22
Boulton sold some tobacco that he had looted from somewhere and bought me a pair of straw slippers and a roll of toilet paper. Another gentleman gave me a shaving brush which I found useful for Van Dyke's hair. Molly gave me some amber earrings-I never wear earrings, but does that matter? She cared about them so I care about them too. Mrs. Clift gave me a spare bed jacket she had brought along. Mr. Sharp gave me some tissue hankies for which I was most thankful. It was his birthday too, and Ma had used the last of his flour to make a few ginger snaps. Part of these I was able to give Mr. Sharp. Mr. Spence gave me a jar of ginger. Most of the gifts were accompanied by elaborate poems, and the children drew birthday cards.
But the best gift of all was on this wise:
In the morning the reading was Psalm 86. The last verse said: "I will send thee a token to comfort thee." Even God was going to send me a birthday present! I went up on the roof to hang up Van Dyke's napkins. I was alone for it was early. Suddenly a ship's siren blew three times and the ship on which my husband had been captured and which the Japanese had brought to Hong Kong, and which had been lying for days in the harbour, weighed anchor and came and docked at the wharf directly in front of the hotel. I could only see its funnel after it docked, but was there ever a better token? Did not that say to me that we should meet again and that he was safe? Later on in camp I was reading the Scripture Union portion and the reading suddenly jumped to the Psalms for a few days. The 86th Psalm came again-the following day came the message of Ruth "Whither thou goest I will go." That day in camp I received a letter from my husband through the Japanese that he was being repatriated and they had promised to send me to Shanghai to go with him. Actually, I was sent direct to Lourenco Marques, but with this written assurance that he was on the way. Later I found that it was this very day that his ship passed Hong Kong on the way to Shanghai, where the British were being assembled for repatriation.
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