Letter from Hattie to Frank, April 23, 1874
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Frank, April 23, 1874
Subject
Smallpox; Quarantine; Travel; Vacations; Wild flowers
Description
In this letter to her brother Francis, Harriet states that because of their trip and extra leisure time, the family in Ohio will be overcome with letters from all of the family in China. They left Canton very quickly when they feared they had been exposed to smallpox. They did not say goodbye to any Canton friends and missed a few desired visitors. Harriet loves the flowers that grow on the mountains where they are. She apologizes for her handwriting, as the boat she is on is very rocky.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1874-04-23
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_117
Coverage
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
North River
near Canton
China
My dear Frank, April 23d 1874.
Because I have so little to
write, and so much time to write
it in , I am writing to all of the
dear ones in the old house on the hill.
I hope you will not all of you get tired
before you get through with the
voluminous epistles that you will
get by this mail but if you do you
must comfort yourselves by thinking
that we do not go on country trips,
and have so much leisure for
writing Every day. Lucy and Mattie
are both writing and Henry is
reading over his sermon for he
will have to preach the Sunday
after we get home and so he has
had to spend part of his time
in sermonizing The small-pox panic
caused his turn for preaching to
be put off a few weeks. One of our
Canton missionaries Mr Parkes with
his family left I suppose for England
since we left Canton. He was to preach
his farewell sermon the Sabbath after
we came away and leave the next
Tuesday + although we have not heard
anything from Canton since I suppose
the programme was carried out.
It was a real trial to us to come
away without saying good-bye to them
for they are dear friends but we
could not go to see them after
having been exposed to the small-pox.
The morning after we "shut of shop"
as Henry calls it Mr Preston call
to us from the street and we
went to the window to catch a
glimpse of him and a gentleman
with him who he said was
Mr Dodge a Professor in the
college at Beirut and son of
the Wm [Note: abbreviation for William] Dodge who entertained
the Evangelical Alliance in
such princely style . He looked
a very pleasant gentleman and
it was quite tantalizing that we
could not have an opportunity
to getting acquainted with him .
That Eve as we sat "solitary and
alone" in our mansion we had
the satisfaction of knowing that all
the other members of the Mission
were spending the eve with him.
He only spent one day in
Canton. I do not know whether
we wrote you about a letter recd [Note: abbreviation for received]
recently from Coz Horace Walker +
his wife in which they told us
that a Mr Breck who Expects soon
to marry their eldest daughter
Ellen would be in Canton this
spring and would favor us with
a visit. Just the eve before we
left we received a note from him
at Hongkong saying that he
would be in Canton in a day
or two and if agreeable to us
would call. But as we had
already made all our arrangements
for the trip + were besides in
quarantine there seemed
no way to do but write + tell
him so and carry out our
plans hoping that he may
remain in Canton until
we return when I hope we
shall be free again to go about at
pleasure. I must tell you about
the flowers we have seen on the
mountains. If you saw the
laurel in Virginia as i did you
will be ^[able to] imagine how delighted I
was to see it blooming on the
mountains of China. It was
so high up that I was afraid as it
rained so incessantly that we
would not be able to get a specimen
to see whether it really was laurel
or not but the last day we were
among the mountains Henry
gathered some and I was [u]so
pleased[/u] to find that it really
was laurel. I think it is Even
prettier than the Virginia laurel
+ that I thought perfectly beautiful
Larkspur grows wild all along the
banks of the river and some of
the mountain sides were almost
covered with a profusion of magnificent
white roses very fragrant. Wild
honeysuckle too we found and
two or three varieties of small
bushes that were covered with
tiny white flowers. So we had
something to compensate for the
rain for when we were up before
[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
three were hardly any flowers as that was late in the fall,
There is so
much motion
in the boat
from the rowing
that you must
Excuse the
looks of
this letter
and
Believe me Ever
your aff sister
Hattie
中国广州附近的北河
我亲爱的弗兰克，
1874 年 4 月 23 日。
因为我写的太少，
写的时间太多，
所以我写信给山上老房子里所有亲爱的人。
我希望你们都不会在通过这封邮件收到的大量书信之前感到疲倦，
但是如果您这样做了，
您必须安慰自己，
认为我们不去乡村旅行，
并且有这么多闲暇时间每天写作。
露西和玛蒂都在写信，
亨利正在阅读他的讲道，
因为他必须在我们回家后的星期天讲道，
所以他不得不花一部分时间在讲道上。
天花恐慌导致轮到他讲道。
推迟几周。
我想，
自从我们离开广州后，
我们的一位广州传教士帕克斯先生和他的家人就去了英国。
我们下周二离开后，
他将在安息日宣讲他的告别布道，
尽管我认为该计划已经执行，
但我们还没有收到来自广州的任何消息。
不跟他们道别就离开对我们来说是一次真正的考验，
因为他们是亲爱的朋友，
但在感染了天花后我们不能去看他们。
亨利称之为“关店”的第二天早上，
普雷斯顿先生从街上打电话给我们，
我们走到窗前瞥了一眼他和一位和他在一起的绅士，
他说他是道奇先生，
大学教授贝鲁特和 Wm [注：威廉的缩写] 道奇的儿子，
他以如此王子的风格招待了福音派联盟。
他看起来是一个非常和蔼可亲的绅士，
我们无法有机会认识他，
这很诱人。
那个前夜，
当我们“孤独而孤独”地坐在我们的豪宅里时，
我们很高兴地知道，
使命的所有其他成员都和他一起度过了这个前夜。
他只在广州呆了一天。
我不知道我们是否给您写了一封关于最近来自霍勒斯·沃克上校和收到了他的妻子的一封信
[注：收到的缩写]，
他们在信中告诉我们，
一位希望很快与他们的大女儿艾伦结婚的布雷克先生将在广州春天，
会喜欢我们的访问。
就在我们离开的前一天，
我们在香港收到了他的便条，
说他一两天后会到广州，
如果我们同意，
会打电话给我们。
但由于我们已经为这次旅行做好了所有的安排，
而且还处于隔离状态，
似乎没有办法，
只能写信告诉他，
并执行我们的计划，
希望他能留在广州，
直到我们回来，
我希望我们能回来。
再次自由自在地四处走动。
我必须告诉你我们在山上看到的花朵。
如果你和我一样看到弗吉尼亚州的月桂树，
你可以想象看到它在中国的山上绽放我是多么高兴。
它是如此之高，
以至于我很害怕，
因为雨下得如此之大，
以至于我们无法获得标本来看看它是否真的是月桂树，
但最后一天我们在山间亨利收集了一些，
我很高兴才发现真的是月桂。
我认为它比弗吉尼亚月桂树还要漂亮，
而且我认为非常美丽的云雀在河岸边野蛮生长，
一些山坡上几乎覆盖着大量非常芬芳的壮丽白玫瑰。
我们还发现了野生金银花和两三个种满白色小花的小灌木。
所以我们有一些东西来补偿我们之前起床时的雨[注：信在第一页横向结束] 三朵几乎没有花，
因为那是深秋，
划船时船的运动如此之多，
以至于你必须原谅这封信的样子。
你的妹妹，
海蒂
near Canton
China
My dear Frank, April 23d 1874.
Because I have so little to
write, and so much time to write
it in , I am writing to all of the
dear ones in the old house on the hill.
I hope you will not all of you get tired
before you get through with the
voluminous epistles that you will
get by this mail but if you do you
must comfort yourselves by thinking
that we do not go on country trips,
and have so much leisure for
writing Every day. Lucy and Mattie
are both writing and Henry is
reading over his sermon for he
will have to preach the Sunday
after we get home and so he has
had to spend part of his time
in sermonizing The small-pox panic
caused his turn for preaching to
be put off a few weeks. One of our
Canton missionaries Mr Parkes with
his family left I suppose for England
since we left Canton. He was to preach
his farewell sermon the Sabbath after
we came away and leave the next
Tuesday + although we have not heard
anything from Canton since I suppose
the programme was carried out.
It was a real trial to us to come
away without saying good-bye to them
for they are dear friends but we
could not go to see them after
having been exposed to the small-pox.
The morning after we "shut of shop"
as Henry calls it Mr Preston call
to us from the street and we
went to the window to catch a
glimpse of him and a gentleman
with him who he said was
Mr Dodge a Professor in the
college at Beirut and son of
the Wm [Note: abbreviation for William] Dodge who entertained
the Evangelical Alliance in
such princely style . He looked
a very pleasant gentleman and
it was quite tantalizing that we
could not have an opportunity
to getting acquainted with him .
That Eve as we sat "solitary and
alone" in our mansion we had
the satisfaction of knowing that all
the other members of the Mission
were spending the eve with him.
He only spent one day in
Canton. I do not know whether
we wrote you about a letter recd [Note: abbreviation for received]
recently from Coz Horace Walker +
his wife in which they told us
that a Mr Breck who Expects soon
to marry their eldest daughter
Ellen would be in Canton this
spring and would favor us with
a visit. Just the eve before we
left we received a note from him
at Hongkong saying that he
would be in Canton in a day
or two and if agreeable to us
would call. But as we had
already made all our arrangements
for the trip + were besides in
quarantine there seemed
no way to do but write + tell
him so and carry out our
plans hoping that he may
remain in Canton until
we return when I hope we
shall be free again to go about at
pleasure. I must tell you about
the flowers we have seen on the
mountains. If you saw the
laurel in Virginia as i did you
will be ^[able to] imagine how delighted I
was to see it blooming on the
mountains of China. It was
so high up that I was afraid as it
rained so incessantly that we
would not be able to get a specimen
to see whether it really was laurel
or not but the last day we were
among the mountains Henry
gathered some and I was [u]so
pleased[/u] to find that it really
was laurel. I think it is Even
prettier than the Virginia laurel
+ that I thought perfectly beautiful
Larkspur grows wild all along the
banks of the river and some of
the mountain sides were almost
covered with a profusion of magnificent
white roses very fragrant. Wild
honeysuckle too we found and
two or three varieties of small
bushes that were covered with
tiny white flowers. So we had
something to compensate for the
rain for when we were up before
[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
three were hardly any flowers as that was late in the fall,
There is so
much motion
in the boat
from the rowing
that you must
Excuse the
looks of
this letter
and
Believe me Ever
your aff sister
Hattie
中国广州附近的北河
我亲爱的弗兰克，
1874 年 4 月 23 日。
因为我写的太少，
写的时间太多，
所以我写信给山上老房子里所有亲爱的人。
我希望你们都不会在通过这封邮件收到的大量书信之前感到疲倦，
但是如果您这样做了，
您必须安慰自己，
认为我们不去乡村旅行，
并且有这么多闲暇时间每天写作。
露西和玛蒂都在写信，
亨利正在阅读他的讲道，
因为他必须在我们回家后的星期天讲道，
所以他不得不花一部分时间在讲道上。
天花恐慌导致轮到他讲道。
推迟几周。
我想，
自从我们离开广州后，
我们的一位广州传教士帕克斯先生和他的家人就去了英国。
我们下周二离开后，
他将在安息日宣讲他的告别布道，
尽管我认为该计划已经执行，
但我们还没有收到来自广州的任何消息。
不跟他们道别就离开对我们来说是一次真正的考验，
因为他们是亲爱的朋友，
但在感染了天花后我们不能去看他们。
亨利称之为“关店”的第二天早上，
普雷斯顿先生从街上打电话给我们，
我们走到窗前瞥了一眼他和一位和他在一起的绅士，
他说他是道奇先生，
大学教授贝鲁特和 Wm [注：威廉的缩写] 道奇的儿子，
他以如此王子的风格招待了福音派联盟。
他看起来是一个非常和蔼可亲的绅士，
我们无法有机会认识他，
这很诱人。
那个前夜，
当我们“孤独而孤独”地坐在我们的豪宅里时，
我们很高兴地知道，
使命的所有其他成员都和他一起度过了这个前夜。
他只在广州呆了一天。
我不知道我们是否给您写了一封关于最近来自霍勒斯·沃克上校和收到了他的妻子的一封信
[注：收到的缩写]，
他们在信中告诉我们，
一位希望很快与他们的大女儿艾伦结婚的布雷克先生将在广州春天，
会喜欢我们的访问。
就在我们离开的前一天，
我们在香港收到了他的便条，
说他一两天后会到广州，
如果我们同意，
会打电话给我们。
但由于我们已经为这次旅行做好了所有的安排，
而且还处于隔离状态，
似乎没有办法，
只能写信告诉他，
并执行我们的计划，
希望他能留在广州，
直到我们回来，
我希望我们能回来。
再次自由自在地四处走动。
我必须告诉你我们在山上看到的花朵。
如果你和我一样看到弗吉尼亚州的月桂树，
你可以想象看到它在中国的山上绽放我是多么高兴。
它是如此之高，
以至于我很害怕，
因为雨下得如此之大，
以至于我们无法获得标本来看看它是否真的是月桂树，
但最后一天我们在山间亨利收集了一些，
我很高兴才发现真的是月桂。
我认为它比弗吉尼亚月桂树还要漂亮，
而且我认为非常美丽的云雀在河岸边野蛮生长，
一些山坡上几乎覆盖着大量非常芬芳的壮丽白玫瑰。
我们还发现了野生金银花和两三个种满白色小花的小灌木。
所以我们有一些东西来补偿我们之前起床时的雨[注：信在第一页横向结束] 三朵几乎没有花，
因为那是深秋，
划船时船的运动如此之多，
以至于你必须原谅这封信的样子。
你的妹妹，
海蒂
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Frank, April 23, 1874,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed May 2, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/172.