Letter from Mattie to her Father, April 12, 1876

Letter from Mattie to her Father, April 12, 1876

Mail receiving and forwarding services; Construction; Theology; Fathers and daughters

In this letter to her father, Mattie talks about how long it takes to send and receive letters from home. There is construction happening on the house that is disrupting. Dr. Grave recently read a paper that Mattie found very moving and spiritual. She closes the letter remembering a moment she and her father had before she left.

Kerr, Martha Noyes

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #5

Unpublished

1876-04-12

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_496

Canton China
April 12th /76
My precious Father
The mail goes
to morrow and Lucy and I
had been promising our-
selves a long evening to
write for the mail but
have just this moment
learned that Mr Vrooman
is coming to make us a
visit so the letters will
not all get written I fear
Our American mail is
in Hong Kong did so hope it
would come up to night
so we could answer our
letters by this mail. It seems
so long to wait two weeks.
As I write I hear the noise
of workmen in the next
house the one at the left of
ours. A lot of Portuguese

have rented it have a printing
press and print a Macau
paper I think. Last Sabbath
the carpenters were at work
all day and the noise of all
concerned made it seem
like any thing else then the
Sabbath. I have shut up my
windows on that side of the
house and hardly peep out
if I do am sure to find some
one of the 8 men who are
to be our neighbors staring
in upon me. I feel sorry
for the school girls for they
can never use the windows
on that side of the building
now it is so close to the
other. I must tell you of
our Missionary Conference
which met at Mr Williams
last Wednesday eve. Nearly all
the missionaries were present
and the paper which was read
was written upon the subject
How or rather what are the
best methods to promote the

revival of religion among the
Chinese. Dear Dr Graves
wrote the paper and he is
such an earnest worker
He dwelt upon [u] individual [/u]
[u] effort [/u], not keeping the native
Chinese at arms length from
us, upon the importance of our
own example before them.
We are the only ones to whom
they have to look as exempli-
fiers of the gospel we teach
That our own hearts should
be filled with the spirit of Christ
if we would hope to incite
in them a desire to learn the
truths we teach And he spoke
with mournful emphasis of the
many years which had been
spent in sowing the seed and
the comparatively small results
which seemed to have been
accomplished. I felt the
Spirit was in our midst
while he was reading this
paper. A breathless silence
seemed to rest upon all and

when he sat down no one
moved no one spoke for some
time. Then Mr Whitehead rose
but for a moment did not
open his lips. Afterwards told us
of his own want of faith, how
sometimes the pressure of the
work rested upon him with
crushing weight, and urged upon
us all that we examine our-
selves to see what was in the
way of a blessing, he feared it
was our own lack of holiness
our own want of purity of
motive. Would any of the
brethren propose some prac-
tical plan which would
help forward in the right
direction. Some dwelt upon
the importance of unity of
Spirit, could we not forget
differences of opinion in the
prayer that God would pour
out his Spirit upon Canton
A Mission prayer meeting
was proposed but for the sake
of conveniences part of the

[Continued vertically on the first page]
One of these sheets is so greased I am quite
ashamed to send it. Came from my examining the
state of bread and
butter in the
midst of letter
writing. Found
there was a pros-
pect of a guest
to tea. Good
night dear Father
Do you remember
how you laid
your hand over
mine as I sat
by your chair
the last Sabbath
eve I was at
home. I laid
mine on the arm
of your chair and you put yours over it. I stil feel the
pressure of that hand am so glad you did it

[Written upside down on the first page]
Your loving daughter,
Mattie



中国广州
1876 年 4 月 12 日
我亲爱的父亲
邮件将在明天寄出，
我和露西一直承诺要在漫长的晚上给自己写信，
但此刻才得知弗鲁曼先生要来拜访我们，
所以这些信不会全部写好我担心我们的美国邮件在香港，
所以希望它会到晚上，
这样我们就可以通过这封邮件回复我们的信件。
等待两个星期似乎很长。
在我写作的时候，
我听到隔壁房子里工人的噪音，
我们左边的房子。
我想很多葡萄牙人都租用了一台印刷机并印刷了澳门报纸。
上个安息日，
木匠们一整天都在工作，
所有相关人员的喧闹声使它看起来像是安息日以外的任何事情。
我已经关上了房子那一侧的窗户，
如果我确定会发现将成为我们邻居的 8 个男人中的某个人盯着我看的话，
我几乎不会向外窥视。
我为女学生感到难过，
因为他们永远不能使用大楼那一侧的窗户，
因为它离另一侧太近了。
我必须告诉你我们的传教士大会上周三晚上在威廉斯先生开会。
几乎所有的传教士都在场，
所读的论文是关于如何或更确切地说是什么是促进中国人宗教复兴的最佳方法。
亲爱的格雷夫斯博士写了这篇论文，
他是一位非常认真的工作人员，
他强调个人的努力，
而不是让本土华人远离我们，
强调我们自己在他们面前的榜样的重要性。
我们是唯一的人，
他们必须将他们视为我们所教导的福音的典范 如果我们希望激发他们学习我们所教导的真理的愿望，
我们自己的心就应该充满基督的精神。
多年的播种和似乎已经取得的相对较小的结果的悲哀强调。
当他阅读这篇论文时，
我感到圣灵就在我们中间。
所有人似乎都陷入了令人窒息的寂静，
当他坐下时，
有一段时间没有人动弹。
然后怀特黑德先生站了起来，
但有片刻没有张开嘴。
后来他告诉我们他自己缺乏信心，
有时工作的压力如何压在他身上，
并敦促我们大家检查自己，
看看是什么阻碍了祝福，
他担心这是我们自己的缺乏圣洁 我们自己缺乏纯洁的动机。
有哪位弟兄能提出一些切实可行的计划来帮助朝着正确的方向前进吗？有些人谈到灵性合一的重要性，
难道我们不能忘记在祈求上帝将祂的灵倾倒在广州的祷告中的意见分歧吗？提议了一个宣教祷告会，
但为了方便起见，
[在第一个垂直继续page] 其中一张纸太油腻了，
我很惭愧地寄出去。
来自我在写信时检查面包和黄油的状态。
发现有客人来喝茶。
晚安，
亲爱的父亲，
你还记得我在家的最后一个安息日前夜，
当我坐在你的椅子旁时，
你是如何把手放在我的手上的。
我把我的放在你椅子的扶手上，
你把你的放在上面。
我仍然感觉到那只手的压力很高兴你做到了[第一页上倒写]你爱的女儿，
Mattie

Letter