Memorials of R. Harold A. Schofield, M.A., M.B. (Oxon.) (late of China Inland Mission) : first medical missionary to Shan-Si, China / chiefly compiled from his letters and diaries by his brother A.T. Schofield.

  • Schofield, A. T. (Alfred Taylor), 1846-1929.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorials of R. Harold A. Schofield, M.A., M.B. (Oxon.) (late of China Inland Mission) : first medical missionary to Shan-Si, China / chiefly compiled from his letters and diaries by his brother A.T. Schofield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “ Leaving home early with our tank full,* we stopped for breakfast at Manchester (twelve miles). Thence to Knutsford, where ' the village blacksmith ’ came out of his shop, and mounting a very slim single tricycle, chal- lenged us to a race. We accepted, but in spite of his broad and sinewy hands, and the fact that we had just travelled twenty-three miles, we left him struggling in the distance with the utmost ease. We dined excel- lently at Northwich, and as a result our pace was very slow afterwards. Running through Delamere Forest downhill, we found ourselves in the midst of a herd of cattle, and in trying to avoid them ran up the bank and were overturned into the road. Shaking our- selves, we remounted and soon reached Chester. Next day we ran through Holywell to Rhyddlan, where we broke a spring over a gutter. The hills after this were so steep that not only was it impossible to ride either up or down, but both of us had the greatest difficulty in holding the tricycle back when descending a hill. Getting the spring mended, we got a carriage at D}^serth and drove to Rhyl with the tricycle. After a day or two we returned, again breaking a spring and being overturned, and arrived home by the same route, after a run of 171 miles.” Every week Harold would accompany the writer to a large. Sunday school under his care, and help in teaching. His lessons were much blessed, and several cases of distinct conversion to God were the result. The best accounts of his school life are given by his schoolfellows. One of his oldest friends writes :— * This tank held half a gallon of claret and water, and a long india-rubber tube enabled either of the riders to drink ad libitu7n. We found that (like a steam-engine) we required to consume a definite amount of fluid per mile.