Page 226 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 226
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Percy’s love for Australia began during that furlough time too. I think for the first time since he left
China at the age of seventeen, he felt he belonged somewhere and had a home and a family. He
joined the Bayswater Baptist Church of which I had been a member since I was thirteen, and was
always glad to relieve Mr. Hogg in the pulpit when asked. He made many friends during that year,
some of whom remained friends for the rest of his life.
All too soon it was all over and we were on our way back to China. We had been home a year and,
although the war had been going on for almost a year already, it was that strange period known as
‘the Phoney War’ when nothing seemed to be happening and most people hoped nothing would
happen. Chamberlin’s policies became more and more unpopular in England and Winston Churchill
became Prime Minister, surely God’s man for the hour. America was still on the sidelines, but in
Canada as in Australia, young men were offering themselves for war.
ARTHUR & ESTHER PREPARE FOR FURLOUGH
Percy’s parents, Arthur and Esther were in Hanzhong after we left until the end of 1939 and then they
too left for furlough in Canada with Doug and Marj. By this time Jessie, who had been relieving as a
nurse both in Chefoo and Shanghai, was at last free to settle down to language study in Huilu in
Hebei. Her parents longed to see her before they left China, so wrote asking if she could come to
Shanghai and meet them there. Arthur had to be there in mid January for Council meetings. Jess
hesitated for some time, not because she did not want to see her parents, but because she feared that
once she got to Shanghai, they would want her to fill another nursing gap somewhere. Her deep
desire was to be able to work with and for the Chinese somewhere in the interior of China, and for this
she wanted to be fluent in Chinese as soon as possible. It was as she feared. While she was in
Shanghai Mr. Gibb asked her to go back to Chefoo as the school nurse assisting Dr. Hallam Howie.
Arthur and Esther’s final months in Hanzhong were by no means uneventful. By this time they had
won their place in the hearts of the Shaanxi workers and even those who had opposed them in the
beginning were now firm friends.
Myrie Wood and Jack Beck were married, the Frenchams were settled up in Baoji near Xi’an and Fred
and Marjorie Smith were in Yang Xian where I had lived with Miss Parr before I married. Marjorie’s
younger brother, Rob ament, had married Muriel Farmer from Henan and the two New Zealanders,
Norman and Amy McIntosh were living in Hanzhong to help with the secretarial work and the
entertaining of passing through guests.
So the Province was full of young couples, and to all of them as well as to us, Arthur and Esther
became as parents to whom we could go for help and advice. Esther was affectionately called
‘Mother Moo’ by everybody (Moo being our surname in Chinese), and Arthur was our much loved
‘Super’ whose wisdom and understanding we could trust. To the Churches he was the ‘Lao Mu se’ -
the old Pastor - while Percy as his son was the ‘Xiao Mu se’ - the young Pastor.
Arthur’s physical strength seemed no less at this time than when he was playing rugby in Shanghai.
Chinese Christians often told with awe of the Sunday morning when the old Pastor banged the pulpit
with such force to emphasize a point (or perhaps to wake some of them up!) that the pulpit split in two.
Missionaries liked to tell of his meeting his old friend Jimmy Orr in Jinjiang and giving him such a bear
hug that he cracked two of his ribs.
He loved people and it was often said of him that when Chinese coolies, opium smoking and
unpredictable, were at their worst, he could joke with them and tease them until their good humour
226
Amy Moore
Percy’s love for Australia began during that furlough time too. I think for the first time since he left
China at the age of seventeen, he felt he belonged somewhere and had a home and a family. He
joined the Bayswater Baptist Church of which I had been a member since I was thirteen, and was
always glad to relieve Mr. Hogg in the pulpit when asked. He made many friends during that year,
some of whom remained friends for the rest of his life.
All too soon it was all over and we were on our way back to China. We had been home a year and,
although the war had been going on for almost a year already, it was that strange period known as
‘the Phoney War’ when nothing seemed to be happening and most people hoped nothing would
happen. Chamberlin’s policies became more and more unpopular in England and Winston Churchill
became Prime Minister, surely God’s man for the hour. America was still on the sidelines, but in
Canada as in Australia, young men were offering themselves for war.
ARTHUR & ESTHER PREPARE FOR FURLOUGH
Percy’s parents, Arthur and Esther were in Hanzhong after we left until the end of 1939 and then they
too left for furlough in Canada with Doug and Marj. By this time Jessie, who had been relieving as a
nurse both in Chefoo and Shanghai, was at last free to settle down to language study in Huilu in
Hebei. Her parents longed to see her before they left China, so wrote asking if she could come to
Shanghai and meet them there. Arthur had to be there in mid January for Council meetings. Jess
hesitated for some time, not because she did not want to see her parents, but because she feared that
once she got to Shanghai, they would want her to fill another nursing gap somewhere. Her deep
desire was to be able to work with and for the Chinese somewhere in the interior of China, and for this
she wanted to be fluent in Chinese as soon as possible. It was as she feared. While she was in
Shanghai Mr. Gibb asked her to go back to Chefoo as the school nurse assisting Dr. Hallam Howie.
Arthur and Esther’s final months in Hanzhong were by no means uneventful. By this time they had
won their place in the hearts of the Shaanxi workers and even those who had opposed them in the
beginning were now firm friends.
Myrie Wood and Jack Beck were married, the Frenchams were settled up in Baoji near Xi’an and Fred
and Marjorie Smith were in Yang Xian where I had lived with Miss Parr before I married. Marjorie’s
younger brother, Rob ament, had married Muriel Farmer from Henan and the two New Zealanders,
Norman and Amy McIntosh were living in Hanzhong to help with the secretarial work and the
entertaining of passing through guests.
So the Province was full of young couples, and to all of them as well as to us, Arthur and Esther
became as parents to whom we could go for help and advice. Esther was affectionately called
‘Mother Moo’ by everybody (Moo being our surname in Chinese), and Arthur was our much loved
‘Super’ whose wisdom and understanding we could trust. To the Churches he was the ‘Lao Mu se’ -
the old Pastor - while Percy as his son was the ‘Xiao Mu se’ - the young Pastor.
Arthur’s physical strength seemed no less at this time than when he was playing rugby in Shanghai.
Chinese Christians often told with awe of the Sunday morning when the old Pastor banged the pulpit
with such force to emphasize a point (or perhaps to wake some of them up!) that the pulpit split in two.
Missionaries liked to tell of his meeting his old friend Jimmy Orr in Jinjiang and giving him such a bear
hug that he cracked two of his ribs.
He loved people and it was often said of him that when Chinese coolies, opium smoking and
unpredictable, were at their worst, he could joke with them and tease them until their good humour
226
