Page 53 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 53
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 53
outside the walls of Lanchow. Had he been a visiting head of state, the city of
Lanchow could hardly have honoured him more. There were official feasts evening
after evening.
The work he and others had done did not go unnoticed by the Government of China. In
the April 1922 North American edition of China’s Millions, the Secretary o( the China
Council, Mr. James Stark wrote:
Recognition of Services.
Mr. G. F. Andrew with the aid of Mr. R. A. Seaman, has done much valuable work in
the reconstruction of the area devastated by the earthquake in Kansu, while Mr Mann
acted as Chairman and English Secretary of the International Earthquake Relief
Committee in Lanchow. Mr. Andrew and Mr. Mann have both received from the
President of the Chinese Republic the decoration of the Third Class Chia Ho Chang
(Excellent Crop), while I understand a lesser honour has been conferred on Mr.
Seaman, though I have no direct news of the subject. A joint letter of thanks to the
Mission for the services of these workers has been received from the Military Governor
and the Civil Governor of Kansu, the closing paragraph of which the following is a
translation:
“We on behalf of the people are ashamed to have no means of recompensing you gentlemen
and yet we are thankful for your excellent work. We shall constantly think of your wonderful
religion having benevolence for its objective, and lay emphasis on its interest and labours.
Hence in the days to come the work you have accomplished in the midst of the people of
Kansu will, as it were, speak for you and so enable both foreigners and Chinese alike to know
that your achievements are by no means insignificant and that your honourable religion is to
be congratulated on having such men.”
On November 15th he addressed the closing meeting of the International Committee in the
presence of all the leading officials, the Civil Governor and the Military Governor, with a
brass band to enliven the proceedings. On the following Sunday he preached to a
crowded church from the story of Jonah, which was surely appropriate. Two days later he
was at long last free to go back to his family in Chefoo, escorted out of town by a long
procession, led by that same brass band.
When GFA was an old man in Saskatoon, Canada, he re-read his diary for 1921. "I sat
upon my verandah and relived the scenes of 1921 which were to prove far more
momentous in my life than I appreciated at the time of their occurrence."
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outside the walls of Lanchow. Had he been a visiting head of state, the city of
Lanchow could hardly have honoured him more. There were official feasts evening
after evening.
The work he and others had done did not go unnoticed by the Government of China. In
the April 1922 North American edition of China’s Millions, the Secretary o( the China
Council, Mr. James Stark wrote:
Recognition of Services.
Mr. G. F. Andrew with the aid of Mr. R. A. Seaman, has done much valuable work in
the reconstruction of the area devastated by the earthquake in Kansu, while Mr Mann
acted as Chairman and English Secretary of the International Earthquake Relief
Committee in Lanchow. Mr. Andrew and Mr. Mann have both received from the
President of the Chinese Republic the decoration of the Third Class Chia Ho Chang
(Excellent Crop), while I understand a lesser honour has been conferred on Mr.
Seaman, though I have no direct news of the subject. A joint letter of thanks to the
Mission for the services of these workers has been received from the Military Governor
and the Civil Governor of Kansu, the closing paragraph of which the following is a
translation:
“We on behalf of the people are ashamed to have no means of recompensing you gentlemen
and yet we are thankful for your excellent work. We shall constantly think of your wonderful
religion having benevolence for its objective, and lay emphasis on its interest and labours.
Hence in the days to come the work you have accomplished in the midst of the people of
Kansu will, as it were, speak for you and so enable both foreigners and Chinese alike to know
that your achievements are by no means insignificant and that your honourable religion is to
be congratulated on having such men.”
On November 15th he addressed the closing meeting of the International Committee in the
presence of all the leading officials, the Civil Governor and the Military Governor, with a
brass band to enliven the proceedings. On the following Sunday he preached to a
crowded church from the story of Jonah, which was surely appropriate. Two days later he
was at long last free to go back to his family in Chefoo, escorted out of town by a long
procession, led by that same brass band.
When GFA was an old man in Saskatoon, Canada, he re-read his diary for 1921. "I sat
upon my verandah and relived the scenes of 1921 which were to prove far more
momentous in my life than I appreciated at the time of their occurrence."
Return to Table of Contents
