Page 253 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 253
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
We had a lot of visitors during that summer of 1941 and that was good even though it made a lot of
extra work. We wanted the girls to meet all the other workers in our district, and also for our folk to
know them before they scattered to other places in China, so we encouraged them to come and spend
longer or shorter periods of time with us. After the DVBS, Winnie and Arnold Strange stayed on with
us for another week. Winnie and I were both thankful for a break after our busy time with the children.
Having her there we had lots of music and singing which we all enjoyed. Winnie was an accomplished
pianist and Ilma had her LLCM for the violin. We had no piano, but Winnie made our little organ
sound as it had never sounded before and she and Ilma played many duets together.
Arnold had come down later than Winnie and, being Acting Superintendent while Percy’s dad was on
furlough, he was able to bring with him the designations for the girls which had reached him from
Shanghai. There was great excitement as each one found out where she had been appointed to
work. Olive, Jessie and Millicent, who were all Anglicans, were to go to Sichuan which was our
Anglican field, but they would not know to which particular station till they got there. Ruth Porteous
and Elizabeth Swanton, who were both school teachers, were asked to take over the new Prep School
for our children being opened at Jiading in Sichuan. Ilma was to go to West Sichuan as District Nurse,
and Ina was to remain on with us to be joined by another of the new workers who was in Henan with
Henry and Mary Guiness, but would join us later. They were to help me with the work among women
and children. We felt pleased about this as, although much of their time would still need to be given to
language study, they would be company for me when Percy was away so much on district work and
gradually they would be more help to me in the women’s work too.
Fred and Marjorie Smith with Ridley and Andrew and baby Lorna, came for a couple of weeks that
summer and our children enjoyed having other children there to play with. Percy cut the girls’ study
time to four hours during the very hot weather and insisted they had a rest after lunch. There were a
few protests that they would never get their exams done, but I think they were really glad it was a rule
and not an option. In the evenings we often took the children down to the river where they could
paddle in the water and play in the sand. A crowd soon gathered of course, but we were used to that
and it was an opportunity to talk to people about the Lord and their own need of Him.
Norman and Amy McIntosh with Linnet and Averil managed to get away from Hanzhong while Arthur
and Esther Moore were away for furlough and, although Arnold Strange was the Acting
Superintendent, he lived in Chenggu and not in Hanzhong. But worse than the work load was the
constant bombing by the Jap planes. As the summer went on, the bombing intensified and we often
had a hundred or more planes pass over us in Xixiang on their way to bomb Hanzhong. In late August
we heard that the street in which Dr. Xiao had his clinic had been badly hit and as it was quite a short
street, we could not help fearing for their safety. The Xiaos had property out in the country and during
the worst of the air raids, the family often got up early and moved out there for the day just to be out of
the city. On one such occasion, their fourth son Job, was on his way out of the city when he heard the
Jap planes approaching, so he threw himself into the roadside ditch. He might have been safe, but
the planes that day machine gunned the road, with the result that Job’s mind was affected by the
shock of it all, and he was never quite the same again. The doctor did all he could for him and wrote
away to other places for advice and help, but all to no avail.
All this was a strain on young workers like the Macs who were still in their first term of service, and we
were glad that we had been able to persuade them to come to us for four weeks that summer. In spite
of his tiredness, Norman (or Mac as we called him) never lost his sense of fun, and our girls enjoyed
having them both with us. Before they came we had had a joke among ourselves over Jessie’s
reaction one day to a remark Percy had made, that in the summer the missionary men usually wore
shorts. Jessie sat up straight and ejaculated in horrified tones ‘Shorts!’ This made us all collapse
253
Amy Moore
We had a lot of visitors during that summer of 1941 and that was good even though it made a lot of
extra work. We wanted the girls to meet all the other workers in our district, and also for our folk to
know them before they scattered to other places in China, so we encouraged them to come and spend
longer or shorter periods of time with us. After the DVBS, Winnie and Arnold Strange stayed on with
us for another week. Winnie and I were both thankful for a break after our busy time with the children.
Having her there we had lots of music and singing which we all enjoyed. Winnie was an accomplished
pianist and Ilma had her LLCM for the violin. We had no piano, but Winnie made our little organ
sound as it had never sounded before and she and Ilma played many duets together.
Arnold had come down later than Winnie and, being Acting Superintendent while Percy’s dad was on
furlough, he was able to bring with him the designations for the girls which had reached him from
Shanghai. There was great excitement as each one found out where she had been appointed to
work. Olive, Jessie and Millicent, who were all Anglicans, were to go to Sichuan which was our
Anglican field, but they would not know to which particular station till they got there. Ruth Porteous
and Elizabeth Swanton, who were both school teachers, were asked to take over the new Prep School
for our children being opened at Jiading in Sichuan. Ilma was to go to West Sichuan as District Nurse,
and Ina was to remain on with us to be joined by another of the new workers who was in Henan with
Henry and Mary Guiness, but would join us later. They were to help me with the work among women
and children. We felt pleased about this as, although much of their time would still need to be given to
language study, they would be company for me when Percy was away so much on district work and
gradually they would be more help to me in the women’s work too.
Fred and Marjorie Smith with Ridley and Andrew and baby Lorna, came for a couple of weeks that
summer and our children enjoyed having other children there to play with. Percy cut the girls’ study
time to four hours during the very hot weather and insisted they had a rest after lunch. There were a
few protests that they would never get their exams done, but I think they were really glad it was a rule
and not an option. In the evenings we often took the children down to the river where they could
paddle in the water and play in the sand. A crowd soon gathered of course, but we were used to that
and it was an opportunity to talk to people about the Lord and their own need of Him.
Norman and Amy McIntosh with Linnet and Averil managed to get away from Hanzhong while Arthur
and Esther Moore were away for furlough and, although Arnold Strange was the Acting
Superintendent, he lived in Chenggu and not in Hanzhong. But worse than the work load was the
constant bombing by the Jap planes. As the summer went on, the bombing intensified and we often
had a hundred or more planes pass over us in Xixiang on their way to bomb Hanzhong. In late August
we heard that the street in which Dr. Xiao had his clinic had been badly hit and as it was quite a short
street, we could not help fearing for their safety. The Xiaos had property out in the country and during
the worst of the air raids, the family often got up early and moved out there for the day just to be out of
the city. On one such occasion, their fourth son Job, was on his way out of the city when he heard the
Jap planes approaching, so he threw himself into the roadside ditch. He might have been safe, but
the planes that day machine gunned the road, with the result that Job’s mind was affected by the
shock of it all, and he was never quite the same again. The doctor did all he could for him and wrote
away to other places for advice and help, but all to no avail.
All this was a strain on young workers like the Macs who were still in their first term of service, and we
were glad that we had been able to persuade them to come to us for four weeks that summer. In spite
of his tiredness, Norman (or Mac as we called him) never lost his sense of fun, and our girls enjoyed
having them both with us. Before they came we had had a joke among ourselves over Jessie’s
reaction one day to a remark Percy had made, that in the summer the missionary men usually wore
shorts. Jessie sat up straight and ejaculated in horrified tones ‘Shorts!’ This made us all collapse
253
