Page 55 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 55
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
In August 1912 eight people were baptised in Xining, among them Mr. Du who had been so much
persecuted by his family. He had been throwing himself wholeheartedly into the work of selling
Christian literature and preaching the Gospel to others. Arthur and Esther's two servants were also
among those baptised. On the one hand there was much blessing, but on the other they were very
aware of strong opposition from the enemy of souls, and new believers found themselves coming
under pressure from many directions.
RETURN TO LANZHOU
The Ridleys returned from furlough at the end of 1912, and the Preedys were due to leave, so Arthur
and Esther were asked to go back to Lanzhou and take over the secretarial work the Preedys had
been doing.
By this time Esther was seven months pregnant with their third child, so they left Xining on 2 January
1913 with Percy, three years and nearly three months, and Jessie one year and nine months. In true
Chinese fashion they were escorted out some eighteen li (six miles) by Mr. Ridley and a number of the
church people. The journey was to take them a week, and it could not have been an easy one in the
middle of the winter, by cart on icy roads with a pregnant woman and two small children.
To make matters worse, Jessie was developing what Arthur described as "T'ien chuang (Tian
zhuang)" which in my vocabulary would have been smallpox. Apparently she had a sore face when
leaving Xining. It became progressively worse until, by the seventh, Arthur described it as "very bad",
and by the eighth, her face and head were covered with sores. All this would have been bad
enough without the other difficulties they had to cope with. These included travelling till after dark on
a number of occasions, twice having to cross rivers which were flooded and unsafe, and on one
occasion having the mules slip on the ice and fall with the chair in which Esther and the children were
travelling. Arthur's only comment in his diary was "Mule fell, chair turned over, nobody hurt." And
writing to somebody later he described the trip as "a fairly good one" ! !
The weather was bitterly cold, and the little party must have been more than thankful to reach
Lanzhou at last on 10 January. Thinking about them as I knew them in later years, I can see that
neither Arthur nor Esther ever made much fuss about hardships in travel, but I can see that Arthur was
always thoughtful for Esther's needs and careful to make her journey as comfortable as possible.
On 21 March 1913 Marjorie Everall was born. Miss Baxter, a member of the Mission who had training
as a midwife, was there to help Esther, and Arthur's diary records that "about midnight my dear Lassie
was not feeling too well, so we fixed up her room and Miss Baxter stayed with her. We retired about
2 a.m. and slept awhile." On the 21st he wrote, "Woke about 4 a.m. and went in to help Esther. The
dear Lord was very good to us and graciously helped my precious Lassie. Baby Marjorie Everall wa
born at 5.05 a.m. Everything passed off splendidly and by 8:30 a.m. my dear girl was comfortably
settled in."
Lanzhou lay in a valley about ten miles long and six miles wide, encircled by hills that rose tier upon
tier to the great mountains behind them. At that time it was noted for its opium and tobacco. A visitor
to the city at the time the Moores returned wrote that "it is very beautiful with the Spring wheat in ear
and flowering trees and plants everywhere. The people are prosperous and seem to have plenty of
money, but they are also very conservative, and rather distrustful of us and our message." The
Moores were delighted to find that a student named Han from Xining was working in the Post Office.
He was quite open in his witness as a Christian, although his father in Xining had opposed him at first.
The previous Postmaster in Lanzhou, a Mr. Tudhope, had also been a keen Christian with whom the
55
Amy Moore
In August 1912 eight people were baptised in Xining, among them Mr. Du who had been so much
persecuted by his family. He had been throwing himself wholeheartedly into the work of selling
Christian literature and preaching the Gospel to others. Arthur and Esther's two servants were also
among those baptised. On the one hand there was much blessing, but on the other they were very
aware of strong opposition from the enemy of souls, and new believers found themselves coming
under pressure from many directions.
RETURN TO LANZHOU
The Ridleys returned from furlough at the end of 1912, and the Preedys were due to leave, so Arthur
and Esther were asked to go back to Lanzhou and take over the secretarial work the Preedys had
been doing.
By this time Esther was seven months pregnant with their third child, so they left Xining on 2 January
1913 with Percy, three years and nearly three months, and Jessie one year and nine months. In true
Chinese fashion they were escorted out some eighteen li (six miles) by Mr. Ridley and a number of the
church people. The journey was to take them a week, and it could not have been an easy one in the
middle of the winter, by cart on icy roads with a pregnant woman and two small children.
To make matters worse, Jessie was developing what Arthur described as "T'ien chuang (Tian
zhuang)" which in my vocabulary would have been smallpox. Apparently she had a sore face when
leaving Xining. It became progressively worse until, by the seventh, Arthur described it as "very bad",
and by the eighth, her face and head were covered with sores. All this would have been bad
enough without the other difficulties they had to cope with. These included travelling till after dark on
a number of occasions, twice having to cross rivers which were flooded and unsafe, and on one
occasion having the mules slip on the ice and fall with the chair in which Esther and the children were
travelling. Arthur's only comment in his diary was "Mule fell, chair turned over, nobody hurt." And
writing to somebody later he described the trip as "a fairly good one" ! !
The weather was bitterly cold, and the little party must have been more than thankful to reach
Lanzhou at last on 10 January. Thinking about them as I knew them in later years, I can see that
neither Arthur nor Esther ever made much fuss about hardships in travel, but I can see that Arthur was
always thoughtful for Esther's needs and careful to make her journey as comfortable as possible.
On 21 March 1913 Marjorie Everall was born. Miss Baxter, a member of the Mission who had training
as a midwife, was there to help Esther, and Arthur's diary records that "about midnight my dear Lassie
was not feeling too well, so we fixed up her room and Miss Baxter stayed with her. We retired about
2 a.m. and slept awhile." On the 21st he wrote, "Woke about 4 a.m. and went in to help Esther. The
dear Lord was very good to us and graciously helped my precious Lassie. Baby Marjorie Everall wa
born at 5.05 a.m. Everything passed off splendidly and by 8:30 a.m. my dear girl was comfortably
settled in."
Lanzhou lay in a valley about ten miles long and six miles wide, encircled by hills that rose tier upon
tier to the great mountains behind them. At that time it was noted for its opium and tobacco. A visitor
to the city at the time the Moores returned wrote that "it is very beautiful with the Spring wheat in ear
and flowering trees and plants everywhere. The people are prosperous and seem to have plenty of
money, but they are also very conservative, and rather distrustful of us and our message." The
Moores were delighted to find that a student named Han from Xining was working in the Post Office.
He was quite open in his witness as a Christian, although his father in Xining had opposed him at first.
The previous Postmaster in Lanzhou, a Mr. Tudhope, had also been a keen Christian with whom the
55
