Letter from Hattie to Frank, June 1874

Letter from Hattie to Frank, June 1874

Birthdays; Scheduling; Measles; Physicians; Diseases

Harriet writes a birthday letter to Francis. She explains her daily schedule in great detail, from when she gets us and goes to the school to Sabbath in the evening. Lillie has reached Japan and her health has improved. Some of the scholars have contracted the measles and one of the teachers is also recovering from illness. Dr. Kerr is hoping to go home soon (1876) and has asked the board to send for a new doctor. The new church is almost done.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1874-06, --

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_122

Canton China
June -- 1874
My dear Frank,
The rest of the family
are down stairs playing ball in the
verandah so as to get a little exercise
and I need not waste words in telling
you what I am doing. I must ask you
at once to accept this for a birth-day
letter. Your birth-day came on Sunday
and that is such a busy day with
me I have hardly a moment of time.
Perhaps I may have written you my
Sabbath programme. I must confess that
I do not get up Early in the morning
I was obliged to give up trying to do it.
so I only get up in time to get ready to
go out to school at seven-o-clock.
From seven to Eight is spent with the
school from Eight to 1/2 past breakfast
then until nine for Chinese prayers with
the servants. From nine to ten is spent
in getting ready for church looking over
the lessons for the day or something for the
sort. From ten to 1/2 past is Sabbath
School from 1/2 past ten to twelve morning
service in the chapel. Then we
come back and have a lunch and
start off to the day schools aiming to get

back in time to have a prayer meeting
with the girls and women here at four
o-clock. After this is through we have
dinner and then it is time to dress
for the evening service which is at
Kukfan where we used to live a
mile and a half down the river.
We almost always go in a boat
and if the tide is against us we
are often quite late nearly ten-o-clock
in getting. Then we have a bowl of
bread and milk and sing our Sabbath
evening song and it is time to hurry
to bed and sleep so as to be ready
for Monday morning. Mattie says
she will never fill up her Sundays so
and I do hope she never will for
I do not believe it is [u]right[/u] but now
that I have got into it I cannot
very well make any change just
at present. I have some of Lillie's work
now in addition to my own.
We have heard from her since she
reached Japan that she is getting
well very fast so I expect she will
be back again bye and bye.
Since the scholars came back we

have had quite a time with them
getting sick. In the first place one
of them came down with the
measles. She has got over them
and now two more have them
and I do not know how many
more cases there may be.
Then another girl has had
fever for nearly two weeks and
I have dosed her with quinine
daily and although she is
much better she does not seem
to shake it off entirely. What
with tooth-ache and stomach
ache chills and tumbling down
and "hurting theirselves" we have
had quite a hospital and to
crown all the teacher was sick
and confined to her room
for nearly a week. But the
clouds are beginning to scatter
now the teacher is able to be
in her place again and
this morning when I went
around the rooms according to

my custom of daily inspection
I found only two in bed instead
of four or five as there have
been the past week or two.
I feel as though I am getting to
be quite a doctor at any rate I
have considerable practice.
Dr Kerr has written home to the
Board for a doctor to come out
and take his place as he intends
to go home in 1876. They are
going home and expect to reamin
in America until their children
are educated and as Hattie
{my namesake} is only five years
old now, I suppose it is probable
that they will never return to China.
Our new church is getting on nicely
and we are hoping to meet in
it on the 16th of August,
so you can think of us then
as enjoying a comfortable place of
meeting for the first time. I wish
some of the people in America
could see the place where our
meetings have hitherto been held.

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
This is not much of a birth-day letter is it but you must
take the
will for the
deed and
Believe me ever
your aff sister
Hattie.



中国广州
1874 年 6 月
亲爱的弗兰克，
家里的其他人都在楼下的阳台上打球，
以便锻炼身体，
我不必废话，
告诉你我在做什么。
我必须立即要求您接受这封生日信。
你的生日是星期天，
那是我忙碌的一天，
我几乎没有时间。
也许我已经给你写了我的安息日计划。
我必须承认，
我不早起，
我不得不放弃尝试这样做。
所以我七点才准时起床准备出门上学。
七点到八点与学校一起度过，
从八点到早餐后的 1/2，
然后到九点，
与仆人一起进行中文祈祷。
从九点到十点都花在为去教堂做准备上，
查看当天的课程或类似的东西。
10点到1/2点是安息日学，
1/2点10点到12点在礼拜堂早上服务。
然后我们回来吃午饭，
然后开始去走读学校，
目的是及时回到四点与这里的女孩和妇女举行祈祷会。
在这之后，
我们吃晚饭，
然后是在 Kukfan 的晚间仪式上穿衣服的时候了，
我们曾经住在河下游一英里半的地方。
我们几乎总是乘船去，
如果潮流对我们不利，
我们通常会迟到将近十点。
然后我们吃了一碗面包和牛奶，
唱着我们的安息日晚歌，
是时候赶紧睡觉了，
为星期一的早晨做好准备。
玛蒂说她永远不会填满她的星期天，
我希望她永远不会，
因为我不相信这是正确的，
但现在我已经进入了它，
我目前还不能很好地做出任何改变。
除了我自己的作品之外，
我现在还有一些莉莉的作品。
自从她到达日本后，
我们就收到她的消息，
说她恢复得很快，
所以我希望她会再见，
再见。
自从学者们回来后，
我们和他们一起生病已经有很长一段时间了。
首先，
其中一个人患上了麻疹。
她已经克服了它们，
现在又多了两个，
我不知道还有多少病例。
然后另一个女孩发烧了将近两个星期，
我每天给她服用奎宁，
虽然她好多了，
但她似乎并没有完全摆脱它。
牙痛、胃痛、发冷、跌倒和“伤害自己”，
我们有相当多的医院，
而且所有老师都病了，
在她的房间里待了将近一个星期。
但是现在云开始散了，
现在老师又能回到她的位置了，
今天早上，
当我按照每天检查的习惯在房间里转了一圈时，
我发现床上只有两个人，
而不是四五个人。
过去一两周。
我觉得我好像正在成为一名相当好的医生，
无论如何我有相当多的练习。
克尔医生已经写信给董事会，
请一位医生出来接替他的位置，
因为他打算在 1876 年回家。
他们将回家并希望留在美国，
直到他们的孩子接受教育，
因为海蒂 {我的同名} 是现在才五岁，
我想他们很可能永远不会回到中国。
我们的新教堂进展顺利，
我们希望能在 8 月 16 日见面，
所以你可以把我们想象成第一次享受一个舒适的聚会场所。
我希望美国的一些人能看到我们迄今举行会议的地方。
[注意：信在第一页结束]
这不是一封生日信，
但你必须接受这份契约的遗嘱，
相信我永远是你的妹妹，
海蒂。

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