pin bends, and our
driver more often than not, turned off the engine and coasted down. How good his brakes were, we
could not tell, but knowing how badly Chinese cared for their vehicles, we had our doubts. All we
could do was hang on and pray hard.
Percy had been able to get me and Alma a front seat again on this trip. I had Alan on my knee while
Alma had her baby, but being in the front and facing forwards was a mixed blessing as we watched
the hazards that lay ahead. Just before we reached Guiyang on our last day, something happened to
the flow of petrol, so our last few hours into the city after dark were spent with Percy perched
precariously on the side of the truck in the front, with the bonnet up as he slowly dripped petrol out of
our travelling teapot into the carburettor. We were never more thankful to reach journey’s end than we
were that night.
216
