| 1 |
 |
digital image 5
“...August 1st—fifteen days late—the Oxford papers arriv-
ed. The Exam, was held immediately, and was put through
as quickly as possible, because we were all very anxious
for our holiday.
CHINA INLAND MISSION SCHOOLS.
Foundation Stones Laid For New Buildings.
Another milestone passed, another corner turned,
another day of remembrance added to the history of the
China Inland Mission Schools.
On Tuesday April 4th. an impressive scene was wit-
nessed by a large company, when the foundation stones of
the new Preparatory School and of the Co-Tuition Building
were laid by the Rev. G. W. Gibb, the China Director of the
China Inland Mission.
By three o’clock in the afternoon the three schools
had assembled east of the godown on the C.I.M. Compound,
with members of the mission and friends of the schools. Mr.
Bruce, the Headmaster of the Boys’ School, opened the pro-
ceedings by the announcement of a hymn familiar to all old
boys and girls—“We come unto our fathers’ God”.
This was sung heartily by the assembly...”
|
|
| 2 |
 |
digital image 6
“...214
that occasion, and in assuring him of the gratitude which
all felt for his active interest in the welfare of the schools.
The ceremony over, a move was made to an adjoining site
nearer the beach.
Here another hymn was sung—“O Lord of heaven
and earth and sea”—before Mr. Gibb laid the foundation-
stone of the Co-Tuition Building. After declaring the stone
“well and truly laid” and dedicating the new building to
God, Mr. Gibb gave a brief address. Impressively he re-
minded his hearers of the scene on the mount when Moses
studied the plan and pattern of the tabernacle with God,
and then in the valley followed the plan exactly, setting
up a building precisely according to the pattern given on the
mount. These would not, he hoped, be schools merely for
the training of the mind : his fervent desire was that in these
buildings lives would be yielded in consecration to God.
Only thus would the purpose of these buildings be fulfilled
and the world be the better for the men and women whose
...”
|
|
| 3 |
 |
digital image 7
“...standard of the old Lower School.
The final of these, the entrance examination to Oxford uni'
versity, we regarded as the open sesame from our little world
of China, to anything in the great beyond of “the homelands”.
Of the curriculum suffice it to say, that the English
system differs from our Canadian one mainly in the division
of elementary and secondary schools. We had four years in
the elementary and seven in the secondary or High school,
and for the secondary period, boys and girls were in two
different schools. In the secondary school greater stress was
laid on English, history and languages, as compared with
Ontario schools, at the expense of mathematics. Also we
carried more subjects all the way through the school, writing
final Oxford examinations in what we here consider the lower
school subjects of arithmetic, geography and art. Of course
to us geography was very real. In comparison with our
English competitors, we had seen the world. A trip to
Europe or America and back comes...”
|
|
| 4 |
 |
digital image 9
“...kindergarten to prefect-
ship, cemented by shared illicit midnight feasts, games, exams,
pranks perpetrated in lower school and detected in prefect
days, form a bond that the seven seas cannot break, and they
had to stand just that test, for at graduation we scattered to
the four corners of the earth. Wherever our parents hailed
from, were it England, Scotland, Ireland, the States, Australia
or Canada, even Sweden, France and Germany, there Chefoo-
ites returned. In post-war days the Chefoo schools saw even
one or two “White” Russian refugees, and these mixed, ap-
parently without contamination, with the daughters of the
Russian Consul, presumably “Red”. In that cosmopolitan
English school in China, all were represented, and in all those
countries there has been for many years a continually in-
creasing band of "old boys and girls” who devour Chefoo
magazines, and think back lovingly to their Alma Mater,
and the old Chefoo days....”
|
|
| 5 |
 |
digital image 17
“...225
IMPRESSIONS of the EXHIBITIONS.
“I’m sure you are going to enjoy it”, a friend told
me recently as he was enthusing over the yearly Exhibitions
that are given by the three C.I.M. schools at Chefoo. I was
a stranger in Chefoo, and was not particularly interested in
‘the Exhibitions’ (as he and other Chefoo people call them).
It was not until I had heard at least a half dozen others,
of reputation equally reliable, with glistening eyes, wax
eloquent on this darling theme, that I felt enough interest
tn it to even inquire the date on which it was to be held
this year.
However, when the warm afternoon of July twenty-
fourth arrived, it found me, together with several hundred
others, seated in the C. I. M. Memorial Hall watching, while
seventy or eighty boys and girls of the Preparatory School
streamed into, and quietly filled up the white tiers of seats
on the platform before us. Everybody began to clap, so I
did too, to keep up appearances.
There were yet a few minutes before things were...”
|
|
| 6 |
 |
digital image 18
“...226
After that, these little people gave us a very generous
program. Thee were, in all, a dozen songs, sung by the
lower and upper schools, and by selected voices: eight re-
citations; two pianoforte duets, and two pianoforte solos.
Those piano solos and duets-------1 I did enjoy them,
I must admit. I know one man, who, after he heard them
that afternoon, declared with a determined set to his chin,
and a glint in his eye, “If those little kids can play like that
after only a year’s practice, then so can 11 ”
After the performance was finished some of us went
to see the drawings and handwork of the ‘Prepites’. I
thought most of the little baskets and mats and models and
other handicraft were very neat and clever for such young
people, and some of the drawings were quite good. But I
did sadly ‘lose face’ over one picture we looked at. Someone
covered up with his hand the title to this drawing, and then
demanded, “Tell me what this picture is about”. I replied
at once, “Why, it’s a man fishing...”
|
|
| 7 |
 |
digital image 30
“...they haye managed to retain
the atmosphere and glamour of the Far-East.
A magnificent bridge connects Chefoo and the Bluff, and over
it run “modern rickshas” and “sedan-chairs”, which however, are
propelled by machinery, and not by man-strength.
The largest air-drome is situated on the soldiers' drillground
across from the East Fort, which has been changed into a vast
stadium, seating over a thousand people. From this stadium people
have a wonderful view, when the boys and girls from the C.I.M.
Schools exhibit their prowess in flying, on the traditional Exhibition
Days.
The business section of Chefoo extends from second to fourth
beach, and the large office-buildings such as McMullan & Co. and
each departmental store, have a landing-field for aeroplanes, on the
roof.
A railway, which was laid behind the hills, connects
Chefoo with Weihaiwei and all the northern cities. The hills are no
longer bare and rugged, for a lovely residential section has come into...”
|
|
| 8 |
 |
digital image 49
“...255
| (Bld & Ojirls^ portion
$ $>
□^□<>n<>n<>n<>n<>n-^n<>n<>Q<>n<>n<>o<>nn<>n<>Q
“Chefoo.......25”, the C.S.A. Newsletter, in its dainty
silver cover, was eagerly perused by. present scholars and we take this
opportunity to send our thanks and to offer our congratulations to the
Great Britain Branch of the Chefoo Schools Association on its Silver
Jubilee. The following items of news, came to hand from other sources.
Under the title of “Holiday Adventure” “Plucky
Swim in Teeth of Squall” there recently appeared a stirring
account of Miss Gladys Evans’ rescue of a party of Japanese
from an oarless fishing boat which dragged its anchor, whilst
they were using it as a base for their bathing.
By the time that the occupants realised their predica-
ment, they were being blown out to sea, towards the rocky
coast of Hamazaki, so one of them swam back to the receding
shore to summon aid. No boats were nearer than two or
three miles, so the young student laid hold on two planks,
and at this juncture...”
|
|
