Page 256 - Three Score Years & Ten
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“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
suspected nothing, and it was a complete surprise. They presented me with a set of Chinese teacups
and a teapot and a ‘poem’ entitled ‘Jubilate’ which was supposed to express the feelings of relief the
Moores were having now they were getting rid of the girls! It was really very clever and managed to
incorporate some of the highlights of their time with us. I still have the original, but it is worth including
here I think.
JUBILATE
A glorious day’s ahead for the Moores. Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll bring out all the hidden stores. Hurrah! Hurrah!
For we shall live on cheese and ham,
And eat up all the Sunday jam.
We’ll have a jolly good time
When the ‘jiaosi’s’ have gone again.
We’ll do no more accounts like theirs. Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll wear our shorts when no one cares. Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’re going to do the things we want.
We’re going to say the things we can’t.
We’ll all be off the chain
When the jiaosi’s have gone again.
We’ll have our ‘miantiao’ every day. Hurrah! Hurrah! (Noodles)
We’ll even be able to go away! Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll kiss our wife whenever we please
With Gilbert the only one who sees. (The gardener)
We’ll all be perfectly free
When the jiaosi’s have gone again.
Most of this was a take off of some of the things Percy had said or done while the girls were with us.
He was always pretending to be very restricted because they were there and telling all the things he
could do if only they were not there. In the Church the unmarried girls were called ‘jiaosi’s’. The bit
about Gilbert which was their nickname for our gardener, was because he had unexpectedly appeared
at our sitting room door one day just as Percy was giving me a big hug and a kiss, much to our
embarrassment as Chinese don’t do that sort of thing in public. Actually we missed the maidens very
much and were glad we could keep Ina for awhile.
Alan and Frank had a great time after the girls had gone helping Ina move up to the house. They
enjoyed running up and down the garden path with her things.
The girls had not been gone long when we heard that Arnold Strange was very ill in Hanzhong with
some undiagnosed fever. Soon after that, Norman Mac phoned through to say it was typhoid and very
serious. Winnie was so worn out with nursing him and anxiety that Norm wondered if Ina could go and
help take care of him as she was a trained nurse. Poor Ina had already been delayed in taking her
exams because of her own trip to Xi’an for an operation, and this would delay her further, but of
course with such an emergency, there was no question but that she must go. Mac thought we could
put her on a bus at our end and he would meet her at the other, but we found there would be no buses
for several days, so we found two rickshaw men who said they would do the three day trip in two. I
256
Amy Moore
suspected nothing, and it was a complete surprise. They presented me with a set of Chinese teacups
and a teapot and a ‘poem’ entitled ‘Jubilate’ which was supposed to express the feelings of relief the
Moores were having now they were getting rid of the girls! It was really very clever and managed to
incorporate some of the highlights of their time with us. I still have the original, but it is worth including
here I think.
JUBILATE
A glorious day’s ahead for the Moores. Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll bring out all the hidden stores. Hurrah! Hurrah!
For we shall live on cheese and ham,
And eat up all the Sunday jam.
We’ll have a jolly good time
When the ‘jiaosi’s’ have gone again.
We’ll do no more accounts like theirs. Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll wear our shorts when no one cares. Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’re going to do the things we want.
We’re going to say the things we can’t.
We’ll all be off the chain
When the jiaosi’s have gone again.
We’ll have our ‘miantiao’ every day. Hurrah! Hurrah! (Noodles)
We’ll even be able to go away! Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll kiss our wife whenever we please
With Gilbert the only one who sees. (The gardener)
We’ll all be perfectly free
When the jiaosi’s have gone again.
Most of this was a take off of some of the things Percy had said or done while the girls were with us.
He was always pretending to be very restricted because they were there and telling all the things he
could do if only they were not there. In the Church the unmarried girls were called ‘jiaosi’s’. The bit
about Gilbert which was their nickname for our gardener, was because he had unexpectedly appeared
at our sitting room door one day just as Percy was giving me a big hug and a kiss, much to our
embarrassment as Chinese don’t do that sort of thing in public. Actually we missed the maidens very
much and were glad we could keep Ina for awhile.
Alan and Frank had a great time after the girls had gone helping Ina move up to the house. They
enjoyed running up and down the garden path with her things.
The girls had not been gone long when we heard that Arnold Strange was very ill in Hanzhong with
some undiagnosed fever. Soon after that, Norman Mac phoned through to say it was typhoid and very
serious. Winnie was so worn out with nursing him and anxiety that Norm wondered if Ina could go and
help take care of him as she was a trained nurse. Poor Ina had already been delayed in taking her
exams because of her own trip to Xi’an for an operation, and this would delay her further, but of
course with such an emergency, there was no question but that she must go. Mac thought we could
put her on a bus at our end and he would meet her at the other, but we found there would be no buses
for several days, so we found two rickshaw men who said they would do the three day trip in two. I
256
