Letter from Hattie to Frank, September 21, 1874

Letter from Hattie to Frank, September 21, 1874

Letter writing; Vacations; Weather; Fever; Medicine; Quinine

In this letter to her brother Francis, Harriet expresses being afraid that she doesn't have much to say in her letters, and that now that Mattie is with them and writes in such detail she doesn't want to just repeat what Mattie had already said. She then talks about a storm that made the waves almost crest over the stone sea wall surrounding Macau's harbor. She tells of Mattie's slight fever and how she has learned a lot about medicine in China, especially from a new young doctor stopping in Canton recently and as such gave Mattie a large quantity of quinine. She ends discussing the two new missionaries going to Thailand, and that one seems to have a romance with the new doctor.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1874-09-21

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_129

Macao
Sept 21st 1874
My dear Frank,
I am in the letter
writing business although
I am afraid I have not got
much material on hand for
manufacturing home letters, yet
I want to go all around now
during vacation for after school
begins again I do not when I
shall write again. I feel differently
about writing home from what
I did before Mattie came for she
writes such voluminous epistles
that I fancy she "writes up"
everything that happens so that
I am afraid if I write much I
shall only go over the same
ground. Then too "the coming
home" seems to be drawing nearer
so that I think I can talk
about things better than writing .
The time of our stay in
Macao is now numbered in
days, only three days more.

The weather now is delightfully
cool here . Yesterday we had
quite a storm it blew and
rained all day. The house in
which we are staying is in
full sight of the sea and
we enjoyed very much watching
the waves come in. Macao is
built [u]around[/u] the harbor in
the form of a semicircle and
there is a high stone wall all
around the water's edge. The
house in which we are is just in
the middle of the semicircle so
that we can get a good view
both ways. All day long yesterday
the waves dashed up against
the stone sea-wall tossing their
spray oftentimes high up in the
air. Occasionally the top of a
wave would leap clear up over
the wall but this was not often.
The harbor is pretty well sheltered
and yesterday the wind was
not in the right direction
to give us the highest waves.
Towards night the wind rose

so high that we wondered if a
typhoon were "on the way" but
this morning the wind has gone
down and the "angry billows"
of the sea seem to have come
to a calmer frame of mind.
The clouds still hang above
us dark and lowering as if they
had a mind to "come down upon
us" in rainy showers, but are still
undecided. Mattie and Lucy
went out for a morning walk and
enjoyed it very much. I wanted
to go with them but I knew that
if I went I would want to stay
longer than would be good for
my letter writing. Mattie has been
having a little touch of fever since
coming down here. I rather appalled
her with the amount fo quinine
I insisted on her taking although
she admitted that [u]Frank[/u] used
to give her some pretty big doses.
You know it is my way to
be sure and have Enough and
I think that with chills and fever
it is so much better to take enough

to finish up the job as soon
as possible. Still you must'nt
think I acted without directions from
Dr Kerr. I am getting to be quite
a medical practitioner among the
Chinese. We have a young doctor
in Canton now who is on his way
to Chieng Mai is stopping a few
weeks in Canton to see the working
of the hospital there. He is from
North Carolina. Two ladies came
out on the same steamer who are
going to Siam. a Miss Cort
and Miss Grimstead, Poor Miss
Grimstead is quite homesick. She
makes no secret of the fact that
she came because she was [u]urged[/u]
to do so, if so I am afraid she
has made a mistake. Miss Cort however
is all right seems to be cut out for
a good missionary. We fancy there
is some attraction existing between the
young Doctor and Miss Cort.
If so I judge from what I have
seen that both of them would
be very fortunate. And now I
must write a letter to the N Y Avenue

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
Church in Washington so I will bid you good-bye and turn my
thoughts to them. Ever your aff sister Hattie ----------



澳门
1874 年 9 月 21 日
亲爱的弗兰克，
我是从事写信业务的，
虽然我手头上没有多少材料来制作家庭信件，
但我现在想趁着放假到处走走，
等开学后我不什么时候再写。
我对写回家的感觉与在玛蒂来之前所做的不同，
因为她写了大量的书信，
我想她“写”了发生的一切，
所以我担心如果我写得太多，
我只会走同样的路。
然后“回家”似乎也越来越近了，
所以我认为我可以谈论事情而不是写作。
我们在澳门逗留的时间现在以天为单位，
只多了三天。
现在这里的天气凉爽宜人。
昨天我们遇到了一场暴风雨，
一整天都在下雨。
我们住的房子就在大海的尽头，
我们很喜欢看海浪进来。
澳门以半圆形的形式围绕海港而建，
水边有一堵高高的石墙。
我们所在的房子就在半圆的中间，
这样我们可以从两边都能看到很好的景色。
昨天一整天，
海浪冲上石头海堤，
经常将浪花抛向空中。
偶尔海浪的顶部会跃过墙壁，
但这种情况并不常见。
港口的遮蔽很好，
昨天风向不对，
没有给我们带来最高的海浪。
到了晚上，
风很大，
我们想知道是否有台风“正在路上”，
但今天早上风已经减弱，
大海的“愤怒的巨浪”似乎已经平静下来。
乌云仍然悬在我们头顶，
黑暗而低沉，
好像他们想在阵雨中“降临”我们，
但仍未决定。
玛蒂和露西早上出去散步，
非常享受。
我想和他们一起去，
但我知道如果我去的话，
我会想待得更久，
而不是写信。
自从来到这里后，
马蒂一直有点发烧。
尽管她承认弗兰克过去常常给她一些相当大的剂量，
但我对我坚持要她服用的奎宁量感到震惊。
你知道这是我确定和拥有足够的方式，
我认为在感冒和发烧的情况下，
尽快完成工作要好得多。
不过你一定不能认为我没有得到克尔博士的指示就采取了行动。
我正在成为中国人中的一名医生。
我们现在在广州有一位年轻的医生，
他正在前往清迈的路上，
他将在广州停留几周，
看看那里医院的工作情况。
他来自北卡罗来纳州。
两位女士乘坐同一艘前往暹罗的蒸汽船。
考特小姐和格里姆斯特德小姐，
可怜的格里姆斯特德小姐很想家。
她毫不掩饰她来是因为她被敦促这样做，
如果是这样，
我担心她犯了一个错误。
然而，
科尔特小姐还好，
似乎不适合做一个好的传教士。
我们认为年轻的医生和科特小姐之间存在某种吸引力。
如果是这样，
我从我所看到的判断，
他们俩都将是非常幸运的。
现在我必须写一封信给纽约大街[注：信在第一页横向结束]华盛顿教堂，
所以我要和你道别，
把我的想法转向他们。
你的妹妹，
海蒂 ----------



澳门
1874 年 9 月 21 日
亲爱的弗兰克，
我是从事写信业务的，
虽然我手头上没有多少材料来制作家庭信件，
但我现在想趁着放假到处走走，
等开学后我不什么时候再写。
我对写回家的感觉与在玛蒂来之前所做的不同，
因为她写了大量的书信，
我想她“写”了发生的一切，
所以我担心如果我写得太多，
我只会走同样的路。
然后“回家”似乎也越来越近了，
所以我认为我可以谈论事情而不是写作。
我们在澳门逗留的时间现在以天为单位，
只多了三天。
现在这里的天气凉爽宜人。
昨天我们遇到了一场暴风雨，
一整天都在下雨。
我们住的房子就在大海的尽头，
我们很喜欢看海浪进来。
澳门以半圆形的形式围绕海港而建，
水边有一堵高高的石墙。
我们所在的房子就在半圆的中间，
这样我们可以从两边都能看到很好的景色。
昨天一整天，
海浪冲上石头海堤，
经常将浪花抛向空中。
偶尔海浪的顶部会跃过墙壁，
但这种情况并不常见。
港口的遮蔽很好，
昨天风向不对，
没有给我们带来最高的海浪。
到了晚上，
风很大，
我们想知道是否有台风“正在路上”，
但今天早上风已经减弱，
大海的“愤怒的巨浪”似乎已经平静下来。
乌云仍然悬在我们头顶，
黑暗而低沉，
好像他们想在阵雨中“降临”我们，
但仍未决定。
玛蒂和露西早上出去散步，
非常享受。
我想和他们一起去，
但我知道如果我去的话，
我会想待得更久，
而不是写信。
自从来到这里后，
马蒂一直有点发烧。
尽管她承认弗兰克过去常常给她一些相当大的剂量，
但我对我坚持要她服用的奎宁量感到震惊。
你知道这是我确定和拥有足够的方式，
我认为在感冒和发烧的情况下，
尽快完成工作要好得多。
不过你一定不能认为我没有得到克尔博士的指示就采取了行动。
我正在成为中国人中的一名医生。
我们现在在广州有一位年轻的医生，
他正在前往清迈的路上，
他将在广州停留几周，
看看那里医院的工作情况。
他来自北卡罗来纳州。
两位女士乘坐同一艘前往暹罗的蒸汽船。
考特小姐和格里姆斯特德小姐，
可怜的格里姆斯特德小姐很想家。
她毫不掩饰她来是因为她被敦促这样做，
如果是这样，
我担心她犯了一个错误。
然而，
科尔特小姐还好，
似乎不适合做一个好的传教士。
我们认为年轻的医生和科特小姐之间存在某种吸引力。
如果是这样，
我从我所看到的判断，
他们俩都将是非常幸运的。
现在我必须写一封信给纽约大街[注：信在第一页横向结束]华盛顿教堂，
所以我要和你道别，
把我的想法转向他们。
你的妹妹，
海蒂 ----------

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