Page 217 - Three Score Years & Ten
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“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
KUNMING
On to Kunming in Yunnan where we were to get a train down through French Indo China (Vietnam).
This was not available at once, so we had to spend a few days in the Mission Home there. Kunming
was a busy passing through centre for people moving out of China, either by train through Vietnam as
we were, or by bus along the Burma Road and into India. Everybody was keen to get out as soon as
they could. The housekeeper was overworked, and the house was stretched to capacity as more and
more people arrived from other provinces every day, and the Japanese seemed to be moving further
and further into China.
At last we were able to get seats on a train already overcrowded with people trying to leave China.
We not only had our own party, but Mr. and Mrs. Scott had joined us with their little boy Basil. She
was a very sick woman who needed all her husband’s care and attention so, although Mr. Scott was
the senior man, Percy once again had to take charge. Every evening as darkness fell, the train
stopped at some city along the route. It became a nightly ritual for Percy and Bertha to leap off the
train almost before it had stopped, race across to the nearest hotel, and book rooms sufficient for us
all, before they were snapped up by the hundreds of other passengers pouring out of the carriages.
Alma and I and Mr. Scott had to manage the children and Mrs. Scott as well as count and keep track
of all our various pieces of luggage, while we argued with the dozens of coolies who swarmed round
us shouting and jostling for the privilege (?) of carrying our stuff across to the hotel. Then came the
job of finding food for us all, and that usually fell to my lot. By the time we were all fed and washed
and beds made up with the children all settled for the night, we adults were ready to turn in too,
especially as we had to be up again at the crack of dawn.
Next morning the whole process had to be gone through again in reverse, except that we still had our
seats on the train. The heat was intense and we found the whole journey most exhausting.
Personally I have very little recollection of the country we were passing through except that it was
pretty flat. I do remember the wooden clogs the women wore and the clatter they made as they
walked down the street. The only other thing that remains vivid in my memory is the betel nut they all
chewed, that badly discoloured their lips and teeth.
HAI PHONG - VIETNAM
We were not sorry to get off the train at Hai Phong where we were to board a ship to take us as far as
Hong Kong. It was three days before the ship arrived, so we booked into a hotel and were thankful for
the rest. We still had to provide our own meals, so every day I went shopping to feed my hungry
family. The shop keepers all spoke French and, though I had done four years of French in High
School, it was not so easy to recall it after eight years of speaking Chinese. However, I managed
somehow to drag words out of my subconscious and, with those and gesticulations and pointing, we
didn’t starve. On the ship to Hong Kong it was the same. It was a French ship and our children were
the only ones on board, so every day Alma and I had to take them at meal times to the dining room at
‘children’s meal time’.
Trying to order their meals in French proved hilarious at times, especially when my two wanted
porridge for breakfast and I didn’t know how to say ‘porridge’ in French! It ended with the cook
217
Amy Moore
KUNMING
On to Kunming in Yunnan where we were to get a train down through French Indo China (Vietnam).
This was not available at once, so we had to spend a few days in the Mission Home there. Kunming
was a busy passing through centre for people moving out of China, either by train through Vietnam as
we were, or by bus along the Burma Road and into India. Everybody was keen to get out as soon as
they could. The housekeeper was overworked, and the house was stretched to capacity as more and
more people arrived from other provinces every day, and the Japanese seemed to be moving further
and further into China.
At last we were able to get seats on a train already overcrowded with people trying to leave China.
We not only had our own party, but Mr. and Mrs. Scott had joined us with their little boy Basil. She
was a very sick woman who needed all her husband’s care and attention so, although Mr. Scott was
the senior man, Percy once again had to take charge. Every evening as darkness fell, the train
stopped at some city along the route. It became a nightly ritual for Percy and Bertha to leap off the
train almost before it had stopped, race across to the nearest hotel, and book rooms sufficient for us
all, before they were snapped up by the hundreds of other passengers pouring out of the carriages.
Alma and I and Mr. Scott had to manage the children and Mrs. Scott as well as count and keep track
of all our various pieces of luggage, while we argued with the dozens of coolies who swarmed round
us shouting and jostling for the privilege (?) of carrying our stuff across to the hotel. Then came the
job of finding food for us all, and that usually fell to my lot. By the time we were all fed and washed
and beds made up with the children all settled for the night, we adults were ready to turn in too,
especially as we had to be up again at the crack of dawn.
Next morning the whole process had to be gone through again in reverse, except that we still had our
seats on the train. The heat was intense and we found the whole journey most exhausting.
Personally I have very little recollection of the country we were passing through except that it was
pretty flat. I do remember the wooden clogs the women wore and the clatter they made as they
walked down the street. The only other thing that remains vivid in my memory is the betel nut they all
chewed, that badly discoloured their lips and teeth.
HAI PHONG - VIETNAM
We were not sorry to get off the train at Hai Phong where we were to board a ship to take us as far as
Hong Kong. It was three days before the ship arrived, so we booked into a hotel and were thankful for
the rest. We still had to provide our own meals, so every day I went shopping to feed my hungry
family. The shop keepers all spoke French and, though I had done four years of French in High
School, it was not so easy to recall it after eight years of speaking Chinese. However, I managed
somehow to drag words out of my subconscious and, with those and gesticulations and pointing, we
didn’t starve. On the ship to Hong Kong it was the same. It was a French ship and our children were
the only ones on board, so every day Alma and I had to take them at meal times to the dining room at
‘children’s meal time’.
Trying to order their meals in French proved hilarious at times, especially when my two wanted
porridge for breakfast and I didn’t know how to say ‘porridge’ in French! It ended with the cook
217
