Unsigned letter from Harriet to Father, September 12, 1868

noyes_c_cor_014.pdf

Dublin Core

Title

Unsigned letter from Harriet to Father, September 12, 1868

Subject

Funeral service; Death; Missionaries; Drowning;

Description

In this letter to her father, Harriet Noyes writes of the death of a fellow missionary, Mr Caldwell. Although he was not part of the same mission as Hattie, she was deeply saddened and shocked by his drowning. Harriet recounts his devotion to laboring amongst the Chinese. The letter is without a conclusion or a signature, but when compared to the rest of the collection, it is clearly written by Harriet.

Creator

Noyes, Harriet Newell

Source

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

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1868-09-12

Contributor

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

Format

PDF

Language

eng (English)

Type

Text

Identifier

noyes_c_cor_014

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

Canton China
Sept 12th 1868
My [u]beloved Father[/u]
The last mail brought
me a letter from my [u]own dear Father[/u]
which you know I was delighted to
see. A month seems rather long
to wait for letters and the last few days
usually find us a little impatient
especially after it is time for the steamer
to be in. But when we do get them
we forget it all in the happiness of
reading them. The last letter came
to us at Dr Kerr's, we had stopped
there for a few hours on our way home
from the Mission Cemetery where we
had been to lay in its last resting
place all that was mortal of a beloved
missionary brother. His death was
in many respects very distressing
& this sad and mysterious dispensation
of Providence has cast a dark cloud
of sorrow over our missionary circle.
He was the youngest of our mission
band only 23 and it seemed to us
all that he was endowed in an
unusual degree with the qualities
which would have made an active

useful missionary. He belonged to
the English Wesleyan Mission and
was appointed to labor among the
Chinese in Australia, but had come
to Canton to spend two years here
where he could have better advantages
in studying the language.
He came to us on the 5th of
June and just three months after
on the 5th day of Sept without a
moments warning he passed from
Life to Death and his ransomed
spirit went home to heaven. He
had left Canton, Sept 4th in company
with the Rev Mr Piercy of their mission
for a trip of a few days in the country
taking with them books for distribution
and two native assistants. The next
evening they anchored at "Sha wan so"
about 30 miles up the river from here.
The current is quite swift there and
we know now that it is considered
a dangerous place by the Chinese.
But Mr Caldwell was a swimmer
and so strong and well that he felt
no fear of danger, but while bathing
in the river near their boat must
have been seized with cramp or drawn

under by an eddy in the water,
and was gone before Mr Piercy who
had been talking with him just a
moment previous could realize that
he was in danger. He did not rise
again to the surface + although Mr
Piercy as soon as possible got three of
the boatmen to dive for him it was
all in vain. It seems so mysterious
that one so strong and well so [u]earnestly
devoted[/u] to the missionary work should
be so called away. To our weak faiths
it seems a sad mystery but we
know it is the hand of that loving
Father who is "too wise too err too good
to be unkind." And "Shall not the
judge of all the Earth do right."
It was all so sudden such a schock
to us all that it seems almost like
a dreadful disease. Just three evenings
before we had all met at a social
gathering of the missions at Mr
Prestons made on account of Mr Gibson
+ Miss Broxholm who had been
married the week before. They are
both also of the Wesleyan Mission.
We had a very happy evening all
unconscious of the sorrow that was so
soon to fall upon us. If a warning

voice had told us that before three
days had passed one of out number
would be cold in death surely
none of us [u]could[/u] have thought it
would be Mr Caldwell. I have never
met any one who seemed to be more
[u]entirely devoted[/u] to his work + more happy
in the prospect of laboring among the
heathen. It had long been his wish
to come to China but his Conference
instead appointed him to go to
Australia to preach to an English
congregation there but he could not
feel contented + finally succeeded
in being appointed to labor among
the thousands of Chinese who have
already gone to Australia. His parents
did not feel willing to have him
come, and in coming away from
England he relinquished the hope
of marrying a young lady to
whom he was deeply attached
but who was an only child and
her parents would not give their
consent to her leaving them.
Since coming here he had seemed
to feel as though he had reached
the fulfillment of long cherished
hoped and his heart seemed always

中国广州 1868年9月12日 我亲爱的父亲 上一个邮包带来了父亲您的信, 您知道的, 这让我很高兴。 为了等这封信我感觉这个月过得很长, 最后几天让我们等得失去耐心 / 特别是在这个轮船来了以后。 但是,当我们拿到了以后, 我们完全忘了, 沉浸在读信的幸福里。 Kerr医生最近的一封信来了, 在回家的路上, 我们去了传教组织公墓, 传教士弟弟在那里安息, 我们在那待了几个小时。 他的死 让我们充满尊敬,也使我们痛苦, 这很悲伤也神秘得被豁免 消散在乌云端, 我们被人痛苦环绕着。 他是我们最年轻的传教士 只有23岁, 他捐了很多钱, 有许多有用的良好品质。 让我们的传教士更加活跃。 他属于英国卫理公会组织, / 也为在澳大利亚的中国人服务, / 但是去了广州两年, 他可以有更多的优势学语言。 / 他6月5号来的, 仅仅3个月以后的九月5号, / 他没有任何征兆地去世了, 而且, 他的灵魂也去了天堂。 他离开广州了, 9月4号和神父Piercy先生去了传教组织的乡村旅行, 要去几天, 给乡村的人们带一些书。 还有两位当地的助力 第二天晚上他们在沙湾抛锚30。 / 水流很急, 现在, 我们也知道这里是被中国人认为是一个很危险的地方。 但是Caldwell会游泳、也很强壮, 这让他觉得没有什么可怕的, 但是在河里的时候 船渐渐靠岸了 他抽筋了或者被水里的漩涡牢牢吸住, 弄的他很疲惫, 在Piercy先生和他说话的时候 他刚好遇到了危险 并意识到了。 他没有再浮出水面, 即使Piercy先生尽快找到了三名船员 下去捞他 但是这一切都是徒劳。 看起来很神秘 以至于有一个很强壮, 所以真诚的为传教士献身都应该被召回到天堂。 对于我们微弱的信念, 看起来很伤心 但是我们知道他收到了上帝的帮助 他“太聪明了,不会犯错; 他太好了,不会不友善。“ 并且”地球的审判者会做正确的事。“ 一切都很突然, 对我们来说太快了, 以至于看起来像是很可怕的疾病。 只有三个晚上之前, 我们在一个组织的聚会上见到, Prestons先生为几周前结婚的 Gibson先生和Broxholm小姐 做的账本。 他们都是卫理公会组织的人。 我们晚上都很高兴, 对痛苦完全没有知觉。 如果一个警告的声音告诉我们 三天以后, 有人会死去 / 没有人可以想到那会是Caldwell先生。 / 我从没有遇到那种 能把自己完全献身给工作的人, 更多的是劳动的热情。 他对中国盼望了很久, 但是他们讨论 叫他去澳大利亚 为一个说英语的教堂传教 然而他不能满足, 最后成功到了这里 为数以千计的已经去过澳大利亚的中国人服务。 / / 他的父母不希望他来, 并且离开英格兰, 他不情愿地放弃了和一个年轻的女人结婚的希望, 虽然他们深爱对方 / 但是她是独生女 她的父母不会同意她离开。 / 自从他来到这 看起来满足了他最大的希望 / 他的心里也是这样。

Original Format

Letter

Citation

Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Unsigned letter from Harriet to Father, September 12, 1868,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed March 28, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/14.

Output Formats