Letter from Hattie to Mother, February 14, 1876

Letter from Hattie to Mother, February 14, 1876

Letter writing; Travel; Women physicians; Home

Harriet writes to her mother that they are sending off forty letters this morning and how much nicer it is to write on dry land. She is anxious to be on her way home, especially after receiving news that Frank was in bad health. Henry is making inquiries about the steamer. They hope to be leaving tomorrow. On their way back through America, she and Henry will be staying at Bella Anderson's home in Waterford, her father is a farmer and sister Sarah is studying medicine. She talks about the Sabbath and is looking forward to the journey home.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1876-02-14

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_169

[Note: Additional note on page one]
Henry I
presume does
not know
I have been
writing any
letters home-
but this
makes a
full rate
and we
will send
again
before
we leave
here.

Singapore
Feby 14th 1876.
My dear Mother,
I expect that I
have only a few minutes to
write this morning as it must
be nearly breakfast time.
I am sending off about
forty letters this morning .I
am very glad that I could
write them in this nice
quiet place for it has
been so much more comfortable
doing it here that it would
have been on board the
steamer - and they were
letters that I felt I must
write. Still we have begrudged
every moment spent here we
are so anxious to be on
our homeward way -
that the time of waiting
by the way seems very long

and Especially since we
received your letters written
in November telling us how
poorly Frank was then -
They made us feel very sad
but still we feel that it is
Everything to know that he
feels ready to go when the
Master calls. I hope that
his wish and ours to meet
again on Earth may be
granted - but we know that
all will be for the best.
I have felt so often as
though I wanted to write
to him about it but I did
not know whether it would
be best. And in writing
we often feel that we
are so far away, that we
cannot know what your
circumstances may be when
the letters reach you
and perhaps what we
write may seem all out of

place when it reaches you.
Henry is going down to the
city this morning we are nearly
two miles out to make
inquiries about the steamer.
I do hope that we can
go on to-morrow.
When we get to America we
pass by Waterford Bella's
home and she and we
think it will be the most
pleasant every way for her
to stop there at her home
and then Henry and I
can go on together.
Her father is a farmer.
She has a sister who has
studied medicine "Dr Sarah
Anderson" who Expects to
go back to Canton with
them - Yesterday we
had a nice quiet Sabbath
here did not go out to
church but towards evening

Henry read a sermon to us.
We tried to sing a little but
gave it up our voices seem
so miserable that we can
take little pleasure in singing
I do hope they will improve
before we get home . I have
thought so much during
all these years of singing
together again at home -
and I shall be disappointed
if we cannot. We have not
yet received letters from home
written directly to Singapore but
have a faint hope that
they may come to-day.
WE are [u]so anxious[/u] to hear
again before we go on.
We sail from here on the
[?Priam?] and this is the
longest stay of our journey
four weeks. I hope the
steamer will be comfortable
and that we may have pleasant
passengers ---
[Note: Letter continues sideways in the margin
With much love for all . I will answer the other
home letters if I can before leaving Your aff daughter
Hattie -



[注意：第一页上的附加说明]
亨利我想不知道我一直在给家里写信——但这是一个完整的价格，
我们会在离开这里之前再次发送。

新加坡
1876 年 2 月 14 日。
我亲爱的妈妈，
我希望今天早上我只有几分钟的时间来写信，
因为它必须快到早餐时间了。
今天早上我要寄大约四十封信。
我很高兴我能在这个安静的地方写信，
因为在这里写信要舒服得多，
它本来可以放在轮船上的——这些信是我觉得我必须写。
尽管如此，
我们仍然对在这里度过的每一刻感到遗憾，
我们是如此渴望回家的路上——
以至于在路上等待的时间似乎很长，
特别是自从我们收到你在 11 月写的信告诉我们弗兰克当时有多糟糕——他们让我们感到非常难过，
但我们仍然觉得这是一切都知道，
当大师召唤时，
他准备好了。
我希望他和我们在地球上再次相遇的愿望可以实现——但我们知道一切都会好起来的。
我经常觉得我想写信给他，
但我不知道这是否最好。
而在写信的时候，
我们常常觉得我们离得很远，
以至于我们无法知道当信件到达你的时候你的情况可能是什么，
也许我们写的东西在到达你的时候可能看起来完全不合适。
亨利今天早上要去城里，
我们离我们近两英里的地方去打听汽船的事。
我真希望我们明天可以继续。
当我们到达美国时，
我们经过沃特福德贝拉的家，
她和我们认为她在她家中停留是最愉快的方式，
然后亨利和我可以一起继续前进。
她的父亲是农民。
她有一个学医的姐姐“莎拉安德森博士”，
她希望和他们一起回到广州 -
昨天我们在这里度过了一个安静的安息日，
没有去教堂，
而是在晚上亨利给我们读了一篇布道。
我们试着唱了一点，
但放弃了，
我们的声音看起来很痛苦，
以至于我们对唱歌几乎没有兴趣。
我希望在我们回家之前他们会有所改善。
这些年来，
我在家里再次一起唱歌，
我想了很多——如果我们不能，
我会很失望。
我们还没有收到家里直接写给新加坡的信，
但希望它们今天能来。
在我们继续之前，
我们非常渴望再次听到。
我们从这里乘坐 Priam 船航行，
这是我们旅程中最长的四个星期。
我希望轮船很舒适，
我们可能会有愉快的乘客——[注：信在空白处继续横着写，
对所有人充满爱。
如果可以的话，
我会在离开前回复其他的家信，
你的女儿，
海蒂——

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