Letter from Hattie to Edward, December 11, 1868

Letter from Hattie to Edward, December 11, 1868

Elections; Presidents; Vice-Presidents; Soldiers; Politics and government; Books; Patriotic music; Singing; Chinese language--Study and teaching; Scholars

In this letter to her brother, Edward, Harriet Noyes reflects on the 1868 presidential election results. She asserts her support for Grant and Colfax, as well as her dislike for southern sympathizers, particularly those who are British southern sympathizers. Harriet also writes of various other things, such as her distaste for a book she received, singing, and the reunion of Civil War soldiers.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1

Unpublished

1868-12-11

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_019

The United States Civil War, 1861-65
Reconstruction Era, 1863-1877
1868 United States Presidential Election

Canton China -
Dec 11th /68 ---
My [u]own dear Edward[/u],
Your little note of
Oct 14th received a cordial welcome when
it reached Canton yesterday. I am
glad you kept your eyes open long
enough to write it & hope that you slept
well after it. I am [u]so sorry[/u] you have
had to work so hard with that ditch.
but I suppose before this you have got it
all finished and got [u]rested[/u]. If I ever
meet Mr Clark I will be sure to look
cross at him. Did you fill up the old
ditch with what you dug out of the new
one. We are all so glad to know that
Grant & Colfax are elected all but Mr
Graves our southern brother and he
derives consolation from the fact
that the Democrats are gaining in
Congress. I did not know that Colfax
is an OS Presbyterian that is good news.
My impressions of him are very favorable
I remember dear Hannah used
sometimes to speak of him. He was
one of her favorite among our public
men while she was in Washington.
It seems as though it will be so nice to
have a President & Vice President that
we may "delight to honor" again.

Ohio [u]is[/u] a good state to belong to.
I am glad you had a good day for
your mass meeting in the fall I have
never entirely recovered from the disappointment
I felt two years ^[ago] when the great soldiers
reunion was to be if it had'nt been so spoiled
by rainy weather. Tell Sarah that we
did not repeat her criticisms on Judge
Tilden's speech to Mr Preston as the
latter takes some pride in claiming
the Judge as a cousin. Tell Clara
she is quite right in remembering that I
always "thought it would be [u]so nice[/u] to
ride out & meet delegations or soldiers or
something" I have not changed my
mind at all & am very glad that she
has had a pleasure which I never enjoyed.
Mr Preston prophesies that my patriotism
will grow cold by & by but I [u]know[/u] that
he is a false prophet. I often feel very
thankful that I was not here during
the war, for I know it would have
required a great deal of patience to
listen quietly to all that was said
here by the English and southern
sympathizers during those years
when to those at a distance the
result seemed doubtful. There is
a large party in England who
would have been only too happy to
have seen the United States so

weakened by division as to be no longer
the powerful rival that she now is.
But our dark days have passed for
the present at least and the British
Lion is glad to sheathe his claws &
pretend it was all a mistake the
policy they adopted during the war.
Mr Eitel got a book for me to read
from the Canton Library a while
ago entitled "Belle Boyd the rebel spy"
published in London a most
contemptible thing filled with malicious
misrepresentations. I think it taxed my
patience more than anything I have
Ever read, but as I know that he got it for me
from the kindest motives I read both
volumes through and then sent them
back with a note expressing my feelings
+ since we have had one or two talks ,
He says there is another book in the
library that he is going to get for
me so as to have a chance to
write me a note. Well the war
is over & I hope our country may
never [u]never[/u] have those scenes
repeated. It seems so dreadful
to think about those years + the
months that I was in the hospital
infinitely worse than it did at
the time. I see the Seville Democrat
has changed its name + comes to us

as The Reserve Standard , I wish it
would change its politics also and
its style and its tone +c +c +c It seemed
a little [u]funny[/u] after reading in your
letters the result of the election to open
the Standard and read the first piece
"We'll show them in the fall," I was
very glad to get a supply of patriotic
^[music] in "our box." I have made a desperate
effort and have succeeded in learning
two or three so that I can play them
[u]without the notes[/u] and between you
+ I. I am beginning to have a faint
a [u]very faint[/u] hope of being able in time
to acquire a "little musical memory,"
I would be so glad if I could because
when I play & sing with the scholars
it is so very different to watch the
notes as closely as I have to and
then try to read the chinese
characters fast enough to keep up
with the music. I dont know what
you would think to hear my scholars
sing. What seems discouraging to
me is that the better they know
a piece the louder they sing and
the worse it sounds. But they enjoy
it and sometimes they sing
pretty well. I imagine your piano
has been rather neglected since you
have been [--taking--] so taken up with ditching.
Goodbye, as ever Your own loving sister
Hattie ---

中国广州
1868年12月11日
亲爱的Edward
你10月14日的笔记昨天到达广州的时候，
收到了热烈的欢迎。
/
我很高兴你可以坚持这么久写它，
也希望你过后可以很好睡觉。
我很抱歉你不得不在那个坑里那么辛苦地工作，
/
但是我认为在这之前你完成了，并且很好地休息。
/
如果我遇到了Clark先生，我一定好好看看他。
你有没有填上你挖的坑。
/
我们很高兴知道
Grant和Colfax都被选中了，
但是Graves先生我们南方的哥哥，
他从此得到了安慰，
代表大会得到了民主。
我不知道Colfax是OS长老会的一员，
这是个好事。
我的印象里，他是个很讨人喜欢的人。
我记得亲爱的Hannah过去跟他说话。
/
他是她在华盛顿最喜欢的公众人物之一。
/
看起来，
拥有一个我们觉得有荣誉的主席和副主席
让我们觉得很高兴。

俄亥俄是个很好的州。
我很高兴你一天过得很好
因为你一堆的秋季会议，
我从来没有从那个失望中完全恢复。
我感觉两年前，当士兵们重聚的时候
好像被水淹了。
告诉Sarah
我们没有在Tilden法官给Preston先生的演讲上重复她的批判/
因为他很自豪法官是他的同辈表亲。
/
告诉Clara她记得很对，
我总是觉得出去见一下代表团和军人或者看一些事物，
是个不错的事情。
我彻底改变主意了，!我仍然没有改变主意
我很高兴拥有她的乐趣，!尽管我从来没有机会欢迎士兵回家，
那是我从未体验过的快乐。!但我很高兴她能这样做。
Preston先生预言
我的爱国精神之后会越来越少，
但是我知道他是个错误的预言家
我很感激美国内战期间我不在广州
我需要比听所有英国人和南方同情者更多的耐心
/
/
/
那些年，
战争的结果未定
很多人在英格兰，
他们太高兴了
以至于看不出来美国美国在一点点变弱，

看起来不再和现在的她一样有权力了。
/
但是我们黑暗的日子已经过去了，
而且英国这头狮子很高兴收回爪子，
/
并且装作战争期间都是政策的错误。
/
Eital先生之前给了我一本广州图书馆的书，
/
名字叫伦敦出版的《Belle Boyd反叛间谍》
/
被逼的是，这本书写满了恶毒的谣言。
我认为它正在消磨我的耐心，
比我读过的任何东西都要消耗耐心，
但是我知道他给我这个是出于好心，
我读完了两册，
然后写下我的想法和感受送了回去，
/
自从我们说过一两次话。
他说图书馆有另一本他要给我的书
/
因为有时间给我写留言。
好吧，战争结束了，
我希望我们的国家永远不会再有这样的景象了。
/
想想这几年也很可怕的，
/
而且这几个月我在医院，
没有比这更坏的时候了。
我看到Seville民主报纸改了名字
以保存"The Reserve Standard"名字来了，

/
我希望它可以改变政策和风格还有气氛。
/
阅读你信中的选举结果后阅读标准报纸很有趣，
第一篇文章的标题是“我们将在秋天展示他们”
我很高兴爱国的音乐在我们的“匣子里”。
我拼命地努力
而且成功学会了两三首，
以至于我可以不看谱子地和你一起演奏。
/
我开始有一丝丝微弱的希望，
在短时间内记住一点音乐，
/
如果我能，我会很高兴，
因为当我和学生们弹唱的时候，
这样和仔细看谱，
为了跟上音乐快速读汉字
是很不一样的感觉。
/
/
我不知道你听我的学生们唱时觉得怎么样。
令我沮丧的是，
他们越是知道要强的部分，
/
他们唱得越差。
但是他们有时很享受他们唱得好的部分。
我想你的钢琴
自从你停了以后，
已经被遗忘很久了。
再见了，永远爱你的妹妹
Hattie ---

Letter