Letter from Hattie to Mother, August 6, 1875
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Mother, August 6, 1875
Subject
School buildings; Girls' schools; Mail service
Description
Harriet wishes her mother a happy birthday. She tells her that they expect to open the school on the 11th and, on that same day, they will have a meeting with Chinese people, which she calls a "woman's meeting". In the evening, they want to gather the whole mission and have an English service. She continues her letter on August 13th and writes about how happy the girls were on the first day of school. Harriet expresses her disappointment for not acquiring the building next door for the women's school. The mail service is back to being bi-monthly and she hopes that it stays this way.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #2
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1875-08-06
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
lat (Latin)
lat (Latin)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_152
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
Aug 6th 1875
My own dear Mother -
This is another of
the birthdays that remind us
of the dear ones of the home
circle. It has been a very
hot day here. shall I tell you
how I have been spending it.
I have been arranging pictures
for the new school-house .
WE bought $24.00 worth
of frames and today I have
been washing the glass
and trimming the pictures
to fit did not get through
with it until nearly night.
WE Expect to open the
school again on the 11th
I thought it would be nice
to commence it to-day. your
birthday but could not make
it suit. There are still
some finishing touches
to be given before it is
all ready . The pictures I
have been framing to-day
are Scripture Illustrations mainly
some that I sent to England
for, many of them are
so pretty. Tell Em I have
never yet lost a particle
of my love for working with
pictures - WE will have
next WEdnesday the 11th
a meeting with the Chinese
a "woman's meeting" at three
-o-clock. Then in the
evening we are going to ask
the Mission all to come
up and have an English
service . Now that the
building is so nearly finished
it begins to seem to me
more like the former one
than I ever thought it
could. August 13th
You see this is the way
we sometimes write our
birthday letters make a
beginning and then leave
the conclusion until some
other day. WE opened
our school day before
yesterday and I wish you
could have seen how
delighted the girls were to
get back again to this "Alma
Mater". We had a
meeting with them in
Chinese in the afternoon and
in the evening the members
of the Mission all came
and we had our WEdnesday
Evening prayer meeting
in the school chapel
Some of the girls came
before we were through
with breakfast WEdnesday
morning . We are disappointed
in not getting another
building for the Woman's
school but no doubt
it is best as it would
make more work for
the girls when we
are gone next year.
We have all been
away on a picnic
excursion to-day had
quite a nice time .
Yesterday the mail came
in but alas it brought
us no home letters. We
are going to have a mail
every two weeks hereafter.
I presume you will
get tired of the continued
changing as we do have
hope this arrangement will
be permanent. Mattie is
folding up her letter to her
[u]church[/u] Henry has just gone
to bed and Lucy has been
asleep I suppose a long time.
WE have been doing what
we have not lately been
guilty of very often sitting
up until after midnight
to write letters and meanwhile
the mosquitoes have seemed
to take the most savage
delight in torturing us. I
cannot write to any one
else this time so you
must give my love to all
and Believe me
Yours aff daughter
Hattie
Aug 6th 1875
My own dear Mother -
This is another of
the birthdays that remind us
of the dear ones of the home
circle. It has been a very
hot day here. shall I tell you
how I have been spending it.
I have been arranging pictures
for the new school-house .
WE bought $24.00 worth
of frames and today I have
been washing the glass
and trimming the pictures
to fit did not get through
with it until nearly night.
WE Expect to open the
school again on the 11th
I thought it would be nice
to commence it to-day. your
birthday but could not make
it suit. There are still
some finishing touches
to be given before it is
all ready . The pictures I
have been framing to-day
are Scripture Illustrations mainly
some that I sent to England
for, many of them are
so pretty. Tell Em I have
never yet lost a particle
of my love for working with
pictures - WE will have
next WEdnesday the 11th
a meeting with the Chinese
a "woman's meeting" at three
-o-clock. Then in the
evening we are going to ask
the Mission all to come
up and have an English
service . Now that the
building is so nearly finished
it begins to seem to me
more like the former one
than I ever thought it
could. August 13th
You see this is the way
we sometimes write our
birthday letters make a
beginning and then leave
the conclusion until some
other day. WE opened
our school day before
yesterday and I wish you
could have seen how
delighted the girls were to
get back again to this "Alma
Mater". We had a
meeting with them in
Chinese in the afternoon and
in the evening the members
of the Mission all came
and we had our WEdnesday
Evening prayer meeting
in the school chapel
Some of the girls came
before we were through
with breakfast WEdnesday
morning . We are disappointed
in not getting another
building for the Woman's
school but no doubt
it is best as it would
make more work for
the girls when we
are gone next year.
We have all been
away on a picnic
excursion to-day had
quite a nice time .
Yesterday the mail came
in but alas it brought
us no home letters. We
are going to have a mail
every two weeks hereafter.
I presume you will
get tired of the continued
changing as we do have
hope this arrangement will
be permanent. Mattie is
folding up her letter to her
[u]church[/u] Henry has just gone
to bed and Lucy has been
asleep I suppose a long time.
WE have been doing what
we have not lately been
guilty of very often sitting
up until after midnight
to write letters and meanwhile
the mosquitoes have seemed
to take the most savage
delight in torturing us. I
cannot write to any one
else this time so you
must give my love to all
and Believe me
Yours aff daughter
Hattie
中国广东
1875年8月6日
我亲爱的母亲
这是另一个生日
提醒了我们家的所有亲人。
今天很热。
我要不要告诉您我今天怎么过的。
我给新校舍放一些画。
我们买了价值24美元的相框
今天我清洗了玻璃
并且装饰这些画
画没有完全镶进去
直到夜里。
我们打算11号开学
我认为今天您的生日也是个开学的好日子。
但是我们来不及。
还有一些收尾工作要做。
我今天裱的图大多是经文插图
有一些我从英格兰要的，
它们大多都很漂亮。
告诉Em
我喜欢这些图片
我们下周三11号
下午三点和中国女人开会。
晚上我们会邀请组织的人来
做英文的礼拜。
现在房子已经快完工了
它让看起来更像是之前的。
8月13号
您知道这是我们写生日信开头的方式
之后结尾。
我们前天开放了学校
我希望您可以看到
这些女孩多么快乐
因为可以回来“Alma Mater”。
我们下午有个中文会议
晚上组织成员都要来
之后我们周三晚上在学校教堂
有个祈祷大会
一些女孩在我们周三吃早饭之前来了。
我们很失望
没有找到给女校的楼
但是毫无疑问
它会让女孩们第二年有更多的事情做。
我们今天
去了一个短途旅行野餐
相当快乐。
昨天邮包到了
但是很可惜，
我们没有收到家信。
我们打算今后每两周给你们一次。
我认为您已经厌倦了这样持续的改变
因为我们非常这可以恒久不变。
Mattie在叠她给教堂的信
Henry已经上床了
然后我认为Lucy已经睡了很长时间了。
我们做那些我们没有做的事情
做到很晚
经常坐在这里写信一直到后半夜
同时
要忍受蚊子的折磨。
我不能再写下去了
您一定要给我足够的爱
和信任。
您的女儿Hattie
Hattie
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Mother, August 6, 1875,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 24, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/208.