Page 86 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 86
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
which brings comfort in place of anguish, joy in place of sorrow and that deep peace
of God which passes understanding."
His base was at the main site at Qingzhangi where the cutting was a mile long and 200 feet deep.
3,800 men were employed there and one day's wages for them in the current brass coins weighed 12
tons. He said himself that "something over 35 tons of cash was needed each day to pay the 15,000
men working in the whole area." So GFA printed his own paper currency which could be exchanged
in the towns at a good rate! He who had never been trained for such tasks found that he could do
whatever needed to be done.
The earthquake area covered 13,000 square miles of NE Gansu and was 600 miles from the nearest
railway. Carts, horses, mules, donkeys and camels were all pressed into service, for it was a race
against time - and brigands.
"On the evening of 29 August" he wrote, "I returned late from a
journey round the area. Being tired I must have slept very soundly
for, during the night, Muslim robbers entered my room, drugged me
with a special kind of incense manufactured for the purpose, and
decamped with nearly all my belongings."
At each cutting the final release of water, watched by anxious thousands, was highly dangerous.
"When these huge lakes, two or three miles in length, really began to move, the power of the torrent of
water released was indescribable." It was not part of GFA's make-up to magnify his own part in that
dangerous work. When no-one dared to remove the dam across the mouth of the cutting he casually
remarks that "eventually this had to be undertaken by the foreigner in charge". The entire job had to
be done before the heavy winter frosts set in, and not till it was finished did he set off again for the
coast to rejoin his longsuffering wife and children.
ADVENTURES DURING THE BREAK FROM RELIEF WORK
"As work was impossible during the months of the winter frost, I took the opportunity
to make a trip to the coast to replenish supplies during the months when outdoor work
was impossible. I find from my diary that on the night of 28 November 1921, I was
resting overnight in the little town of Longde at the foot of the high Liupanshan pass
which lies at 10,500 feet above sea level. I was in the company of two high Chinese
officials and the three of us occupied the chief room in the inn. About 10 o'clock I
awoke from my first beauty sleep, having dreamed that someone I knew had just died,
and that I had been called upon to make a diversion from our direct line of travel to the
railhead in order to bury this friend. After a short time I fell asleep and strange to say,
the dream continued. I found myself riding my horses down a deep gully between
high mountains, and when I arrived at the destination, I was taken to a room with a
door on one side and two windows on the further wall, whilst in the centre of the room,
on two Chinese stools, was placed a large Chinese coffin. Just as I bent over to peer
into the coffin to try and distinguish the features of the heretofore unidentified friend, I
awoke. I was so impressed with this happening that on the following morning before
departure, I said to my two travelling companions, "Someone I know died last night."
86
Amy Moore
which brings comfort in place of anguish, joy in place of sorrow and that deep peace
of God which passes understanding."
His base was at the main site at Qingzhangi where the cutting was a mile long and 200 feet deep.
3,800 men were employed there and one day's wages for them in the current brass coins weighed 12
tons. He said himself that "something over 35 tons of cash was needed each day to pay the 15,000
men working in the whole area." So GFA printed his own paper currency which could be exchanged
in the towns at a good rate! He who had never been trained for such tasks found that he could do
whatever needed to be done.
The earthquake area covered 13,000 square miles of NE Gansu and was 600 miles from the nearest
railway. Carts, horses, mules, donkeys and camels were all pressed into service, for it was a race
against time - and brigands.
"On the evening of 29 August" he wrote, "I returned late from a
journey round the area. Being tired I must have slept very soundly
for, during the night, Muslim robbers entered my room, drugged me
with a special kind of incense manufactured for the purpose, and
decamped with nearly all my belongings."
At each cutting the final release of water, watched by anxious thousands, was highly dangerous.
"When these huge lakes, two or three miles in length, really began to move, the power of the torrent of
water released was indescribable." It was not part of GFA's make-up to magnify his own part in that
dangerous work. When no-one dared to remove the dam across the mouth of the cutting he casually
remarks that "eventually this had to be undertaken by the foreigner in charge". The entire job had to
be done before the heavy winter frosts set in, and not till it was finished did he set off again for the
coast to rejoin his longsuffering wife and children.
ADVENTURES DURING THE BREAK FROM RELIEF WORK
"As work was impossible during the months of the winter frost, I took the opportunity
to make a trip to the coast to replenish supplies during the months when outdoor work
was impossible. I find from my diary that on the night of 28 November 1921, I was
resting overnight in the little town of Longde at the foot of the high Liupanshan pass
which lies at 10,500 feet above sea level. I was in the company of two high Chinese
officials and the three of us occupied the chief room in the inn. About 10 o'clock I
awoke from my first beauty sleep, having dreamed that someone I knew had just died,
and that I had been called upon to make a diversion from our direct line of travel to the
railhead in order to bury this friend. After a short time I fell asleep and strange to say,
the dream continued. I found myself riding my horses down a deep gully between
high mountains, and when I arrived at the destination, I was taken to a room with a
door on one side and two windows on the further wall, whilst in the centre of the room,
on two Chinese stools, was placed a large Chinese coffin. Just as I bent over to peer
into the coffin to try and distinguish the features of the heretofore unidentified friend, I
awoke. I was so impressed with this happening that on the following morning before
departure, I said to my two travelling companions, "Someone I know died last night."
86
