Letter from Hattie to Sarah, June 2, 1874
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Sarah, June 2, 1874
Subject
Birthdays; Homesickness; Music--Religious aspects--Presbyterians; Temperance
Description
Harriet is surprised to learn that Sarah's birthday is on the 3rd of June instead of the 2nd. It seems that she and Henry will be making a visit back to America in nineteen months (1875). She congratulates Sarah for her year's work in Columbus. Harriet talks about the Chinese name for "miss" and other titles in the language. She has taken over Lillie's schools since she is away in Japan. Mattie is getting the language quite well. Dr. Ellinwood plans to visit China in the fall, he is a "woman's friend." Miss Shaw is hoping that this temperance movement may help save her brother.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1874-06-02
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_121
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
June 2nd 1874.
My dear Sarah
I was quite surprised to learn
from Mattie that during all these
years I have been making a
mistake and [u]celebrating[/u] the 3d of June
instead of the 2nd as your birth-day.
I marked it wrong to start with in
my Golden Treasury. If you will refer
to Clara's Treasury you will find that
the verses for your day the 2nd are very
nice ones. It never seemed as though
you had as nice a verse as the rest of
us but I am sure none could be
better than those selected for the 2[u]nd[/u] of June
Tell Clara that a part of hers "O that
thou hadst hearkened to my commandments
then had thy peace been as a river and
thy righteousness as the waves of the sea"
I gave to Henry for a text for a sermon
and he wrote a very nice sermon on it
which I hope you will all hear
sometime. The time when we hope to
see you once more seems coming near
I tell Henry I am going to try and
not allow myself to think very much
about it until the end of 1875 that is
only [u]nineteen months[/u] more, and that seems
short in comparison with the six [u]years[/u]
and a half that are behind me.
For many years it has seemed as if the
visit home is the [/u]one[/u] only Earthly pleasure
that I have set my heart upon.
The years seem to have made so little
change in Mattie that I shall expect
to find the rest of you not so very
much changed "older and wiser grown"
for "we are all growing older every day."
But I want you to expect to see me
looking old and faded so that if there
is any surprise it will be for the better.
I am now writing on the
8th instead of the 2nd of June and
Mattie says that day after tomorrow you
will finish your year's work in Columbus.
So I will send you my congratulations
for I am sure you must be ready
for the resting time when it comes.
Mattie says you are wearing out
very fast. Do try and take Life as
Easy as you can. It is better to [u]wear[/u]
out than rust out but I suppose it
is still better to do neither so as there is
no danger of your rusting be careful
about the wearing process. This doctrine
we are taking care to impress upon
the minds of our new missionaries the
"ku neungs" I mean who are "under
our care." I wonder if you have
Ever been told that that is the name
by which the Chinese call us and is
synonymous with our "Miss." When I
first came I though it was not a
pretty word at all not nearly as pretty
as the title of married ladies "Sznai"
but I am pretty well accustomed to
it now after so many years of constant
practice. When I came the "Ku neung
Era" was just beginning to dawn upon
Canton . now that there are [u]Eight[/u] of
us all told we form quite an important
part of the Canton community. Our
own Presbyterian band is rather lame
this summer. Lillie Happer has
gone to Japan and Miss Shaw is in
the Invalid Corps. I have taken charge
of one of Lillie's schools during her
absence so that all told I have over
one hundred women and girls under
my care this summer. Mattie and Lucy
have begun helping a little I presume
they will have written you about their
classes in Sunday School +c We think
Mattie is going to get the language
quite well and Easily. I imagine she will
get on with speaking faster than
Lucy. She is not so much afraid of
talking before people as I used to
be. It was a great hinderance to me
and Henry too was just the same
so we have taken especial pains to give
the new-comers the benefit of our Experience
so that they shall not follow in our
footsteps. By the last letter from the
Mission Rooms we learns that Dr Ellinwood
expects to visit China in the Autumn
and as you may imagine we are
delighted with the prospect. Ever since
he came upon the Misson stage or
"Board" I have wished very much to
see him but did not expect to have
that pleasure in China. Of our three
Secretaries Dr Ellinwood is the "Women's
Friend." I still cling to my attachments
for Dr Lowrie just as warmly as Ever but
I confess to myself the conviction that he
is a little behind the times and needs to
remember the message of old "[u]Help[/u] those
women." There seems to be no danger
however but that they will "come to the
front" in these latter days whoever or
whatever may oppose. Our English friends
hardly know what to think of the Woman's
[Note: Letter concludes vertically on first page]
Crusade". Most of them are firm believers in the doctrine that women
should [u]always[/u] be found in the back-ground. Miss Shaw is hoping so much
that this temperance
movement may be
the means of saving
her brother from a
drunkard's grave
She has been
praying for his
rescue for
[u]twenty five[/u]
long years
and her
faith does
not grow
weak. My
paper is full
so I will
say good-bye
and hope that
one more birthday
letter will be all
I shall need to
write you until we meet
face to face Your loving
Hattie.
June 2nd 1874.
My dear Sarah
I was quite surprised to learn
from Mattie that during all these
years I have been making a
mistake and [u]celebrating[/u] the 3d of June
instead of the 2nd as your birth-day.
I marked it wrong to start with in
my Golden Treasury. If you will refer
to Clara's Treasury you will find that
the verses for your day the 2nd are very
nice ones. It never seemed as though
you had as nice a verse as the rest of
us but I am sure none could be
better than those selected for the 2[u]nd[/u] of June
Tell Clara that a part of hers "O that
thou hadst hearkened to my commandments
then had thy peace been as a river and
thy righteousness as the waves of the sea"
I gave to Henry for a text for a sermon
and he wrote a very nice sermon on it
which I hope you will all hear
sometime. The time when we hope to
see you once more seems coming near
I tell Henry I am going to try and
not allow myself to think very much
about it until the end of 1875 that is
only [u]nineteen months[/u] more, and that seems
short in comparison with the six [u]years[/u]
and a half that are behind me.
For many years it has seemed as if the
visit home is the [/u]one[/u] only Earthly pleasure
that I have set my heart upon.
The years seem to have made so little
change in Mattie that I shall expect
to find the rest of you not so very
much changed "older and wiser grown"
for "we are all growing older every day."
But I want you to expect to see me
looking old and faded so that if there
is any surprise it will be for the better.
I am now writing on the
8th instead of the 2nd of June and
Mattie says that day after tomorrow you
will finish your year's work in Columbus.
So I will send you my congratulations
for I am sure you must be ready
for the resting time when it comes.
Mattie says you are wearing out
very fast. Do try and take Life as
Easy as you can. It is better to [u]wear[/u]
out than rust out but I suppose it
is still better to do neither so as there is
no danger of your rusting be careful
about the wearing process. This doctrine
we are taking care to impress upon
the minds of our new missionaries the
"ku neungs" I mean who are "under
our care." I wonder if you have
Ever been told that that is the name
by which the Chinese call us and is
synonymous with our "Miss." When I
first came I though it was not a
pretty word at all not nearly as pretty
as the title of married ladies "Sznai"
but I am pretty well accustomed to
it now after so many years of constant
practice. When I came the "Ku neung
Era" was just beginning to dawn upon
Canton . now that there are [u]Eight[/u] of
us all told we form quite an important
part of the Canton community. Our
own Presbyterian band is rather lame
this summer. Lillie Happer has
gone to Japan and Miss Shaw is in
the Invalid Corps. I have taken charge
of one of Lillie's schools during her
absence so that all told I have over
one hundred women and girls under
my care this summer. Mattie and Lucy
have begun helping a little I presume
they will have written you about their
classes in Sunday School +c We think
Mattie is going to get the language
quite well and Easily. I imagine she will
get on with speaking faster than
Lucy. She is not so much afraid of
talking before people as I used to
be. It was a great hinderance to me
and Henry too was just the same
so we have taken especial pains to give
the new-comers the benefit of our Experience
so that they shall not follow in our
footsteps. By the last letter from the
Mission Rooms we learns that Dr Ellinwood
expects to visit China in the Autumn
and as you may imagine we are
delighted with the prospect. Ever since
he came upon the Misson stage or
"Board" I have wished very much to
see him but did not expect to have
that pleasure in China. Of our three
Secretaries Dr Ellinwood is the "Women's
Friend." I still cling to my attachments
for Dr Lowrie just as warmly as Ever but
I confess to myself the conviction that he
is a little behind the times and needs to
remember the message of old "[u]Help[/u] those
women." There seems to be no danger
however but that they will "come to the
front" in these latter days whoever or
whatever may oppose. Our English friends
hardly know what to think of the Woman's
[Note: Letter concludes vertically on first page]
Crusade". Most of them are firm believers in the doctrine that women
should [u]always[/u] be found in the back-ground. Miss Shaw is hoping so much
that this temperance
movement may be
the means of saving
her brother from a
drunkard's grave
She has been
praying for his
rescue for
[u]twenty five[/u]
long years
and her
faith does
not grow
weak. My
paper is full
so I will
say good-bye
and hope that
one more birthday
letter will be all
I shall need to
write you until we meet
face to face Your loving
Hattie.
中国广东
1874年6月2日
亲爱的Sarah
我很惊讶地从Mattie那知道
我这些年
我犯过的错误
我一直在6月3号给你庆祝生日
而不是正日子6月2号。
我把它在我的以亚瑟名诗选里记住了。
如果你看Clara的名诗选
你会发现
你生日6月2号的诗句是很好的。
就好像
你和我们的诗句写的一样好
但是我确定
没有人会比那些被选择的6月2号的更好
告诉Clara,她的部分:
甚愿你素来听从我的命令,
你的平安就如河水，
你的公义就如海浪。
我给Henry发了一关于传教的条信息
而且他写了一个很好的传教文章
我希望你可以收到。
这个时候当我们希望
我们再次见到你来到这
我告诉Henry
我要努力让自己想很多
关于直到1875年年底
只有19个月多一点,
然后看起来很短的六年
并且一半在我后面。
很多年看起来
我唯一一件想做的事是
回家。
这些年Mattie的变化很小
至少比我期待的少
我希望你们可以有很大的变化
“年龄长的同时智慧也增多”
“我们只是年龄在长”。
但是我想
你盼着我年华逝去容颜褪去
这样的话如果比你期盼的好一点，可以留给你一些惊喜。
我现在六月八号给你写信
而不再是六月二号
而且Mattie说：明天以后
你的一年的在哥伦布的工作就完成了。
所以我要恭喜你
因为我确实
你已经准备好了休息。
Mattie说你很容易疲惫。
你要尽可能让生活变得简单。
疲惫总比闲着好
但是我还是觉得
两个都不要，不要太极端，
当然闲着没有风险
疲惫了要小心。
这个是我们遵循的信条
深深的印在了新传教士的脑子里
“姑娘”我的意思是那些被我们照顾的人们。
我想知道
你有没有听说过
中国人叫我们的名字
和我们的“小姐”同义。
当我第一次发现它不是个很美的词汇
甚至不如
那个结了婚的女人“师奶”
但是现在我已经习惯了
我坚持练了很多年。
当我来到“姑娘时代”
广东的天刚刚亮。
现在我们有八个人
我们都认为
我们是广东相当重要的人。
我们自己的长老乐队这个夏天宁可是残缺的。
Lillie Happer去日本了
Shaw小姐在退伍军队。
Lillie她不在的时候
我在掌管她的一家学校
这个夏天
以至于我管理了一百多个女人和女孩。
Mattie和Lucy开始帮我一点忙了
我认为
她们会给你写信
告诉你她们的课
我们认为Mattie语言学得很快很容易。
我想象
她会说得很好，而且比Lucy快。
她不像我开始的样子
她不怕和人说。
它对我来说是一个最大的阻碍
而且Henry也是一样
所以我们要为新来的人
多一些我们的经验分享操心
以至于他们不会踏着我们的脚步了。
从传教团的最后一封信里
我们知道了
Ellinwood医生期待着秋天去访问中国
而且你可以想象
我们很高兴接下来的事情。
自从他来到传教组织
我非常希望看到他
但是不期待在中国有这样的快乐。
我们三个Ellinwood医生的秘书
都是女性的好朋友。
我依然附上我给Lowire医生的附件
就像平常一样
但是我承认我有罪
他是有点儿滞后而且需要记住比较旧的消息
去帮助那些女人。
看起来没有危险
但是他们会到前面来
之后的几天
任何人或事都会相反。
我们的应该朋友几乎不知道女人的反抗
【注：第一页最后竖排书写】
他们大多数人坚信
女人应该总是在背景里找到。Shaw小姐希望
节制
就是
把她的哥哥
从醉鬼的坟地里
就出来
她为
他25年的营救
祈祷
/
/
而且
她的
信心不减
我的信纸
已经很满了
所以
我要说再见了
希望
再有一封
生日信寄给你
我还要再给你写信
直到我们面对面
爱你的Hattie
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Sarah, June 2, 1874,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed November 21, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/177.