Letter from Hattie to Father, December 10, 1872

noyes_c_cor_090.pdf

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Hattie to Father, December 10, 1872

Subject

Mail steamers; Presbyterian Church; Baptist--Missions

Description

Harriet tells her father that they have to wait four weeks until receiving more letters from United States because the steamer is not working. Harriet mentions the Synod of China which is expected to be held in Canton in 1877. Dr. Ward and Ms. Ward, who have been in the Baptist Mission in Assam, India for over 20 years, are in Canton. Next Sabbath, Harriet's mission will have their Communion and she is hoping that they will have five new members of the church. The church, which used to have 40 members, is now divided into two. Harriet feels like the work seems to go slowly.

Creator

Noyes, Harriet Newell

Source

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

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1872-12-10

Contributor

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

Format

PDF

Language

eng (English)

Type

Text

Identifier

noyes_c_cor_090

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

Canton China
Dec 10[u]th[/u] 1872.
My dear Father.
Henry has just finished
a letter to you and I wonder
if I will write the same things
over again. I suppose if I do you
will accept it as another proof
that "Great minds!!! run in the
same channels" will you not.
We were so glad that the last
mail brought us such a nice lot
of letters for we must wait four
weeks before we shall get anything
more from America. This is not a
permanent arrangement however
it is only [u]just this once[/u] that the
semi monthly mail is to be
broken in upon. It is the time
for ill fated America to come
again, and they have not yet got
a steamer to take her place.
It was rather trying to read your
account of attending the meeting

of Synod in [u]Canton[/u] and think
that we did not see you after
all. We look forward to 1877 as
the time when the Synod of China
will meet in [u]Canton[/u]. I do
hope you will have seen Mr Farnham
We felt sure he would go to see
you . We have hardly yet forgiven
Mr Preston for not doing so. I do not
think it was quite right for him
not to make more of an effort.
We heard by last mail of Mrs McChesney's
safe arrival in San Francisco.
and I hope long ere this she and
Bertie are safe at home . Mr
Loomis wrote that they were both
looking very poorly, illy prepared
for the long hard railroad journey
before them. Mr Loomis was
expecting Mr Condit back there
in a few days and then he would
have to give up the Mission House
to them. He has lived there so
many years that I am afraid it

will be quite a trial to him to leave
it. Dr + Mrs Hepburn have just
gone home from Japan for a
visit. I would like to think that
they would visit you but I expect
there is no prospect of it as they
intend making a very short
stay in America. We have now
here in Canton a Dr + Mrs Ward
of the Baptist Mission Assam
India. He spoke to us for
about an hour Sab Eve it was
very interesting. His Experience
seems to have been such as to
Enable him to sympathize very
fully with those who have labored
long with apparently little or no
success. They have been in India
over 20 years. Mr Brown who
wrote the piece "My soul is not at
rest," belongs to the same mission.
Dr Ward is so [u]Exactly like[/u] Dr
Allen in appearance that I am
sure that if I had met him
in America I should have
called him Dr Allen.

Next Sabbath is our Communion
here . We are hoping that five
will be admitted to the church.
The church here has recently been
divided although there were only
about 40 in all it was thought
better for some to go off and
form a nucleus for another
church so we have now the
2[u]st[/u] + 2[u]nd[/u] church. It is not
many years since the first
church was formed it was
organized with 5 members
one of whom afterwards
turned out badly . The new
church has 12 members 4 foreigners
+ 8 Chinese and the native
christians are all those who
have been pretty well tried.
The work seems to move very
[u]very[/u] slowly and yet I know
it is wrong to feel discouraged.
I know you pray for us +
for the success of the work often
but I do not think you can
know how much we need and value
your prayers.
[Note: Written vertically in the margin of the fourth page]
With much love for Mother + "the children" from
Your aff daughter Hattie



中国广州
1872 年 12 月 10 日。
我亲爱的父亲。
亨利刚刚写完一封给你的信,
我想知道我是否会再写一遍同样的东西。
我想如果我这样做,
您会接受它作为“伟大的思想!!!
在相同的渠道中运行”的另一个证据,
您不会。
我们很高兴最后一封邮件给我们带来了如此多的信件,
因为我们必须等待四个星期才能从美国收到更多的信件。
这不是一个永久性的安排,
但它只是这一次半月邮件将被打破。
命运多舛的美国又到了,
他们还没有一艘轮船来代替她。
而是试图阅读您参加广州主教会议的记录,
并认为我们毕竟没有见到您。
我们期待1877年中国主教会议在广州开会。
我真希望你见过法纳姆先生,
我们确信他会去看你。
我们还没有原谅普雷斯顿先生没有这样做。
我认为他不做更多的努力是不对的。
我们在最后一封邮件中听说麦克切斯尼夫人安全抵达旧金山。
我希望在此之前她和伯蒂在家里平安无事。
卢米斯先生写道,
他们看起来都很糟糕,
为他们面前漫长而艰难的铁路旅程做好了准备。
Loomis 先生期待 Condit 先生在几天后回到那里,
然后他将不得不放弃 Mission House 给他们。
他已经在那里住了这么多年,
恐怕离开它对他来说是一个很大的考验。
赫本医生和夫人刚从日本回国探望。
我想他们会来看你,
但我认为这不可能,
因为他们打算在美国停留很短的时间。
我们现在在广州这里有一位印度阿萨姆浸信会的沃德医生和夫人。
他在安息日晚上和我们谈了大约一个小时,
这很有趣。
他的经历似乎使他能够非常充分地同情那些长期努力但显然很少或没有成功的人。
他们在印度已经 20 多年了。
写下“我的灵魂并没有安息”的布朗先生也属于同样的使命。
沃德医生在外表上与艾伦医生非常相似,
我敢肯定,
如果我在美国遇到他,
我应该称他为艾伦医生。
下一个安息日是我们在这里的圣餐。
我们希望有五个人能被教会接纳。
这里的教堂最近被分裂了,
虽然总共只有大约 40 座,
但人们认为最好让一些人离开并为另一个教堂组成核心,
所以我们现在有了第一座和第二座教堂。
自从第一间教会成立不久,
它就由 5 名成员组成,
其中一名成员后来表现不佳。
新教会有12名成员,
4名外国人和8名中国人,
本土基督徒都是经过很好的考验的。
这项工作似乎进展得非常缓慢,
但我知道气馁是不对的。
我知道您经常为我们和工作的成功祈祷,
但我认为您不知道我们多么需要和重视您的祈祷。
[注:垂直写在第四页的空白处] 怀着对母亲和“孩子们”的爱,
你的女儿,
海蒂

Original Format

Letter

Citation

Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Father, December 10, 1872,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 25, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/145.

Output Formats