Letter from Hattie to Sarah, July 5, 1875

Letter from Hattie to Sarah, July 5, 1875

Fourth of July; Language transfer (Language learning); Language and languages--Translating; Travel; Concordances; Bible

Harriet tells Sarah that the missionaries try to study Chinese every day. Henry is translating Cruden's concordance, while Mattie and Lucy are reviewing Bible stories. Harriet writes about how they spent the fourth of July and says that it reminded her of United States. Harriet describes her experience trying to swim and how Henry tried to teach them to float. She says that Lucy and her do not feel very confident in the water.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1875-07-05

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_148

Lin chau River -
July 5th 187[?5?]
My dear Sister Sarah -
It is not quite dinner
time and as I have put away my
Chinese books I will have a little chat
with you . If you could look over
this side of the world you would
see us still "on our winding way"
up the Lin-chau River. We all
try to spend a part of Each day with
our Chinese. Henry is working at a
translation of Cruden's Concordance
Mattie and Lucy are reviewing
Bible Stories and I am writing
out questions on the same. I
have finished my morning task
four chapters. I shall not be able
to get through with as many as I
hoped. We do not find that we
can accomplish a great deal day
by day. We do not hurry about
getting up in the morning so
by the time we get dressed our
beds all put away, and the

curtains hung up at night in different
parts of the boat [--at night--] taken down
and folded up, and Every thing put
ship shape - for the day , we find
it pretty late. Then sometimes we
see too much to admire in the
beautiful scenery that we are
passing to allow us to keep our
minds and thoughts inside
the boat. WE often think how
nice it would be if some of you
were here to Enjoy this trip with
us. WE think of you all now as
gathered under the hospitable
roof of the old house on the hill
to Enjoy your summer vacation
together . Next year I hope we
will be there to add two more
to your number. Yesterday
was the Fourth. We were fortunate
in having our wish to spend it
in a nice quiet place gratified.
There were several showers during
the day which made the
temperature very cool and pleasant.
We were anchored just across
the river from a little village
behind which rose a range of

grand old rugged mountains -
and above them the beautiful
beautiful sky. The water of the
river was clear and sparkling
and altogether it was a charming
place and the day one that we
shall long remember. It seemed
more like a [u]home sabbath[/u] I
think than any I have ever spent
in China. A number of men came
to the boat in the morning and
Henry had a long talk with them
and gave them some books. Then
in the afternoon a boat came off from
the village and the men invited
him to go over there and talk. While
he was gone a few women came
from the other shore and asked us
to go with them which we did and
had a little talk with a very motley
assemblage of women and men boys and
girls . The country we are passing now
is so much more like our home
scenery not so flat and tame as
Northern Ohio but more like Pennsylvania
A minute ago Lucy called to us to
see some pretty trees and Mattie
says. There is one that looks almost

like a tree between our house and
Mr Shaws. So I run across the
boat to see it. Do you remember
our sailing boats in that little stream
[u]sixteen years[/u] ago and the harbors
we had to anchor in at the roots
of that old tree. We tried "swimming"
night before last put on some
old dresses and got down into the
water between the boat and the
shore . The water is beautifully clear
Henry tried teach us to [u]float[/u] but
I am afraid did not find us
very apt pupils. Mattie Enjoys
being in the water immensely you
have a share in some of her
reminiscences of sea-bathing I
believe. Lucy and I do not have
much confidence in the watery
Element. and we are constitutionally
opposed to [u]looking[/u] so forlorn as we
do when we emerge from the
water and these facts detract somewhat
from our enjoyment. Henry
goes with us as the current is too
swift for us to trust ourselves
alone and I tell him if we
could blindfold him we should
do very well.

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
Well as I have agreed with myself that I will not Extend my letters
home over
more than
one sheet
to Each one
I will close.
I wonder
sometimes if
you get
tired of the
voluminous
epistles we
sometimes
send.
Ever your loving
sister
Hattie

Lin Chau 江
187「5」7月5日
我亲爱的妹妹 Sarah，
快到晚餐时间了，
所以我会停止学习中文，
而是给你写一封信。
如果你现在能看到我们，
你会看到我们沿着河上游走
/
即使我们在旅行，
我们仍然每天花一部分时间学习中文。
Henry正在将 Cruden's Concordance 翻译成中文。
【是圣经中每个词的索引]
Mattie 和 Lucy 正在复习圣经故事，

我正在准备测试他们正在阅读的圣经故事。
我完成了准备四章的目标，
我今天下午想加班，
但我担心我不能。
一天没有足够的时间来完成
我们想做的一切。
每个早上
我们花太多时间
准备完成很多事情，
我们穿好衣服，
叠被褥，

在船的不同地方挂上窗帘。
在我们这样做之后，
已经很晚了
船外，
风景很美，
有时我们会花很多时间欣赏风景，
风景太美了，
很难把注意力集中在船里。
我们经常认为
如果你们中的一些人
能和我们一起享受这次旅行
会很好。
想着大家聚在山上的老房子里一起享受暑假。
/
/
明年我们希望我们可以一起度过暑假。
/
昨七月四日，
我们很幸运能在一个安静的地方度过假期。
/
/
昨天下了好几场雨，
这很好，
否则会太热，
由于下雨，
天气凉爽宜人
我们把船停靠在一个小村庄旁边，

村庄后面有山，
山后有天空，
都很漂亮，
河水清澈
而波光粼粼，
真是个难忘的一天。
感觉更像是在家里度过安息日，
而不是我迄今为止在中国经历过的任何一天。
/
/
一些人来到船上，
与Henry进行了长时间的交谈，
Henry给了他们一些书。
然后到了下午，
一些人邀请Henry
和他们一起去小镇里谈话。
他不在的时候，
镇里来了一些妇女，
邀请我们跟她们谈话，
我们照做了。
/
我们经过的地方看起来像家，
不像俄亥俄州那么平坦，
但更像宾夕法尼亚州。
/
刚才
Mattie 让我们出来看看几棵漂亮的树，
其中一棵树看起来像我们家
和 Shaw 家之间的那棵树。
你还记得
十六年前我们如何在溪流中航行吗？
我们会在一棵老树旁边抛锚。
昨天我们穿着旧衣服在船和岸之间游泳。
/
/
/
/
水很清澈，
Henry试图教我们漂浮，
/
但我们漂浮得不是很好。
Mattie很喜欢游泳，
她给我们讲了
你们两个去海里游泳的故事。
虽然我和 Lucy
不是很自信的游泳运动员，
我们永远不会让这打击我们的精神，
尽管我们不太擅长游泳，
但我们仍然喜欢游泳。
因为水流很快，
Henry 陪我们去游泳
他和我们一起去游泳以保证我们的安全，
但有时我想如果他不在，
我们更相信自己，
我们会游得更好。
/

我决定
不给每个家庭成员写超过一页，
所以我将结束我的信。
/
/
/
我想知道你是否厌倦了阅读我很长很长的信。
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
你亲爱的姐姐，
Hattie

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