gcls_WFP_946

Colonel Roger Moore.

[portrait of Roger Moore]

This picture appeared in the War Cry of the Salvation Amry, Dec. 7th, 1935.

Colonel Roger Moore, of Wilmington, N.C., was born June 19th, 1838. When the War Between the States broke out he enlisted in the Confederate Army and served until the end of the conflict.

After Lee's surrender, Colonel Moore settled in Wilmington, N.C., and became the teacher of the Men's Bible Class in Fifth Ave. Methodist Church. One Sunday, the pastor, Rev. T. Page Richaud, mentioned in his sermon that there were many sailors coming and going to and from the seaport of Wilmington and perhaps many would like to attend church on Sundays, if someone would go down to the docks on Saturday afternoon and extend a friendly welcome.

As a result of the pastor's suggestion, Colonel Roger Moore went to the water front the following Saturday afternoon. It so happned that no sailors were hanging around the docks that day but Colonel Moore saw a small Chinease mess boy on a boat and began a conversation with him. He invited the lad to attend his Bible Class the next day. The Chinese boy did so.

Who was this boy? His name was Soong. His father had sent him to Boston to work in a profitable importing business which his uncle managed, and the boy was to take over the business when he was grown and prepared.

The boy, however, was more interested in the future of China and getting an American education than he was in business. At night after the store closed, young Soong would invite a few other Chinese boys to meet him in the back of the store and talk about China and her future.

This indifference worried his uncle and one day he scolded the boy sharply. It was then the boy decided to run away.

One account said he got a job on a boat but another account said he hid himself in the hold of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Colfax as a stowaway. No matter which account is correct, his first work was as a mess boy onteh Colfax.

It was fortunate for the world that the captain of the Colfax was a man named Charles Jones. He realized that the boy had promise and since