Letter from Hattie to Em, March 12, 1874
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Em, March 12, 1874
Subject
Letters; Women--Education (Graduate); Women college graduates; Chinese New Year
Description
In this letter to her sister Emily, Harriet begins saying they are hoping to get letters from them that day. The letters arrive, and she breaks to read them. Lucy and Em have been writing to each other about Emily's graduating soon from Wooster. Harriet waits to hear if the family will be moving to Wooster. The school year just started in China and Harriet is very happy with their numbers. She writes that she is sorry to not be able to send the rest of the family letters, but is too tired and has to go to bed.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1874-03-12
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_114
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
March 12th 1874.
My dear Em,
I have a few spare
minutes now and I will put them
in in writing to you ,but I am
afraid my mind is in rather a
perturbed state and lest my letter
should indicate it I will tell you
at the start "as regards the reason
why" we have been waiting so
impatiently the last hour for our
home letters and we are beginning
to be afraid that they have'nt come
after all, for the Hongkong steamer
has been in more than an hour
and it seems as though the letters
ought to have been here before this.
We are going down this eve to say
good-bye to Mr + Mrs Simmons of the
Southern Baptist Mission.-----
Just here the letters came and
after a hasty look at them we
bundled ourselves and them
into the boat and had a
letter reading society for a while.
The letter which was marked
as having visited the dead letter
office was among the number
received and I am sure you
will be glad to hear that
after all its wanderings it has
at last reached Canton.
Lucy lets us read her letters and
from them we got full
accounts of your Wooster
experiences. Lucy just says
that she was been writing to [u]Em[/u]
and she thinks it is the
"simplest" letter she ever wrote
and Henry says she must
expect to grow [u]simpler[/u] and
[u]simpler[/u] the longer she stays
China. We have considerable
fun now and then at the
expense of somebody.
When you get these letters
you will be almost through
at Wooster, I am so glad
that you could go there and
[u]graduate[/u]. From what you
write I am afraid you did
not use the money we sent you.
I am so sorry because I am
sure you could have made good
use of it. Perhaps you can
give it to Clara we want it
invested in somebody's [u]head[/u].
We shall wait with much
interest to hear whether Father
decides to buy that land in
Wooster. It seems to me as
though it would be much
pleasanter and better for you
all to live out of [u]Seville[/u].
We have been having very cold
weather for a day or two past
and before that we had real
summer weather. Such
changes seem to be very
unhealthy for us.
The schools are all opened
since the Chinese New Year
holidays but some of the
scholars are not yet back. I
have opened a new day school
which seems to start off in a
very promising way there are
17 girls and many more promised.
Last Sabbath there were Eighty
women and girls at the service
there. We have now seven day
schools in the city and one
in the country the Girls Boarding
School and the Training School
for women. Mattie has written
so many long letters home that
I am sure she has told and
"more than all" there is to tell so
I am going to ask all the rest
to accept an immense amount
of love from me in place of the
letters I would like to send I
promised Father one by this
mail but it is twelve-o-clock and
I am so sleepy I know I could
not write anything worth reading,
Yours Ever lovingly Hattie.
March 12th 1874.
My dear Em,
I have a few spare
minutes now and I will put them
in in writing to you ,but I am
afraid my mind is in rather a
perturbed state and lest my letter
should indicate it I will tell you
at the start "as regards the reason
why" we have been waiting so
impatiently the last hour for our
home letters and we are beginning
to be afraid that they have'nt come
after all, for the Hongkong steamer
has been in more than an hour
and it seems as though the letters
ought to have been here before this.
We are going down this eve to say
good-bye to Mr + Mrs Simmons of the
Southern Baptist Mission.-----
Just here the letters came and
after a hasty look at them we
bundled ourselves and them
into the boat and had a
letter reading society for a while.
The letter which was marked
as having visited the dead letter
office was among the number
received and I am sure you
will be glad to hear that
after all its wanderings it has
at last reached Canton.
Lucy lets us read her letters and
from them we got full
accounts of your Wooster
experiences. Lucy just says
that she was been writing to [u]Em[/u]
and she thinks it is the
"simplest" letter she ever wrote
and Henry says she must
expect to grow [u]simpler[/u] and
[u]simpler[/u] the longer she stays
China. We have considerable
fun now and then at the
expense of somebody.
When you get these letters
you will be almost through
at Wooster, I am so glad
that you could go there and
[u]graduate[/u]. From what you
write I am afraid you did
not use the money we sent you.
I am so sorry because I am
sure you could have made good
use of it. Perhaps you can
give it to Clara we want it
invested in somebody's [u]head[/u].
We shall wait with much
interest to hear whether Father
decides to buy that land in
Wooster. It seems to me as
though it would be much
pleasanter and better for you
all to live out of [u]Seville[/u].
We have been having very cold
weather for a day or two past
and before that we had real
summer weather. Such
changes seem to be very
unhealthy for us.
The schools are all opened
since the Chinese New Year
holidays but some of the
scholars are not yet back. I
have opened a new day school
which seems to start off in a
very promising way there are
17 girls and many more promised.
Last Sabbath there were Eighty
women and girls at the service
there. We have now seven day
schools in the city and one
in the country the Girls Boarding
School and the Training School
for women. Mattie has written
so many long letters home that
I am sure she has told and
"more than all" there is to tell so
I am going to ask all the rest
to accept an immense amount
of love from me in place of the
letters I would like to send I
promised Father one by this
mail but it is twelve-o-clock and
I am so sleepy I know I could
not write anything worth reading,
Yours Ever lovingly Hattie.
中国广东 1874年3月12日 我亲爱的Em， 我现在有一点空闲时间 我打算给你写信 但是我恐怕我有一点点不安宁 而且避免我的信暗示它 我提前告诉你为什么 我们等之前四分家信等得很不耐烦 我们开始担心它们根本没有来， 因为香港到气船迟到了一小时 而且看起来信应该在这之前来过。 我们准备今天晚上和南方传教组织的Simmons夫妇说再见。 就在这时，信来了 我们看了之后 我们把信捆起来 上船读一段时间的信。 信被标记了 因为去那个关闭的邮局 是根据收到的信的数量 而且我确定你会很高兴听到 在漂泊之后 最终到达了广东。 Lucy让我们看了她的信 然后我们知道了 你在WoosterWooster的所有经历。 Lucy刚刚说 她要给Em写信 而且她认为 那是她写过最容易的信 而且Henry说她必须 期待着她在中国待得越久 变得越来越天真。 现在，我们互相戏弄 会有很大的乐趣。 当你收到这些信 你就知道Wooster大部分的事情了， 我很高兴你可以去Wooster读书 然后毕业。 从你的字里行间 我害怕你没有用我们给你的钱。 我很遗憾 因为我知道你可以把钱用在更有用的地方。 也许你可以把它给Clara 我们希望钱可以用在教育上。 我们会很感兴趣知道 父亲会不会在Wooster买地。 对我来说 住在Seville以外会更愉快更好。 我们这几天都很冷 之前一两天是真的夏天的温度。 如此变化真的让我们很不健康。 所有学校中国新年后都开学 但是有一些学生还是没有回来。 我又放出来新的一天 看起来这一天走读学校会更加保险 有17个女孩还有更多可以保证。 上个安息日 80个妇女和女孩来做礼拜。 现在我们在城市有7所走读学校 在乡村有一所女子寄宿学校 和一所有女子职业学校。 Mattie写了很多很长的信 我肯定她告诉你了很多 涵盖了我告诉你的所有 所以我打算 让你从信中接受我的爱 我在其中一封信里向父亲保证过 但是 现在已经12点了 我很困， 我知道我也写不了任何值得你读的东西了， 爱你的Hattie
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Em, March 12, 1874,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 28, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/169.