Letter from Hattie to Edward, July 1, 1875

Letter from Hattie to Edward, July 1, 1875

Travel; Smuggling; Customhouses

Hattie is writing aboard a ship sailing up the North River. She tells Edward about different experiences on this trip to the countryside. For instance, they climbed a mountain, and that the ship is full of cockroaches. The ship is smuggling salt to Lin-chau. The boat was not inspected in the Custom House that they passed last night.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #2

Unpublished

1875-07-01

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_146

"Up the North River"
July 1st 1875
My dear Edward -
I have just been writing a
birthday letter to Father and so as I
have pen, paper, and ink to hand
spare time and as I am owing you
a letter I know of nothing in the way
of paying an honest debt. WE are
now sailing along quietly up the North
River with high hills on Either side
covered with verdure from the
water's edge to their summits.
It is such a relief from the hot dusty
streets of Canton ,"man made
the city but God made the
country. WE have been over this part
of our voyage since before but in a
few more hours we shall reach
the mouth of the Lin chau River
and after that it will be new to
us all but Henry, and he promises
us beautiful scenery all the way.
We are all four of one mind
just now, writing letters. Lucy is writing

to the Atkinsons. Henry and Mattie
to Father and I to his Eldest son.
Day before yesterday we had an
appointment of sending letters back
to Canton so we all set to work
and in about an hour produced
ten letterS to be sent back to
our Canton friends -
Our Experiences since leaving Canton
a week since have been very
pleasant . Yesterday we climbed
a mountain two or three miles
high and got dreadfully sunburnt.
The backs of our hands are as
red to-day as if they had been
held in boiling water and have
very much the same feeling that
they might have under such
circumstances. I should think the
skin would be disposed to come
off after such treatment , but perhaps
it will conclude to cleave to us
a little longer. We have a fine
supply of cock-roaches on board
which show a decided liking for
missionary . They make their
attacks under cover of darkness
and have made several

successful foraging Expeditions. As they
have not yet molested Henry and
I very much we tell the girls that
they evidently do not care for tough
old missionaries but like those hat
are fresh and [u]green[/u]. Beside the
Presbyterians and cock-roaches we
have on board quite a quantity of
smuggled salt which the boatmen
are taking up to Lin-chau. They
are always glad to get such an
opportunity of getting a little salt
past the custom houses free of duty
and thus "making a [?spec?]" .
Of course we do not like at all to
[?countenance?] the thing and Henry
told them he could not interfere
with the Custom House officers Examining
the boat if they wished. But after
the four fellows had bought their salt
we felt very anxious they should
get it by safe for if the officials
had found it they would have
confiscated it all. The last
Custom House we passed night before
last and just at the time Henry
[u]happened[/u] to be sitting out in the
front of the boat . Lucy was lying

down in the bed-room and I was
combing my hair and Mattie
busy reading . They did not come
on the boat at all to Examine. The
salt was all "in the hold" under
our rooms and we did not Expect
they would be very likely to come
into rooms occupied by foreign ladies.
When we were safely by the men
were glad indeed and we felt some-
what the same although we did not
express our feelings to them.
Mattie is just calling our attention
to some trees which we all agree
"look just like home trees" we might
almost imagine a grove of American
oaks . How I shall enjoy seeing
again the grand old oaks, waving
Elms and beautiful maples of
[u]America[/u]. Almost from the day
I left U S A I have so longed to
see again our forest trees . We have
some pretty trees here but they do not
seem like those of our father-land.
The bamboos are very very pretty
and graceful as they grow in groups
looking like a collection of immense
ostrich plumes as their feathery branches

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
sway to and fro in the summer breeze or Else we find them
growing in
groves stretching
for a long
distance along
the river banks.
In their own
way they are
[u]perfectly[/u] beautiful
and I [u]admire[/u]
them intensely.
But it is a part
of my creed never
to admit Even
to myself that
any thing in China
is nicer than
America.
Now my paper is
full so I must
say good-bye -
Your aff sister
Hattie -



“北河上游”
1875 年 7 月 1 日
亲爱的爱德华——我刚刚给父亲写了一封生日信，
所以我有笔、纸和墨水在手，
还有我欠你一封信，
我一无所知以偿还诚实债务的方式。
我们现在正沿着北河静静地航行，
两边的高山覆盖着从水边到山顶的青翠。
广州尘土飞扬的街道让人如释重负，
“人创造了城市，
但上帝创造了国家。
我们从以前开始就已经完成了这部分航程，
但再过几个小时，
我们就会到达莲洲河口河，
在那之后，
除了亨利之外，
这对我们所有人来说都是新的，
他向我们保证一路上都是美丽的风景。
我们现在都是四个人，
正在写信。
露西正在给阿特金森一家写信。
亨利和玛蒂给父亲和我给他的大儿子。
前天我们约好了寄回广州的信，
所以我们都开始工作，
大约一个小时后，
写了十封信寄回给我们的广州朋友——我们离开广州一周后的经历非常愉快。
昨天我们爬了两三英里高的山，
被晒得很厉害。
今天我们的手背红得好像被放在沸水里一样，
感觉很像在这种情况下。
我应该认为经过这样的处理，
亲属会倾向于离开，
但也许它会结束与我们的关系更久一点。
我们船上有大量蟑螂，
显示出对传教士的坚定喜爱。
他们在黑暗的掩护下发动攻击，
并进行了几次成功的觅食探险。
因为他们还没有骚扰亨利和我，
所以我们告诉女孩们，
他们显然不喜欢强硬的老传教士，
但喜欢那些帽子是新鲜的和绿色的。
除了长老会和蟑螂外，
我们船上还有相当数量的走私盐，
船夫正在运往莲州。
他们总是很高兴有这样一个机会，
可以免税通过海关，
从而“制定规范”。
当然，
我们根本不喜欢这件事，
亨利告诉他们，
如果海关官员愿意，
他不能干涉检查船的工作。
但是在四个人买完盐之后，
我们很着急，
他们应该安全地拿到它，
因为如果官员们找到了，
他们会没收的。
前天晚上我们经过的最后一个海关大楼，
就在亨利碰巧坐在船头的时候。
露西躺在卧室里，
我在梳头，
玛蒂忙着看书。
他们根本没有上船来检查。
盐都在我们房间下面的“货舱”里，
我们没想到他们很可能会进入被外国女士占据的房间。
当我们安全地靠在男人身边时，
他们确实很高兴，
尽管我们没有向他们表达我们的感受，
但我们也有同样的感觉。
Mattie 只是在提醒我们注意一些我们都同意的“看起来就像家树”的树，
我们几乎可以想象这是一片美国橡树林。
我将多么享受再次看到宏伟的老橡树，
挥舞着榆树和美国美丽的枫树。
几乎从我离开美国的那天起，
我就非常渴望再次看到我们的森林树木。
我们这里有一些漂亮的树，
但它们看起来不像我们祖国的树。
这些竹子非常漂亮和优雅，
它们成群生长，
看起来像一堆巨大的鸵鸟羽毛，
因为它们的羽毛状树枝[注：信在第一页横向结束] 在夏日的微风中来回摆动，
否则我们会发现它们生长在沿着河岸延伸很长一段距离的小树林。
他们以自己的方式非常美丽，
我非常钦佩他们。
但我信条的一部分，
即使对我自己也不承认中国的任何东西都比美国好。
现在我的论文满了，
所以我必须说再见 -
你的妹妹，
海蒂 -

Letter