Page 71 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 71
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
can't tell you how much we miss our precious darling. She was so
sweet, always bright and happy and filled our home with sunshine,
giving us nothing but joy all her days. We do mourn her loss, but we
know she is with the Lord and He does all things well for His way is
perfect. About three hours before she died she was resting in
Mother's arms, evidently not feeling too well. It seemed as if the wee
darling was losing grip of the things of time and sense. Then
suddenly she sat upright, threw her arms above her head and
shouted as loudly as she could, "Jesus loves me, He who died!"
Afterwards she looked at us so strangely and with such a wondering
expression. It almost seemed as if she was asserting her right to the
privileges Jesus had bought for her on Calvary. . . . The service in
front of our house was in Chinese led by her grandfather, then two of
the servants Dorothy was fond of and two of the other missionaries
carried the casket to the grave where we had a service in English led
by one of the same missionaries. We laid the little casket in a grave
at the foot of the garden where she spent so many happy days
playing and running round. It is only till Jesus comes and we can rest
in the knowledge that our dear one is safe in His keeping. She
looked so sweet as she lay in her casket with a smile on her face, a
small red rose in her right hand and a bigger tea rose on her breast.
Our dear friends of the American Presbyterian Mission upholstered
the inside of the casket with white silk and dressed her in her white
summer dress and sox. We could almost feel as if she were about to
wake up from her morning sleep.
The text on our daily calendar for the Sunday was `Strength and
beauty are in His tabernacle' Psalm 96:6. So the Lord has
strengthened our wee sweetheart and made her beautiful in His
sanctuary. We may be poorer as a family, but Heaven is richer with
another jewel bought by His precious blood."
For the next five years until their furlough in 1930, Arthur and Esther remained in Qili either at
Shundefu or Linmingguan. In 1929 the Mission asked Arthur and Mr, Robert Gillies to take an
exploratory trip through Manchuria to assess the needs and the possibility of the CIM taking up work
there. As a result it was decided that two experienced workers should occupy Qiqihar for about a
year. Qiqihar was the provincial capital, a city with a population of about one hundred thousand. It
was situated about one hundred and ninety miles north west of Harbin on the main railway line
between Harbin and Russia. It was felt that a year would give them sufficient time to more thoroughly
ascertain the facts and conditions of life in the province.
By 1930 their furlough was due again. Percy had left school in 1927 and because of the depression
which was causing a lot of unemployment in the UK, he had gone to Canada to find work, but by 1930
he was in the Bible Training College of Glasgow in Scotland training to return to China as a
missionary.
Jessie finished school in 1928 aged seventeen and a half, and for a year had taught at Qingdao on the
southern side of the Shandong promontory. In 1930 she went with her parents to Canada by ship.
Jessie had never swerved from her desire to be a nurse, so her mother helped her get into St. John's
71
Amy Moore
can't tell you how much we miss our precious darling. She was so
sweet, always bright and happy and filled our home with sunshine,
giving us nothing but joy all her days. We do mourn her loss, but we
know she is with the Lord and He does all things well for His way is
perfect. About three hours before she died she was resting in
Mother's arms, evidently not feeling too well. It seemed as if the wee
darling was losing grip of the things of time and sense. Then
suddenly she sat upright, threw her arms above her head and
shouted as loudly as she could, "Jesus loves me, He who died!"
Afterwards she looked at us so strangely and with such a wondering
expression. It almost seemed as if she was asserting her right to the
privileges Jesus had bought for her on Calvary. . . . The service in
front of our house was in Chinese led by her grandfather, then two of
the servants Dorothy was fond of and two of the other missionaries
carried the casket to the grave where we had a service in English led
by one of the same missionaries. We laid the little casket in a grave
at the foot of the garden where she spent so many happy days
playing and running round. It is only till Jesus comes and we can rest
in the knowledge that our dear one is safe in His keeping. She
looked so sweet as she lay in her casket with a smile on her face, a
small red rose in her right hand and a bigger tea rose on her breast.
Our dear friends of the American Presbyterian Mission upholstered
the inside of the casket with white silk and dressed her in her white
summer dress and sox. We could almost feel as if she were about to
wake up from her morning sleep.
The text on our daily calendar for the Sunday was `Strength and
beauty are in His tabernacle' Psalm 96:6. So the Lord has
strengthened our wee sweetheart and made her beautiful in His
sanctuary. We may be poorer as a family, but Heaven is richer with
another jewel bought by His precious blood."
For the next five years until their furlough in 1930, Arthur and Esther remained in Qili either at
Shundefu or Linmingguan. In 1929 the Mission asked Arthur and Mr, Robert Gillies to take an
exploratory trip through Manchuria to assess the needs and the possibility of the CIM taking up work
there. As a result it was decided that two experienced workers should occupy Qiqihar for about a
year. Qiqihar was the provincial capital, a city with a population of about one hundred thousand. It
was situated about one hundred and ninety miles north west of Harbin on the main railway line
between Harbin and Russia. It was felt that a year would give them sufficient time to more thoroughly
ascertain the facts and conditions of life in the province.
By 1930 their furlough was due again. Percy had left school in 1927 and because of the depression
which was causing a lot of unemployment in the UK, he had gone to Canada to find work, but by 1930
he was in the Bible Training College of Glasgow in Scotland training to return to China as a
missionary.
Jessie finished school in 1928 aged seventeen and a half, and for a year had taught at Qingdao on the
southern side of the Shandong promontory. In 1930 she went with her parents to Canada by ship.
Jessie had never swerved from her desire to be a nurse, so her mother helped her get into St. John's
71
