Page 43 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 43
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
Esther's own daughters in the Chefoo School. Esther excelled in music (piano), and won many of the
school music prizes. When a student was needed to play for some special occasion it was usually
Esther who was called upon.
BACK TO ENGLAND
In February 1901, when Esther was 16 she sailed on the SS Prince Heinrich for England with her
parents and four brothers. Jim had been born in December 1892 at Yangzhou, and Alf, the youngest
in Guiyang when George and Jessie were back there on a long visit in 1897. When their furlough
ended in March 1902, only Jim and Alf returned with them to China. Esther, now 17 remained in
Manchester, George nearly 15, went to the Priory School in Bridlington, Yorkshire, while Arthur, who
was only 11 went to live with his mother's sister in Kirkham in Lancashire.
I don't really know what Esther did in those 4½ years in England before she returned to China as a
missionary except that she did have some training in midwifery. As a candidate for the CIM she
would also have had to have two years in the Womens' Training Home in London before she was
accepted for China. This was a course planned to give basic Bible teaching as well as an introduction
to life in the CIM and to life in China.
I don't know how or when she became convinced in her own mind that God wanted her back in China,
but I know that she never doubted that call of God. She was accepted by the CIM in 1906 and was
one of the 19 new workers farewelled at Exeter Hall, London on 11 September 1906. With the ten
other young women going out she sailed on the SS "Roon" on 18 September, arriving in Shanghai on
28 October. Here they were quickly equipped with the things they would need at the language school
at Yangzhou. Each new worker was interviewed by the leaders of the Mission and, in a few days they
were on their way up the Grand Canal to a city that had been familiar to Esther since childhood.
There were still missionaries there who remembered her and loved her.
GANSU POSTING
On 24 May 1907, Esther was delighted to learn that she had been designated to work with her parents
in the far off province of Gansu in the north west of China. Her father, George Andrew, was now the
Field Superintendent for Gansu Province, and he and Jessie were living in Lanzhou, the capital of
Gansu. Esther was escorted there from Shanghai by one of the two Garland sisters who had worked
for many years in Gansu. Her escort's spartan way of life did not always strike Esther as strictly
necessary in every situation. Years later, when I was a young worker under her care, she insisted I
have a cushion and a rug in my sedan chair to make life a little easier. She said there was "no need
to make martyrs of ourselves unnecessarily."
It was in Lanzhou that she met Arthur Moore again, and as their lives from that time became one, I will
go back to trace Arthur's life up to the time that he too arrived in Lanzhou.
43
Amy Moore
Esther's own daughters in the Chefoo School. Esther excelled in music (piano), and won many of the
school music prizes. When a student was needed to play for some special occasion it was usually
Esther who was called upon.
BACK TO ENGLAND
In February 1901, when Esther was 16 she sailed on the SS Prince Heinrich for England with her
parents and four brothers. Jim had been born in December 1892 at Yangzhou, and Alf, the youngest
in Guiyang when George and Jessie were back there on a long visit in 1897. When their furlough
ended in March 1902, only Jim and Alf returned with them to China. Esther, now 17 remained in
Manchester, George nearly 15, went to the Priory School in Bridlington, Yorkshire, while Arthur, who
was only 11 went to live with his mother's sister in Kirkham in Lancashire.
I don't really know what Esther did in those 4½ years in England before she returned to China as a
missionary except that she did have some training in midwifery. As a candidate for the CIM she
would also have had to have two years in the Womens' Training Home in London before she was
accepted for China. This was a course planned to give basic Bible teaching as well as an introduction
to life in the CIM and to life in China.
I don't know how or when she became convinced in her own mind that God wanted her back in China,
but I know that she never doubted that call of God. She was accepted by the CIM in 1906 and was
one of the 19 new workers farewelled at Exeter Hall, London on 11 September 1906. With the ten
other young women going out she sailed on the SS "Roon" on 18 September, arriving in Shanghai on
28 October. Here they were quickly equipped with the things they would need at the language school
at Yangzhou. Each new worker was interviewed by the leaders of the Mission and, in a few days they
were on their way up the Grand Canal to a city that had been familiar to Esther since childhood.
There were still missionaries there who remembered her and loved her.
GANSU POSTING
On 24 May 1907, Esther was delighted to learn that she had been designated to work with her parents
in the far off province of Gansu in the north west of China. Her father, George Andrew, was now the
Field Superintendent for Gansu Province, and he and Jessie were living in Lanzhou, the capital of
Gansu. Esther was escorted there from Shanghai by one of the two Garland sisters who had worked
for many years in Gansu. Her escort's spartan way of life did not always strike Esther as strictly
necessary in every situation. Years later, when I was a young worker under her care, she insisted I
have a cushion and a rug in my sedan chair to make life a little easier. She said there was "no need
to make martyrs of ourselves unnecessarily."
It was in Lanzhou that she met Arthur Moore again, and as their lives from that time became one, I will
go back to trace Arthur's life up to the time that he too arrived in Lanzhou.
43
