Letter from Hattie to Edward, August 10, 1871

Letter from Hattie to Edward, August 10, 1871

Prayer groups; Hymns; House construction; Weather

In this letter Harriet writes to her older brother Edward, mentioning briefly that her previous letter to him had gone unanswered. She also writes of the warm temperature in Canton. She then discusses morning prayers, noting that while Henry leads prayers in the hospital chapel, she as well as servants and "some others" have prayers in the dining room led by an assistant. Harriet mentions that the day before, the usual assistant was missing and that their hymns moved through different tunes without any of the Chinese people present realizing it was wrong. She ends by discussing the "pretty things" they have bought to lend to "the Scudders of India" and the positive attributes of the house they have nearly finished.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1

Unpublished

1871-08-10

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_061

Canton China
Aug 10th '71-
My dear Edward,
We have no letter from
you to answer by this mail but I
am sure when this reaches you
it will receive a welcome if it isnt
[u]due[/u]. Yesterday was a very hot
day the hottest we have had this
summer. the thermometer was up
to 93 ° in a "[u]cool[/u]" place. Very likely
that will not seem very high to you
over there in America where the
thermometers go up to over 100°
on the slightest provocation. I can
testify however that we feel it to be
decidedly uncomfortable if our thermometer
dont appreciate it. I have just
written my last letter to Mrs Preston
expecting it to find her in San Francisco
and that our next communication
will be face to face. Wont we be glad
to see them back? but I really think
it is [u]too bad[\u] Mr Preston didnt go to
see you. I shall have to look cross
at him when he gets back. I am
glad you saw Mr Nevin He is not a
DD. Dr Happer is the only one we have

in Canton. There is the bell for
morning prayers so I must go
down. Henry conducts prayers
in the hospital chapel and our
servants and some others meet in
our dining room at the same
time and one of the assistants leads.
Yesterday the one who usually
leads was gone and another one
came in and I wish you could
have heard our singing. We had
a [?L?] M hymn and started off with
what I took to be Rockingham although
it was a very uncertain sound.
But the Chinese put me entirely in
the shade by the facility with which
they change one tune for another
and the second + third verse
we tried to what appeared to be
Balerma with necessary variations
and when we reached the
fourth verse we settled down on
Old Hundred. The transition
from one tune to another was
made by a "series of sounds."
But it is so funny to see in what
a state of blissful ignorance they
are as to anything being wrong.

I expect Chinese singing would
be [u]torture[\u] to you.
We have just been buying $100.00
worth of pretty things to lend to
the Scudders of India. They
wrote to Mr Vrooman to get them
for these but he was very busy just
now and so we executed the
commission for them. I hope I
have not broken the tenth commandment
but it does seem as if it would
be nice to have a box full of just
such things to send [u]home[\u].
Our new house is almost finished
we think it is a [u]jewel[\u] of a house
but we dont boast over it here just
congratulate each other and admire
it to our hearts content. I wish you
could see it one of its merits is that
it is a good deal [u]cheaper[\u] than
any of the other Mission houses.
There is not much of a yard but
on one side it over looks the yard
in front of the London Mission House
and on the other a vacant space
at the rear we have a view of a
neighboring garden and in

front just across the canal Shameen
so are we not fortunate for we can
enjoy looking at it all just as much
as if it were ours and there we
have more of the trouble or expense
of keeping "[u]the grounds[/u]" in order.
Another thing that I shall enjoy
[u]so much[\u] is that upstairs we
have west windows from which
we can see the sun set and we
have never had that in any house
that we have lived in here yet.
The sunsets are often magnificent
here but I have seen only a few
since I have been in China
three years + a half. Only three
months more and it will be [u]four
years[\u] since I left home.
Henry + I often speak of the
visit home which we hope is in
store for us , at any rate we can
think so now and not give up
the hope unless we are obliged to.
I should'nt wonder if in a few years there
would be another railroad across America
+ very likely then the expense would be
much reduced Goodbye Your loving sister Hattie



中国广州
1871 年 8 月 10 日——
我亲爱的爱德华，
我们没有你的来信可以通过这封邮件回复，
但我相信当它到达你时，
如果它没有到期，
它会受到欢迎。
昨天是我们今年夏天最热的一天。
温度计在“凉爽”的地方高达 93°。
在美国，
温度计在最轻微的挑衅下就会上升到 100° 以上，
这对你来说很可能不会很高。
然而，
我可以作证说，
如果我们的温度计不喜欢它，
我们会感到非常不舒服。
我刚刚给普雷斯顿夫人写了最后一封信，
希望它能在旧金山找到她，
我们的下一次沟通将是面对面的。
我们会很高兴看到他们回来吗？但我真的认为普雷斯顿先生没有去看你太可惜了。
当他回来时，
我将不得不看着他。
我很高兴你看到 Nevin He 先生不是 DD。
哈珀博士是我们在广州唯一的一位。
有晨祷的钟声，
所以我必须下去。
亨利在医院的教堂里进行祈祷，
我们的仆人和其他一些人同时在我们的餐厅见面，
其中一名助手带领。
昨天通常带领的那个走了，
另一个进来了，
我希望你能听到我们的歌声。
我们有一首 L M 赞美诗，
并从我认为是 Rockingham 的声音开始，
尽管它是一个非常不确定的声音。
但是中国人把我完全置若罔闻，
因为他们很容易把一个曲调换成另一个，
第二和第三节我们尝试了似乎是巴勒玛的必要变化，
当我们到达第四节时，
我们安顿下来在老百.从一种曲调到另一种曲调的过渡是由“一系列声音”完成的。
但是很有趣的是，
看到他们对任何错误都处于一种多么幸福的无知状态。
我希望中国的歌声对你来说是一种折磨。
我们刚刚购买了价值 100.00 美元的漂亮东西，
借给印度的 Scudders。
他们写信给 Vrooman 先生要这些东西，
但他刚才很忙，
所以我们为他们执行了委托。
我希望我没有违反第十条诫命，
但如果能有一个装满这样的东西的盒子寄回家就好了。
我们的新房子快完工了，
我们认为它是房子里的一颗明珠，
但我们不会在这里夸耀它，
只是互相祝贺并欣赏它，
让我们心满意足。
我希望你能看到它的优点之一是它比任何其他的传教组织房屋便宜很多。
院子不大，
但一侧可以俯瞰伦敦传教所前面的院子，
另一侧是后面的空地，
我们可以看到附近的花园，
前面就在运河对面所以我们不是很幸运，
因为我们可以像看待它一样享受这一切，
并且在那里我们有更多的麻烦或费用来保持“场地”的秩序。
我将非常喜欢的另一件事是楼上我们有西窗，
我们可以从那里看到日落，
而我们在这里住过的任何房子里从来没有过这样的东西。
这里的日落常常很壮观，
但自从我来中国三年半以来，
我只见过几次。
再过三个月，
我离家已经四年了。
亨利和我经常谈到我们希望为我们准备的访问之家，
无论如何我们现在可以这样想，
除非我们有义务，
否则不要放弃希望。
我不怀疑几年后是否会有另一条横穿美国的铁路，
那么费用很可能会大大减少。
再见。
你的妹妹，
海蒂

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