“Ai-Weh-Deh” Gladys Aylward, Paul Curtis [great books for teens .txt] 📗

when the Japanese army had invaded
Supporting the Chinese army and fighting alone and unaided

Ley sent her a message “The Japanese are coming in full force
We are retreating. Come with us retreating is the only course”
She replied, "Christians never retreat!" I would rather be dead
He sent back a copy of a wanted poster with a price on her head
Discretion was perhaps the better part of valor she decided
And thought to flee to Sian with the orphans she’d accumulated


She was sad to leave Yangcheng home for so many years
After years of happiness she resolved not to shed her tears
Her great love had helped many a poor child and refugee
And many wounded soldiers had her to thank for her charity
Sometimes she amazed herself at the difference she’d made
Not bad for an adequately educated English parlor maid


Her orphans now numbered over one hundred of all ages
Who she had to get to one of Sian government orphanages
It was with reluctance Gladys had to leave her beloved inn
With a hail of bullets from her pursuers narrowly missing
While ducking into bushes with a coat wadded up as protection
The coat was found riddled with bullets after later inspection


Over a hundred children set off led by the devoted missionary
One orphaned child for every mile of the perilous journey
Surviving the long exhausting days and cold shivering nights
Crossing low barren valleys and over harsh mountain heights
They were headed for the relative safety of the province of Sian
Arriving twenty-seven days after their long journey had began


She brought her children safely into Sian and collapsed of fever
How had she made it? Doctors were amazed at her endeavor
This woman, who was suffering from pneumonia and malnutrition
Not to mention typhus, relapsing fever and supreme exhaustion
Over come with fever Gladys sank into delirium for several days
When the fever broke she returned to Yangcheng looking for strays


On the return journey Gladys was wounded by soldiers of Japan
Requiring another spell in hospital when she returned to Sian
Once she regained her strength she began in this new region,
Sharing in the remote villages the gospels of her own religion
As her health gradually improved, she started a church in Sian
And worked everywhere even a colony for lepers in Szechuan


Her health was always impaired by her many war time injuries
And in forty-seven she returned to England for urgent surgery
She remained in England preaching but missing China horribly
Due to the communists she was no longer welcome incredibly
Throughout her China years she characterized her ministry
As a humble dependence upon God in a steady stream of adversity


After ten years back in England, Gladys Aylward returned to Asia
But due to Communist rule was unable to settle in Mainland China
Though excluded from her adopted country she couldn’t stay away
So she established refugee centers in both Hong Kong and Taipei
In nineteen fifty eight Gladys founded an orphanage in Taiwan
Where on January third nineteen seventy God took the virtuous one


A book was written about Gladys Aylward in nineteen fifty seven
The book was called “the small woman” and was in the top ten
The book was written by a man by the name of Alan Burgess
And was made into a movie “The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness”
It was a constant thorn in her side offending her sensibilities
She was deeply embarrassed by it because of its inaccuracies


Hollywood also took great liberties suggesting an infatuation
With the Chinese Colonel Linnan, even making him Eurasian
But Gladys Aylward, the most chaste of women, was horrified
To learn the movie had portraying her in 'love scenes' had lied
On hearing accounts she could not be more full of condemnation
Suffering greatly over what she considered her soiled reputation
Imprint

Publication Date: 08-05-2010

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