Page 66 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 66
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
action, she commented, "You will know how Dad and I feel as your own dear laddie has so lately been
at death's door." Arthur wrote in his diary while still in Liangzhou, "Feeling for my poor laddie and
Esther. May God bless them."
During that final year in Lanzhou, Esther opened a Girls' School there, with seventeen girls in
attendance. The Boys' School already had over fifty scholars and was much appreciated by the
people of the district. By the end of 1915 Mr. Christie of the Christian & Missionary Alliance was
writing to Arthur, "May the Lord richly bless you and Mrs. Moore in all your preparations for going
home. We shall miss your family in Lanzhou."
They had already been in China for nine years without a break, but it looked as if they had delayed too
long. It was obvious that the war in Europe was by no means at an end, and travel with young
children would be dangerous and foolish. Mr. Hoste wrote that so few young men were applying to
the Mission because most were at the War, that it was hardly worthwhile opening up the men's
language school at Anjing. He suggested that Arthur and Esther go to Chinjiang on the Grand Canal
to occupy the Mission Home there. The few young men who needed help with the language could
live with them and study under Arthur's guidance. So by mid 1916 they were packed and ready as a
family to move to Jiangsu Province
QINJIANG AND SHANGHAI
The journey was made by mule litter as far as the railway terminus in Henan, at first over precipitous
mountain tracks, and then through the dusty loess soil of North Shaanxi and Henan. Nights were
spent in primitive inns, but Arthur and Esther had travelled often enough in such conditions to know
how to make themselves and their little family warm and comfortable. From Henan they travelled by
train down to Shanghai and then on to Qinjiang, or possibly they got there without having to touch
Shanghai first.
There they stayed until February 1917 when the young men under their care were sent to other parts
of China and Arthur and Esther went on to Shanghai. This was to be their base for the next two years
when the war ended and they were able to take furlough in England. Arthur helped in the Transport
Department, meeting ships and taking people to their trains, keeping in touch with all the comings and
goings of missionaries to the Headquarters in Shanghai which was in Woosung Road at that time.
Esther helped in the house and with the servants as she was able, but by this time she was expecting
their fourth child, so in April 1917 the whole family went up to Chefoo for a much needed holiday by
the sea, the first in eleven years.
Holidays over, and with furlough apparently as far off as ever, with the war in Europe still dragging on,
they left Percy and Jessie at school in Chefoo and returned to Shanghai for the birth of James
Douglas on 8 November. Arthur was asked to take over the Transport Manager's job, so they settled
in to one of the family flats in the Mission home and when Christmas came, Percy and Jessie came
down from Chefoo to spend the holidays with them there.
The year 1918 was a busy one for Arthur and Esther, and the news they were getting from home
made them anxious to get there as soon as possible. Arthur's father was old and alone, and Arthur
felt responsible to care for him in his old age. Too old to work any longer, and with no superannuation
or old age pension to support him, James Moore was now dependent on his children. Arthur felt that
this might mean their having to leave China for a period to provide a home and support for his father.
66
Amy Moore
action, she commented, "You will know how Dad and I feel as your own dear laddie has so lately been
at death's door." Arthur wrote in his diary while still in Liangzhou, "Feeling for my poor laddie and
Esther. May God bless them."
During that final year in Lanzhou, Esther opened a Girls' School there, with seventeen girls in
attendance. The Boys' School already had over fifty scholars and was much appreciated by the
people of the district. By the end of 1915 Mr. Christie of the Christian & Missionary Alliance was
writing to Arthur, "May the Lord richly bless you and Mrs. Moore in all your preparations for going
home. We shall miss your family in Lanzhou."
They had already been in China for nine years without a break, but it looked as if they had delayed too
long. It was obvious that the war in Europe was by no means at an end, and travel with young
children would be dangerous and foolish. Mr. Hoste wrote that so few young men were applying to
the Mission because most were at the War, that it was hardly worthwhile opening up the men's
language school at Anjing. He suggested that Arthur and Esther go to Chinjiang on the Grand Canal
to occupy the Mission Home there. The few young men who needed help with the language could
live with them and study under Arthur's guidance. So by mid 1916 they were packed and ready as a
family to move to Jiangsu Province
QINJIANG AND SHANGHAI
The journey was made by mule litter as far as the railway terminus in Henan, at first over precipitous
mountain tracks, and then through the dusty loess soil of North Shaanxi and Henan. Nights were
spent in primitive inns, but Arthur and Esther had travelled often enough in such conditions to know
how to make themselves and their little family warm and comfortable. From Henan they travelled by
train down to Shanghai and then on to Qinjiang, or possibly they got there without having to touch
Shanghai first.
There they stayed until February 1917 when the young men under their care were sent to other parts
of China and Arthur and Esther went on to Shanghai. This was to be their base for the next two years
when the war ended and they were able to take furlough in England. Arthur helped in the Transport
Department, meeting ships and taking people to their trains, keeping in touch with all the comings and
goings of missionaries to the Headquarters in Shanghai which was in Woosung Road at that time.
Esther helped in the house and with the servants as she was able, but by this time she was expecting
their fourth child, so in April 1917 the whole family went up to Chefoo for a much needed holiday by
the sea, the first in eleven years.
Holidays over, and with furlough apparently as far off as ever, with the war in Europe still dragging on,
they left Percy and Jessie at school in Chefoo and returned to Shanghai for the birth of James
Douglas on 8 November. Arthur was asked to take over the Transport Manager's job, so they settled
in to one of the family flats in the Mission home and when Christmas came, Percy and Jessie came
down from Chefoo to spend the holidays with them there.
The year 1918 was a busy one for Arthur and Esther, and the news they were getting from home
made them anxious to get there as soon as possible. Arthur's father was old and alone, and Arthur
felt responsible to care for him in his old age. Too old to work any longer, and with no superannuation
or old age pension to support him, James Moore was now dependent on his children. Arthur felt that
this might mean their having to leave China for a period to provide a home and support for his father.
66
