Page 287 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 287
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
course she never said ‘No’ to any sweets he brought with him. My children had known very little about
the kind of confectionery we could buy at home, and after we had used up the ‘one a day’ that I
allowed them from tins brought back with me from Australia, that was the end. But now the GIs
visiting daily with sweets from the Air Force PX Stores, our children learned very quickly. I was
horrified one day to go looking for them in the front yard, and found them sitting on the pavement
outside the front gate holding their hands out like any beggar, asking for sweets from the GIs who
continually passed our gate. The gatekeeper of course kept an eye on them for safety, but was vastly
amused at our two little beggars.
My baby was growing fast, getting taller and losing her baby podginess. She was quickly learning to
do things for herself and I was amused at how different she was from the three boys. The boys did
not care two pins what they were dressed in, and Alan in particular was always losing buttons off his
suits and never looking tidy for long after he was dressed. His shirts were more often hanging out than
in. Dorothy on the contrary, would spend hours going through her drawers to decide which dress she
wanted to wear, and which she liked best. She loved pretty things and one day when I was sewing,
she saw a pretty scrap of pink material and begged me to make her a dress. I was not sure there was
enough material, but by putting a band of blue round the bottom of the skirt and round the neck and
sleeves I managed. She was delighted with it, and with the blue ribbon in her hair, she did look very
nice.
As the days got longer and the weather warmer, I let them stay up and go with us to the evening
service in the Church. By this time a number of GIs were coming to it and we had formed a choir with
some of them and any of us missionary ladies who were available. When we were to go to the front
and sing an item during the service, I would leave the children on the bench and whisper to them to sit
still till I came back. Invariably before we finished, Dorothy would climb down clutching the golliwog I
had made her in one arm, and come to stand in front of me while smiles went round the congregation.
Frank was getting more unsettled as Alan had gone, and the Kane boys who had been with us for
almost a year had gone off to the States with their parents as soon as their father finally came out of
Anhui. The children who were left were all younger than he so he was needing playmates of his own
age. He came in one day and said the Catholic priest said he could go over and play with some of the
children in their yard. Their property adjoined ours, but the wall between us was very high and I
wondered how he had managed to be talking to the priest. He said he had climbed up into the cherry
tree which was quite high and was able to look over the wall. When the priest said he could play with
the children, he just climbed over! He was very pleased with himself and told me, “I saw some nuns
too!”
As well as the baby, the Ebelings had a little boy a little younger than Dorothy, and she loved to play
with John Carl, so she was not so much of a companion for Frank who was three years older.
The Xiao family were having problems with Joseph, suffering from some kind of lung trouble, and we
suspected TB. He was such a lovely boy, the second eldest of the doctor’s six sons and very artistic.
When Sadie came from the States, she brought sets of flannelgraphs for herself and Bertha to use for
teaching Bible stories, and gave me a set too. I found it invaluable in the Sunday School and, as I was
trying to train teachers, I asked Joseph to copy the flannelgraph pictures so that I could have a set for
each teacher. He did a marvellous job and I used them a lot.
The fourth Xiao boy, Job, had never recovered from the fright he got when he was caught in an air raid
while trying to escape to their country property. The doctor had tried all he could to help him and sent
for help to other countries, but nothing seemed to help. He remained quiet and gentle, but slow
mentally.
287
Amy Moore
course she never said ‘No’ to any sweets he brought with him. My children had known very little about
the kind of confectionery we could buy at home, and after we had used up the ‘one a day’ that I
allowed them from tins brought back with me from Australia, that was the end. But now the GIs
visiting daily with sweets from the Air Force PX Stores, our children learned very quickly. I was
horrified one day to go looking for them in the front yard, and found them sitting on the pavement
outside the front gate holding their hands out like any beggar, asking for sweets from the GIs who
continually passed our gate. The gatekeeper of course kept an eye on them for safety, but was vastly
amused at our two little beggars.
My baby was growing fast, getting taller and losing her baby podginess. She was quickly learning to
do things for herself and I was amused at how different she was from the three boys. The boys did
not care two pins what they were dressed in, and Alan in particular was always losing buttons off his
suits and never looking tidy for long after he was dressed. His shirts were more often hanging out than
in. Dorothy on the contrary, would spend hours going through her drawers to decide which dress she
wanted to wear, and which she liked best. She loved pretty things and one day when I was sewing,
she saw a pretty scrap of pink material and begged me to make her a dress. I was not sure there was
enough material, but by putting a band of blue round the bottom of the skirt and round the neck and
sleeves I managed. She was delighted with it, and with the blue ribbon in her hair, she did look very
nice.
As the days got longer and the weather warmer, I let them stay up and go with us to the evening
service in the Church. By this time a number of GIs were coming to it and we had formed a choir with
some of them and any of us missionary ladies who were available. When we were to go to the front
and sing an item during the service, I would leave the children on the bench and whisper to them to sit
still till I came back. Invariably before we finished, Dorothy would climb down clutching the golliwog I
had made her in one arm, and come to stand in front of me while smiles went round the congregation.
Frank was getting more unsettled as Alan had gone, and the Kane boys who had been with us for
almost a year had gone off to the States with their parents as soon as their father finally came out of
Anhui. The children who were left were all younger than he so he was needing playmates of his own
age. He came in one day and said the Catholic priest said he could go over and play with some of the
children in their yard. Their property adjoined ours, but the wall between us was very high and I
wondered how he had managed to be talking to the priest. He said he had climbed up into the cherry
tree which was quite high and was able to look over the wall. When the priest said he could play with
the children, he just climbed over! He was very pleased with himself and told me, “I saw some nuns
too!”
As well as the baby, the Ebelings had a little boy a little younger than Dorothy, and she loved to play
with John Carl, so she was not so much of a companion for Frank who was three years older.
The Xiao family were having problems with Joseph, suffering from some kind of lung trouble, and we
suspected TB. He was such a lovely boy, the second eldest of the doctor’s six sons and very artistic.
When Sadie came from the States, she brought sets of flannelgraphs for herself and Bertha to use for
teaching Bible stories, and gave me a set too. I found it invaluable in the Sunday School and, as I was
trying to train teachers, I asked Joseph to copy the flannelgraph pictures so that I could have a set for
each teacher. He did a marvellous job and I used them a lot.
The fourth Xiao boy, Job, had never recovered from the fright he got when he was caught in an air raid
while trying to escape to their country property. The doctor had tried all he could to help him and sent
for help to other countries, but nothing seemed to help. He remained quiet and gentle, but slow
mentally.
287
