Letter from Varnum to Daughter, October 3, 1883

Letter from Varnum to Daughter, October 3, 1883

Letters; Murder; Annexation (International law); Chinese--Migrations; Longevity; Mortality--Statistics; Corn--Frost damage; Bee culture; Imperialism

Varnum writes to his daughter having heard of the murder of a Chinese man by a drunken English mob. He hopes that the French annexations of territories around the world will relax so that missionary efforts can continue without interruption. He also laments that the United States has barred Chinese immigrants from its borders and states that their longevity is similar to that of ministers. He feels his strength waning as if near death. He concludes by reporting on the farm.

Noyes, Reverend Varnum

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

Unpublished

1883-10-03

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_829

Seville Oct. 3. 1883
My Dear Daughter
[Note: Written in blue ink]
Riots [?ag. the?]
French
[Note: Written in pencil]
Imperialism
Oriental Excl.
Act
Deplored
Your last letters
arrived at Seville just four
weeks from the time they were
mailed; they were mailed
Sept 1st and reached here the
29th. I think this is the 1st
instance in which letters from
China were mailed and receiv-
ed the same month. You men
tioned in your two last letters
that a boy had been murdered
and a man and a [?womat?] wound-
ed by some drunken Englishmen.
We have learned from the N.Y.
Observer that there has since
been a mob by which several
buildings of the English were
burned, and that there was a

[--a--] considerable excitement in the
city. We are anxious to hear more
about it, but as the newspapers
have not published any thing since
the 1st report, we hope things have
become quiet. I do hope the
French will get their difficulties
settled with the Chinese without
war. The French seem of late to have
got the annexation fever, they want
to annex to their nation a con-
siderable portion of Africa and
are disposed to interfere with our
Missionary operations in that country.
I hope the United States will soon
see the propriety of repealing
the partial once [u] abominable [/u] laws
they have enacted respecting the
Chinese. It is too bad that our
nation should have the unenviable
singularity of being the only nation
upon the face of our globe that pro-
hibits Chinese migration, and that

3
These statistics show that only
6, out of 96 who lived over 75 years,
lived to be 90 or more years old, only 12
more lived to be over 85 years old.
Ministers as you are aware are dis-
tinguished for longevity, so we
cannot expect any other class of
men would show a result more
favorable than they.
In regard to my own personal case
I neither know nor wish to
know what will be the period
of my earthly existence. I know
that my strength is failing
and that the "last of earth"
cannot be very far away, and
it is or should be my chief
concern so to live that I may
be prepared to meet that event
whenever it shall come.
I do not write much of the news
of the day and I could not if I would,
as my hearing is so impaired

that I hear but very little conver-
sation. Our corn was considerably
damaged by the frost. Potatoes
were ripe and "lifted" before the
frost came. Our Bees are not doing
remarkably well. Only two swarms
lived through the winter. From
these we had two swarms in
may, two in July, and one the
23rd of Aug! If the old saying is
true that a swarm in July is
not worth a fly I do not know
what to say of a swarm in August.
We use George Wheeler's patent hives
but for some reason the[--y--] bees will not
store their honey in the honey boxes.
One grape vine on the east end of the
buggy shed produced some nice grapes,
though not as many as last year.
Apples are not plenty but we have some
I continue to teach (not [?join?]) my bible class.
Kind regards to your associates in the mission.
Your affectionate father V Noyes

[Written upside down]
I suppose I
[write] direct to
Hattie not Harriet



塞维利亚 1883 年 10 月 3 日
我亲爱的女儿
[注：用蓝色墨水书写]
[注：用铅笔书写]
你的最后一封信
四点就到了塞维利亚
几周后
邮寄；他们被邮寄
9 月 1 日到达这里
29 日。我认为这是第一个
来信的例子
中国是同月邮寄和收到的。你在最后两封信中提到
一个男孩被谋杀了
还有一男一女被几个喝醉的英国人打伤。
我们从纽约学到了。
观察者自那以后
是一个暴徒，其中几个
英国人的建筑是
烧毁，并且有一个

相当的兴奋
城市。我们渴望听到更多
关于它，但作为报纸
从那以后没有发表任何东西
第一次报告，我们希望事情有
变得安静。我希望
法国人会遇到困难
与中国人定居
战争。法国人似乎迟到了
得了吞并热，他们想要
将非洲的相当大一部分并入其国家，
倾向于干扰我们的
在那个国家的传教活动。
希望美国快点
看废除的适当性
部分曾经可恶的法律
他们制定了尊重
中国人。可惜我们的
国家应该有不值得羡慕的
作为唯一国家的奇点
在我们禁止中国移民的地球上，

3
这些统计数据表明，只有
6，在 96 人中超过 75 岁，
活到90岁以上，只有12岁
更多人活到85岁以上。
如你所知，传道人以长寿而著称，所以我们
不能指望任何其他类别的
男人会更多地显示结果
比他们有利。
关于我个人的情况
我既不知道也不希望
知道会是什么时期
我的尘世存在。我知道
我的力量正在衰退
还有那个“地球上的最后一个”
不能离得很远，并且
它是或应该是我的首席
关心这样的生活，我可以
准备好迎接那个事件
无论何时到来。
我很少写新闻
我不能，如果我愿意，
因为我的听力如此受损

我听到的只是很少的谈话。我们的玉米相当
被霜冻损坏。土豆
在
霜来了。我们的蜜蜂没有做
非常好。只有两群
度过了冬天。从
这些我们有两个群体
5 月，2 次在 7 月，1 次
8月23日！如果那句老话是
确实，七月的蜂群是
不值得飞我不知道
八月的蜂群怎么说。
我们使用 George Wheeler 的专利蜂箱
但由于某种原因蜜蜂不会
将蜂蜜储存在蜂蜜盒中。
东端的一棵葡萄藤
车棚结出了一些好葡萄，
虽然没有去年那么多。
苹果不多，但我们有一些
我继续教（不参加）我的圣经课。
向您在任务中的同事致以亲切的问候。
你深情的父亲 V Noyes

【倒过来写】
我想我
[写]直接到
海蒂不是哈丽特

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