Page 251 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 251
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Perhaps it was just as well I didn’t know how long it would be before I had my next sight of my little
boy.
I was already starting to get Alan’s school outfit together as we hoped to spend the summer of 1943 at
Chefoo with Raymond and then see Alan settled in before we came back to Shaanxi. By this time
Alan was beginning to settle down without Raymond, but kept talking about him and asking when he
would be going to school too. Frank was getting to be more of a playmate for him now that he could
walk and trot round after him. In February that year, not long after we returned, Alan developed some
kind of a rash which I decided must be because of something he had eaten as it was a bit early for
heat rash. I was having quite a hard time teaching him he mustn’t drink unboiled water or eat raw
vegetables unless they had been scalded first. He and Mrs. Chen’s son Fude played together quite a
lot and it was really funny hearing them trying to communicate, Alan in English and Fude in Chinese,
but somehow managing to understand each other.
My letters home at that time were full of Master Frank’s doings. He was trotting round everywhere,
and when Percy chased him, he padded away from him as fast as possible. He usually ended up by
collapsing on all fours and then looking back at his daddy from between his legs and laughing at him.
He was always into something and I felt I needed eyes in the back of my head to keep up with him.
One morning, after climbing into the water butt and getting thoroughly wet, he then spilt a jug of
vegetable oil and paddled in it till his woollies were well soaked with the sticky smelly stuff. In
desperation I stripped him and tucked him into bed for a sleep.
My next letter a week later reported that Frank had just been put to bed after getting himself soaking
wet in a tub of water while I was trying to comfort Alan who had tripped over something, fallen against
the fire and burned his hand. I dealt with him and sent him off to Percy for a while only to find I still
had Frankie to deal with. At this stage he was beginning to learn some Chinese too and, having
picked up some of the words of one of the choruses the children sang in Sunday School, he sang it on
every conceivable occasion. He looked so comical in his long overalls covering his woollies,
wandering round the garden singing at the top of his voice, ‘Down with sin!’ That particular letter was
finished in pencil because I had left it for a few minutes and Frank had come in and spilt the ink.
Never a dull moment!
The big news in February that year was that Dr. and Mrs. Xiao had another son, their sixth, born
seven years after Dorcas (Duo Jia) their only daughter. The doctor had trouble finding a Bible name
beginning with ‘Yue’, the first syllable of the names of his five brothers. Chinese custom decreed that
his must begin with the same first syllable as his brothers and since they had Bible names, he must
too. Dr. Xiao came with Bible in hand to consult the missionaries and between them they hit on Yue
Xi (Joses).
Percy’s parents by this time should have almost finished their furlough, first in Canada and then in
England. Mails were very uncertain and, with the Japanese advancing further and further into China,
travel to the interior was getting more difficult too. The whole district was longing for the return of the
Super and Mother Moo and for their strong hands and wise counsel to be in control once again.
SUMMER 1941
That summer was one of the worst we had known in South Shaanxi with day after day of burning heat,
sometimes up to 106ºF and high humidity as well. Everybody was longing for rain. Every day the
251
Amy Moore
Perhaps it was just as well I didn’t know how long it would be before I had my next sight of my little
boy.
I was already starting to get Alan’s school outfit together as we hoped to spend the summer of 1943 at
Chefoo with Raymond and then see Alan settled in before we came back to Shaanxi. By this time
Alan was beginning to settle down without Raymond, but kept talking about him and asking when he
would be going to school too. Frank was getting to be more of a playmate for him now that he could
walk and trot round after him. In February that year, not long after we returned, Alan developed some
kind of a rash which I decided must be because of something he had eaten as it was a bit early for
heat rash. I was having quite a hard time teaching him he mustn’t drink unboiled water or eat raw
vegetables unless they had been scalded first. He and Mrs. Chen’s son Fude played together quite a
lot and it was really funny hearing them trying to communicate, Alan in English and Fude in Chinese,
but somehow managing to understand each other.
My letters home at that time were full of Master Frank’s doings. He was trotting round everywhere,
and when Percy chased him, he padded away from him as fast as possible. He usually ended up by
collapsing on all fours and then looking back at his daddy from between his legs and laughing at him.
He was always into something and I felt I needed eyes in the back of my head to keep up with him.
One morning, after climbing into the water butt and getting thoroughly wet, he then spilt a jug of
vegetable oil and paddled in it till his woollies were well soaked with the sticky smelly stuff. In
desperation I stripped him and tucked him into bed for a sleep.
My next letter a week later reported that Frank had just been put to bed after getting himself soaking
wet in a tub of water while I was trying to comfort Alan who had tripped over something, fallen against
the fire and burned his hand. I dealt with him and sent him off to Percy for a while only to find I still
had Frankie to deal with. At this stage he was beginning to learn some Chinese too and, having
picked up some of the words of one of the choruses the children sang in Sunday School, he sang it on
every conceivable occasion. He looked so comical in his long overalls covering his woollies,
wandering round the garden singing at the top of his voice, ‘Down with sin!’ That particular letter was
finished in pencil because I had left it for a few minutes and Frank had come in and spilt the ink.
Never a dull moment!
The big news in February that year was that Dr. and Mrs. Xiao had another son, their sixth, born
seven years after Dorcas (Duo Jia) their only daughter. The doctor had trouble finding a Bible name
beginning with ‘Yue’, the first syllable of the names of his five brothers. Chinese custom decreed that
his must begin with the same first syllable as his brothers and since they had Bible names, he must
too. Dr. Xiao came with Bible in hand to consult the missionaries and between them they hit on Yue
Xi (Joses).
Percy’s parents by this time should have almost finished their furlough, first in Canada and then in
England. Mails were very uncertain and, with the Japanese advancing further and further into China,
travel to the interior was getting more difficult too. The whole district was longing for the return of the
Super and Mother Moo and for their strong hands and wise counsel to be in control once again.
SUMMER 1941
That summer was one of the worst we had known in South Shaanxi with day after day of burning heat,
sometimes up to 106ºF and high humidity as well. Everybody was longing for rain. Every day the
251
