Letter from Hattie to Father, March 20, 1880

Letter from Hattie to Father, March 20, 1880

Housekeeping; Servants; Prayer; School buildings

Harriet assures her father that he should not worry about them having a lot of people over because they have servants to help them unlike back home. They switched their morning prayer from 7 o'clok to after breakfast; past 8 o'clock. Harriet asks her father to read the February number on Missionary Farming, which reports how a woman tried to raise money for missions. She informs her father about the new school buildings status. She is hoping to send him a copy of the plans.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1880-03-20

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_210

Canton China
March 20th 1880.
My dear Father,
You wrote me such
a dear precious letter by the
last mail it did me so
much good. I hav'nt time
to answer it to-day for the
mail leaves in a little
while. You must not
feel troubled about our
having so much company.
It is a very different
matter here where we
have servants to do every
thing from what it is
at home. And I
always feel that it is
only paying our debts
for Mattie goes away
every year for a time
and some one takes

her in. And if you
could see how late we
lie abed in the morning
I do not think you
would have any fears
about our not getting sleep
enough. We think we are
doing very well if we are up
and ready for breakfast
at [u]eight-o-clock[/u]. I am
quite ashamed to write it
but it is a sad fact.
I used always to go out
to prayers in the school
at seven-o-clock but now
we have prayers after
breakfast and it is
very much easier.
I long since gave up
sitting up late at night
that is very late we often
do not get to bed until
nearly eleven but as you

see we make it up in
the morning. I presume
you have noticed the
improvement in the Foreign
Missionary. If you have
not yet be sure that you
find and read the article
in the February number on
Missionary Farming. It is so
funny and pathetic withal
the poor woman tried so
hard and under such
difficulties to get money for
missions. Mrs Graves brought
it up one evening and
read it to us and I wanted
to send it to you but it was
not in our papers. Shall
I tell you what "good use"
we have made of the
dollar you sent us.
I have just been writing
to Dr Ellinwood and put

it in to pay for the Foreign
Missionary for a year, so
you can consider that you
are giving it to us. I suppose
they would send it to us free
as they do to all the new in
the Mission but I did not
quite like to ask them,
but I presume if they begin
sending it they will keep on.
I am sure I think we
are entitled to it but I
presume they have never
thought about sending it to us.
The plans for the new building
are all in the hands of contractors
and they are busy making
out their estimates, so I
expect they will get ready
to begin work soon.
Perhaps I can send you
a copy of the plans next
mail. Ever your loving daughter
Hattie.



中国广州，
1880 年 3 月 20 日。
我亲爱的父亲，
您在最后一封邮件中给我写了一封如此珍贵的信，
这对我非常有帮助。
我今天没时间回复，
因为一会儿邮件就发了。
你一定不要为我们有这么多公司感到不安。
在这里，
我们有仆人来做每件事，
这与家里的情况完全不同。
而且我总觉得这只是为了偿还我们的债务，
因为马蒂每年都会离开一段时间，
有人带她进来。
如果你能看到我们早上睡了多晚，
我想你不会担心我们没有得到足够的睡眠。
如果我们在八点钟起床并准备吃早餐，
我们认为我们做得很好。
我很惭愧写它，
但这是一个可悲的事实。
我以前总是七点到学校去祈祷，
但现在我们早餐后祈祷，
这很容易。
我早就放弃了在深夜坐得很晚，
我们经常要到十一点才上床睡觉，
但正如你所见，
我们早上会补上。
我想你已经注意到外国传教士的进步了。
如果你还不确定你是否找到并阅读了二月号中关于传教农业的文章。
可怜的女人如此努力，
在如此困难的情况下为任务筹集资金，
这真是太有趣和可悲了。
一天晚上，
格雷夫斯太太把它拿来给我们念了一遍，
我想把它寄给你，
但我们的报纸上没有。
我可以告诉你，
我们对你寄给我们的美元做了什么“好用”吗？我刚刚写信给 Ellinwood 医生，
并把它付给外国传教士一年的费用，
所以你可以认为你是在给我们。
我想他们会像寄给使命中的所有新人一样免费发送给我们，
但我不太想问他们，
但我想如果他们开始发送，
他们会继续发送。
我确信我认为我们有权获得它，
但我认为他们从未想过将其发送给我们。
新大楼的计划都在承包商手中，
他们正忙于估算，
所以我预计他们很快就会准备好开始工作。
也许我可以在下一封邮件中向您发送一份计划副本。
永远是你亲爱的女儿，
海蒂。

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