Then Gladys thought about why she wanted to go to China. She was certain it was where God wanted her to live and work, and if that was where He wanted her, surely He would help her get the money she needed to get there. She placed her hands over the money and in a loud voice prayed, “Here is my Bible. Here is all the money I have. Here is me. Find some way to use me, God!”
As she prayed, the door creaked open, and another maid peered into her room. Gladys knew that the maid must have heard her prayer, but she didn’t care; she had meant every word she prayed.
“Excuse me,” began the maid, “but the mistress wants to see you in the drawing room.”
Gladys glanced in the mirror and quickly adjusted her black bun. She stepped into the hallway and followed the maid down the servants’ stairs to the drawing room, where Lady Annabel Younghusband was waiting for her. Gladys curtsied and introduced herself.
Lady Annabel smiled at her. “How much did the train fare to get here cost you?” she asked Gladys kindly.
“Two shillings and nine pence, ma’am,” Gladys replied, wondering why the woman was asking such a question.
“Here you are,” Lady Annabel said, reaching into her purse. “Take three shillings. I always pay the fare of my maids when I hire them.”
Gladys could hardly believe it. No one had ever before offered to pay her train fare to get to a new job. She thanked Lady Annabel and bounded back up the stairs to her room. She put the three shillings next to the two and a half pennies. A big smile lit up her face. In the ten minutes since praying her prayer, her money had increased fifteen times! In her mind, Gladys was already practically in China!
Of course, Gladys had no idea how much a trip to China would cost. It wasn’t the kind of thing her parents or any of the other maids knew, either. But she needed to find out. So as she polished the silverware and dusted books over the next several days, Gladys worked out a plan. She would save every penny she could, and when she had saved three pounds, she would go to Haymarket and find a shipping agent. There she would put a deposit on a ticket to China.
It didn’t take Gladys as long as she thought to save three pounds. She managed to find some extra work serving at banquets in the evenings and on her days off. Several weeks later, with high hopes, she caught a trolley car to Haymarket. The trolley stopped right outside the door to Muller’s Shipping Agency.
Gathering all her courage, Gladys pushed open the door to Muller’s and entered the impressive building. It was just about empty inside, so she did not have to wait long before being served. She cleared her throat and looked directly at the elderly clerk who had asked if he could help her. “How much is a one-way ticket to China?” she politely asked.
“And to what part of China would that be?” the clerk snapped back.
Gladys hadn’t thought about that. “I don’t know,” she stammered, feeling her cheeks turning red with embarrassment at the question. “Any part will do. Whatever is the cheapest to get to.”
The clerk looked at her patched coat and threadbare gloves and rolled his eyes as if to say he didn’t have time for a maid pretending to be rich. Gladys obviously looked like a person who would never be able to afford a trip to China. “Please step aside, Miss. I have work to do,” he finally said in a firm voice.
“No, you don’t understand,” Gladys pleaded. “I have money, and I need to get to China.” She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out the three one-pound notes. “Here,” she continued, laying the notes on the counter between them.
The clerk sighed. “Ma’am, the cheapest sea passage to any part of China,” he explained, emphasizing the word any, “is ninety pounds. That’s thirty times more than the money you have.”
Gladys felt sick. Ninety pounds would take forever to save. She knew the clerk expected her to pick up the money and walk out, but she did not. “There must be a cheaper way,” she asked, trying to sound calm.
The clerk sighed heavily again. “There is, ma’am,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice, “if you don’t mind arriving dead, that is.”
Gladys stared at him and waited for him to continue.
“There is a rail route through Europe, Russia, and Siberia to Tientsin in northern China. It would cost forty-seven pounds ten shillings. But a war is in progress between Russia and China over a land claim in the area. It’s unlikely you would arrive alive at your destination, wherever that might be.”
Gladys leveled her dark brown eyes at the clerk and spoke calmly. “It’s my life that would be at risk, so it’s my choice. Do you or do you not sell train tickets to China?”
The clerk nodded. “Yes, we do,” he said.
“Very well,” said Gladys. “I would like to open an account to pay for a train ticket to China. Take the three pounds, and I’ll be back every Friday afternoon with more money until I have paid the ticket off.” Then, feeling she might have been a little overly bold, Gladys added with a smile, “Don’t worry about me and a silly little war. By the time I save enough money to get to China, it will be long over.”
Seeing that Gladys was not going to leave until he took her money, the clerk counted her three one-pound notes into the money drawer and wrote her a receipt. Then, reluctantly, he opened the company ledger and asked Gladys for her name and address.
Gladys left Muller’s Shipping Agency a very happy person. She had just paid three pounds deposit on a ticket to China. She only had forty-four pounds ten shillings to go.
As she rode the trolley back to Belgravia, she turned her attention to what she would do once she got to China. She needed more training, but where would she get it? She didn’t want to spend any money on Bible school. Besides, she’d already failed at that! If she was going to get an education in missionary work, Gladys decided she was going to have to give it to herself.
On a piece of paper she noted some of the things she’d need to learn. The first thing on her list was preaching. Every missionary needed to know how to preach, she told herself. Hyde Park in London became the place where she learned to do this. Hyde Park was where people with strong opinions climbed onto wooden soapboxes and made speeches. Most of the speeches were about politics. If a passerby liked what the person was saying, he or she might stop and listen for a while, perhaps even throw a penny or two at the speaker’s feet. Those who disagreed might jeer and throw a leftover sandwich from lunch at the speaker. In the midst of the loud, bustling crowd, Gladys, wearing a simple black dress, would climb onto her soapbox and begin preaching at the top of her voice. She preached about how much God loved the people hurrying by and about their need to serve God.
Nobody stopped to listen to her. A few people passing by jeered and heckled her, but Gladys did not mind. Each time she got up to preach, she was a little less concerned about what people thought of her and a little more confident that one day she would preach in China.
Besides learning to preach, Gladys set out to learn more about China. This task was made easier for her by a happy coincidence. Sir Francis Younghusband was a famous explorer who had spent a lot of time in the interior of China and had written several books on his experiences there. Gladys politely asked him if she could borrow some of the books from his private library. He was puzzled. Housemaids were usually not interested much in reading, especially not the type of books he had in his library. Though the request seemed odd, Sir Francis Younghusband kindly told Gladys she could borrow one book at a time from his library and keep it for a week.
As with her preaching in Hyde Park, Gladys threw herself into reading as many books about China from her employer’s library as she possibly could. As she read each book, she made notes about what she’d learned in the journal she’d started while working for the Fishers.
Things for her trip to China were slowly coming together. But Gladys still had a few unanswered questions. Where would she go, and what would she do once she got there?
Chapter 3
All Aboard
Gladys hadn’t really been paying much attention to the elderly woman talking to her after church. She was tired from the late party she had been serving at the night before. But as exhausted as she felt, the extra work was worth it to her. In only seven months she had deposited nearly all the money for her ticket to China at Muller’s Shipping Agency. Every week the clerk, who now looked forward to her visits to pay more money on the ticket, would ask her whether she knew yet where she was going in China. And each week Gladys told him she didn’t. But as she stood, tired, not really paying too much attention to the old woman, her ears suddenly pricked up.
“As I was saying,” the old lady said, “Mrs. Lawson couldn’t settle back into England after her husband died. Last year she packed up everything and went back to China. She said she would rather die there doing God’s work than stay in England doing needlepoint. At seventy-three years old, I expect she will die there.”
“Did you say she’s gone back to China?” asked Gladys.
“Yes,” said the woman. “Her only regret was that she had to go back alone. She couldn’t interest anyone in going back with her. It’s a pity, really; she wanted to train someone to carry on after she was gone.”
Gladys could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “That’s me,” she blurted, before she even knew what she was saying.
The old woman looked at Gladys in amazement. But over the next several minutes, Gladys managed to convinced her she was serious about going to China. So the woman searched around in her huge handbag until she found Mrs. Lawson’s address. She handed it to Gladys, kissed her on the cheek, and wished her well.
Gladys went back to her room at the Younghusbands’ house in Belgravia full of enthusiasm. She had so many things to do. She had to write to Mrs. Lawson and let her know help was on the way, and she had to tell the clerk at Muller’s Shipping Agency she now had a destination in China. She also had to collect as many useful items as she could for her trip to China.
It wasn’t too long before Gladys received a letter from Mrs. Lawson telling her that if she came to China she had work for her, and she would meet Gladys in Tientsin. So, on Saturday, October 15, 1930, three months after hearing about Mrs. Lawson, Gladys stood at the Liverpool Street railway station, ready to begin her journey. She was by far the strangest-looking passenger waiting to board the train, wearing a bright orange dress and a huge fur overcoat with the sleeves cut out. The coat was far too heavy for the English autumn she was leaving behind. Under her clothes she was wearing one of her mother’s old corsets. Sewn inside the corset was a maze of secret pockets holding her train tickets, passport, a fountain pen (which she hoped wouldn’t leak), all her money (nine pennies in loose change and two one-pound traveler’s checks), and her Bible. Of course, these items stuffed inside her corset made her look rather lumpy, but fortunately, the fur overcoat managed to hide most of the lumps.
Gladys also had with her two old, battered suitcases. In the larger of the two suitcases she had packed some extra clothes: darned woolen stockings, a hand-knitted sweater from her sister Violet, and a woolly vest from a woman at church. A bedroll and a small spirit stove were also packed inside. The smaller suitcase was filled with food: canned fish and meat, baked beans, crackers, boiled eggs, instant coffee, and lots of tea. On its outside was tied a large pot and a kettle. Altogether, Gladys looked more like a hobo than a departing missionary.
“All aboard for Hull,” yelled the conductor. Steam hissed from the huge locomotive at the front of the train. Gladys hugged her parents and Violet good-bye. Her brother Lawrence, a drummer in the British Army, wasn’t able to be there, but Gladys had a photo of him in his full-dress uniform tucked into her suitcase.
“Don’t forget us, Glad,” said Violet, as she gave her big sister one last hug.
