Letter from Hattie to Sarah, June 3, 1868
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Sarah, June 3, 1868
Subject
Birthdays; Missionaries; Mail steamers; Housekeeping; Clothing and dress; Household employees
Description
This letter from Harriet Noyes to her sister Sarah is in honor of Sarah's birthday. The increased length of eight pages, compared to the usual four pages, is probably due to this celebration. Harriet discusses various aspects of life in China, such as the Mission Conference, mail steamers, and housekeeping. She also spends a significant amount of time discussing the household servants, Akum and Atsan.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1868-06-03
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_009
Coverage
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China.
June 3d /68 -
My [u]own dear Sarah[/u]-
As I cannot be
with you to-day to give you my best wishes
I will put them on paper and bye &
bye when you have forgotten that you
have had a birthday this year this
bit of paper will bring it back to your
remembrance with the assurance that
we were thinking of you this dark cloudy
day. I hope it is a bright pleasant day
on the other side of the world to-day.
I often try to think just how high the
grass is getting and how everything
looks in the "dear old [u]home[/u]". You
must write to me if you make any
changes like moving the smoke house
or taking away any of the fences or if
that fence that lay on the ground
has ever been disturbed. You know
my bump of curiosity is large.
To-day is the meeting of the Mission
Conference. Contrary to our expectations
it did not come here this time but
probably will the next time. I intended
to go to-day but it rained so hard that
I gave it up. The ladies do not many
of them attend but I like to go &
intend to when I can. They only
meet once in 2 months. _
We have found that there is no steamer
coming out in June so that it is more
than a month before we can hope to
get letters. Is'nt it [u]too bad[/u]. There is a
great deal of indignation felt & expressed
here towards the "PM SS Co" but that
does not make me feel any better
for I do so much want them to do [u]well[/u].
Our English friends here get their
mail [u]regularly[/u] every other Wednesday
while the Americans who depend
upon these steamers perhaps get
letters every other month. Never mind
England is number two in most
things "U S A" I see by the papers
came out in the first rank at
the Paris Exposition, the general
average of one rate being twice
that of England. I was afraid
our country would not make
as much exertion as some
others but it seems it has come
out all right. And now what
shall I write about. [u]Little[/u] things?
I have a mind to give you an
extract from the chapter on
housekeeping. And first our
servants as I presume you know
are men But you must not
think of a great tall man like
Mr Hamsher or Edward or Cyrus
as washing the dishes & sweeping
the floors. The Chinese men are mostly
short & neither of these are as tall
as I am. And they dont have
any [u]nice long whiskers[/u] but to be
sure the "[u]long[/u]" is found in the
cue that dangles to their feet. I expect
you would be shocked if I should
write it "tail" but that is what it
is called here & it seems rather
fastidious to say anything else.
I have become quite accustomed
to them now but they are an odd
appendage. A Chinaman need
never be at a loss what to do with
his hands for if he has laid down
his fan he can occupy them
in playing with his cue I was
amused at one of the new
scholars the other day reciting
her lesson to me for the first
time and some what frightened
and she worked off her Embarrassment
by stuffing it into her mouth (the
little girls wear their hair the same
way). And a few days ago I saw
the kitten playing with Akum's
while he with his usual gravity was
concocting some mess for our dinner
One more + I have done. A while
ago I was at Mrs Anderson's at a social
gathering and while at tea I leaned
back in my chair + felt something
but did not think of it until Mr Davis
the gentleman who sat next me
reached back + drew out the waiters
cue which happened to be between
my back and that of the chair when
they came together bringing him
to a halt quite unexpectedly. But
what has this to do with housekeeping
perhaps you are saying. And to
begin again. Akum & Atsan are
the names of our servants. Akum
is quite an old man 56 I believe
that is old for a "boy" as the servants
are called. He has been with
foreigners I believe for 30 years
most of the time with Dr Happer
He remembers Walter Lowrie + has
known almost all the missionaries
that have come to this part of China.
He waits on the table does errands is
our steward major domo +c +c and
takes care of us generally. We feel
quite safe in putting money into
his hands feeling sure that it will
all be satisfactorily accounted
for. It saves our time which is a
great item here to let him settle
our debts + buy all that we need +
if we want money we can go to him
for it. I know you can hardly
realize what a business like people
the Chinese are keeping their accounts
just as accuratety as the merchants
do at [u]home[/u]. If they were only a Christian
people it seems as though there would
be very little left that we could teach
them. They understand economy
perfectly as they are obliged to practice it
it constantly. I tell Akum in the
morning what to get for the day,
and he keeps an account of all
that he spends and every Saturday
night brings it to me + then we
"talk to account" and have a
settling up. Atsan our other "boy" is
much younger. Came from a village
about 20 miles off. He cooks washes
floors carries water +c +c. The water
we use for cooking is brought from springs
a mile or two away he goes there once
a week & brings enough to last that
length of time. We have water jars
to put it in that make it some
cooler but I expect when the hot
weather comes I shall think once
in a while about "The old oaken
bucket that hung in the well".
Of course here in China every body
drinks a great deal of tea many
use cups not very much larger
than that one we used to have
from [?Smyrna?]. Atsan has not
has much experience as cook
but he learns easily & tries to do
the best he can. He is not so
particular about doing his
"pigeon" (business) and no more
as many of the servants here
are. A while ago we were
going to have company to tea
one evening and I made a
couple of cakes & leaving Atsan
to bake them went back to study
and after two or three hours went
out to see how they were baked
[--when--] but could not find
them anywhere in any of the
cupboards and concluded
the boy must have burned
them up & thrown them away
but when I called him up
he went + opened the oven
door + there sure enough they
were partly done and the
fire had been out for a long
long time And then only
think I could not muster
enough Chinese to express
my disapprobation in only a
very limited way. --
Another day I tried to
explain through Aho how
I wanted a chicken prepared
and she understood that
after dressing I wanted it
refilled withs the original
contents and roasted. And
so explained it to the cook.
I suppose it would not seem
very strange to most of the
Chinese as some of them
often eat the refuse of chickens
And now Sarah dear it
seems too bad to send
blank paper but I must
close. I hope you are
happy in your school
and that Clara dont
get homesick and
that they dont work
too hard at home
My love to all
Your own loving
Hattie
A new Dr is here now
& thinks perhaps Mrs Folsom
can go tomorrow
[Note: written diagonally] send collars for Mattie + you.
He seems like a good Dr
+ I have a great deal of
confidence in him
June 3d /68 -
My [u]own dear Sarah[/u]-
As I cannot be
with you to-day to give you my best wishes
I will put them on paper and bye &
bye when you have forgotten that you
have had a birthday this year this
bit of paper will bring it back to your
remembrance with the assurance that
we were thinking of you this dark cloudy
day. I hope it is a bright pleasant day
on the other side of the world to-day.
I often try to think just how high the
grass is getting and how everything
looks in the "dear old [u]home[/u]". You
must write to me if you make any
changes like moving the smoke house
or taking away any of the fences or if
that fence that lay on the ground
has ever been disturbed. You know
my bump of curiosity is large.
To-day is the meeting of the Mission
Conference. Contrary to our expectations
it did not come here this time but
probably will the next time. I intended
to go to-day but it rained so hard that
I gave it up. The ladies do not many
of them attend but I like to go &
intend to when I can. They only
meet once in 2 months. _
We have found that there is no steamer
coming out in June so that it is more
than a month before we can hope to
get letters. Is'nt it [u]too bad[/u]. There is a
great deal of indignation felt & expressed
here towards the "PM SS Co" but that
does not make me feel any better
for I do so much want them to do [u]well[/u].
Our English friends here get their
mail [u]regularly[/u] every other Wednesday
while the Americans who depend
upon these steamers perhaps get
letters every other month. Never mind
England is number two in most
things "U S A" I see by the papers
came out in the first rank at
the Paris Exposition, the general
average of one rate being twice
that of England. I was afraid
our country would not make
as much exertion as some
others but it seems it has come
out all right. And now what
shall I write about. [u]Little[/u] things?
I have a mind to give you an
extract from the chapter on
housekeeping. And first our
servants as I presume you know
are men But you must not
think of a great tall man like
Mr Hamsher or Edward or Cyrus
as washing the dishes & sweeping
the floors. The Chinese men are mostly
short & neither of these are as tall
as I am. And they dont have
any [u]nice long whiskers[/u] but to be
sure the "[u]long[/u]" is found in the
cue that dangles to their feet. I expect
you would be shocked if I should
write it "tail" but that is what it
is called here & it seems rather
fastidious to say anything else.
I have become quite accustomed
to them now but they are an odd
appendage. A Chinaman need
never be at a loss what to do with
his hands for if he has laid down
his fan he can occupy them
in playing with his cue I was
amused at one of the new
scholars the other day reciting
her lesson to me for the first
time and some what frightened
and she worked off her Embarrassment
by stuffing it into her mouth (the
little girls wear their hair the same
way). And a few days ago I saw
the kitten playing with Akum's
while he with his usual gravity was
concocting some mess for our dinner
One more + I have done. A while
ago I was at Mrs Anderson's at a social
gathering and while at tea I leaned
back in my chair + felt something
but did not think of it until Mr Davis
the gentleman who sat next me
reached back + drew out the waiters
cue which happened to be between
my back and that of the chair when
they came together bringing him
to a halt quite unexpectedly. But
what has this to do with housekeeping
perhaps you are saying. And to
begin again. Akum & Atsan are
the names of our servants. Akum
is quite an old man 56 I believe
that is old for a "boy" as the servants
are called. He has been with
foreigners I believe for 30 years
most of the time with Dr Happer
He remembers Walter Lowrie + has
known almost all the missionaries
that have come to this part of China.
He waits on the table does errands is
our steward major domo +c +c and
takes care of us generally. We feel
quite safe in putting money into
his hands feeling sure that it will
all be satisfactorily accounted
for. It saves our time which is a
great item here to let him settle
our debts + buy all that we need +
if we want money we can go to him
for it. I know you can hardly
realize what a business like people
the Chinese are keeping their accounts
just as accuratety as the merchants
do at [u]home[/u]. If they were only a Christian
people it seems as though there would
be very little left that we could teach
them. They understand economy
perfectly as they are obliged to practice it
it constantly. I tell Akum in the
morning what to get for the day,
and he keeps an account of all
that he spends and every Saturday
night brings it to me + then we
"talk to account" and have a
settling up. Atsan our other "boy" is
much younger. Came from a village
about 20 miles off. He cooks washes
floors carries water +c +c. The water
we use for cooking is brought from springs
a mile or two away he goes there once
a week & brings enough to last that
length of time. We have water jars
to put it in that make it some
cooler but I expect when the hot
weather comes I shall think once
in a while about "The old oaken
bucket that hung in the well".
Of course here in China every body
drinks a great deal of tea many
use cups not very much larger
than that one we used to have
from [?Smyrna?]. Atsan has not
has much experience as cook
but he learns easily & tries to do
the best he can. He is not so
particular about doing his
"pigeon" (business) and no more
as many of the servants here
are. A while ago we were
going to have company to tea
one evening and I made a
couple of cakes & leaving Atsan
to bake them went back to study
and after two or three hours went
out to see how they were baked
[--when--] but could not find
them anywhere in any of the
cupboards and concluded
the boy must have burned
them up & thrown them away
but when I called him up
he went + opened the oven
door + there sure enough they
were partly done and the
fire had been out for a long
long time And then only
think I could not muster
enough Chinese to express
my disapprobation in only a
very limited way. --
Another day I tried to
explain through Aho how
I wanted a chicken prepared
and she understood that
after dressing I wanted it
refilled withs the original
contents and roasted. And
so explained it to the cook.
I suppose it would not seem
very strange to most of the
Chinese as some of them
often eat the refuse of chickens
And now Sarah dear it
seems too bad to send
blank paper but I must
close. I hope you are
happy in your school
and that Clara dont
get homesick and
that they dont work
too hard at home
My love to all
Your own loving
Hattie
A new Dr is here now
& thinks perhaps Mrs Folsom
can go tomorrow
[Note: written diagonally] send collars for Mattie + you.
He seems like a good Dr
+ I have a great deal of
confidence in him
中国广东
1868年6月2日
亲爱的Sarah
因为我今天不能陪你
给你最好的祝愿
我会写在纸上然后
当你忘记
你今年的生日时
这一张纸可以找回你的记忆
并且很确定
我们正在回想这片乌云密布的天空。
我希望在世界的另一端
也是这样明亮晴朗的一天。
我经常努力想
草长多高了，老房子里的一切都怎么样呢。
你一定要写给我
哪怕只是熏肉房被挪了位置
或者拿走了任何栅栏
或者如果那个栅栏倒在地上
影响了你之类的。
你知道我的好奇心很强。
今天是个宣教会的日子。
和我们的预期正相反
他没有来这里
当我想下次应该会。
我猜测今天去但是今天雨很大
就没去。没有几个女人出席
但是我很愿意
也期待我能去。 他们每两个月
才见一次。
我们发现六月
没有船出来
所以会比我们接到信的时间晚一个月。
也不是很坏的情况。
确实PM轮船公司很让人生气
但是那不会让我感觉更好
因为我为他们想的做过太多。
英国朋友们拿到了他们的邮件
非常有规律的每两个周三
但是靠轮船的美国人
就没那么多了
他们似乎没两个月才能拿到。
不要介意，英国只是第二
我在新闻上看到USA
在巴黎博览会上排名第一，
英国平均排名第二。
恐怕我们国家没有其他国家
那么努力
但是看起来还可以。
而且我现在写一下很小的事。
我想把你从这一部分
带到另一部分：家务。
我们第一波仆人
我猜你知道是一群男人
但是绝对不要以为
他们像Hamsher或Edward还有Cyrus先生们那样
高大威猛
他们只是刷刷碗、扫扫地。
中国男士大多数比较矮
他们两个没一个比我高的。
而且他们没有很长很好的辫子
但是我确定“长”是肯定的
可以垂到脚上。
我预期你会被吓到
如果我写作“尾巴”
但是我们就这么叫
而且他看起来就是这样，也没法叫别的。
现在，我越来越适应他们了
但是他们是奇奇怪怪的附加物。
一个中国人永远不要放下手头的事
如果他放下扇子
他就加入他们
开始用他们的腔调开玩笑
我很不解
一个新的学者
第二天在课上开始了表演
有点吓人
而且她可以往嘴里塞东西
解决她的尴尬
（那个披着头发的女孩也这样）
前几天我看到
小猫在和Akum玩
当他把桌子弄乱了
又一次，随便编了一条理由
然后我就这么做了。
刚才我在Anderson太太的社交活动
当我靠在我的椅子上喝茶的时候
我感觉到了什么
但是我想不到
直到坐在我旁边的Davis先生
回来了然后请来服务员
他的小辫儿卡在了
我的后背和椅子之间
当我靠上去的时候
他的小辫儿压在了椅子靠背一个意料不到的位置。
但是你可能说
这跟家务又什么关系。然后再一次开始。
Akun和Atsan都是佣人的名字。
Akum是个56岁的老男人
我想这叫一个佣人男孩，已经算很老了。
他曾经是个外国人
我相信
他跟Happer医生有30年了。
他记得Walter Lowrie
而且知道所有的传教士
去过中国。
他在桌边等着
跑腿的是一个男服务员
他照顾我们大家。
我们感觉
把钱放到他手里很安全
而且感觉是符合要求的账户。
这省了我们很多时间
也让他帮我们管理负债
还帮我们买需要的东西
如果我们要钱可以去找他要。
我知道你几乎意识不到
像中国人的生意
他们那把钱算得很认真
就像商人一样。
如果他们只是基督教徒
那么看起来
我们可以教他们的很少。
他们特别懂经济
因为他们一直被迫了解。
我早上告诉Akum这一天要做什么，
然后给他所有花费流出一个账户
然后每个周六晚上
把它带给我
之后我们讨论我们建的账户。
Atsan，我们另一个更年轻一点的“男孩“。
从一个20英里外的村子里来的。
他做饭洗地挑水
用来做饭的水
从一到两里泉眼里面来的
他会一周去一次
带回够我们用的量。
我们有水罐
把水放进去可以让水变凉一点
但是我想天气热的的时候
我就会想到
那个掉在井里的
老橡木水桶。
当然在中国
所有人喝很多种茶
他们用的茶杯都很大
比我们用的都大。
Atsan没有很多的做饭经验
但是他学习很轻松
而且尽他最大的努力学。
他不是特定的
他还有“鸽子”生意
而且比这里的用人少
之前，一个晚上
我们去公司喝茶
我做了一些蛋糕
然后让Astan烤，就回书房了，
两三个小时之后
去看烤的情况
但是我在橱柜里
怎么找也找不到了
因此得出那家伙把它们烤糊了
然后扔了
但是当我叫他过来
打开烤炉门
非常确定
一部分已经好了
而且火已经开了很长时间。
然后只是想想
我不能集中用中文
来表达我的不赞成
只能说是
用一种很有限的方式。
第二天，
我努力向Aho解释
我希望她准备鸡肉的方法
她明白了
涂上酱料以后
我想用填满鸡肉
然后烤。
随后我想她就是怎么烹饪。
我希望
它对一些中国人来说
看起来没有那么奇怪
因为他们不怎么吃鸡肉。
然后Sarah把它弄的很坏
没有办法送出去一张纸
但是我必须要关闭。
我希望你在学校
很快乐
还有Clara不要想家
还有，别太辛苦地在家做功课
爱你们
你亲爱的Hattie
新来的医生来这里了
而且，Folsom先生
可能明天去给你和Mattie送项圈
他看起来是个好医生
而且我对他很有信心。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Sarah, June 3, 1868,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 24, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/10.