Letter from Hattie to Em, June 22, 1880

noyes_c_cor_217.pdf

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Hattie to Em, June 22, 1880

Subject

Weather; Disease; Physicians; Vision

Description

In this letter to her sister Emily, Harriet writes about the weather experiencing high waters and staying cool in China. Many people have been sick and Dr. Kerr has been busy. She thinks very highly of him. He saved Mr. Henry's eyesight, and now Mr. Henry hopes to be a missionary for fifty years.

Creator

Noyes, Harriet Newell

Source

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

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1880-06-22

Contributor

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

Format

PDF

Language

eng (English)

Type

Text

Identifier

noyes_c_cor_217

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

Canton China
June 22nd 1880.
My dear Em,
I have been trying to
decide to whom to write a
letter while ASam is doing
my hair and have
concluded that you
shall be the victim.
I have just come home
from a visit to the East
Gate school. I went
in a chair today, the
river is so high it is almost
impossible to get any where.
We are having high tides
again and the
water is up in our yard
almost as bad as it was
before. We hoped the

mail would come up on the
night steamer but were
disappointed this morning.
They tell me however that
the steamer has just
passed and that the
flags were up so we will
soon have our letters. The
English mail came too
to-day and yesterday
the French Mail came.
It is not often they come
so near together. It is
as cool here to-day I am
sure as you can be
having it in Ohio we
have not had any warm
weather yet. I have never
known such a year but
although comfortable I
suppose such weather is

very unhealthy. The Chinese
are coming into the hospital
in great numbers, there have
not been quite so many
the past few weeks as
there were. Dr Kerr
showed me the other day
a place in the middle of
his hand that is perfectly
hard calloused I suppose by
holding his instruments in
performing operations.
He is one of the best
men that ever lived I
do believe, and it is such
a comfort to have him
here. Mr Henry will
always feel that he owes
him a debt of gratitude
for saving his eyesight.
If he had had a less
skilful or less attentive
physician it seems as

though he would have
lost the use of his eyes
They are getting better very
fast now. Mrs Henry had
an Uncle Hugh Brown
a brother of FT Brown
who was formerly in
Cleveland. Hugh
Brown came out as a
missionary to Amoy but
was obliged to go home
on account of trouble
with his eyes. Mr Henry
has said sometimes that
he hopes to be a missionary
in China [u]fifty years[/u]. He
came out when he was
twenty four so perhaps he
may. Dr Dean has
just passed his seventy
third birthday. Good bye
for this time with much
love from Hattie.

Original Format

Letter

Citation

Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Em, June 22, 1880,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed November 21, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/272.

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