Letter from Hattie to Edward, April 18, 1878

Letter from Hattie to Edward, April 18, 1878

Manufacturers; Tornado

Harriet tells Edward that the last mail included a copy of the Seville Times that had a picture of his cultivator. She hopes that Edward's manufacturing is going well. Harriet will try to get some papers from Hong Kong reporting on the tornado and send them to Edward. She cannot describe her own experience of the tornado because she stayed inside the boat. Still, she recounts what others told her.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1878-04-18

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_182

Canton China
April 18th '78.
My dear Edward -
The last mail
from home brought in the
Seville Times the photograph
of your cultivator It is before
me on the desk as I am
writing. It is very nice to
have it you look so perfectly
natural and old Fred and
Ned too. It is very nice
to have a [u]week-day[/u] picture
in every day clothes . Tell the
girls I think I would like a
photograph of the back porch
with Em and Clara at the
wash tub or out in the back
garden "[u]bugging[/u]" and of
Mary baking pancakes.
I have a very good assortment
of such photographs which
memory is taking care of + I

hope they will keep from fading.
I dont believe Eight or ten
years will seem so long again
half a year has gone already.
I hope your manufacturing
is progressing well and that
it will prove prosperous- and
all your anticipations be
more than realized --
They write that the photo
sent was taken north of
the bee house but I cannot
make out just where it
was Is the fence that we
see side of the road or
on the north side of the
field and are the trees the
woods in the distance and
if so what woods -- I am
very glad to have a photo
of our old horses I wish they
had stood still Fred looks
very well. Among my failures
at home I must record that

I did not get his mane to go
the right way. I suppose little
Prince keeps his all right.
One of the girls inquired about
the Seville Times They came
to us regularly "[?alla ploppa?]"
We are going to send down
to-night to Hongkong and
try to get some papers containing
an account of the tornado
to send you. It will be
more satisfactory than writing
and save time if we can
get them. It was fearful
and all over in a moment.
I was coming from a school
on the other side of the river
and had stopped for a few
minutes at Mr Henry's When
I went out to get in the boat
the boat women said there
was going to be a great wind
and were afraid to start so
I sat in the boat a few minutes

I heard a strange noise and
supposed it was the steamer
passing but know now it was
the wind. I am sorry I did
not get out of the boat and
see it. There were many who
saw it and describe it as a
dark cloud reaching from the
ground upward . Those who
were near enough could see
that it was whirling and
was filled with birds and
bricks and tiles +c +c -- It
was not more than a minute
or two in passing but it swept
everthing before it twisting off
trees two feet in diameter.
+ [u]bending[/u] an iron lamp post
to the ground. As I came up
the canal I could hardly believe
my eyes for a quarter of a mile between
the scene of destruction there
had not been even one
unusual wind. It was preceded
by a slight fall of hailstones
some of them very large.
[Note: Letter concludes sideways in the margin of page four]
If we do not get satisfactory descriptions to send will
write more Your aff [u]Hattie.[/u]



中国广州
1878 年 4 月 18 日。
我亲爱的爱德华——从家里寄来的最后一封邮件，
给塞维利亚时报带来了你的修士的照片。
当我写作的时候，
它就在我面前的桌子上。
很高兴让你看起来如此自然，
老弗雷德和内德也是。
每天穿着平日的照片真是太好了。
告诉女孩们，
我想我想要一张与 Em 和 Clara 在洗手盆或在后花园“窃听”的后门廊和玛丽烤薄煎饼的照片。
我有很多这样的照片，
记忆正在处理，
我希望它们不会褪色。
我不相信八年或十年会再次看起来那么长，
半年已经过去了。
我希望你们的制造进展顺利，
它会证明是繁荣的——你所有的期望都超过了实现——他们写道，
发送的照片是在蜜蜂屋的北边拍摄的，
但我无法确定它在哪里是栅栏吗？我们看到路边或田野的北边，
远处是树林还是树林，
如果是的话，
那是什么树林——我很高兴有一张我们的老马的照片我希望它们一直站着不动 Fred 看起来很好。
在我在家的失败中，
我必须记录下我没有让他的鬃毛走上正轨。
我想小王子一切安好。
一个女孩询问了塞维利亚时报 他们经常来找我们“alla ploppa” 我们今晚要派人去香港，
试着弄些包含龙卷风报道的文件寄给你。
如果我们能得到它们，
那将比写作更令人满意，
节省时间。
这是可怕的，
一瞬间就结束了。
我从河对岸的一所学校来，
在亨利先生家停了几分钟。
当我出去上船时，
船上的女人们说风很大，
不敢开始，
所以我在船上坐了几分钟，
听到一种奇怪的声音，
以为是轮船经过，
但现在知道是风。
很抱歉我没有下船去看。
很多人看到它，
形容它是一团从地底升起的乌云。
离得够近的人都能看到它在旋转，
到处都是鸟和砖瓦等等——它飞过去不过一两分钟，
但它横扫了一切，
然后把直径两英尺的树都拧了下来。
把一根铁灯柱弯到地上。
当我走上运河时，
我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛，
在毁灭现场之间四分之一英里的地方，
甚至没有刮过一次不寻常的风。
之前有轻微的冰雹落下，
其中一些非常大。
[注：信件在第四页的页边空白处结束]
如果我们没有得到满意的描述发送将写更多你，
海蒂。

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