{"id":2044,"date":"2026-04-24T20:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/?post_type=exhibit&p=2044"},"modified":"2026-04-28T23:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:30:41","slug":"chinese-civil-war-period-1946-1949","status":"publish","type":"exhibit","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/exhibits\/ellen-j-peterson-1907\/chinese-civil-war-period-1946-1949\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Civil War and Farewell (1946-1949)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The three and a half years’ absence did not mark the end of Miss Peterson’s connection with China. She went back to Shanghai in 1945 and worked at a Presbyterian relief center during the Chinese Civil War period. She eventually bade farewell to China on the Navy ship, SS Breckenridge, in 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Relief roster (cover page), March 7th, 1948, Pat Berg Currier’s family collection<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Relief roster (introduction), March 7th, 1948, Pat Berg Currier’s family collection<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Relief roster (sample page), March 7th, 1948, Pat Berg Currier’s family collection<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ellen J. Peterson’s sailing card, 1913-1949, American Baptist Historical Society, Atlanta, GA.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ellen J. Peterson’s trunk, used during her return trip. From<\/em> Pat Berg Currier’s family collection<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Side view. From<\/em> Pat Berg Currier’s family collection<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The end of missionary work in China would never cut off the unbreakable connection between Miss Peterson’s heart and China. Many years after she returned home, Miss Peterson echoed a poem, My Heart\u2019s Off in China<\/em>, by Stella Fisher Burgess, in her diary, where she wrote: “I slept well … and dreamed of China.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ellen J. Peterson’s manuscript of My Heart’s Off in China. From Pat Berg Currier’s family collection.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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My Heart\u2019s Off in China<\/strong>
By Stella Fisher Burgess
If sometimes my eyes have a faraway gleam
It\u2019s because I am traveling \u2013 I\u2019m not where I seem.
My heart\u2019s off in China. I hear its long call.
The wanderlust\u2019s got me \u2013 I\u2019m dreaming \u2013 that\u2019s all.
My ears catch the street huckster\u2019s minor refrain,
Where the tinkle of camel-bell rings thru the rain.
My heart\u2019s off in China and whistling a tune
To the jolt of a mule-cart on stone roads at noon.
Each spot is a story-book laden with age,
Replete with the lore of philosopher, sage;
And the heart that once starts on the classics\u2019 long track
Leaves part of itself, never wholly comes back\u2026
In a temple-roof\u2019s shade with its off curly-kews
A fig for your Wall Street and all the world\u2019s news!
Your heart\u2019s simply China right up to the brim,
All else on the planet fades hazy and dim.
So keep your express trains and sky-scrapers too!
There\u2019s lure in the old that there\u2019s not in the new.
Republic or empire, she holds your heart\u2019s sway,
Dear manifold China, the ancient Cathay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The three and a half years’ absence did not mark the end of Miss Peterson’s connection with China. She went back to Shanghai in 1945 and worked at a Presbyterian relief center during the Chinese Civil War period. She eventually bade farewell to China on the Navy ship, SS Breckenridge, in 1949. The end of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":377,"menu_order":5,"template":"","institution":[],"place":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2044"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/exhibit"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2439,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2044\/revisions\/2439"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=2044"},{"taxonomy":"place","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place?post=2044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}