Page 246 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 246
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
THE WAR YEARS 1941 - 1945
I am calling this section ‘The War Years’ because, although the war in Europe began in 1939, except
for minor inconveniences, it was not until 1941 that we began to really understand what war meant.
By the middle of February 1941 we were beginning to settle back into life in Xixiang with our seven
‘maidens’. My letters home tell about those first weeks.
“Coming back with such a big family (nine adults and two children) to
an empty house and not having had any time to prepare, made me
pretty busy when we first arrived. I had to buy everything in big
quantities which meant arguing weights and prices with the sellers of
peanuts, vegetables, charcoal, wood, flour, grains and ever so many
other things. Then when we have all these things bought in, I have
to start at rock bottom and prepare them for eating. We buy the
peanuts in their shells so they have to be shelled, roasted, husked
and ground very very slowly on a big stone grindstone if we want nice
smooth peanut butter. For porridge we have to prepare and grind
whatever cereals we want to use, and if we want to make puffed rice
for a cold cereal in the hot weather, I put special rice into a big
Chinese wok filled with sand and heated until the grains of rice pop
like pop corn. Then of course we have to separate the grains of rice
from the sand!!
We have a very nice syrup which we all like to eat on bread with
peanut butter. It is called ‘tangxi’ and that too has to be boiled up
before we dare eat it, and I usually boil some ginger in with it to give it
a nice flavour. Sugar and salt come in big 10 kilogram parcels and
are always so full of dirt, sticks, beesheads and other unappetising
things, that they too have to be cleaned. How do I do it? I get the
biggest saucepan I can find, tip the sugar in and cover it with water.
Then I crunch up several handfuls of egg shells saved specially for
the purpose, add them to the sugar and bring it to the boil. As it boils
the dirt and sticks and other things all come to the top and I skim
them off. Finally I strain it all through a muslin cloth and boil it again
hard, until it ‘spins a thread’, when I beat it until it granulates again.
By that time it looks a lot cleaner than it did. I treat the salt more or
less in the same way. In this way I can use both salt and sugar for
preserving meat, making our own hams and bacon, and to make jam
and bottle fruit. But it is a lot of work, especially when I have such a
big family and many visitors passing through or staying. Of course I
try to teach my cook to do some of these things, but he has plenty to
do just keeping up with the meals. It looks as if my work for awhile
will be housekeeping for the new workers, but I would like to be able
to get in a little work among the Chinese women as well.”
Percy had the school whitewashed and fixed up nicely for the girls to live in and study in, but they
came up to us for all their meals and prayers together. The school was another big compound at the
bottom of our garden with a gateway between them and us, so all they had to do was to walk up
though our garden.
246
Amy Moore
THE WAR YEARS 1941 - 1945
I am calling this section ‘The War Years’ because, although the war in Europe began in 1939, except
for minor inconveniences, it was not until 1941 that we began to really understand what war meant.
By the middle of February 1941 we were beginning to settle back into life in Xixiang with our seven
‘maidens’. My letters home tell about those first weeks.
“Coming back with such a big family (nine adults and two children) to
an empty house and not having had any time to prepare, made me
pretty busy when we first arrived. I had to buy everything in big
quantities which meant arguing weights and prices with the sellers of
peanuts, vegetables, charcoal, wood, flour, grains and ever so many
other things. Then when we have all these things bought in, I have
to start at rock bottom and prepare them for eating. We buy the
peanuts in their shells so they have to be shelled, roasted, husked
and ground very very slowly on a big stone grindstone if we want nice
smooth peanut butter. For porridge we have to prepare and grind
whatever cereals we want to use, and if we want to make puffed rice
for a cold cereal in the hot weather, I put special rice into a big
Chinese wok filled with sand and heated until the grains of rice pop
like pop corn. Then of course we have to separate the grains of rice
from the sand!!
We have a very nice syrup which we all like to eat on bread with
peanut butter. It is called ‘tangxi’ and that too has to be boiled up
before we dare eat it, and I usually boil some ginger in with it to give it
a nice flavour. Sugar and salt come in big 10 kilogram parcels and
are always so full of dirt, sticks, beesheads and other unappetising
things, that they too have to be cleaned. How do I do it? I get the
biggest saucepan I can find, tip the sugar in and cover it with water.
Then I crunch up several handfuls of egg shells saved specially for
the purpose, add them to the sugar and bring it to the boil. As it boils
the dirt and sticks and other things all come to the top and I skim
them off. Finally I strain it all through a muslin cloth and boil it again
hard, until it ‘spins a thread’, when I beat it until it granulates again.
By that time it looks a lot cleaner than it did. I treat the salt more or
less in the same way. In this way I can use both salt and sugar for
preserving meat, making our own hams and bacon, and to make jam
and bottle fruit. But it is a lot of work, especially when I have such a
big family and many visitors passing through or staying. Of course I
try to teach my cook to do some of these things, but he has plenty to
do just keeping up with the meals. It looks as if my work for awhile
will be housekeeping for the new workers, but I would like to be able
to get in a little work among the Chinese women as well.”
Percy had the school whitewashed and fixed up nicely for the girls to live in and study in, but they
came up to us for all their meals and prayers together. The school was another big compound at the
bottom of our garden with a gateway between them and us, so all they had to do was to walk up
though our garden.
246
