Page 254 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 254
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
with laughter. Somebody must have passed this story on to Mac because, on his first morning with
us, he came down to breakfast in shorts, but discreetly covered by an oil sheet draped around him to
cover them up!
Meal times were always fun and we had many jokes among ourselves, one of them being that Percy,
who sat at one end of the long table with the toaster next to him, would not let anybody else look after
it, but invariably burned the toast himself. The problem was that he told the girls that they would lose
marks on their final report if they dared say anything about the toast. So it became a matter of
endurance to see who could keep quiet the longest, as the smoke from the toaster began to climb
upwards. Eventually somebody would be sure to break the silence to say in an apologetic voice, “Mr.
Moore, the toast.”
A COUNTRY TRIP
By the end of August most of the girls had written their exams and were ready to leave as soon as
there was an escort available to take them to their various destinations. I wanted to visit a woman
who lived some seven miles out in the country, so decided to take Olive, Jessie, Millicent and
Elizabeth with me. It was a long walk and we climbed up hill and down dale, but we didn’t hurry as we
had all day to get there and back. At the last stage we had to climb down quite a steep hillside to the
valley below, cross over a merry little stream at the bottom, and then climb up the slope on the other
side before we reached the Yang family home tucked away in a shady little valley surrounded by
mountains.
When we reached the stream we were ready for a rest and it looked so inviting that we stretched
ourselves out in the cool and relaxed. That is, all but Jessie who felt this was an excellent opportunity
to throw off the shackles of Chinese custom while there was nobody but us to see. Discarding her
shoes and stockings and tucking her skirt (Chinese gown) into her knickers, she set off for a paddle in
the stream. She had just settled herself on a large rock and, displaying a vast expanse of bare leg,
was splashing her feet in the water, when a horrified expression came over her face and she
exclaimed, “Girls! A man!” For ladies to display their legs up to the thigh even when paddling in a
stream, simply isn’t done in China, so Jessie hastily pulled her gown down and scrambled back to
where we were sitting, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. She tucked her bare feet
underneath her and sat on them till the man had passed with his load. She had just unfolded her feet
again preparatory to putting on her stockings, when two small girls who belonged to our Sunday
School appeared out of nowhere, and settled down beside us. Jessie’s face was a picture! In the end
I just explained to the little girls that she had been bathing her feet and was putting her stockings on
again. They greeted this statement with giggles and settled themselves down to watch proceedings.
When at last we were all once more clothed and in our right minds, we set off again with the two small
girls accompanying us as they were related to the Yang family.
We were welcomed warmly and given tea to drink made by infusing a few bamboo leaves with boiling
water. The girls were used to having their midday meal about 12:30, but by 2:30 we were just
beginning to prepare the vegetables, scraping the corn from about twenty or thirty cobs. About 3:15,
Olive enquired if I thought there was any hope of getting dinner by 3:30. I said it was more likely to be
4 pm, but it was actually only 10 to 4 when we were invited inside to eat. All this time we had been
sitting outside in the cool, and had had nothing to eat except a roasted corn cob. Now, to the horror of
the girls, in true Chinese fashion, I began to protest to our hostess that we were far too many and
couldn’t possibly think of staying to dinner! I knew of course that we were quite safe and they would
never think of letting us go without a meal - and they knew I knew!
254
Amy Moore
with laughter. Somebody must have passed this story on to Mac because, on his first morning with
us, he came down to breakfast in shorts, but discreetly covered by an oil sheet draped around him to
cover them up!
Meal times were always fun and we had many jokes among ourselves, one of them being that Percy,
who sat at one end of the long table with the toaster next to him, would not let anybody else look after
it, but invariably burned the toast himself. The problem was that he told the girls that they would lose
marks on their final report if they dared say anything about the toast. So it became a matter of
endurance to see who could keep quiet the longest, as the smoke from the toaster began to climb
upwards. Eventually somebody would be sure to break the silence to say in an apologetic voice, “Mr.
Moore, the toast.”
A COUNTRY TRIP
By the end of August most of the girls had written their exams and were ready to leave as soon as
there was an escort available to take them to their various destinations. I wanted to visit a woman
who lived some seven miles out in the country, so decided to take Olive, Jessie, Millicent and
Elizabeth with me. It was a long walk and we climbed up hill and down dale, but we didn’t hurry as we
had all day to get there and back. At the last stage we had to climb down quite a steep hillside to the
valley below, cross over a merry little stream at the bottom, and then climb up the slope on the other
side before we reached the Yang family home tucked away in a shady little valley surrounded by
mountains.
When we reached the stream we were ready for a rest and it looked so inviting that we stretched
ourselves out in the cool and relaxed. That is, all but Jessie who felt this was an excellent opportunity
to throw off the shackles of Chinese custom while there was nobody but us to see. Discarding her
shoes and stockings and tucking her skirt (Chinese gown) into her knickers, she set off for a paddle in
the stream. She had just settled herself on a large rock and, displaying a vast expanse of bare leg,
was splashing her feet in the water, when a horrified expression came over her face and she
exclaimed, “Girls! A man!” For ladies to display their legs up to the thigh even when paddling in a
stream, simply isn’t done in China, so Jessie hastily pulled her gown down and scrambled back to
where we were sitting, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. She tucked her bare feet
underneath her and sat on them till the man had passed with his load. She had just unfolded her feet
again preparatory to putting on her stockings, when two small girls who belonged to our Sunday
School appeared out of nowhere, and settled down beside us. Jessie’s face was a picture! In the end
I just explained to the little girls that she had been bathing her feet and was putting her stockings on
again. They greeted this statement with giggles and settled themselves down to watch proceedings.
When at last we were all once more clothed and in our right minds, we set off again with the two small
girls accompanying us as they were related to the Yang family.
We were welcomed warmly and given tea to drink made by infusing a few bamboo leaves with boiling
water. The girls were used to having their midday meal about 12:30, but by 2:30 we were just
beginning to prepare the vegetables, scraping the corn from about twenty or thirty cobs. About 3:15,
Olive enquired if I thought there was any hope of getting dinner by 3:30. I said it was more likely to be
4 pm, but it was actually only 10 to 4 when we were invited inside to eat. All this time we had been
sitting outside in the cool, and had had nothing to eat except a roasted corn cob. Now, to the horror of
the girls, in true Chinese fashion, I began to protest to our hostess that we were far too many and
couldn’t possibly think of staying to dinner! I knew of course that we were quite safe and they would
never think of letting us go without a meal - and they knew I knew!
254
