Letter from Hattie to Em, May 4, 1872
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Em, May 4, 1872
Subject
Rain and rainfall; Prayer; School buildings
Description
Harriet writes to her sister Emily, wishing her sunshine on her side of the world for her birthday, noting that it is cloudy and dark in China. Harriet remarks on how the rain was late and locals fasted and prayed to their idols in fear of a failed rice crop due to drought. Harriet tells of how she encouraged the students at her school to pray for rain, and as such as grateful that it rained before she saw them again so that she didn't have to answer the questions they would ask if it didn't. She expresses gratitude for the new boats to be finished soon and complains about how uncomfortable and dirty the current boats are, then finishes discussing the newly finished school building and their well decorated home.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1872-5-4
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_080
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
May 4th '/72
My [u]dear Em[/u]
I wonder what
kind of a day your birth-day is on
your side of the world. I hope with
you is the sunshine here we have
only clouds. a dark dull day it
has been. But we are very thankful
for the rain. The rains were unusually
late in commencing this year
and the Chinese were becoming
greatly distressed in anticipation
of the hard times that would follow
a failure of the rice crop. Of course
they resorted to their idols and for
some time they have been using all
sorts of entreaties to prevail upon
them to send rain. We visited one
of the large temples a few days
since and they told us that they
had commenced that day to
pray for rain. that they fasted
for three days that [--it--] is ate
no meat for three days before
they commenced. The Viceroy
went for six days to the temple
of the idol who is supposed to
attend to rain and finding
his entreaties availed not he
tried force and ordered the
idol to be put in chains.
Yesterday we went to Ngan pin
and it just poured down I have
two little schools and in going
from one to the other I got quite
soaked. The last time I was
out, they were much distressed
about the drought and after I
had been talking to them about
the duty of prayer some of them
wanted to know if they should
pray for rain. Of course I told
them that it would be right
and then I thought that if they
did and it should not come
the next time I went out they
would ask me about it so I thought
I would ask that it might
come [u]before[/u] it was time for
me to make the next visit &
sure enough the very day before
we had a hard shower the
first rain of the season. and
yesterday, I went to the school
through a pouring rain. I
think I felt a little like the girl
in Scotland or somewhere else
who carried her umbrella to a
meeting to pray for rain although
there did not seem to be any
prospect of a shower and found
she had occasion to use it before
she got home, but I am afraid
I did not have as much faith
to commence with. We had
a horrid boat to go into the country
this week it makes us look forward
with the greatest delight to the new
boat we are going to have soon
they have promised to finish
it in a month. The [?"ma-len-terys"?]
the boats we now use are very uncomfortable
as we have to sit on the floor of
the boat and ride backwards
but the [u]worst[/u] of all they are
oftentimes so dirty and infested
with vermin so that we generally
find that we are not the
only passengers. Our school
building is done and in a
few weeks when it is furnished
and the paint thoroughly
dried the schools will open.
Every one that has seen it
admires it so of course I am
[u]delighted[/u]. It really is [u]very[/u]
nice, much prettier every way
than I anticipated. I wish so
often that you all could see
it and our own house and
that the ladies who have
furnished the [?funds?] could
see the use which has been
made of them. Mr Carpenter a
missionary from Burmah who
was here last week said he was
sure if they could they would
feel that it had been well
invested With [u]much[/u] love
Your aff sister.
Hattie.
中国广州
1872 年 5 月 4 日
我亲爱的 Em
我想知道你的生日在你的世界那边是怎样的一天。
我希望有你的阳光在这里我们只有云。
这是黑暗沉闷的一天。
但我们非常感谢这场雨。
今年的降雨来得异常迟缓，
中国人因预期水稻歉收后的艰难时期而感到非常痛苦。
当然，
他们求助于他们的偶像，
一段时间以来，
他们一直在用各种恳求说服他们降雨。
几天后，
我们参观了其中一座大寺庙，
他们告诉我们，
他们从那天开始祈雨。
他们在开始前三天禁食三天不吃肉。
总督去了六天的神像寺庙，
该神像应该照顾下雨，
发现他的恳求没有奏效，
他试图强行并下令将神像戴上锁链。
昨天我们去了颜坪，
它刚刚倾盆大雨。
我有两所小学校，
从一所到另一所我都湿透了。
上次我出去的时候，
他们对干旱感到非常痛苦，
在我和他们谈论祈祷的责任之后，
他们中的一些人想知道他们是否应该祈祷下雨。
当然，
我告诉他们这是对的，
然后我想如果他们这样做了，
下次我出去的时候就不应该出现了，
他们会问我这件事，
所以我想我会问它可能会在时间到来之前出现。
我要进行下一次访问，
果然是在我们洗了个大雨的前一天，
这是本赛季的第一场雨。
昨天，
我冒着倾盆大雨去了学校。
我觉得我有点像苏格兰或其他地方的那个女孩，
她带着雨伞去开会祈祷下雨，
尽管似乎没有任何淋浴的希望，
并且发现她有机会在回家之前使用它，
但恐怕我一开始就没有那么大的信心。
本周我们有一艘可怕的船要进入这个国家，
这让我们非常高兴地期待着我们即将拥有的新船，
他们承诺在一个月内完成它。
我们现在使用的“ma-len-terys”船非常不舒服，
因为我们必须坐在船的地板上并向后骑行，
但最糟糕的是，
它们经常很脏，
而且到处都是害虫，
所以我们通常会发现我们不是唯一的乘客。
我们的校舍已经完工，
几周后，
当它装修完毕，
油漆彻底干燥后，
学校就会开学。
每个看过它的人都会钦佩它，
所以我当然很高兴。
它真的非常好，
各方面都比我预期的要漂亮得多。
我经常希望你们都可以看到它和我们自己的房子，
并且提供资金的女士们可以看到它们的用途。
卡彭特先生，
一位来自缅甸的传教士，
上周来到这里，
他说他相信如果他们可以的话，
他们会觉得它已经投入了很多的爱，
你的妹妹，
海蒂。
May 4th '/72
My [u]dear Em[/u]
I wonder what
kind of a day your birth-day is on
your side of the world. I hope with
you is the sunshine here we have
only clouds. a dark dull day it
has been. But we are very thankful
for the rain. The rains were unusually
late in commencing this year
and the Chinese were becoming
greatly distressed in anticipation
of the hard times that would follow
a failure of the rice crop. Of course
they resorted to their idols and for
some time they have been using all
sorts of entreaties to prevail upon
them to send rain. We visited one
of the large temples a few days
since and they told us that they
had commenced that day to
pray for rain. that they fasted
for three days that [--it--] is ate
no meat for three days before
they commenced. The Viceroy
went for six days to the temple
of the idol who is supposed to
attend to rain and finding
his entreaties availed not he
tried force and ordered the
idol to be put in chains.
Yesterday we went to Ngan pin
and it just poured down I have
two little schools and in going
from one to the other I got quite
soaked. The last time I was
out, they were much distressed
about the drought and after I
had been talking to them about
the duty of prayer some of them
wanted to know if they should
pray for rain. Of course I told
them that it would be right
and then I thought that if they
did and it should not come
the next time I went out they
would ask me about it so I thought
I would ask that it might
come [u]before[/u] it was time for
me to make the next visit &
sure enough the very day before
we had a hard shower the
first rain of the season. and
yesterday, I went to the school
through a pouring rain. I
think I felt a little like the girl
in Scotland or somewhere else
who carried her umbrella to a
meeting to pray for rain although
there did not seem to be any
prospect of a shower and found
she had occasion to use it before
she got home, but I am afraid
I did not have as much faith
to commence with. We had
a horrid boat to go into the country
this week it makes us look forward
with the greatest delight to the new
boat we are going to have soon
they have promised to finish
it in a month. The [?"ma-len-terys"?]
the boats we now use are very uncomfortable
as we have to sit on the floor of
the boat and ride backwards
but the [u]worst[/u] of all they are
oftentimes so dirty and infested
with vermin so that we generally
find that we are not the
only passengers. Our school
building is done and in a
few weeks when it is furnished
and the paint thoroughly
dried the schools will open.
Every one that has seen it
admires it so of course I am
[u]delighted[/u]. It really is [u]very[/u]
nice, much prettier every way
than I anticipated. I wish so
often that you all could see
it and our own house and
that the ladies who have
furnished the [?funds?] could
see the use which has been
made of them. Mr Carpenter a
missionary from Burmah who
was here last week said he was
sure if they could they would
feel that it had been well
invested With [u]much[/u] love
Your aff sister.
Hattie.
中国广州
1872 年 5 月 4 日
我亲爱的 Em
我想知道你的生日在你的世界那边是怎样的一天。
我希望有你的阳光在这里我们只有云。
这是黑暗沉闷的一天。
但我们非常感谢这场雨。
今年的降雨来得异常迟缓，
中国人因预期水稻歉收后的艰难时期而感到非常痛苦。
当然，
他们求助于他们的偶像，
一段时间以来，
他们一直在用各种恳求说服他们降雨。
几天后，
我们参观了其中一座大寺庙，
他们告诉我们，
他们从那天开始祈雨。
他们在开始前三天禁食三天不吃肉。
总督去了六天的神像寺庙，
该神像应该照顾下雨，
发现他的恳求没有奏效，
他试图强行并下令将神像戴上锁链。
昨天我们去了颜坪，
它刚刚倾盆大雨。
我有两所小学校，
从一所到另一所我都湿透了。
上次我出去的时候，
他们对干旱感到非常痛苦，
在我和他们谈论祈祷的责任之后，
他们中的一些人想知道他们是否应该祈祷下雨。
当然，
我告诉他们这是对的，
然后我想如果他们这样做了，
下次我出去的时候就不应该出现了，
他们会问我这件事，
所以我想我会问它可能会在时间到来之前出现。
我要进行下一次访问，
果然是在我们洗了个大雨的前一天，
这是本赛季的第一场雨。
昨天，
我冒着倾盆大雨去了学校。
我觉得我有点像苏格兰或其他地方的那个女孩，
她带着雨伞去开会祈祷下雨，
尽管似乎没有任何淋浴的希望，
并且发现她有机会在回家之前使用它，
但恐怕我一开始就没有那么大的信心。
本周我们有一艘可怕的船要进入这个国家，
这让我们非常高兴地期待着我们即将拥有的新船，
他们承诺在一个月内完成它。
我们现在使用的“ma-len-terys”船非常不舒服，
因为我们必须坐在船的地板上并向后骑行，
但最糟糕的是，
它们经常很脏，
而且到处都是害虫，
所以我们通常会发现我们不是唯一的乘客。
我们的校舍已经完工，
几周后，
当它装修完毕，
油漆彻底干燥后，
学校就会开学。
每个看过它的人都会钦佩它，
所以我当然很高兴。
它真的非常好，
各方面都比我预期的要漂亮得多。
我经常希望你们都可以看到它和我们自己的房子，
并且提供资金的女士们可以看到它们的用途。
卡彭特先生，
一位来自缅甸的传教士，
上周来到这里，
他说他相信如果他们可以的话，
他们会觉得它已经投入了很多的爱，
你的妹妹，
海蒂。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Em, May 4, 1872,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed May 10, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/136.