Letter from Hattie to Em, February 22, 1876
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Em, February 22, 1876
Subject
Steamboats; Mail steamers; Travel;
Description
In this letter to Emily, Harriet talks about some complications with forwarded mail but all will be resolved so that Mattie can also hear about family news. It sounds like traveling has been a little stressful in terms of waiting for steamers, which can take a while. They missed the steamer that would have taken them to England so they have to wait for the next one. They had taken the Rajah Brooke, a small steamer from Bangkok to Singapore. The captain had never had more than four people on board before so six of them was a lot. Onboard there was the American Consul, a Scotch gentleman, and a proprietor of a tea plantation.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #2
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1876-02-22
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_167
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Singapore
Feby 22nd 1876
My dear Em -
Your letters written
in November found us
here in Singapore. I am
afraid Mattie did not
get any November letters
for as they came to us
unopened I think she
must have arranged
with Mrs Rogers of Hongkong
to take them from the
office and send them
on to us. We will send
them back to her from
here but I presume ere
this she has later dates from
home . We are disappointed
in not getting later news
from home as we hoped
you would write a letter
to meet us here. But I am
afraid we were too late
in writing to you about it
and that if the letter comes
it will be too late to find
us here . Perhaps however
we can have it sent on
and overtake us somewhere .
It made us feel very
sad to read ,what you
wrote of dear Frank, and
it makes the time that
we must be on the way
if we go just as direct as
possible seem so long -
And now we are [u]waiting[/u]
here and have been for
more than a week and
must still wait two or three
days more for a steamer
We seemed to be unfortunate
in reaching here just the
day after the "[?Sarpedon?]" on
which we had hoped to
take passage to England
sailed . We should have
been on time for it if the
Rajah Brooke the little steamer
that brought us down from
Bangkok had not been
detained in starting -
We first expected to leave
Bangkok on Saturday going
directly from the Consulate
after the wedding to the
steamer . But instead of
leaving on Saturday we received
word that it would not
go until Sunday and
on Tuesday it was deferred
again until Monday so
the result was we were
just a few hours too late
in reaching Singapore for
our steamer and so
must wait for the "Priam"
which is to sail from
here on the 15th or 16th -
We had a more comfortable
passage down on the Rajah Brooke
than we anticipated . She was
a tiny little steamer and yet we
had six passengers. The Capt
said he had never had more
than four before and I
think he was much puzzled
to know what to do with his
large family. The other passengers
were the American Consul from
Bangkok a Scotch gentleman
named Wilson and the
proprietor of some large tea
plantations Mr [?Knaggs?]. They
were all sociable and polite
The last day before reaching
Singapore was very hot and
there was not room on deck
to sit very far from the smoke
funnel which seemed to in
out a great deal of heat
so we found it rather oppressive.
My paper is full so I must say
good bye Ever your aff Hattie
Feby 22nd 1876
My dear Em -
Your letters written
in November found us
here in Singapore. I am
afraid Mattie did not
get any November letters
for as they came to us
unopened I think she
must have arranged
with Mrs Rogers of Hongkong
to take them from the
office and send them
on to us. We will send
them back to her from
here but I presume ere
this she has later dates from
home . We are disappointed
in not getting later news
from home as we hoped
you would write a letter
to meet us here. But I am
afraid we were too late
in writing to you about it
and that if the letter comes
it will be too late to find
us here . Perhaps however
we can have it sent on
and overtake us somewhere .
It made us feel very
sad to read ,what you
wrote of dear Frank, and
it makes the time that
we must be on the way
if we go just as direct as
possible seem so long -
And now we are [u]waiting[/u]
here and have been for
more than a week and
must still wait two or three
days more for a steamer
We seemed to be unfortunate
in reaching here just the
day after the "[?Sarpedon?]" on
which we had hoped to
take passage to England
sailed . We should have
been on time for it if the
Rajah Brooke the little steamer
that brought us down from
Bangkok had not been
detained in starting -
We first expected to leave
Bangkok on Saturday going
directly from the Consulate
after the wedding to the
steamer . But instead of
leaving on Saturday we received
word that it would not
go until Sunday and
on Tuesday it was deferred
again until Monday so
the result was we were
just a few hours too late
in reaching Singapore for
our steamer and so
must wait for the "Priam"
which is to sail from
here on the 15th or 16th -
We had a more comfortable
passage down on the Rajah Brooke
than we anticipated . She was
a tiny little steamer and yet we
had six passengers. The Capt
said he had never had more
than four before and I
think he was much puzzled
to know what to do with his
large family. The other passengers
were the American Consul from
Bangkok a Scotch gentleman
named Wilson and the
proprietor of some large tea
plantations Mr [?Knaggs?]. They
were all sociable and polite
The last day before reaching
Singapore was very hot and
there was not room on deck
to sit very far from the smoke
funnel which seemed to in
out a great deal of heat
so we found it rather oppressive.
My paper is full so I must say
good bye Ever your aff Hattie
新加坡
1876年2月22日 亲爱的Em 我们在新加坡收到了你11月的信。 / / 我担心Mattie11月没有写信 / 因为我们收到的都是没有拆封的 我认为 她必须和香港的Rogers太太整理一下 / 把信从办公室拿出来 寄给我们。 我们会在这里给她们回信 / 但是我认为 她的日期比我们晚一点。 我们为没有收到她的新消息而失望 / 像我们希望的那样 你会写一封信 来见我们。 但是我们认为我们给你写得太晚了 / 而且，信寄到的时候， 会太晚以至于找不到。 也许， 我们可以寄出去 然后随身带着。 我们感觉很伤心地 看到你写的关于亲爱的Frank的信， / 而且让我们感觉 那段时间我们必须回去， 如果我们只是尽快地走 看起来太长了。 现在我们等着， 等了一个周多一点 还是要等， 要等轮船两三天。 / 不幸的是， 我们希望去英国的船离开的后一天我们到了这里。 / / / 我们应该按时到达 / 如果Rajah Brooke这艘带我们去曼谷的小船 / 开始没有被扣押—— / 我们应该可以婚礼以后 / 周六直接从使馆离开曼谷。 / 然而， 周六离开的时候， 我们收到不能走的消息， 直到周日和周二， 它们有把时间往后拖到了周一 / 所以， 我们只是晚到新加坡几个小时就错过了专程的轮船。 / / 所以我们必须等Priam—— 15、16号到船。 / 我们在Rajah Brook上比想象的更舒适。 / / 她是个小轮船， 我们却有6个乘客。 船员说他之前从来没有多于四名乘客的时候， / 我认为他很不知所措 该如何与如此大家庭共处。 / 其他的乘客是曼谷来的美国领事馆的人 一个男人 叫Wilson 拥有一个很大的茶园Knaggs先生。 / 他们很友善。 到达新加坡的前一天很热， / 甲板上也没有多大空间， 所以很难找到一个远离烟囱的地方。 / 是个散热的好地方， 因此我们发现那很闷热。 我的信纸已经写满了，所以现在我必须说再见 爱你的姐姐Hattie
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Em, February 22, 1876,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed November 21, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/223.