Page 87 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 87
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
We continued our journey, successfully negotiated the high pass, and two days later
came to the prefectural city of Pingliang. As we were an official caravan, I went to the
Yamen of the Defense Commissioner to report our arrival and seek information
regarding the onward way. It was then I was advised that the city of Binzhou, four
days' journey along the road, was under siege by a large army of brigands and the
road was considered so dangerous that the Defense Commissioner refused to give
his approval to our proceeding.
Just as I mounted my horse in the courtyard of the Yamen, my attention was attracted
by a runner pushing his way through the crowd who presented me with a letter in a
foreign envelope. In those days in that area, foreign envelopes were restricted in use
almost entirely to foreign correspondence. I took the letter and found it addressed to
the missionary at Pingliang who himself was absent from the city and was prevented
from returning home by the hostilities which debarred our proceeding. I opened the
letter and found it to be a desperate appeal for assistance from the wife of a
missionary in the city of Longzhou which is two hard days' journey south-east of
Pingliang, our caravan having come in from the north-west. The letter stated that the
lady's husband was desperately ill and she was appealing to Pingliang as the city of
her nearest foreign neighbours.
After a rest of a few hours I set off for Longzhou and after very hard riding down the
very gully I had seen in my dreams, I came to the city of Longzhou to find the lady
who had written the letter in deep distress as her husband had passed on. She took
me to the very room I had seen in my dreams where the coffin was set forth exactly as
I had seen, and before she told me the time of her husband's death. I said to her,
"Your husband passed on between 10 and 11 o'clock on the night of the 28th of last
month." After carrying out the funeral services and doing what I could to console the
widow and her two children, I set off to rejoin my caravan in Pingliang.
On the return journey the weather broke. We ran into heavy snow. Wandering about
in what was virtually a blizzard, I came upon a sorry looking group of Russian
refugees, some 28 in number. They had made the long overland trip by foot across
the borders of Russia through Xinjiang and Gansu and were heading for the China
coast. They were a Red Cross unit under General Bouligon who had been attached
to the Koltchak army, but having been cut off from their base they had to flee. They
were in a very sad state when I found them and I took them on with me to Pingliang.
There I managed to get funds to hire a number of carts and to outfit them to the best
of my ability against the inclement weather. So I found myself with a caravan of 28
carts and some riding animals as well. This was too large a caravan to maintain
indefinitely, but with the agreement of all the members of the caravan, I decided we
should push on and hope to get through the fighting lines.
On the morning of 13 December, we left Pingliang and in the early afternoon arrived
at the village of Dingkou which was completely deserted."
They were planning to spend the night there but later in the day a muleteer who GFA knew came
through and strongly advised against it because of the almost nightly raids from bandits. He offered
to lead them to a safer place and by 9 o'clock that night they were comfortably settled in a large cave
opening out on to a well beaten threshing floor.
87
Amy Moore
We continued our journey, successfully negotiated the high pass, and two days later
came to the prefectural city of Pingliang. As we were an official caravan, I went to the
Yamen of the Defense Commissioner to report our arrival and seek information
regarding the onward way. It was then I was advised that the city of Binzhou, four
days' journey along the road, was under siege by a large army of brigands and the
road was considered so dangerous that the Defense Commissioner refused to give
his approval to our proceeding.
Just as I mounted my horse in the courtyard of the Yamen, my attention was attracted
by a runner pushing his way through the crowd who presented me with a letter in a
foreign envelope. In those days in that area, foreign envelopes were restricted in use
almost entirely to foreign correspondence. I took the letter and found it addressed to
the missionary at Pingliang who himself was absent from the city and was prevented
from returning home by the hostilities which debarred our proceeding. I opened the
letter and found it to be a desperate appeal for assistance from the wife of a
missionary in the city of Longzhou which is two hard days' journey south-east of
Pingliang, our caravan having come in from the north-west. The letter stated that the
lady's husband was desperately ill and she was appealing to Pingliang as the city of
her nearest foreign neighbours.
After a rest of a few hours I set off for Longzhou and after very hard riding down the
very gully I had seen in my dreams, I came to the city of Longzhou to find the lady
who had written the letter in deep distress as her husband had passed on. She took
me to the very room I had seen in my dreams where the coffin was set forth exactly as
I had seen, and before she told me the time of her husband's death. I said to her,
"Your husband passed on between 10 and 11 o'clock on the night of the 28th of last
month." After carrying out the funeral services and doing what I could to console the
widow and her two children, I set off to rejoin my caravan in Pingliang.
On the return journey the weather broke. We ran into heavy snow. Wandering about
in what was virtually a blizzard, I came upon a sorry looking group of Russian
refugees, some 28 in number. They had made the long overland trip by foot across
the borders of Russia through Xinjiang and Gansu and were heading for the China
coast. They were a Red Cross unit under General Bouligon who had been attached
to the Koltchak army, but having been cut off from their base they had to flee. They
were in a very sad state when I found them and I took them on with me to Pingliang.
There I managed to get funds to hire a number of carts and to outfit them to the best
of my ability against the inclement weather. So I found myself with a caravan of 28
carts and some riding animals as well. This was too large a caravan to maintain
indefinitely, but with the agreement of all the members of the caravan, I decided we
should push on and hope to get through the fighting lines.
On the morning of 13 December, we left Pingliang and in the early afternoon arrived
at the village of Dingkou which was completely deserted."
They were planning to spend the night there but later in the day a muleteer who GFA knew came
through and strongly advised against it because of the almost nightly raids from bandits. He offered
to lead them to a safer place and by 9 o'clock that night they were comfortably settled in a large cave
opening out on to a well beaten threshing floor.
87
