Page 220 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 220
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
it was only after a real struggle that he had accepted that God’s call for him was to the aborigines of
Australia. He fascinated our little boys with his ‘magic tricks’ and they were always delighted when he
came to visit. We didn’t know at that time that he was to become a much loved brother and uncle
when he married Beth and they worked together among the aborigines. But that was all still in the
future.
Jack, after trying work on a number of farms in the south west of the State was working in 1939 on the
orchard of the Rev. James Sanders at Kalamunda in the hills east of Perth. Later he wrote of this as
“probably the happiest time of my life”. He enjoyed the work and was his own boss. He also got
involved in the local Scout movement while he was there. He and Jim had always been active in the
Scouts as they were growing up, and both had become leaders, so he jumped at the opportunity to
become part of it again. Sometimes at weekends, he came home, bringing with him great sacks of
beautiful ripe oranges, some of which I made into marmalade.
Mary was living at home at this time and was in charge of the kitchen. She was not very keen to have
help with the cooking, and I could understand that and appreciate the fact that she had a big
household to cater for now that we were at home too. In spite of that, I must admit that there were
times when my fingers just itched to get into the kitchen to be able to prepare meals with all the
modern appliances which we didn’t have in China, and to be able to use some of the varieties of lovely
food stuffs available in the shops at home, so different from China. I did make the occasional Chinese
meal and tried to teach my family to use chopsticks. Uncle Percy on one occasion caused us much
amusement as he tried to pick up the food in his bowl with a chopstick in each hand. Needless to say
he failed miserably!
The family were amused with my fascination for butchers’ shops. The beautifully set out cuts of meat
in the windows on display, never ceased to hold my attention as I compared them with the places
where we bought meat in China with the carcases hanging out in the open and the dogs licking round
underneath them, while we pointed out whatever bit of the animal we wanted to buy.
Muriel was a big 14 year old girl attending the Midland Junction High School at this time. She was
delighted to have two little nephews of her own to call her ‘Auntie’. She often tried to get Alan to kiss
her, knowing full well that he would say ‘No’ and run away to hide under the table and tease her.
There would be great scrambles then under and around the furniture and shrieks of laughter from Alan
as he evaded her.
When we first arrived home, Mother had my cousin Darrell Mercer, Uncle Eric’s eldest son, boarding
with her. Eric and Trixie were living in the country and Darrell who was about the same age as Muriel,
needed to be nearer the city to attend High School. Unfortunately, just before we arrived, he
contracted mumps. He was better, and Mother felt the infectious stage was over, but he was still not
well enough to move over to Auntie Elsie and Uncle Percy’s, a move arranged before our arrival. I
was not very happy about bringing my boys into contact with mumps as they had not had it, nor had I.
None of us got it however, and Darrell soon moved out, but for a short time after our arrival I felt I must
warn friends who visited me with their children, that there was the danger of infection. My old friend
Winnie Wolf with whom I had worked in the Telephone Exchange, was one who came and I had to
turn away, but I caught up with her later.
FRANK ROBERT ARRIVES
The weeks seemed to drag for me between our getting home and Frank’s birth. To make matters
worse, he came a week later than expected, probably due to the many hours of sitting I had done on
Return to Table of 220
Contents
Amy Moore
it was only after a real struggle that he had accepted that God’s call for him was to the aborigines of
Australia. He fascinated our little boys with his ‘magic tricks’ and they were always delighted when he
came to visit. We didn’t know at that time that he was to become a much loved brother and uncle
when he married Beth and they worked together among the aborigines. But that was all still in the
future.
Jack, after trying work on a number of farms in the south west of the State was working in 1939 on the
orchard of the Rev. James Sanders at Kalamunda in the hills east of Perth. Later he wrote of this as
“probably the happiest time of my life”. He enjoyed the work and was his own boss. He also got
involved in the local Scout movement while he was there. He and Jim had always been active in the
Scouts as they were growing up, and both had become leaders, so he jumped at the opportunity to
become part of it again. Sometimes at weekends, he came home, bringing with him great sacks of
beautiful ripe oranges, some of which I made into marmalade.
Mary was living at home at this time and was in charge of the kitchen. She was not very keen to have
help with the cooking, and I could understand that and appreciate the fact that she had a big
household to cater for now that we were at home too. In spite of that, I must admit that there were
times when my fingers just itched to get into the kitchen to be able to prepare meals with all the
modern appliances which we didn’t have in China, and to be able to use some of the varieties of lovely
food stuffs available in the shops at home, so different from China. I did make the occasional Chinese
meal and tried to teach my family to use chopsticks. Uncle Percy on one occasion caused us much
amusement as he tried to pick up the food in his bowl with a chopstick in each hand. Needless to say
he failed miserably!
The family were amused with my fascination for butchers’ shops. The beautifully set out cuts of meat
in the windows on display, never ceased to hold my attention as I compared them with the places
where we bought meat in China with the carcases hanging out in the open and the dogs licking round
underneath them, while we pointed out whatever bit of the animal we wanted to buy.
Muriel was a big 14 year old girl attending the Midland Junction High School at this time. She was
delighted to have two little nephews of her own to call her ‘Auntie’. She often tried to get Alan to kiss
her, knowing full well that he would say ‘No’ and run away to hide under the table and tease her.
There would be great scrambles then under and around the furniture and shrieks of laughter from Alan
as he evaded her.
When we first arrived home, Mother had my cousin Darrell Mercer, Uncle Eric’s eldest son, boarding
with her. Eric and Trixie were living in the country and Darrell who was about the same age as Muriel,
needed to be nearer the city to attend High School. Unfortunately, just before we arrived, he
contracted mumps. He was better, and Mother felt the infectious stage was over, but he was still not
well enough to move over to Auntie Elsie and Uncle Percy’s, a move arranged before our arrival. I
was not very happy about bringing my boys into contact with mumps as they had not had it, nor had I.
None of us got it however, and Darrell soon moved out, but for a short time after our arrival I felt I must
warn friends who visited me with their children, that there was the danger of infection. My old friend
Winnie Wolf with whom I had worked in the Telephone Exchange, was one who came and I had to
turn away, but I caught up with her later.
FRANK ROBERT ARRIVES
The weeks seemed to drag for me between our getting home and Frank’s birth. To make matters
worse, he came a week later than expected, probably due to the many hours of sitting I had done on
Return to Table of 220
Contents
