Section of Unsigned Letter from Harriet, July 23, 1871
Dublin Core
Title
Section of Unsigned Letter from Harriet, July 23, 1871
Subject
Visitors, Foreign; Social conflict; Missionaries
Description
Hattie writes on the Sabbath to an unknown correspondent. Tensions with the locals seem to have reached a boiling point so it has been recommended that missionaries stay at home. She likens it to the Sabbath after the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War. She writes about how the Chinese peoples' distrust of foreigners has affected mission work, and how it affects mission work going forward.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1881-07-23
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_960
Coverage
The United States Civil War, 1861-65
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
[Note: Notes in red and blue from an alternate author, III]
Sabbath Day, July 23d, [--1871--] 1871
It is a lovely day to-day so calm
and clear and bright and a
day of [u]rest[/u] much more so than
our Sabbaths usually are. Yesterday
the authorities requested the missionaries
not to attempt to preach or teach in
any of the chapels or schools for a few
days until the excitement subsides.
There is a service this morning in
the Chapel connected with the Hospital
and Henry is there not but I suppose
there will not be any other service to-day.
It seems so strange to think that all
the chapels are closed that there are no
crowds gathering there as usual. It gives
one a feeling of quiet and [u]rest[/u] and
seems so unlike any other day for [?then?]
if we do not go out in the streets or try to
do any Mission work we can stay at
home and study or work as usual.
Henry said this morning it seemed
like the Sabbath after the battle of
Chancellorsville when after a desperate
engagement the fighting ceased
the hill after the tempest. It seems
now as though the storm is passed
for the present whether a similar
attempt will ever be made again
is a question which the future will
answer. It would not seem that the
[u]same[/u]place could be tried again
and I do not believe any other could
be tried that would be as effectual
as this has proved and this has
[u]failed[/u], and if the Authorities can
control the people when under such
a fearful state of excitement as they
have been the past week they probably can
under almost any circumstances.
What the effect of all this will be upon
our work. we cannot tell but we can
[u]believe[/u] that it will not be [?injurious?].
It would naturally seem that it would
take a long time for the feelings of
hostility and distrust that have
been excited against foreigners to
pass away, and leave the people as
friendly as they were before. But I
cannot believe that the influence will
be for evil and not good, it seems
[u]sure[/u] that it [u]must[/u] be a step [u]forward[/u].
although we may not be able to
understand how but it is no doubt
nicely ordered by Him who will
cause the wrath of man to praise Him
and the remainder of wrath will
he restrain. The last time I
visited my largest school in which
there have been this year between
20 + 30 scholars there were only nine
and I should not be surprised if
this state of things continues long if
all would leave. It looks very dark
for our work as though the labor of
years would be swept away at once but it
cannot be so, and persecution has
ever been the life of the Church
and it may be that from this time
the work will receive a fresh start.
This morning the woman who owned
the house in which one of Lillie's schools
is came to Dr Happer in great
distress because the people had been
abusing and threatening her for having
sold the property to foreigners.
A native assistant who has just
secured a little chapel in a village
some distance away has written to say
that the owner wishes him to give it up.
Henry came very near being in the country
just at this time. He had planned a
trip of two or three weeks and talked of
starting on Wednesday but without any
especial reason decided to wait until the
next Monday + in the meantime this Excitement
commenced but at first no one knew whether
it would amount to much or not and
Monday morning he hesitated some about
deciding whether it was best to go or not,
but finally concluded to defer it and
the events of the following days showed
that it would have been worse than
folly to have gone for when there is such
a state of feeling it would be quite
impossible to attempt Mission work and
it would only have exasperated the
people to see a foreigner come among
them for not being accustomed to it they
would have thought he surely came to
bring [illegible] [illegible] [illegible]. It seems clear that
it was an overruling Providence that first
led him to defer starting + finally to give
it up entirely. We intended to visit our
country schools this week but cannot go
now + I do not know when we shall be
able to go again. We enjoyed the last two
or three visits very much + were beginning to
hope that the seed was really taking root.
Sabbath Day, July 23d, [--1871--] 1871
It is a lovely day to-day so calm
and clear and bright and a
day of [u]rest[/u] much more so than
our Sabbaths usually are. Yesterday
the authorities requested the missionaries
not to attempt to preach or teach in
any of the chapels or schools for a few
days until the excitement subsides.
There is a service this morning in
the Chapel connected with the Hospital
and Henry is there not but I suppose
there will not be any other service to-day.
It seems so strange to think that all
the chapels are closed that there are no
crowds gathering there as usual. It gives
one a feeling of quiet and [u]rest[/u] and
seems so unlike any other day for [?then?]
if we do not go out in the streets or try to
do any Mission work we can stay at
home and study or work as usual.
Henry said this morning it seemed
like the Sabbath after the battle of
Chancellorsville when after a desperate
engagement the fighting ceased
the hill after the tempest. It seems
now as though the storm is passed
for the present whether a similar
attempt will ever be made again
is a question which the future will
answer. It would not seem that the
[u]same[/u]place could be tried again
and I do not believe any other could
be tried that would be as effectual
as this has proved and this has
[u]failed[/u], and if the Authorities can
control the people when under such
a fearful state of excitement as they
have been the past week they probably can
under almost any circumstances.
What the effect of all this will be upon
our work. we cannot tell but we can
[u]believe[/u] that it will not be [?injurious?].
It would naturally seem that it would
take a long time for the feelings of
hostility and distrust that have
been excited against foreigners to
pass away, and leave the people as
friendly as they were before. But I
cannot believe that the influence will
be for evil and not good, it seems
[u]sure[/u] that it [u]must[/u] be a step [u]forward[/u].
although we may not be able to
understand how but it is no doubt
nicely ordered by Him who will
cause the wrath of man to praise Him
and the remainder of wrath will
he restrain. The last time I
visited my largest school in which
there have been this year between
20 + 30 scholars there were only nine
and I should not be surprised if
this state of things continues long if
all would leave. It looks very dark
for our work as though the labor of
years would be swept away at once but it
cannot be so, and persecution has
ever been the life of the Church
and it may be that from this time
the work will receive a fresh start.
This morning the woman who owned
the house in which one of Lillie's schools
is came to Dr Happer in great
distress because the people had been
abusing and threatening her for having
sold the property to foreigners.
A native assistant who has just
secured a little chapel in a village
some distance away has written to say
that the owner wishes him to give it up.
Henry came very near being in the country
just at this time. He had planned a
trip of two or three weeks and talked of
starting on Wednesday but without any
especial reason decided to wait until the
next Monday + in the meantime this Excitement
commenced but at first no one knew whether
it would amount to much or not and
Monday morning he hesitated some about
deciding whether it was best to go or not,
but finally concluded to defer it and
the events of the following days showed
that it would have been worse than
folly to have gone for when there is such
a state of feeling it would be quite
impossible to attempt Mission work and
it would only have exasperated the
people to see a foreigner come among
them for not being accustomed to it they
would have thought he surely came to
bring [illegible] [illegible] [illegible]. It seems clear that
it was an overruling Providence that first
led him to defer starting + finally to give
it up entirely. We intended to visit our
country schools this week but cannot go
now + I do not know when we shall be
able to go again. We enjoyed the last two
or three visits very much + were beginning to
hope that the seed was really taking root.
【红蓝颜色标记为不同作者书写】 安息日，1871年7月23日， 今天是一个很平静的一天， 天气很晴朗， 比平时的安息日都好。 / 昨天官员们要求传教士们不能再传教或在小教堂教圣经了， / / 直到暴乱停止。 今天早上有一个教堂和医院联合的礼拜 / Henry也在那里， 但是我认为今天不会再有什么礼拜。 看起来这么想很奇怪 所有的小教堂都关闭 不像平常那么多人聚集。 给我一种很安静很放松的感觉 还不像不能上街或者工， 只能待在家里学习工作的感觉。 / / Henry说今天早上很像钱德勒斯维尔战役之后那个安息日 / 一场殊死的战斗后， 战斗如翻篇一样戛然而止。 / 现在即使暴风雨过去了 类似的灾难会不会再来也是个问题。 / / 看起来云没有聚集 / 人也不会向云一样聚集起来谋划新的暴乱， / 如果官员可以控制人群， 我相信他们可以随时控制他们。 让他们害怕 / 因为他们不知道自己过去的几周可能在什么处境下。 / 所有都会影响我们的工作。 我们说不出来 但是我们相信这不会有害。 看起来 他们对外国人的 敌意和怀疑的感觉 将需要很长时间才能消失。 / 然后，他们还是像以前一样很友好。 但是我不能相信影响是坏的， / 看起来必须要继续， 即使我们不一定可以理解 但是毫无疑问， 上帝被会激起民愤的他很好的管理 他会让人们咱们他， 控制他们的愤怒。 上一次， 我参观了我最大的学校， 今年有20到30个学生， 现在只有9个， 这种情况，我也没有很惊喜 如果这种情况继续，他们会全部离开。 看起来， 我们的工作很黑暗 我们所有的进展都被取消了， 基督徒一直收到迫害 而且迫害教堂的生机， 而且这一次会是这样， 工作会从头开始。 今天早上， 其中一所Lillie学校的房东焦虑地来找Happer医生， / 因为她受到了人们的威胁和恐吓 / 缘于她卖给外国人东西。 一个刚刚封锁一间乡村小教堂的本土的助理 / 给我们写信说 房主希望他放弃教堂。 Henry那个时候里那个村庄很近。 他计划旅游2-3周 周三开始去谈话 但是不知道为什么改到了下周一， / 同时，暴乱又开始了 但是一开始没有人知道怎么回事 / 周一早上，他对他去不去的决定感到犹豫 / 但是最后他决定不去 而且周二看起来更坏了 / 当这里变好一点的时候 看起来根没有可能开始传教工作 / 也会激怒人们 他们看到外国人会带来麻烦。 / / / 似乎上帝亲自阻止Henry前往乡下 开始让他延后开始 最后放弃。 我们这周想去参观乡村学校， 但是我们不能去，而且我也不知道我们什么时候可以。 我们很喜欢我们最后两三次参观， 我们希望 这颗种子可以扎根。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Section of Unsigned Letter from Harriet, July 23, 1871,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 25, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/1068.