THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46
65
up-country missioners had their personal trunks and camphor boxes, there was also confusion. Trunks and boxes had been broken open and those of their contents which had not been carried away were strewn all over the attic floor, in some places two feet deep. As for cleaning up, we really did not know where to begin, and after working all day, we had apparently made little progress. Fortunately, the city water was turned on again, for we needed plenty of that in places, as the floors in spots were covered with filth. Someone remarked that pigs would have been cleaner.
Personally, my chief concern was for my language notes, the work of over a year, and of which I had only one copy. However, upon returning to my room, there, in the midst of scattered effects, were the notes on my desk just where I had left them! I breathed a fervent prayer of thanksgiving. Only recently I had had my eyes re-examined and had gotten a new pair of glasses. These were missing, but I still had my old ones. And each one had his own particular tale of woe.
The thirty-first found us continuing our work of cleaning up. The outside of the house was just as much of a mess as the inside, the front and rear lawns being strewn with empty tins and bottles. Our Ford V-8 still stood on the front lawn and the Japanese had evidently tried to start it, but someone had previously subtracted an essential mechanism from the motor and their efforts were baffled. Around the house, too, were many reminders of the battle—soldiers' overcoats, steel helmets (in fact, in addition to the many strewn around on the ground there was a whole big unopened case of these near our garage); hand grenades, parts of machine gun outfits and debris of every description, much of which had been thrown out of our windows. On our south lawn there was also a number of shallow pits and some mounds. Whether the latter are graves or not we do not yet know, but we filled up the pits with debris and levelled off the mounds. Near our garage, too, was an immense pile of miscellaneous boards and strips of wood, these evidently having been brought from the wreckage of the Repulse Bay matsheds to Stanley for firewood, and as our kitchen range was out of the question, we having neither electricity nor fuel oil, this wood came in very handy.
THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46
65
up-country missioners had their personal trunks and camphor boxes, there was also confusion, Trunks and boxes had been broken open and those of their contents which had not been carried away were strewn all over the attic floor, in some places two feet deep. As for cleaning up, we really did not know where to begin, and after work- ing all day, we had apparently made little progress. Fortunately, the city water was turned on again, for we needed plenty of that in places, as the floors in spots were covered with filth. Someone remarked that pigs would have been cleaner.
Personally, my chief concern was for my language notes, the work of over a year, and of which I had only one copy. However, upon returning to my room, there, in the midst of scattered effects, were the notes on my desk just where I had left them! I breathed a fervent prayer of thanksgiving. Only recently I had had my eyes re-examined and had gotten a new pair of glasses. These were missing, but I still had my old ones. And each one had his own particular tale of woe.
The thirty-first found us continuing our work of cleaning up. The outside of the house was just as much of a mess as the inside, the front and rear lawns being strewn with empty tins and bottles. Our Ford V-8 still stood on the front lawn and the Japanese had evidently tried to start it, but someone had previously subtracted an essential mechanism from the motor and their efforts were baffled. Around the house, too, were many reminders of the battle-soldiers' overcoats, steel helmets (in fact, in addition to the many strewn around on the ground there was a whole big unopened case of these near our garage); hand grenades, parts of machine gun outfits and debris of every description, much of which had been thrown out of our windows. On our south lawn there was also a number of shallow pits and some mounds. Whether the latter are graves or not we do not yet know, but we filled up the pits with debris and levelled off the mounds. Near our garage, too, was an immense pile of miscellaneous boards and strips of wood, these evidently having been brought from the wreckage of the Repulse Bay matsheds to Stanley for firewood, and as our kitchen range was out of the question, we having neither electricity nor fuel oil, this wood came in very handy.
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