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"My ......... ..," said he, "I have all these affairs of importance and you ask me about diapers!" Clyde spent a great deal of time playing chess. There were a number of priests on board and several of them took him in hand. I remember one of them speaking to me and asking if I were the mother of Clyde. I found he was a bishop. It was a stormy day and I might have known his title by his diagonal walk across the deck! Jane organized play hours for the children when "fathers" and volunteer "fathers" took charge of them. It worked well, and would be a good plan for ordinary sea travel. There was some doubt whether we should be allowed to leave the party in Lourenco Marques or go on to America. We had to go on board the "Gripsholm" until two days before she sailed. The cabin we were first assigned was in the second class, and for the first time in almost eight months, I was able to shut the door and be alone with only the family. Then we were re-shifted and were assigned to a cabin so far down through twisted passageways that I doubt if even a ministering angel could have found his way there. I was too tired and ill with a cold I had contracted even to think, but I believe once our family had been settled there, I should never have survived to see the States. I couldn't have faced those corridors and gangways with a baby and rolling seas, and I know my pathway was weighed by my Father in heaven when, after two cables to the States, we were allowed to disembark.
So goodbye "Gripsholm"-and goodbye, kind friends.
God did take care of us as Ned said he would. What of Ma Si Fu and his little family? I brought out the 1 lb. tin of Klim Su Mei had given me and gave it to the American Red Cross representative and asked him if they were able to get parcels back to Hong Kong would he please try and remember Su Mei's little children. I wonder if they have survived? What can I do for them?
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