Letter from Hattie to Father, June 26, 1880
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Father, June 26, 1880
Subject
School buildings; Contractors; Racism--Religious aspects--Christianity; Physicians
Description
Harriet includes with her letter to her father construction plans for the new school building. The new building is going to be very nice. Harriet writes that the builder is a Chinese Christian man. She likes him so much she says she did not think there were any like him in China. Henry bargained and got them a great deal on the building. Harriet says Mattie just got home from watching Dr. Kerr's daughter Hattie. She is still not feeling well.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #2
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1880-06-26
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_218
Coverage
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
June 26th 1880
My dear Father,
I send you by this
mail copies of the plan of
our new school-building.
I think it will be just
exactly what we want.
The Building Committee
have allowed everything to be
just as I planned it. I
was obliged to change the
first plan a little so as to
have solid walls and no
windows under the large
timbers. At first the plan
was perfectly symmetrical
throughout and it does
not vary very much now.
The upper storey is all
in Sleeping Rooms. There
will always be good air up
there. It will be such a
different place for our scholars
from their little crowded rooms
at home. We will never need
to go up to the third floor
except when we feel like
inspecting their rooms. There
is still to be a chapel, in
front of the left hand
side, through which we
can go from our second
floor to the second floor of
the School Building. It is
all going to be so [u]very nice[/u].
It seems as though a blessing
has rested upon it from the
beginning. We have as Master builder one of the
native Christians a member of
the Wesleyan Church and
he has been as pleasant
and obliging from the
very commencement as
possible. I did not suppose
such a man could be found
in China. They are laying
the topmost bricks to-day {Sat}
and will begin putting on the
roof Monday. We are [u]so glad[/u]
and Henry seems to feel as
happy over it as we do.
It is the greatest marvel
to me how the builder can
afford to do it as well as he
is doing it for the money but
every one laughs at me for
being anxious lest he should
not make enough out of the
job. Dr Kerr begins to think
his Hospital cost entirely too
much. It is nothing like such
a building as this will be but it
cost about the same. Henry
made the bargain for this
and he is [u]exceedingly[/u] good
in bargaining with the Chinese.
I do not think any of the rest
of the Mission even Dr Kerr
can do nearly as well.
I am so glad that
Henry could attend to it.
He has not been down as
much as we would have
liked but has managed
to come a good many times
when he went to the chapel.
And now I must say
good bye for this time.
M has just come home
from Dr Kerr's has been
staying with Hattie this
forenoon and now I will
go over and stay a while
She does not seem quite so
well to-day, but we hope is
really getting better. Poor Dr
Kerr did not get any sleep
last night and has been
operating on patients all
the morning, so I hope he
can get some sleep this afternoon.
With love Yr aff daughter, Hattie.
中国广州
1880 年 6 月 26 日
我亲爱的父亲，
我通过这封邮件寄给您我们新校舍的计划副本。
我认为这正是我们想要的。
建筑委员会允许一切按我的计划进行。
我不得不稍微改变第一个计划，
以便在大木头下有坚固的墙壁和没有窗户。
起初，
该计划完全对称，
现在变化不大。
楼上都是卧室。
那里总会有好空气。
对于我们的学者来说，
这将是一个不同于他们家中拥挤的小房间的地方。
除非我们想检查他们的房间，
否则我们永远不需要上三楼。
还有一个小教堂，
在左边前面，
我们可以从我们的二楼到教学楼的二楼。
一切都会变得如此美好。
似乎从一开始就有一种祝福。
作为建筑大师，
我们有一位本土基督徒，
他是卫斯理教会的成员，
他从一开始就尽可能地愉快和乐于助人。
我不认为这样的人会在中国找到。
他们今天{星期六}正在铺设最上面的砖块，
并将在星期一开始铺设屋顶。
我们很高兴，
亨利似乎和我们一样对此感到高兴。
对我来说，
最大的奇迹是建筑商如何能够负担得起以及他为钱而这样做，
但每个人都嘲笑我担心他应该从工作中赚到足够的钱。
克尔医生开始认为他的医院费用太高了。
它不像这样的建筑物，
但它的成本大致相同。
亨利为此讨价还价，
他在与中国人讨价还价方面非常擅长。
我不认为任务的任何其他人，
即使是克尔医生也能做到这一点。
我很高兴亨利能参加。
他并没有像我们希望的那样沮丧，
但是当他去教堂时，
他已经成功地来了很多次。
现在我必须和这次说再见了。
M 刚从 Kerr 医生那里回来，
今天上午一直和 Hattie 住在一起，
现在我会过去住一会儿。
她今天看起来不太好，
但我们希望真的越来越好。
可怜的Kerr医生昨晚一夜没睡，
一上午都在给病人做手术，
希望他今天下午能睡上一觉。
带着爱，
你深情的女儿，
海蒂。
June 26th 1880
My dear Father,
I send you by this
mail copies of the plan of
our new school-building.
I think it will be just
exactly what we want.
The Building Committee
have allowed everything to be
just as I planned it. I
was obliged to change the
first plan a little so as to
have solid walls and no
windows under the large
timbers. At first the plan
was perfectly symmetrical
throughout and it does
not vary very much now.
The upper storey is all
in Sleeping Rooms. There
will always be good air up
there. It will be such a
different place for our scholars
from their little crowded rooms
at home. We will never need
to go up to the third floor
except when we feel like
inspecting their rooms. There
is still to be a chapel, in
front of the left hand
side, through which we
can go from our second
floor to the second floor of
the School Building. It is
all going to be so [u]very nice[/u].
It seems as though a blessing
has rested upon it from the
beginning. We have as Master builder one of the
native Christians a member of
the Wesleyan Church and
he has been as pleasant
and obliging from the
very commencement as
possible. I did not suppose
such a man could be found
in China. They are laying
the topmost bricks to-day {Sat}
and will begin putting on the
roof Monday. We are [u]so glad[/u]
and Henry seems to feel as
happy over it as we do.
It is the greatest marvel
to me how the builder can
afford to do it as well as he
is doing it for the money but
every one laughs at me for
being anxious lest he should
not make enough out of the
job. Dr Kerr begins to think
his Hospital cost entirely too
much. It is nothing like such
a building as this will be but it
cost about the same. Henry
made the bargain for this
and he is [u]exceedingly[/u] good
in bargaining with the Chinese.
I do not think any of the rest
of the Mission even Dr Kerr
can do nearly as well.
I am so glad that
Henry could attend to it.
He has not been down as
much as we would have
liked but has managed
to come a good many times
when he went to the chapel.
And now I must say
good bye for this time.
M has just come home
from Dr Kerr's has been
staying with Hattie this
forenoon and now I will
go over and stay a while
She does not seem quite so
well to-day, but we hope is
really getting better. Poor Dr
Kerr did not get any sleep
last night and has been
operating on patients all
the morning, so I hope he
can get some sleep this afternoon.
With love Yr aff daughter, Hattie.
中国广州
1880 年 6 月 26 日
我亲爱的父亲，
我通过这封邮件寄给您我们新校舍的计划副本。
我认为这正是我们想要的。
建筑委员会允许一切按我的计划进行。
我不得不稍微改变第一个计划，
以便在大木头下有坚固的墙壁和没有窗户。
起初，
该计划完全对称，
现在变化不大。
楼上都是卧室。
那里总会有好空气。
对于我们的学者来说，
这将是一个不同于他们家中拥挤的小房间的地方。
除非我们想检查他们的房间，
否则我们永远不需要上三楼。
还有一个小教堂，
在左边前面，
我们可以从我们的二楼到教学楼的二楼。
一切都会变得如此美好。
似乎从一开始就有一种祝福。
作为建筑大师，
我们有一位本土基督徒，
他是卫斯理教会的成员，
他从一开始就尽可能地愉快和乐于助人。
我不认为这样的人会在中国找到。
他们今天{星期六}正在铺设最上面的砖块，
并将在星期一开始铺设屋顶。
我们很高兴，
亨利似乎和我们一样对此感到高兴。
对我来说，
最大的奇迹是建筑商如何能够负担得起以及他为钱而这样做，
但每个人都嘲笑我担心他应该从工作中赚到足够的钱。
克尔医生开始认为他的医院费用太高了。
它不像这样的建筑物，
但它的成本大致相同。
亨利为此讨价还价，
他在与中国人讨价还价方面非常擅长。
我不认为任务的任何其他人，
即使是克尔医生也能做到这一点。
我很高兴亨利能参加。
他并没有像我们希望的那样沮丧，
但是当他去教堂时，
他已经成功地来了很多次。
现在我必须和这次说再见了。
M 刚从 Kerr 医生那里回来，
今天上午一直和 Hattie 住在一起，
现在我会过去住一会儿。
她今天看起来不太好，
但我们希望真的越来越好。
可怜的Kerr医生昨晚一夜没睡，
一上午都在给病人做手术，
希望他今天下午能睡上一觉。
带着爱，
你深情的女儿，
海蒂。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Father, June 26, 1880,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed May 3, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/274.