Letter from V. Noyes to his Sister, September 23, 1850
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from V. Noyes to his Sister, September 23, 1850
Subject
Mail service; Preaching; Health; Spirituality--Christianity; Death; Typhus fever; Dysentery; Heaven; Schools; Presbyterian Church
Description
In this letter, Reverend Varnum Noyes writes about his motivation for becoming a preacher as well as his weaknesses and failures, which sometimes make him feel that he should quit. He distinguished between bodily health and spirituality of mind. He also recounts the moment he received a letter from Massachusetts saying that his son Gilbert Fay had died of typhus fever. Varnum tells his sister about a dysentery outbreak in his congregation. He thinks Wayne is more promising than Guilford.
Creator
Noyes, Varnum
Source
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1850-09-23
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_890
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Wayne Ohio Sept 23rd 1850
My Dear Sister.
Your letter bearing date
August 5th was brought safely to our post-
office and was seasonably received. I first
thought when I moved into this place that
I should use the post-office of Wooster,
but on inflection concluded to have my
papers, letters, &c. come to [?Cooper?] which is
only about half as far from me, though
on a cross road. I am always glad to hear
from you and to hear of your health and
prosperity. I am sorry that your bodily health
is so poor, and might perhaps express my desire
in your behalf in the language of the apos-
tle John in the 2nd verse of his epistle to [illegible]
I should judge from the tone of your letter
that you are favoured with much more spir-
ituality of mind, and religious feeling than
your western brother. I know that I ought
to be more engaged in the good cause of my
Master than I am or even have been. I came
to this place with some feeble resolutions
to give myself wholy to the work, and make
it my great business to preach the gospel of
Christ and endeavour to promote the interests
of his church and kingdom. I must confess
that I have poorly carried out these resolutions.
Though I have sometimes seemed to have some
freedom in preaching the blessed gospel, yet
as a general thing I fear I have been dry
and uninteresting. I have had trials that in-
terfere with my studies and sometimes
make me almost feel as though I must
relinquish the ministry, at least for the
present. I received mournful tidings last week
from Medway. As I was returning home from
visiting the sick I called at the post office and
found a letter from Medway. I hastily put
it into my hat and drove on towards home.
I thought I would open it as I passed along
and see who it was from. I first looked
at the signature and saw it was David
Sanford. Judge my feelings as I cast my eye
upon the first sentence of the letter,
"Your beloved son [u]Gilbert Fay[/u] is no more."
I can hardly realize even yet that my
little boy in Massachusetts is gone. But
it is reality. I have often thought of the great
goodness of God in sparing my family unbroken
while many of the families of my acquain-
tences have been broken into by the great de-
stroyer. Gilbert died as I suppose on the 12th [?instant?]
as that was the date of brother Sanford's let-
ter. His disease was typhus fever. He was sick
about two weeks, most of the time deranged.
Mr Sandford write's that he had seemed to love
the bible and sabbath school and was regular
in devotional exercises and speaks very en-
couraging in his case. I never hope, as some
do, that children are saved on the ground
of their innocency, but I hope they are
saved as sinners through the atonement of
Christ and the abounding grace of God.
I may perhaps say in this case as Mc[illegible]
said in reference to a friend that was taken
away. "I will hope that he has gone to heaven
till I shall find the contrary to be true."
My son will never return to me, but I shall
soon go to him. The dysentery in prevailing
in our neighbourhood here and I have been
feeling a considerable anxiety in respect to
my children at home but never seemed to
think much about my son in Mass. But he is
taken and they are left. He was well taken care
of in his sickness by his friends then. Last winter
I had quite a strong desire to have him
come home and wrote something of the kind
to sister Fay but she desired him to stay a while
longer and I said nothing more about it. She may pre-
haps have some reflections on this ground. But I do
not feel as though she should, for neither of us had
any anticipations of the event that has taken
place. "Our life is a vapour which appeareth for a
little while and then vanisheth away." There has been
a considerable sickness in this congregation for
a few weeks past. Three died of dysentery in one
family in the neighbourhood, the father and [note: page is damaged here]
band, a son and little girl. The man was 51 years
old, an active and efficient man of the Baptists
denomination. He usually atteneded our meeting,
and acted as sexton in the congregation. He seemed
to enjoy religion in his sickness, and I trust is gone
to rest. The dysentery is very had this year and in
many cases proves fatal. I heard of one man who
had six children who were all carried off in a
few days by this disease. But what effect will
these things have upon the living? Will they be
led thereby to set their house in order and prepared for
another world: I fear not. One sick man, whom I visited
the day I heard of the death of my son, [?told?] me if he
got well he would serve the Lord faithfully as long as he
lived. I have not overmuch confidence in such prom-
ises but shall watch the course of this man with
some interest if he shall recover. My family has
been mostly well since I wrote to Mother in
which letter I believe I gave an account of the
health of my family up to that time. Mrs N. worries
a good dial and is rather uncomfortable. Martha is
troubled with a lame hand which prevents her from
doing much. My boys work out for out neighbours con-
siderable. I have not land enough here to busy them
and am rather poorly situated in respect to schools.
Whether I shall remain here longer than this [illegible]
time must determine. I sometimes almost regret
that I did not go out west, to Wisconsin or Iowa.
May be I shall yet. They have now a minister in Guilford
by the name of Banforth. The [?congregationalists?] and Prebyte-
rians write in supporting him.
[Note: written horizontally as front of the unfolded letter]
Mrs Zoa N. Farrer
Marlborough
New Hampshire
old [?Nickey?]
Sept 25th
[Note: upside down]
[?Name?] Ohio Sept 23, 1850
Rev. V. Noyes
How long this union will continue I know not, prob-
ably not very long. I think Wayne is a more
promising field of labour than Guilford though
there are things that are wrong here. There is
more harmony of [?visions?] and feelings than there
was in Guilford. I sometimes hope that some good.
may be effected in this plan. Give my respects to
brother J. and family also to Mr Lyman &c. I hope
you will write often as it is a great satisfaction
for me ot hear from you. Come out and see us
if you can. From your Afflicted brother V. Noyes
1850 年 9 月 23 日，俄亥俄州韦恩
亲爱的姐姐。
您的信函日期
8 月 5 日安全抵达我们的岗位-
办公室，并受到及时接待。我先来
当我搬进这个地方时我想
我应该使用伍斯特的邮局，
但在拐点上得出的结论是我的
文件、信件等。来到库普] 这是
虽然离我只有大约一半的距离
在十字路口。我总是很高兴听到
来自您并听到您的健康和
繁荣。我很抱歉你的身体健康
太穷了，也许可以表达我的愿望
用使徒约翰在他写给 [无法辨认] 的书信第 2 节中的语言代表你
我应该从你信的语气判断
你在心灵上的灵性和宗教感情比你更受宠爱
你的西方兄弟。我知道我应该
更多地参与我的公益事业
师父比我甚至曾经。我来了
带着一些微弱的决心去这个地方
全身心地投入到工作中，
传福音是我的大事
基督和努力促进利益
他的教会和王国。我必须承认
我没有很好地执行这些决议。
虽然我有时似乎有一些
自由地传讲福音，然而
一般来说，我担心我已经干了
和无趣。我曾有过干扰我学习的试验，有时
让我几乎觉得我必须
放弃该部，至少对于
当下。上周我收到了令人悲伤的消息
来自梅德韦。当我从
探望我在邮局打电话的病人
找到一封来自梅德韦的信。我急忙放
它戴在我的帽子里，然后开车朝家走去。
我以为我会在我经过时打开它
看看是谁发的。我第一次看
在签名处，看到是大卫
桑福德。当我注视时判断我的感受
在信的第一句话，
“你心爱的儿子吉尔伯特·费伊已经不在了。”
我什至还很难意识到我的
马萨诸塞州的小男孩走了。但
这是现实。我经常想到伟大的
上帝保佑我的家人完好无损
而我熟人的许多家庭都被大毁灭者闯入了。吉尔伯特死了，我猜是在第 12 次
因为那是桑福德兄弟来信的日期。他的病是斑疹伤寒。他病了
大约两周，大部分时间都精神错乱。
桑福德先生写的他似乎很喜欢
圣经和安息日学校，并且是正规的
在虔诚的练习中，他的情况非常令人鼓舞。我从不希望，因为有些
做，孩子们被拯救在地上
他们的清白，但我希望他们是
因赎罪而得救为罪人
基督和上帝丰富的恩典。
在这种情况下，我可能会说是 Mc[难以辨认]
提到一个被带走的朋友
离开。 “我希望他已经上天堂了
直到我发现相反的情况是真的。”
我的儿子永远不会回到我身边，但我会
很快就去找他。流行的痢疾
在我们这里的附近，我一直在
感到相当焦虑
我的孩子在家，但似乎从来没有
多想想我在马萨诸塞州的儿子。但他是
采取，他们离开了。他得到了很好的照顾
那时他的朋友生病了。去年冬天
我非常渴望拥有他
回家写一些类似的东西
给费伊姐姐，但她希望他待一会儿
更长的时间，我什么也没说。她可能对此有一些思考。但是我愿意
不觉得她应该，因为我们都没有
对已经发生的事件的任何预期
地方。 “我们的生活是一团蒸气
一会儿就消失了。”
这个会众患了相当大的疾病
几周过去了。三人死于痢疾
附近的家人，父亲和[注：此处页面已损坏]
乐队，一个儿子和一个小女孩。该男子51岁
老，浸信会的一个积极而有效率的人
面值。他通常参加我们的会议，
并在会众中担任司事。他看起来
在他的病中享受宗教，我相信已经走了
休息。痢疾今年和在
许多案例证明是致命的。我听说有一个人
有六个孩子都被带走了
数日受此病。但是会有什么影响
这些东西对活人有影响吗？他们会
从而使他们的房屋井然有序，并为
另一个世界：我不怕。我拜访过的一位病人
那天我听说我儿子死了，告诉我他是否
只要他康复了，他就会忠心事奉主
住过。我对这样的承诺并没有太大的信心，但会密切关注这个人的进程
如果他能康复，他会得到一些利息。我的家人有
自从我在
我相信我交代了哪封信
到那时为止我家人的健康。 N夫人担心
一个很好的表盘，而且很不舒服。玛莎是
被一只瘸腿的手困扰着，这阻止了她
做很多。我的男孩们为外出打工的邻居相当可观。我没有足够的土地来忙他们
并且在学校方面的位置相当差。
我是否会在这里停留更长的时间[无法辨认]
时间必须确定。我有时几乎后悔
我没有去西部，去威斯康星州或爱荷华州。
也许我会。他们现在在吉尔福德有一位部长
以班福斯的名义。公理会和长老会写信支持他。
[注：横写在展开字母的前面]
Zoa N. Farrer 夫人
马尔堡
新罕布什尔
老尼基
9月25日
[注：倒置]
俄亥俄州 1850 年 9 月 23 日
牧师 V. Noyes
这个联盟会持续多久我不知道，prob-
干练不是很长。我觉得韦恩更
虽然比吉尔福德有前途的劳动力领域
这里有些事情是错误的。有
比那里更和谐的视觉和感觉
在吉尔福德。我有时希望一些好的。
可能会在本计划中生效。表达我的敬意
J. 兄弟和家人也属于莱曼先生 &c.我希望
你会经常写作，因为这是一种极大的满足
让我听到你的消息。出来看看我们
如果你可以的话。来自你受苦的兄弟 V. Noyes
My Dear Sister.
Your letter bearing date
August 5th was brought safely to our post-
office and was seasonably received. I first
thought when I moved into this place that
I should use the post-office of Wooster,
but on inflection concluded to have my
papers, letters, &c. come to [?Cooper?] which is
only about half as far from me, though
on a cross road. I am always glad to hear
from you and to hear of your health and
prosperity. I am sorry that your bodily health
is so poor, and might perhaps express my desire
in your behalf in the language of the apos-
tle John in the 2nd verse of his epistle to [illegible]
I should judge from the tone of your letter
that you are favoured with much more spir-
ituality of mind, and religious feeling than
your western brother. I know that I ought
to be more engaged in the good cause of my
Master than I am or even have been. I came
to this place with some feeble resolutions
to give myself wholy to the work, and make
it my great business to preach the gospel of
Christ and endeavour to promote the interests
of his church and kingdom. I must confess
that I have poorly carried out these resolutions.
Though I have sometimes seemed to have some
freedom in preaching the blessed gospel, yet
as a general thing I fear I have been dry
and uninteresting. I have had trials that in-
terfere with my studies and sometimes
make me almost feel as though I must
relinquish the ministry, at least for the
present. I received mournful tidings last week
from Medway. As I was returning home from
visiting the sick I called at the post office and
found a letter from Medway. I hastily put
it into my hat and drove on towards home.
I thought I would open it as I passed along
and see who it was from. I first looked
at the signature and saw it was David
Sanford. Judge my feelings as I cast my eye
upon the first sentence of the letter,
"Your beloved son [u]Gilbert Fay[/u] is no more."
I can hardly realize even yet that my
little boy in Massachusetts is gone. But
it is reality. I have often thought of the great
goodness of God in sparing my family unbroken
while many of the families of my acquain-
tences have been broken into by the great de-
stroyer. Gilbert died as I suppose on the 12th [?instant?]
as that was the date of brother Sanford's let-
ter. His disease was typhus fever. He was sick
about two weeks, most of the time deranged.
Mr Sandford write's that he had seemed to love
the bible and sabbath school and was regular
in devotional exercises and speaks very en-
couraging in his case. I never hope, as some
do, that children are saved on the ground
of their innocency, but I hope they are
saved as sinners through the atonement of
Christ and the abounding grace of God.
I may perhaps say in this case as Mc[illegible]
said in reference to a friend that was taken
away. "I will hope that he has gone to heaven
till I shall find the contrary to be true."
My son will never return to me, but I shall
soon go to him. The dysentery in prevailing
in our neighbourhood here and I have been
feeling a considerable anxiety in respect to
my children at home but never seemed to
think much about my son in Mass. But he is
taken and they are left. He was well taken care
of in his sickness by his friends then. Last winter
I had quite a strong desire to have him
come home and wrote something of the kind
to sister Fay but she desired him to stay a while
longer and I said nothing more about it. She may pre-
haps have some reflections on this ground. But I do
not feel as though she should, for neither of us had
any anticipations of the event that has taken
place. "Our life is a vapour which appeareth for a
little while and then vanisheth away." There has been
a considerable sickness in this congregation for
a few weeks past. Three died of dysentery in one
family in the neighbourhood, the father and [note: page is damaged here]
band, a son and little girl. The man was 51 years
old, an active and efficient man of the Baptists
denomination. He usually atteneded our meeting,
and acted as sexton in the congregation. He seemed
to enjoy religion in his sickness, and I trust is gone
to rest. The dysentery is very had this year and in
many cases proves fatal. I heard of one man who
had six children who were all carried off in a
few days by this disease. But what effect will
these things have upon the living? Will they be
led thereby to set their house in order and prepared for
another world: I fear not. One sick man, whom I visited
the day I heard of the death of my son, [?told?] me if he
got well he would serve the Lord faithfully as long as he
lived. I have not overmuch confidence in such prom-
ises but shall watch the course of this man with
some interest if he shall recover. My family has
been mostly well since I wrote to Mother in
which letter I believe I gave an account of the
health of my family up to that time. Mrs N. worries
a good dial and is rather uncomfortable. Martha is
troubled with a lame hand which prevents her from
doing much. My boys work out for out neighbours con-
siderable. I have not land enough here to busy them
and am rather poorly situated in respect to schools.
Whether I shall remain here longer than this [illegible]
time must determine. I sometimes almost regret
that I did not go out west, to Wisconsin or Iowa.
May be I shall yet. They have now a minister in Guilford
by the name of Banforth. The [?congregationalists?] and Prebyte-
rians write in supporting him.
[Note: written horizontally as front of the unfolded letter]
Mrs Zoa N. Farrer
Marlborough
New Hampshire
old [?Nickey?]
Sept 25th
[Note: upside down]
[?Name?] Ohio Sept 23, 1850
Rev. V. Noyes
How long this union will continue I know not, prob-
ably not very long. I think Wayne is a more
promising field of labour than Guilford though
there are things that are wrong here. There is
more harmony of [?visions?] and feelings than there
was in Guilford. I sometimes hope that some good.
may be effected in this plan. Give my respects to
brother J. and family also to Mr Lyman &c. I hope
you will write often as it is a great satisfaction
for me ot hear from you. Come out and see us
if you can. From your Afflicted brother V. Noyes
1850 年 9 月 23 日，俄亥俄州韦恩
亲爱的姐姐。
您的信函日期
8 月 5 日安全抵达我们的岗位-
办公室，并受到及时接待。我先来
当我搬进这个地方时我想
我应该使用伍斯特的邮局，
但在拐点上得出的结论是我的
文件、信件等。来到库普] 这是
虽然离我只有大约一半的距离
在十字路口。我总是很高兴听到
来自您并听到您的健康和
繁荣。我很抱歉你的身体健康
太穷了，也许可以表达我的愿望
用使徒约翰在他写给 [无法辨认] 的书信第 2 节中的语言代表你
我应该从你信的语气判断
你在心灵上的灵性和宗教感情比你更受宠爱
你的西方兄弟。我知道我应该
更多地参与我的公益事业
师父比我甚至曾经。我来了
带着一些微弱的决心去这个地方
全身心地投入到工作中，
传福音是我的大事
基督和努力促进利益
他的教会和王国。我必须承认
我没有很好地执行这些决议。
虽然我有时似乎有一些
自由地传讲福音，然而
一般来说，我担心我已经干了
和无趣。我曾有过干扰我学习的试验，有时
让我几乎觉得我必须
放弃该部，至少对于
当下。上周我收到了令人悲伤的消息
来自梅德韦。当我从
探望我在邮局打电话的病人
找到一封来自梅德韦的信。我急忙放
它戴在我的帽子里，然后开车朝家走去。
我以为我会在我经过时打开它
看看是谁发的。我第一次看
在签名处，看到是大卫
桑福德。当我注视时判断我的感受
在信的第一句话，
“你心爱的儿子吉尔伯特·费伊已经不在了。”
我什至还很难意识到我的
马萨诸塞州的小男孩走了。但
这是现实。我经常想到伟大的
上帝保佑我的家人完好无损
而我熟人的许多家庭都被大毁灭者闯入了。吉尔伯特死了，我猜是在第 12 次
因为那是桑福德兄弟来信的日期。他的病是斑疹伤寒。他病了
大约两周，大部分时间都精神错乱。
桑福德先生写的他似乎很喜欢
圣经和安息日学校，并且是正规的
在虔诚的练习中，他的情况非常令人鼓舞。我从不希望，因为有些
做，孩子们被拯救在地上
他们的清白，但我希望他们是
因赎罪而得救为罪人
基督和上帝丰富的恩典。
在这种情况下，我可能会说是 Mc[难以辨认]
提到一个被带走的朋友
离开。 “我希望他已经上天堂了
直到我发现相反的情况是真的。”
我的儿子永远不会回到我身边，但我会
很快就去找他。流行的痢疾
在我们这里的附近，我一直在
感到相当焦虑
我的孩子在家，但似乎从来没有
多想想我在马萨诸塞州的儿子。但他是
采取，他们离开了。他得到了很好的照顾
那时他的朋友生病了。去年冬天
我非常渴望拥有他
回家写一些类似的东西
给费伊姐姐，但她希望他待一会儿
更长的时间，我什么也没说。她可能对此有一些思考。但是我愿意
不觉得她应该，因为我们都没有
对已经发生的事件的任何预期
地方。 “我们的生活是一团蒸气
一会儿就消失了。”
这个会众患了相当大的疾病
几周过去了。三人死于痢疾
附近的家人，父亲和[注：此处页面已损坏]
乐队，一个儿子和一个小女孩。该男子51岁
老，浸信会的一个积极而有效率的人
面值。他通常参加我们的会议，
并在会众中担任司事。他看起来
在他的病中享受宗教，我相信已经走了
休息。痢疾今年和在
许多案例证明是致命的。我听说有一个人
有六个孩子都被带走了
数日受此病。但是会有什么影响
这些东西对活人有影响吗？他们会
从而使他们的房屋井然有序，并为
另一个世界：我不怕。我拜访过的一位病人
那天我听说我儿子死了，告诉我他是否
只要他康复了，他就会忠心事奉主
住过。我对这样的承诺并没有太大的信心，但会密切关注这个人的进程
如果他能康复，他会得到一些利息。我的家人有
自从我在
我相信我交代了哪封信
到那时为止我家人的健康。 N夫人担心
一个很好的表盘，而且很不舒服。玛莎是
被一只瘸腿的手困扰着，这阻止了她
做很多。我的男孩们为外出打工的邻居相当可观。我没有足够的土地来忙他们
并且在学校方面的位置相当差。
我是否会在这里停留更长的时间[无法辨认]
时间必须确定。我有时几乎后悔
我没有去西部，去威斯康星州或爱荷华州。
也许我会。他们现在在吉尔福德有一位部长
以班福斯的名义。公理会和长老会写信支持他。
[注：横写在展开字母的前面]
Zoa N. Farrer 夫人
马尔堡
新罕布什尔
老尼基
9月25日
[注：倒置]
俄亥俄州 1850 年 9 月 23 日
牧师 V. Noyes
这个联盟会持续多久我不知道，prob-
干练不是很长。我觉得韦恩更
虽然比吉尔福德有前途的劳动力领域
这里有些事情是错误的。有
比那里更和谐的视觉和感觉
在吉尔福德。我有时希望一些好的。
可能会在本计划中生效。表达我的敬意
J. 兄弟和家人也属于莱曼先生 &c.我希望
你会经常写作，因为这是一种极大的满足
让我听到你的消息。出来看看我们
如果你可以的话。来自你受苦的兄弟 V. Noyes
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Varnum, “Letter from V. Noyes to his Sister, September 23, 1850,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 20, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/966.