Letter from Henry to Edward, September 30, 1884
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Henry to Edward, September 30, 1884
Subject
Birthdays; Aging; Farms; Inventions; Gatling guns; Sino-French War, 1884-1885; China--Foreign relations--France
Description
Henry wishes Edward a happy 50th birthday and recalls the times when they used to work together on the farm. There has been some trouble with converted Christians and Henry feels responsible for those that come to him. Henry talks about the fact that he read that the invention of the Gatling gun was based on Edward's invention of the wheat drill. Lastly, Henry writes about the French's invention of a balloon that, in his words, "can be navigated through the air at pleasure and if sufficiently large can carry 100 men (...) and drop down destructive explosives at pleasure".
Creator
Noyes, Henry Varnum
Source
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1884-09-30
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_810
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
[Note: +c transcribed as etc]
Canton Sept 30th 1884
Dear Bro Edward
I have got up a
little early this morning and
am going to write you a
few lines in view of the
fact that it is your fiftieth
birth day. It is a pleasant
bright morning here, and I
hope a pleasant one with you.
My mind goes back along the
years to the time when we
used to work together on
the farm - those early days
when we did such grand
ploughing with old Broad +
Brin . It was not far from
this time of year, a little later
when they left the farm and
we same them no more.
My memory goes back to
still earlier times when we
used to chop wood or
at least make attempts at
it. I have not forgotten our
fruitless efforts to make the pile
look larger sometimes when
all we could do it was
painfully small. Nor how we
spent our time shooting wooden
wedges from stumps, etc etc.
But now you and I are
getting to be almost old men.
It does not seem so however.
Here in Dr Happer's absence I
am a good deal the oldest
member of the mission - In
these troubles we have had
about the chapels native
christians. I have felt a
good deal of responsibility as
they all come to me to
know what to do - I hope
they will get along now as
the worst of the present trouble
seems to be over --
I think of you as
having the wheat sowed or
rather drilled in as is done
in these late years. I suppose
cutting up the corn and
husking it will be the next
thing to receive attention--
Did you the inventor of the
wheat drill was also the inventor
of the Gatling gun which can
do such mischief- I did not
know it till a short time ago
I saw the statement in the
paper and it said that his
study on the wheat drill led
to the other invention - one
invention for an eminently
peaceful purpose and the
other as eminently warlike.
In the action at Foochow
the French fired there gatling or
guns of a similar nature from
up in the rigging to the astonish-
ment I presume of the Chinese
although they know about the
Gatling guns and have some
themselves. What seems to startle
them more just now is the
news that a Frenchman has
succeeded in getting a balloon
that can be navigated through
the air at pleasure and if
sufficiently large can carry 100
men-- They do not see exactly
what they are going to do if people
can float way above them and
drop down destructive explosives
at pleasure --
WEll I must close
this rambling letter written to
let you know that I did not
forget your birth day
Your Aff Bro
Henry
[注：+c 转录为 etc]
广州 1884 年 9 月 30 日
亲爱的爱德华兄弟
我起床了
今天早上有点早和
我要给你写一封
鉴于几行
事实上，这是你的五十岁
生日。这是一个令人愉快的
这里是明媚的早晨，而我
希望与您愉快。
我的思绪沿着
几年到我们的时候
曾经一起工作
农场——那些早期
当我们做如此盛大的
与老布罗德和
布林。离这里不远
每年的这个时候，稍晚一点
当他们离开农场时
我们不再一样了。
我的记忆回到
更早的时候，我们
用来砍木头或
至少尝试
它。我没有忘记我们的
努力使桩徒劳无功
有时看起来更大
我们所能做的就是
痛苦的小。也不是我们如何
花时间拍摄木制
树桩上的楔子等
但现在你和我
快变成老人了。
然而似乎并非如此。
在哈珀博士不在的情况下，我
我是最老的
使命的成员 - 在
我们遇到的这些麻烦
关于教堂本地人
基督徒。我感觉到了一个
很好的责任作为
他们都来找我
知道该怎么做——我希望
他们现在会相处得很好
目前最糟糕的问题
好像结束了——
我认为你是
播种小麦或
而是像完成的那样钻入
在这晚年。我想
切玉米和
剥壳将是下一个
值得关注的事情——
你是这个的发明者吗
麦钻也是发明者
加特林机枪可以
做这样的恶作剧-我没有
直到不久前才知道
我看到了里面的声明
纸上说他的
小麦钻机研究
另一个发明——一个
一项杰出的发明
和平目的和
其他的则非常好战。
在福州行动中
法国人在那里开火
类似性质的枪支来自
到了令人惊讶的索具上——
我认为中国人
虽然他们知道
加特林枪和一些
他们自己。什么似乎令人吃惊
他们现在更多的是
一个法国人的消息
成功获得气球
可以浏览的
快乐的空气，如果
足够大可以承载100
男人——他们看不清楚
如果人们会怎么做
可以漂浮在它们上方并且
放下破坏性炸药
随意——
好吧，我必须关闭
这封写给
让你知道我没有
忘记你的生日
你的好兄弟
亨利
Canton Sept 30th 1884
Dear Bro Edward
I have got up a
little early this morning and
am going to write you a
few lines in view of the
fact that it is your fiftieth
birth day. It is a pleasant
bright morning here, and I
hope a pleasant one with you.
My mind goes back along the
years to the time when we
used to work together on
the farm - those early days
when we did such grand
ploughing with old Broad +
Brin . It was not far from
this time of year, a little later
when they left the farm and
we same them no more.
My memory goes back to
still earlier times when we
used to chop wood or
at least make attempts at
it. I have not forgotten our
fruitless efforts to make the pile
look larger sometimes when
all we could do it was
painfully small. Nor how we
spent our time shooting wooden
wedges from stumps, etc etc.
But now you and I are
getting to be almost old men.
It does not seem so however.
Here in Dr Happer's absence I
am a good deal the oldest
member of the mission - In
these troubles we have had
about the chapels native
christians. I have felt a
good deal of responsibility as
they all come to me to
know what to do - I hope
they will get along now as
the worst of the present trouble
seems to be over --
I think of you as
having the wheat sowed or
rather drilled in as is done
in these late years. I suppose
cutting up the corn and
husking it will be the next
thing to receive attention--
Did you the inventor of the
wheat drill was also the inventor
of the Gatling gun which can
do such mischief- I did not
know it till a short time ago
I saw the statement in the
paper and it said that his
study on the wheat drill led
to the other invention - one
invention for an eminently
peaceful purpose and the
other as eminently warlike.
In the action at Foochow
the French fired there gatling or
guns of a similar nature from
up in the rigging to the astonish-
ment I presume of the Chinese
although they know about the
Gatling guns and have some
themselves. What seems to startle
them more just now is the
news that a Frenchman has
succeeded in getting a balloon
that can be navigated through
the air at pleasure and if
sufficiently large can carry 100
men-- They do not see exactly
what they are going to do if people
can float way above them and
drop down destructive explosives
at pleasure --
WEll I must close
this rambling letter written to
let you know that I did not
forget your birth day
Your Aff Bro
Henry
[注：+c 转录为 etc]
广州 1884 年 9 月 30 日
亲爱的爱德华兄弟
我起床了
今天早上有点早和
我要给你写一封
鉴于几行
事实上，这是你的五十岁
生日。这是一个令人愉快的
这里是明媚的早晨，而我
希望与您愉快。
我的思绪沿着
几年到我们的时候
曾经一起工作
农场——那些早期
当我们做如此盛大的
与老布罗德和
布林。离这里不远
每年的这个时候，稍晚一点
当他们离开农场时
我们不再一样了。
我的记忆回到
更早的时候，我们
用来砍木头或
至少尝试
它。我没有忘记我们的
努力使桩徒劳无功
有时看起来更大
我们所能做的就是
痛苦的小。也不是我们如何
花时间拍摄木制
树桩上的楔子等
但现在你和我
快变成老人了。
然而似乎并非如此。
在哈珀博士不在的情况下，我
我是最老的
使命的成员 - 在
我们遇到的这些麻烦
关于教堂本地人
基督徒。我感觉到了一个
很好的责任作为
他们都来找我
知道该怎么做——我希望
他们现在会相处得很好
目前最糟糕的问题
好像结束了——
我认为你是
播种小麦或
而是像完成的那样钻入
在这晚年。我想
切玉米和
剥壳将是下一个
值得关注的事情——
你是这个的发明者吗
麦钻也是发明者
加特林机枪可以
做这样的恶作剧-我没有
直到不久前才知道
我看到了里面的声明
纸上说他的
小麦钻机研究
另一个发明——一个
一项杰出的发明
和平目的和
其他的则非常好战。
在福州行动中
法国人在那里开火
类似性质的枪支来自
到了令人惊讶的索具上——
我认为中国人
虽然他们知道
加特林枪和一些
他们自己。什么似乎令人吃惊
他们现在更多的是
一个法国人的消息
成功获得气球
可以浏览的
快乐的空气，如果
足够大可以承载100
男人——他们看不清楚
如果人们会怎么做
可以漂浮在它们上方并且
放下破坏性炸药
随意——
好吧，我必须关闭
这封写给
让你知道我没有
忘记你的生日
你的好兄弟
亨利
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Henry Varnum, “Letter from Henry to Edward, September 30, 1884,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 23, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/887.