Letter from Henry to Clara, July 23, 1880

noyes_c_cor_627.pdf

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Henry to Clara, July 23, 1880

Subject

Conversion; Travel; Baptism; Caste--India

Description

Henry writes to Clara about what he has been up to. Rev. N Sheshadri is visiting Canton and he talked about his experience and work in India. He was converted at age 19 and has been a Christian now for 37 years. He talked about the system of caste. Henry talks about Mr. Don and his extensive travels.

Creator

Noyes, Henry Varnum

Source

Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1880-07-23

Contributor

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

Format

PDF

Language

eng (English)

Type

Text

Identifier

noyes_c_cor_627

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

Canton July 23d 1880
Dear Clara
I should not wonder if I am
in your debt for more than one letter. I
was glad to get your last and will try
to put myself out of debt this morning
and Mary's turn will come next. I was in
the country when the last mail came but got
home a day or two after and +found your letter
of May 24th and father's of June 7th waiting
for me. The mails are not as regular as
they used to be nor do they come and go
quite as often. I hope they will begin to
regularly at least once in two weeks soon.
We particular think of interest here just now
is the visit of Rev N Sheshadri whose name
you doubtless saw mentioned in connection
with the meetings of the Evangelical Alliance
held at New York some years ago. He
is now on his way to the United States
to attend the great meeting soon to take place
in Philadelphia He came up to Canton
yesterday morning and in the Evening there
was a general meeting of the missionaries

at Dr Kerr's to hear him give some ac-
count of his experience and work in
India. He was born as he says, either
fortunately or unfortunately a "Brahmin of
the Brahmins" studied several years at
English schools for the sake of learning English
so as to make money - was converted at
the age of 19 and has been a christian now
for 37 years. He was born in 1824. He
has a number of christian villages on a
tract of 800 acres of land which he was
able to get possession of. He says that while
he was born in the rank in India which
is the highest of the high his work is among
that class which is the lowest of the low.
He says however that the system of caste is
breaking down a great deal. I wish you
all at home could have the opportunity of
hearing him.
Now about my country trip from
which I have just returned. I left this
time July 7th. As it was hot summer weather
Bella and Willie did not go this time and
I expected to go alone but finally I had

two to go with me. Mr Don who is here
from New Zealand to learn the language
and then expects to go back and labor among
the Chinese there. The other is from Wales
although he has spent considerable time among
the Chinese in the United States especially at
Evansville in Wyoming Territory an afterwards
for a time at Chicago St Louis + Boston. he
got a Chinese school (Secondary School) started
at Each of the places. He goes on what is
called the [u]faith[/u] principle. He came out on a
sailing ship from England only had
to pay $10- for his passage. He was a sailor
in former years for sometime himself. He had
no money or clothing to speak of when he arrived.
Some clothing was given to him and a little
money. I left him at San Ning city. He Ex-
pects to live very much as the Chinese do and
so will get along very cheaply. His idea is to
go about among all the villages in the region
and learn the language from the people as [illegible]
tracts. I hope he will do good. I can hardly judge
yet what will be his course.
At the different stations we had good

meeting. There were more Christians in attendance
at each one of them than there have Ever
been before. At Chik-Hom 10 Chinese com-
muned at [u]Chung Lau[/u] 6 and at [u]San Ui[/u]
28. Of them some 10 perhaps belong to other
denominations. There were five applicants
for baptism all of whom were accepted and
baptized. The members did very well also in
the way of contributions. Several whom I met
were christians who have recently come back
from California and most of them expect
before a great while to go again. That is one
thing connected with the work in that region
The christians are so many of them coming
and going. A good many go to Australia
I am glad we are getting stations where
we can reach them where they come back +
try to keep up their attendance upon christian
services and ordinances. Mo Hing's (the
assistant at Chung Lau) father and younger brother
came to witness the communion services having
walked about 27 miles. His father was quite op-
posed to him when he first came back but now
seems quite favorable to Christianity. I hope he may
soon become a christian himself. Now I must close. We are
all much as usual. Have had some hot weather. Willie got through
with the measles nicely
Love from us all to you all You aff Bro Henry --



广州 1880 年 7 月 23
日亲爱的克拉拉
我不应该怀疑我是否欠你一封信。
我很高兴得到你的最后一个,
今天早上我会努力让自己还清债务,
接下来会轮到玛丽。
最后一封邮件来的时候我在乡下,
但一两天后回到家,
发现你 5 月 24 日的信和父亲 6 月 7 日的信在等我。
这些邮件不像以前那样有规律,
也没有像以前那样经常来来去去。
我希望他们很快就会在两周内至少开始定期进行一次。
刚才我们在这里特别感兴趣的是 N Sheshadri 牧师的来访,
您无疑在几年前在纽约举行的福音派联盟会议中提到了他的名字。
他现在正前往美国参加即将在费城举行的盛大会议。
他昨天早上来到广州,
晚上在克尔医生那里召开了传教士大会,
听他发表了一些看法。
细数他在印度的经历和工作。
他生来就如他所说,
幸运或不幸的是,
一个“婆罗门的婆罗门”在英语学校学习了几年,
为了学习英语以赚钱 - 19岁时皈依基督教,
现在已经成为基督徒37 岁。
他出生于 1824 年。
在他能够拥有的 800 英亩土地上拥有许多基督教村庄。
他说,
虽然他出生在印度的最高阶层,
但他的工作却属于最低的阶层。
然而,
他说种姓制度正在瓦解。
我希望你们在家里都能有机会听到他的声音。
现在谈谈我刚回来的乡村旅行。
这次我是 7 月 7 日离开的。
由于是炎热的夏季天气,
Bella 和 Willie 这次没有去,
我原本打算一个人去,
但最后我有两个人一起去。
唐先生从新西兰来这里学习语言,
然后希望回到那里的华人中间工作。
另一位来自威尔士,
尽管他在美国的华人中度过了相当长的时间,
尤其是在怀俄明州的埃文斯维尔,
后来又在芝加哥圣路易斯和波士顿呆了一段时间。
他在每个地方都开办了一所中文学校(中学)。
他继续所谓的信仰原则。
他从英国乘帆船出来,
只需支付 10 美元即可通过。
他在过去的几年里曾是一名水手。
当他到达时,
他没有钱也没有衣服可言。
给了他一些衣服和一点钱。
我把他留在了三宁城。
他希望能像中国人一样生活,
所以会过得很便宜。
他的想法是在该地区的所有村庄中走动,
并以[难以辨认的]小册子的形式向人们学习语言。
我希望他会做得很好。
我几乎无法判断他的课程将是什么。
在不同的车站,
我们有很好的会面。
出席他们每一个人的基督徒人数比以往任何时候都多。
在植磡 10 华人在涌楼 6 和新义 28 公社。
其中大约 10 人可能属于其他教派。
有五名申请受洗的人都被接受并受洗。
成员们在贡献方面也做得很好。
我遇到的几个是最近从加利福尼亚回来的基督徒,
他们中的大多数人都希望在很长一段时间内再去一次。
那是与该地区的工作有关的一件事。
基督徒中有很多人来来去去。
很多人去澳大利亚我很高兴我们有车站,
我们可以到达他们回来的地方+尽量保持他们对基督教服务和教规的出席。
墨兴(中楼的助理)的父亲和弟弟步行约27英里来见证圣餐仪式。
他的父亲刚回来时很反对他,
但现在似乎对基督教很有利。
我希望他自己能很快成为一名基督徒。
现在我必须关闭。
我们都和往常一样。
有过一些炎热的天气。
威利很好地战胜了麻疹 我们所有人对你们的爱 你亨利兄弟——

Original Format

Letter

Citation

Noyes, Henry Varnum, “Letter from Henry to Clara, July 23, 1880,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed March 29, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/684.

Output Formats