Letter from Hattie to Em, September 10, 1889

Letter from Hattie to Em, September 10, 1889

Mail steamers; Death; Funeral sermons; Burial; Grief

Harriet writes Emily about the rain and the hope for mail, which comes while Harriet is still writing. The rest of the letter tells of how the youngest Gilman child fell and died, after a night of convulsions and paralysis. Harriet describes the funeral, and how she didn't accompany Mr. Gilman to bury the body and is unsure if she should have.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #4

Unpublished

1889-09-10

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_437

Canton China
Sept 10th 1889.
My dear Em -
Yesterday afternoon
we had a hard shower
and this morning it is
delightfully cool. Martha
told me last evening that
she feared she would not
get time to write much if
anything for this mail .
as Mrs Gilman is with
her now. We were disappointed
that the home mail did
not come yesterday but I
think it will surely be in
this morning . and I have
just heard the steamer
whistling down the river.
so it will soon pass --
There she comes and I will
go out on the verandah
and see if the flags are up.
Yes they are they now put
up on this steamer a little

American flag and under
it a white one and you
may be sure we are glad
to see it. Miss Lewis and
Miss Butler are calling to
know if the mail was on
board . Now we have to wait
about an hour longer it is
usually brought in while
we are at breakfast. We now
have breakfast at half past
seven . The past few days
have been very sad ones
for us here. Last Wednesday
little Agnes. Mrs Gilman's
youngest child fell from
Dr Swan's back door steps
and struck her head on
the brick pavement three or
four feet below. In a short
time she went into convulsions
and continued so nearly
all night and they soon
found that her left side
was entirely paralyzed.

They did not tell Mrs
Gilman this fearing it would
maker her worse All day
Thursday, Friday and
Saturday she lingered
but Sat eve it became
evident that she would
not live much longer.
Saturday they found that
her beautiful brown eyes
were stone blind and we
rather think that they
were so from the first .
Miss Butler was taking care
of her Sat night I had
watched with her the night.
She felt as soon as she went
over that the baby could
not live long. When it died
Mr + Mrs Gilman Dr + Mrs
Swan Dr Kerr and Martha
Mr Henry and Miss Butler
were all there . It had
had spasms and had
twitched even the side

that was paralyzed during
the night but at the last
it was quiet. The funeral
service conducted by Mr
Henry was at six just before
our regular Sabbath eve
service. Mrs Fulton Miss
Butler and I spent the
afternoon in lining and covering
the little coffin with some
soft white flannel that
Mrs Gilman had bought
for the little thing and she
said she wanted her to
have it. She was a very
sweet child unusually affectionate
and interesting Mr Gilman on
Monday took the body to Macao
to bury it there Mrs Swan and
Dr Fulton went with him. Miss
Butler intended to go but was too tired.
I would have gone but did not decide
at once + so Dr Fulton .We were very
sorry as either Miss Lewis or I would
have been glad to go .and it would
have seemed for several reasons

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
much better . We
did not think of
Mrs Swan's
asking any
one else +
were going to
decide which
one of us would
go. It is [u]so
hard[/u] for the
Gilmans to
lose their
dear little girl
this way . Mrs
Gilman says
it seems
just like a
little delicate
flower crushed.
They are
both such
earnest Christians
With love
Hattie -



中国广州
1889 年 9 月 10 日。
我亲爱的 Em - 昨天下午我们洗了个大澡，
今天早上凉爽得令人愉快。
玛莎昨晚告诉我，
她担心自己没有时间为这封邮件写很多东西。
因为吉尔曼夫人现在和她在一起。
我们很失望昨天没有收到家庭邮件，
但我想今天早上肯定会收到。
我刚刚听到汽船在河边呼啸而过。
所以它很快就会过去——她来了，
我会走到阳台上，
看看旗帜是否升起。
是的，
他们现在在这艘汽船上挂了一面小美国国旗，
下面是一面白色的，
你可以肯定我们很高兴看到它。
刘易斯小姐和巴特勒小姐正在打电话询问邮件是否在船上。
现在我们必须再等一个小时左右，
通常是在我们吃早餐的时候带来的。
我们现在七点半吃早餐。
过去的几天对我们来说是非常悲伤的。
上周三，
小艾格尼丝。
吉尔曼太太最小的孩子从斯旺医生的后门台阶上摔下来，
头撞在三四英尺下的砖砌人行道上。
没过多久，
她开始抽搐，
几乎整夜都在抽搐，
他们很快发现她的左侧完全瘫痪了。
他们没有告诉吉尔曼夫人这件事，
因为担心这会使她变得更糟 星期四、星期五和星期六的一整天她都在徘徊，
但星期六前夕，
很明显她活不了多久了。
星期六 他们 发现 她 美丽 的 棕色 眼睛 是 石头 瞎 的 ，
我们 宁愿 认为 他们 从 一开始 就是 如此 .巴特勒小姐正在照顾我那天晚上和她一起看的星期六晚上。
她一走过去就觉得孩子活不了多久了。
当它死的时候，
Gilman先生和夫人、Swan医生和夫人、 Kerr 医生和 Martha，
Henry 先生和 Butler 小姐都在那里。
它有过痉挛，
甚至在夜间瘫痪的一侧也抽搐了一下，
但最后还是安静了。
亨利先生主持的葬礼是在我们正常的安息日前夕的六点钟举行的。
富尔顿夫人 巴特勒小姐和我整个下午都在用吉尔曼夫人为这件小东西买的柔软的白色法兰绒衬里盖住小棺材，
她说她希望她拥有它。
她是一个非常可爱的孩子，
异常深情和有趣，
吉尔曼先生周一将尸体带到澳门埋葬，
斯旺夫人和富尔顿医生与他一起去。
巴特勒小姐打算去，
但太累了。
我本来会去的，
但没有立即决定+所以富尔顿医生。
我们很抱歉刘易斯小姐或我很乐意去。
这似乎有几个原因[注：信在第一页横向结束]好多了 。
我们没有想到斯旺夫人会问其他任何人+会决定我们中的哪一个去。
吉尔曼一家以这种方式失去他们亲爱的小女孩是太难了。
吉尔曼夫人说，
这看起来就像一朵娇嫩的花朵被压碎了。
他们都是如此热心的基督徒 带着爱的海蒂——

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