Letter from Hattie to Mother, October 21, 1879

Letter from Hattie to Mother, October 21, 1879

Missionaries; Family; Children; Sewing machines

Harriet writes to her mother about Dr. and Mrs. Kerr who are worried about Josie. She says that the German missionaries are very nice people and are going to teach French, German, and drawing to little Hattie. Mrs. Kerr has a sewing machine, and apparently one is on the way for Harriet, which should be sent through San Francisco. She talks of the number of missionaries with children and how many who do not have kids like to come over to her house. She seems to be stressed with the number of Chinese children running around her own kitchen.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1879-10-21

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_204

Canton China.
Oct 21st 1879
My dear Mother
I found last night
that we will have an
opportunity of sending
letters down by the night
steamer this afternoon so
did not spend the evening
writing letters as I intended.
I havent much time
for writing to-day but can
do a little. Poor Dr & Mrs
Kerr were so much disappointed
that the last mail did
not bring them any letters
from Josie. I do hope
he will be faithful in
writing letters to them they
will be very anxious
about him at any rate.

Little Hattie is a very nice
little girl. The German
missionaries who are all
very warm friends of Dr
& Mrs Kerr's, are delighted
with her. They are going to
give her lessons every day
in French German and
Drawing. Mrs. Kerr has
been quite ill the past
few days I do not know
whether she has taken
a cold that has settled
in her side or whether
she strained in in her
unpacking. She has
brought a [u]Domestic[/u] Sewing
Machine, with her. I
expect we shall have
one bye & bye. Have we
told you that we have
sent for one to San
Francisco? We thought

we would take the $25.00
that Cousin Gilbert gave us
and the $12.00 that lady
in Penn sent us for a
Christmas present and
put it into a sewing machine.
If we had written a little
sooner Mrs Kerr could have
bought it and brought
it with hers, just as well
as not. We are having
very pleasant weather
now. This eve we are
going to Dr Graves' to
tea. We expect to
take them in here for
a time when they
break up house keeping.
It seems as though we
are likely to have a
good deal of company,

everybody likes to go when
there are no children and
I think there are very few
homes in China I mean
missionarie's houses where
there is'nt a baby at the
present date. We have
one at the side of us in
Mrs Henry's house and
another at the rear in
the cook's establishment. Poor
souls they do not know how they
will be able to support their
numerous family. I feel sorry
for them but it makes me
vexed to have them talk of
wanting to give the baby away.
I expect they will feel still worse
bye & bye for we feel as though
we must send them away. It
is so unpleasant to have six Chinese
children running around in our
kitchen among the victuals

[Note: Written vertically on the first page]
Mrs Kerr says it might as well be a nursery. As
long as there
were two or
three it didnt
seem so bad.
I expect we
will try & get
along with
them until
we build
the schoolhouse
then I think
we will have to get
up our courage to
tell them they
must find some other
place to live
Your aff daughter
[u]Hattie[/u]



中国广州。
1879 年 10 月 21 日
我亲爱的妈妈
昨晚我发现我们今天下午有机会乘夜船寄信，
所以没有像我打算的那样用一晚上的时间写信。
我今天没有太多时间写作，
但可以做一点。
可怜的克尔医生和夫人非常失望，
最后一封邮件没有给他们带来乔西的任何信件。
我确实希望他会忠实地给他们写信，
无论如何他们都会非常担心他。
小海蒂是一个非常可爱的小女孩。
德国传教士都是科尔医生和夫人的好朋友，
对她很满意。
他们将每天给她上法语德语和绘画课。
可儿夫人这几天病得很重，
不知道是不是她感冒了，
已经在她身边安顿下来了，
还是她在打开行李时用力了。
她带来了一台家用缝纫机。
我希望我们将有一个再见和再见。
我们有没有告诉过你我们已经派人去旧金山了？
我们想我们会拿走吉尔伯特表哥给我们的 25.00 美元和宾州那位女士寄给我们的圣诞礼物 12.00 美元，
然后把它放进缝纫机里。
如果我们早一点写的话，
克尔夫人就可以买下它并随身携带，
也可以。
我们现在的天气非常宜人。
今晚我们要去格雷夫斯医生家喝茶。
我们希望在他们分手后将他们带到这里一段时间。
好像我们很可能有很多陪伴，
没有孩子的时候每个人都喜欢去，
我认为中国很少有家庭，
我是说传教士的房子，
目前没有婴儿。
在亨利夫人的房子里，
我们身边有一个，
在厨师店的后面还有一个。
可怜的灵魂，
他们不知道如何才能养活他们众多的家庭。
我为他们感到难过，
但让他们谈论想要把孩子送走让我很恼火。
我希望他们在再见和再见时会感觉更糟，
因为我们觉得好像我们必须把他们送走。
让六个中国孩子在我们的厨房里到处乱跑真是太不愉快了[注：第一页竖着写] 克尔太太说这还不如说是一个托儿所。
只要有两三个，
它似乎并没有那么糟糕。
我希望我们会尝试和他们相处，
直到我们建造校舍然后我想我们必须鼓起勇气告诉他们他们必须找到其他地方住你的女儿，
海蒂

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