Letter from Hattie to Father, February 9, 1870
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Father, February 9, 1870
Subject
Missionaries; Presbyterian Church; Coal trade
Description
Harriet writes to her father about how Mr. McChesney, Mrs. McChesney, Henry, and herself are all writing furiously in order to send mail off tomorrow. She talks about the wedding of the Old and New School, "'the United Church now combines the most talent education & wealth of any denomination.'" The Sabbath evening meeting is now taking place in her house. Some of the more northern missionaries are proposing a meeting in Chefoo. This would make it difficult for the Canton missionaries to go because of the cost of the steamer, more specifically the cost of coal. The mission in Laos is not doing well, two church members have been killed and many do not feel safe.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #2
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1870-02-09
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_208
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China.
Feby 9th /70.
My [u]dear Father[/u],
I cannot remember
who I wrote to by the last mail but I can
remember that I have written nothing
of much account for several mails so
that there is no danger that any one
has received very much. I am afraid
that this letter will closely resemble
its predecessors. After writing the first
sentence I laid it by & now it is
nearly midnight. Mr McChesney &
Mrs McChesney & Henry are all scratching
away as if for dear life. I think if you
could look in upon us now you
would need no one to tell you that
the American mail leaves to-morrow
morning. I have written to-day to
Dr Lowrie & Mr Loomis. I can write
to Mr Loomis just like any friend of
my own age but it is'nt quite so easy
to write to Dr Lowrie. Although phrenologists
say that my bump of veneration
is not very highly developed I think
I have a little. I wish that you
knew Dr Lowrie Mr Loomis & Dr Prime
all three. As you have not met the
last two you must think of them as
just about as nice if not quite as Dr
Lowrie. If I should ever turn Roman
Catholic I am sure I should put
them all three in my saints calendar.
Well we read with much interest &
pleasure the account of the wedding
of the Old & New School. I sincerely
trust & believe that the "union was
made in heaven" & [--that--] hope that it
will be only productive of good.
It seems pleasant to belong to such
a large body, "the United Church now
combines the most talent education &
wealth of any denomination" as one
of the paper says. I suppose church
pride & national pride is just as
bad as personal pride. I see
the "American Presbyterian" advocates
the giving up of our Board of Foreign
Missions & uniting with the American
Board but I cannot believe the
idea will be favored by even a
small minority. I think the
meeting at Pittsburg must have been
a grand one. It seemed a very
nice idea for the two bodies to symbolize
or illustrate shall I say the union
in the way they did. Mrs Happer
says any written descriptions of it is
very tame compared with being an
eye witness. You mention the sum
specified is a thank offering as $7,000,000
The papers say $5,000,000. I imagine
it will be raised and I wonder what
will be done with it. I expect Western
Reserve Presbytery will be quite swallowed
up when the consolidation takes place.
Have I ever told you that the Sabbath
evening meeting here is now held at
our house. It used to be held or rather
there used to be two meetings one at
each end and both were small but
last fall they concluded all to meet
together and it is so much pleasanter
and then the gentlemen do not have
to preach only half as often as formerly.
(Another improvement if you will
not think I am boasting is in the
music.) [Note: Parentheses are in pencil] Mrs Anderson used to play
at one end & Miss Radcliffe at the
other (and neither of them made it
go very well. [--T--] It was one of the reasons
that some of them wanted the
meetings changed so that I could
do the playing. I give them good
[u]American[/u] tunes which are about
500 per cent better than any of their
(English ones. But what I commenced
telling about the meetings for was to
tell you of a gift that our Mission has
just received. Since the meetings
have come here a few of the merchants
have attended. Our parlor is a large
room & a double door opens into the
study so that we can use both rooms
nicely & economizing space we can seat
fifty very comfortably. The last time
we has communion service Mr Glover
& Mr Buckley two wealthy Americans
present noticed that we has no silver
cup or plate & so used a glass goblet
& a common white plate. And so
they thought it would be nice to present
us with a silver service, & told us they
would give us $125.00 to get one made
& appointed Mr Preston & I a committee
to order it & decide what style it should
be. They were willing to give us $200.00
but 125 was plenty. It is given to
our Mission we have never had one
for our Chinese church. It is to be
entirely plain with just a little
[?shading?] around the edge.
Some of the missionaries at the
North are proposing to form a synod
in China the first meeting to be held
next fall at Chefoo. We are so far to
the south that it would be impossible
for any of the Canton missionaries
to go travelling by steamer is very
expensive in this part of the world
as all the coal is now brought from
England, America, or Australia. China
has plenty of coal, but as far as yet
discovered of an inferior quality.
Mrs House from Bangkok is now in
Hongkong will come up here next week. She
brings sad news from our mission among the
Laos where perhaps you will remember that
Mr Wilson who came out with Henry has
been laboring Of the 7 church members 2 have
been killed & the rest are in danger & the
missionaries do not feel safe. I hope we
shall hear soon from them again but
they are so far away that it takes a long
time for letters to come. Good-bye Your aff daughter
Hattie.
中国广州。
1870 年 2 月 9 日。
我亲爱的父亲，
我不记得我最后一封邮件是写给谁的，
但我记得我没有为几封邮件写过什么重要的东西，
因此没有任何人收到很多邮件的危险。
恐怕这封信会与它的前辈非常相似。
写完第一句话后，
我把它放在了现在已经快午夜了。
麦克切斯尼先生、麦克切斯尼夫人和亨利夫人都在抓挠，
好像是为了珍惜生命一样。
我想如果你现在能看到我们，
你就不需要有人告诉你美国邮件明天早上出发了。
我今天已经写信给 Lowrie 医生和 Loomis 先生。
我可以像我同龄的任何朋友一样给 Loomis 先生写信，
但给 Lowrie 医生写信可没那么容易。
虽然颅相学家说我的崇拜不是很发达，
但我想我有一点。
我希望你知道 Lowrie 医生 Loomis 先生和 Prime 医生这三个人。
由于你还没有见过最后两个，
你一定认为他们和 Lowrie 医生一样好。
如果我要成为罗马天主教徒，
我相信我应该把这三个都放在我的圣徒日历中。
好吧，
我们怀着极大的兴趣和愉快地阅读了新旧学校婚礼的记录。
我真诚地相信并相信“联盟是在天堂建立的”并希望它只会产生良好的效果。
加入这样一个庞大的团体似乎很愉快，
正如其中一篇论文所说，
“联合教会现在结合了所有教派中最有才华的教育和财富”。
我认为教会自豪感和民族自豪感与个人自豪感一样糟糕。
我看到“美国长老会”主张放弃我们的外交使团委员会并与美国委员会联合，
但我无法相信即使是少数人也会赞成这个想法。
我认为匹兹堡的会议一定是一场盛大的会议。
让我以他们的方式来象征或说明联合，
这似乎是一个非常好的主意。
哈珀夫人说，
与目击者相比，
任何关于它的书面描述都非常平淡。
你提到指定的金额是 7，000，000 美元的感谢信，
报纸上说是 5，000，000 美元。
我想它会被提高，
我想知道如何处理它。
我预计西储长老会在合并发生时会被吞并。
我有没有告诉过你，
这里的安息日晚会现在在我们家举行。
它曾经举行过，
或者更确切地说，
曾经有两个会议，
每端一个，
而且都很小，
但去年秋天他们结束了所有的聚会，
这很愉快，
然后先生们不必讲道的频率只有一半以前。
（如果你不认为我在吹嘘，
另一个改进是在音乐方面。）
[注：括号是铅笔] 安德森夫人过去常常在一端演奏，
而拉德克利夫小姐在另一端演奏（他们都没有把它弄得很好。
这是他们中的一些人希望改变会议以便我可以演奏的原因之一。
我给他们提供了比他们的任何（英语）都好 500% 左右的好美国曲调。
但我开始讲述的是会议是为了告诉你我们使团刚刚收到的礼物。
由于会议已经来到这里，
一些商人已经参加了。
我们的客厅是一个大房间，
一扇双门通向书房，
这样我们就可以同时使用房间很好，
节省空间，
我们可以很舒服地坐五十个。
上次我们有圣餐服务，
格洛弗先生和巴克利先生，
两位在场的美国富人注意到我们没有银杯或盘子，
所以用了一个玻璃高脚杯和一个普通的白盘子。
和所以他们认为展示会很好我们提供银色服务，
并告诉我们他们会给我们 125.00 美元来制作一个并任命普雷斯顿先生和我一个委员会来订购它并决定它应该是什么风格。
他们愿意给我们 200.00 美元，
但 125 已经足够了。
它被赋予我们的使命，
我们的中国教会从未有过这样的使命。
它是完全平坦的，
边缘只有一点阴影。
北方的一些传教士提议在中国组建一个主教会议，
这是明年秋天在芝富举行的第一次会议。
我们在南方如此之远，
以至于任何广州传教士都不可能乘坐轮船在这个地区旅行，
因为现在所有的煤炭都是从英国、美国或澳大利亚运来的。
中国有大量的煤炭，
但目前还没有发现质量低劣的煤炭。
来自曼谷的House太太现在在香港，
下周会来这里。
她带来了我们在老挝传教的悲惨消息，
也许你会记得与亨利一起出来的威尔逊先生一直在工作 7 名教会成员中有 2 人被杀，
其余人处于危险之中，
传教士感到不安全。
我希望我们能很快再次收到他们的来信，
但他们离得太远了，
要等很长时间才能收到信。
再见。
你的女儿，
海蒂。
Feby 9th /70.
My [u]dear Father[/u],
I cannot remember
who I wrote to by the last mail but I can
remember that I have written nothing
of much account for several mails so
that there is no danger that any one
has received very much. I am afraid
that this letter will closely resemble
its predecessors. After writing the first
sentence I laid it by & now it is
nearly midnight. Mr McChesney &
Mrs McChesney & Henry are all scratching
away as if for dear life. I think if you
could look in upon us now you
would need no one to tell you that
the American mail leaves to-morrow
morning. I have written to-day to
Dr Lowrie & Mr Loomis. I can write
to Mr Loomis just like any friend of
my own age but it is'nt quite so easy
to write to Dr Lowrie. Although phrenologists
say that my bump of veneration
is not very highly developed I think
I have a little. I wish that you
knew Dr Lowrie Mr Loomis & Dr Prime
all three. As you have not met the
last two you must think of them as
just about as nice if not quite as Dr
Lowrie. If I should ever turn Roman
Catholic I am sure I should put
them all three in my saints calendar.
Well we read with much interest &
pleasure the account of the wedding
of the Old & New School. I sincerely
trust & believe that the "union was
made in heaven" & [--that--] hope that it
will be only productive of good.
It seems pleasant to belong to such
a large body, "the United Church now
combines the most talent education &
wealth of any denomination" as one
of the paper says. I suppose church
pride & national pride is just as
bad as personal pride. I see
the "American Presbyterian" advocates
the giving up of our Board of Foreign
Missions & uniting with the American
Board but I cannot believe the
idea will be favored by even a
small minority. I think the
meeting at Pittsburg must have been
a grand one. It seemed a very
nice idea for the two bodies to symbolize
or illustrate shall I say the union
in the way they did. Mrs Happer
says any written descriptions of it is
very tame compared with being an
eye witness. You mention the sum
specified is a thank offering as $7,000,000
The papers say $5,000,000. I imagine
it will be raised and I wonder what
will be done with it. I expect Western
Reserve Presbytery will be quite swallowed
up when the consolidation takes place.
Have I ever told you that the Sabbath
evening meeting here is now held at
our house. It used to be held or rather
there used to be two meetings one at
each end and both were small but
last fall they concluded all to meet
together and it is so much pleasanter
and then the gentlemen do not have
to preach only half as often as formerly.
(Another improvement if you will
not think I am boasting is in the
music.) [Note: Parentheses are in pencil] Mrs Anderson used to play
at one end & Miss Radcliffe at the
other (and neither of them made it
go very well. [--T--] It was one of the reasons
that some of them wanted the
meetings changed so that I could
do the playing. I give them good
[u]American[/u] tunes which are about
500 per cent better than any of their
(English ones. But what I commenced
telling about the meetings for was to
tell you of a gift that our Mission has
just received. Since the meetings
have come here a few of the merchants
have attended. Our parlor is a large
room & a double door opens into the
study so that we can use both rooms
nicely & economizing space we can seat
fifty very comfortably. The last time
we has communion service Mr Glover
& Mr Buckley two wealthy Americans
present noticed that we has no silver
cup or plate & so used a glass goblet
& a common white plate. And so
they thought it would be nice to present
us with a silver service, & told us they
would give us $125.00 to get one made
& appointed Mr Preston & I a committee
to order it & decide what style it should
be. They were willing to give us $200.00
but 125 was plenty. It is given to
our Mission we have never had one
for our Chinese church. It is to be
entirely plain with just a little
[?shading?] around the edge.
Some of the missionaries at the
North are proposing to form a synod
in China the first meeting to be held
next fall at Chefoo. We are so far to
the south that it would be impossible
for any of the Canton missionaries
to go travelling by steamer is very
expensive in this part of the world
as all the coal is now brought from
England, America, or Australia. China
has plenty of coal, but as far as yet
discovered of an inferior quality.
Mrs House from Bangkok is now in
Hongkong will come up here next week. She
brings sad news from our mission among the
Laos where perhaps you will remember that
Mr Wilson who came out with Henry has
been laboring Of the 7 church members 2 have
been killed & the rest are in danger & the
missionaries do not feel safe. I hope we
shall hear soon from them again but
they are so far away that it takes a long
time for letters to come. Good-bye Your aff daughter
Hattie.
中国广州。
1870 年 2 月 9 日。
我亲爱的父亲，
我不记得我最后一封邮件是写给谁的，
但我记得我没有为几封邮件写过什么重要的东西，
因此没有任何人收到很多邮件的危险。
恐怕这封信会与它的前辈非常相似。
写完第一句话后，
我把它放在了现在已经快午夜了。
麦克切斯尼先生、麦克切斯尼夫人和亨利夫人都在抓挠，
好像是为了珍惜生命一样。
我想如果你现在能看到我们，
你就不需要有人告诉你美国邮件明天早上出发了。
我今天已经写信给 Lowrie 医生和 Loomis 先生。
我可以像我同龄的任何朋友一样给 Loomis 先生写信，
但给 Lowrie 医生写信可没那么容易。
虽然颅相学家说我的崇拜不是很发达，
但我想我有一点。
我希望你知道 Lowrie 医生 Loomis 先生和 Prime 医生这三个人。
由于你还没有见过最后两个，
你一定认为他们和 Lowrie 医生一样好。
如果我要成为罗马天主教徒，
我相信我应该把这三个都放在我的圣徒日历中。
好吧，
我们怀着极大的兴趣和愉快地阅读了新旧学校婚礼的记录。
我真诚地相信并相信“联盟是在天堂建立的”并希望它只会产生良好的效果。
加入这样一个庞大的团体似乎很愉快，
正如其中一篇论文所说，
“联合教会现在结合了所有教派中最有才华的教育和财富”。
我认为教会自豪感和民族自豪感与个人自豪感一样糟糕。
我看到“美国长老会”主张放弃我们的外交使团委员会并与美国委员会联合，
但我无法相信即使是少数人也会赞成这个想法。
我认为匹兹堡的会议一定是一场盛大的会议。
让我以他们的方式来象征或说明联合，
这似乎是一个非常好的主意。
哈珀夫人说，
与目击者相比，
任何关于它的书面描述都非常平淡。
你提到指定的金额是 7，000，000 美元的感谢信，
报纸上说是 5，000，000 美元。
我想它会被提高，
我想知道如何处理它。
我预计西储长老会在合并发生时会被吞并。
我有没有告诉过你，
这里的安息日晚会现在在我们家举行。
它曾经举行过，
或者更确切地说，
曾经有两个会议，
每端一个，
而且都很小，
但去年秋天他们结束了所有的聚会，
这很愉快，
然后先生们不必讲道的频率只有一半以前。
（如果你不认为我在吹嘘，
另一个改进是在音乐方面。）
[注：括号是铅笔] 安德森夫人过去常常在一端演奏，
而拉德克利夫小姐在另一端演奏（他们都没有把它弄得很好。
这是他们中的一些人希望改变会议以便我可以演奏的原因之一。
我给他们提供了比他们的任何（英语）都好 500% 左右的好美国曲调。
但我开始讲述的是会议是为了告诉你我们使团刚刚收到的礼物。
由于会议已经来到这里，
一些商人已经参加了。
我们的客厅是一个大房间，
一扇双门通向书房，
这样我们就可以同时使用房间很好，
节省空间，
我们可以很舒服地坐五十个。
上次我们有圣餐服务，
格洛弗先生和巴克利先生，
两位在场的美国富人注意到我们没有银杯或盘子，
所以用了一个玻璃高脚杯和一个普通的白盘子。
和所以他们认为展示会很好我们提供银色服务，
并告诉我们他们会给我们 125.00 美元来制作一个并任命普雷斯顿先生和我一个委员会来订购它并决定它应该是什么风格。
他们愿意给我们 200.00 美元，
但 125 已经足够了。
它被赋予我们的使命，
我们的中国教会从未有过这样的使命。
它是完全平坦的，
边缘只有一点阴影。
北方的一些传教士提议在中国组建一个主教会议，
这是明年秋天在芝富举行的第一次会议。
我们在南方如此之远，
以至于任何广州传教士都不可能乘坐轮船在这个地区旅行，
因为现在所有的煤炭都是从英国、美国或澳大利亚运来的。
中国有大量的煤炭，
但目前还没有发现质量低劣的煤炭。
来自曼谷的House太太现在在香港，
下周会来这里。
她带来了我们在老挝传教的悲惨消息，
也许你会记得与亨利一起出来的威尔逊先生一直在工作 7 名教会成员中有 2 人被杀，
其余人处于危险之中，
传教士感到不安全。
我希望我们能很快再次收到他们的来信，
但他们离得太远了，
要等很长时间才能收到信。
再见。
你的女儿，
海蒂。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Father, February 9, 1870,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 26, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/265.