Letter from Hattie to Mary, August 10, 1889
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Mary, August 10, 1889
Subject
Dresses; Vision; Fashion; Currency exchange; Masculinity; Femininity; Weddings
Description
Harriet's eyesight is not as good as it used to be, but she does not wear glasses yet. Harriet has been sewing the whole day and she is really pleased with the new trends, especially because overskirts went out of fashion. She writes about a tailor who is a man. She thinks it is weird to have a man fit a woman's dress, but, according to her, these kinds of men seem more like women than men. However, she got used to it.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #4
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1889-08-10
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English); lat (Latin)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_424
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
Aug 10th 1889
My dear Mary,
The clock has struck
ten but I think I will
sit up a little longer and
at least commence a letter
to you. I am not sleepy
but I am beginning to feel
that I must save my eyes
if I want to escape wearing
glasses a little longer.
I have lent mine to Martha
"pro tem." I notice that
my eyes are failing more
in playing on the organ
than in anything else.
I often feel obliged to quote,
"My eyes are [?down?] I cannot
[u] see [/u] to read the hymn."
I wish my eyes would have
lasted as well as Edward's
I think he was fortunate
to keep glasses off so long.
Miss Lewis is often searching
for hers and I always
feel that I shall have
to make a business of that
pretty soon. Dr Henry
and his daughter Julia
and Dr McCandliss all
wear glasses so we shall
have some young company.
I have been sewing today
have finished a white
dress that I have been
making. I made the
skirt pleated in part down
to the knees, and the side
[?breaths?] with two rows of
embroidery from top to bottom
and one wide and one narrow
plait between I think I
shall like it. I do not know
but it will look something
like the one I bought in
Cleveland. I have worn
that a good deal the washerwoman
does it up very well.
I have never quite finished
the one Millie Simpson gave
me nor the one Sarah gave
me will do so some day
but I do not want to wear
them out. It seems as though
the clothes I have will
last me until I go home
again. The way of making
dresses now is so nice I
think. I have always
hoped to live to see the day
when overskirts would
go out of fashion. I do
not think they were ever
pretty or graceful and
it always seemed such
a wicked waste of material.
There is a tailor here now
who makes dresses very
nicely and only charges
$3.50 in silver so that
it would be only about
$2.50 in your money.
He only comes once and
fits it and then finishes
it all off. It seems
odd enough to have a
man fit one's dresses, but
these men seem more like
women than men. If he
had a long beard like the
men in India I think it
would seem different.
They all expected I would
mind very much but it
did not seem so very
strange. I had seen him
try so many dresses on Miss
Butler that I had grown
accustomed to it. It
seemed so nice our dresses
for the wedding were all made
beautifully without taking
more than an hour or so of
our time, and "they said"
we looked very nice. I
never dressed in my life
with less thought and in
less time for anything public,
we were all scurrying about in
[Continued vertically on the first page]
our oldest
clothes
about an
hour before
we appeared
in full
dress in
the church.
Well good
night I
must go to
bed now
Ever yr aff
Hattie.
中国广州 1889 年 8 月 10 日
我亲爱的玛丽，
时钟已经敲响了十点，
但我想我会再坐一会儿，
至少开始给你写一封信。
我不困，
但我开始觉得，
如果我想多戴一会儿眼镜，
就必须拯救我的眼睛。
我把我的“临时”借给了玛莎。
我注意到我的眼睛在演奏管风琴时比在其他任何东西上都更加失败。
我常常觉得有必要引用，
“我的眼睛低着，
看不到赞美诗。
”我希望我的眼睛能像爱德华的一样持久，
我认为他很幸运能长时间不戴眼镜。
刘易斯小姐经常找她的，
我总觉得我很快就得把这件事做好。
亨利 医生和他的女儿朱莉娅和麦坎德利斯 医生都戴眼镜，
所以我们会有一些年轻的陪伴。
我今天一直在缝纫，
完成了我一直在做的一件白色连衣裙。
我把裙子部分打褶到膝盖，
侧面呼吸着从上到下的两排刺绣，
中间是一宽一窄的辫子，
我想我会喜欢的。
我不知道，
但它看起来像我在克利夫兰买的那个。
我已经穿了很多，
洗衣女工做得很好。
我从来没有完全完成米莉辛普森给我的那个，
莎拉给我的那个总有一天会完成，
但我不想把它们用完。
似乎我的衣服可以穿到我再次回家。
我觉得现在做衣服的方法太好了。
我一直希望能看到超短裙过时的那一天。
我不认为它们曾经漂亮或优雅，
而且似乎总是如此邪恶地浪费材料。
现在这里有一个裁缝，
他做的衣服非常好，
只收 3.50 美元的银价，
所以你的钱只需要 2.50 美元左右。
他只来一次并适应它，
然后完成它。
有一个男人适合自己的衣服似乎很奇怪，
但这些男人看起来更像女人而不是男人。
如果他像印度的男人一样留着长胡子，
我认为情况会有所不同。
他们都以为我会很介意，
但这似乎并不那么奇怪。
我见过他在巴特勒小姐身上试了很多衣服，
我已经习惯了。
看起来太好了，
我们的婚礼礼服都做得很漂亮，
没有花一个多小时左右的时间，
“他们说”我们看起来很漂亮。
在我的生活中，
我从来没有为任何公开的事情考虑过更少的时间和更少的时间，
在我们穿着全套礼服出现在教堂前大约一个小时，
我们都穿着我们最旧的衣服[在第一页上继续]。
好吧，
晚安，
我现在必须上床睡觉了，
永远是你深情的海蒂。
Aug 10th 1889
My dear Mary,
The clock has struck
ten but I think I will
sit up a little longer and
at least commence a letter
to you. I am not sleepy
but I am beginning to feel
that I must save my eyes
if I want to escape wearing
glasses a little longer.
I have lent mine to Martha
"pro tem." I notice that
my eyes are failing more
in playing on the organ
than in anything else.
I often feel obliged to quote,
"My eyes are [?down?] I cannot
[u] see [/u] to read the hymn."
I wish my eyes would have
lasted as well as Edward's
I think he was fortunate
to keep glasses off so long.
Miss Lewis is often searching
for hers and I always
feel that I shall have
to make a business of that
pretty soon. Dr Henry
and his daughter Julia
and Dr McCandliss all
wear glasses so we shall
have some young company.
I have been sewing today
have finished a white
dress that I have been
making. I made the
skirt pleated in part down
to the knees, and the side
[?breaths?] with two rows of
embroidery from top to bottom
and one wide and one narrow
plait between I think I
shall like it. I do not know
but it will look something
like the one I bought in
Cleveland. I have worn
that a good deal the washerwoman
does it up very well.
I have never quite finished
the one Millie Simpson gave
me nor the one Sarah gave
me will do so some day
but I do not want to wear
them out. It seems as though
the clothes I have will
last me until I go home
again. The way of making
dresses now is so nice I
think. I have always
hoped to live to see the day
when overskirts would
go out of fashion. I do
not think they were ever
pretty or graceful and
it always seemed such
a wicked waste of material.
There is a tailor here now
who makes dresses very
nicely and only charges
$3.50 in silver so that
it would be only about
$2.50 in your money.
He only comes once and
fits it and then finishes
it all off. It seems
odd enough to have a
man fit one's dresses, but
these men seem more like
women than men. If he
had a long beard like the
men in India I think it
would seem different.
They all expected I would
mind very much but it
did not seem so very
strange. I had seen him
try so many dresses on Miss
Butler that I had grown
accustomed to it. It
seemed so nice our dresses
for the wedding were all made
beautifully without taking
more than an hour or so of
our time, and "they said"
we looked very nice. I
never dressed in my life
with less thought and in
less time for anything public,
we were all scurrying about in
[Continued vertically on the first page]
our oldest
clothes
about an
hour before
we appeared
in full
dress in
the church.
Well good
night I
must go to
bed now
Ever yr aff
Hattie.
中国广州 1889 年 8 月 10 日
我亲爱的玛丽，
时钟已经敲响了十点，
但我想我会再坐一会儿，
至少开始给你写一封信。
我不困，
但我开始觉得，
如果我想多戴一会儿眼镜，
就必须拯救我的眼睛。
我把我的“临时”借给了玛莎。
我注意到我的眼睛在演奏管风琴时比在其他任何东西上都更加失败。
我常常觉得有必要引用，
“我的眼睛低着，
看不到赞美诗。
”我希望我的眼睛能像爱德华的一样持久，
我认为他很幸运能长时间不戴眼镜。
刘易斯小姐经常找她的，
我总觉得我很快就得把这件事做好。
亨利 医生和他的女儿朱莉娅和麦坎德利斯 医生都戴眼镜，
所以我们会有一些年轻的陪伴。
我今天一直在缝纫，
完成了我一直在做的一件白色连衣裙。
我把裙子部分打褶到膝盖，
侧面呼吸着从上到下的两排刺绣，
中间是一宽一窄的辫子，
我想我会喜欢的。
我不知道，
但它看起来像我在克利夫兰买的那个。
我已经穿了很多，
洗衣女工做得很好。
我从来没有完全完成米莉辛普森给我的那个，
莎拉给我的那个总有一天会完成，
但我不想把它们用完。
似乎我的衣服可以穿到我再次回家。
我觉得现在做衣服的方法太好了。
我一直希望能看到超短裙过时的那一天。
我不认为它们曾经漂亮或优雅，
而且似乎总是如此邪恶地浪费材料。
现在这里有一个裁缝，
他做的衣服非常好，
只收 3.50 美元的银价，
所以你的钱只需要 2.50 美元左右。
他只来一次并适应它，
然后完成它。
有一个男人适合自己的衣服似乎很奇怪，
但这些男人看起来更像女人而不是男人。
如果他像印度的男人一样留着长胡子，
我认为情况会有所不同。
他们都以为我会很介意，
但这似乎并不那么奇怪。
我见过他在巴特勒小姐身上试了很多衣服，
我已经习惯了。
看起来太好了，
我们的婚礼礼服都做得很漂亮，
没有花一个多小时左右的时间，
“他们说”我们看起来很漂亮。
在我的生活中，
我从来没有为任何公开的事情考虑过更少的时间和更少的时间，
在我们穿着全套礼服出现在教堂前大约一个小时，
我们都穿着我们最旧的衣服[在第一页上继续]。
好吧，
晚安，
我现在必须上床睡觉了，
永远是你深情的海蒂。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Mary, August 10, 1889,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 30, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/479.