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REVS. J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS
ed. However, we managed to pick up some odd tins here and there, and some things which did not appeal to the Japanese taste were left untouched. As the soldiers were still in the house we could not salvage much under their eyes, but we did manage to bring some things to the lower chapel and hide them away. A few sacks of rice and soya beans were left, and also a quantity of sugar and, singularly enough in this instance, a larger quantity than we had had in the beginning. And last but not least were the army biscuits which the British had brought in with them.
Well, all that day we puttered around retrieving what we could, but the soldiers gave no signs of evacuating. Our dinner and supper were cooked outside on our makeshift stove, and we managed to pick up a few cups and dishes for our food. Anything tasted good these days. We slept again on the floor of the chapel, but having been given by the Japanese some British army blankets, we were not so cold that night.
During the wee small hours of the morning of the thirtieth, we heard the soldiers moving about in the upper corridors, and when we arose at dawn the last of them had departed, leaving the wreck to us. Our first concern was for saying Mass, and it did not take us long to set up a few portable altars in the upstairs chapel to get ready the necessary requirements for the Holy Sacrifice. Personally I do not think I ever said Mass more fervently, or with greater gratitude to God for His protection and His divine Providence. After breakfast, cooked again in the open, we literally swarmed over the building and like busy bees began the task of cleaning up.
The office, as said before, had been used as a dining room, and there we found the remains of a seemingly hurried meal, eaten by the departing soldiery. On the table were plates (ours of course) of heaped up rice and other remnants of food. A chalice or two had been used for drinking cups. Stepping gingerly over the debris in the corridors, each one returned to his room to take stock of the situation, and to ascertain as far as possible how much and how many of his possessions had been looted. Generally speaking, only those things which a soldier could use were missing, such as shoes, some articles of clothing, money (although some gold currency was untouched), watches, small clocks, cameras, eye glasses, razors and toilet supplies. Of course, too, everyone was cleaned out of cigarettes and it was difficult to buy any. Up in our attic, where many of the
64
REVS, J. SMITH AND WM. DOWNS
ed. However, we managed to pick up some odd tins here and there, and some things which did not appeal to the Japanese taste were left untouched. As the soldiers were still in the house we could not salvage much under their eyes, but we did manage to bring some things to the lower chapel and hide them away. A few sacks of rice and soya beans were left, and also a quantity of sugar and, singularly enough in this instance, a larger quantity than we had had in the beginning. And last but not least were the army biscuits which the British had brought in with them.
Well, all that day we puttered around retrieving what we could, but the soldiers gave no signs of evacuating. Our dinner and supper were cooked outside on our makeshift stove, and we managed to pick up a few cups and dishes for our food. Anything tasted good these days. We slept again on the floor of the chapel, but having been given by the Japanese some British army blankets, we were not so cold that night.
During the wee small hours of the morning of the thirtieth, we heard the soldiers moving about in the upper corridors, and when we arose at dawn the last of them had departed, leaving the wreck to us. Our first concern was for saying Mass, and it did not take us long to set up a few portable altars in the upstairs chapel to get ready the necessary requirements for the Holy Sacrifice. Personally I do not think I ever said Mass more fervently, or with greater gratitude to God for His protection and His divine Providence. After breakfast, cooked again in the open, we literally swarmed over the building and like busy bees began the task of cleaning up.
The office, as said before, had been used as a dining room, and there we found the remains of a seemingly hurried meal, eaten by the departing soldiery. On the table were plates (ours of course) of heaped up rice and other remnants of food. A chalice or two had been used for drinking cups. Stepping gingerly over the debris in the corridors, each one returned to his room to take stock of the situation, and to ascertain as far as possible how much and how many of his possessions had been looted. Generally speaking, only those things which a soldier could use were missing, such as shoes, some articles of clothing, money (although some gold currency was untouched), watches, small clocks, cameras, eye glasses, razors and toilet supplies. Of course, too, everyone was cleaned out of cigarettes and it was difficult to buy any. Up in our attic, where many of the
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