Letter from Hattie to Father, June 5, 1880

Letter from Hattie to Father, June 5, 1880

School buildings; Weather; Construction; Missionaries; Travel

Harriet writes to her father that the school construction is still coming along well and she thinks there is no other school building like it in China. The men working construction also get along very well with Henry and are having a pleasant time. Mr. Henry has been traveling to Lin Chau and plans to continue a mission there. The weather is still cool.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1880-06-05

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_220

Canton China
June 5th 1880
My dear Father,
I must write
and tell you how our
school building is getting on
I thought I would surely
have the plans ready to
send you by this mail but
have not. I could draw
them out in an evening
but I havnt had an
evening to do anything for
a long time as if we were
at home we have tried to
get to bed by eight-o-clock
or so in hopes Mattie would
go to sleep. Our efforts have
not been very successful
however. I think the
more one [u]tries[/u] to sleep the
more inevitably he fails for

the effort to get to sleep
keeps one awake. Well
the workmen are now on
the third storey so they
will soon be up to the
roof. I expect our good
friends will all be appalled
at the dimensions when
the mat shed under
which it is "growing to its
full proportions" is taken
away. There is certainly
no other school building
like it in China. In
Foochow they have a
Boarding School for
which the building cost
$5000.00 but it only
accommodates about thirty.
We shall have room for

one hundred. The building
is going to be very pretty
but it is so close behind
these that we occupy
that it does not show
off to very good advantage.
There are more than
fifty men employed
now on it. They have
had such a pleasant
time from the beginning
quite different from
what it often is. The
set we had when the
first schoolhouse was rebuilt
gave Henry no end of
trouble. Mr Henry
came back a few
days since from a
trip to Lin Chau. We

are all much pleased
that our mission has
succeeded in getting a
station there. Do you
remember a letter in
the Observer some time
since from an assistant
Cuan Li who attempted
to open a station in his
native village but was driven
away. He is the one
who has now gone to Lin Chau
& has succeeded in getting
a place there without much
difficulty. Mr Henry says
when he goes home he
wants to study medicine
and then come back
and go to Lin Chau to
live. I wish we could get
missionaries in all the
large cities through the
province instead of only here at Canton.

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
Our cool
weather
still continues
although we
have nearly
passed a
week in
June.
With warmest
love,
Your aff daughter
[u]Hattie[/u]

中国广东
1880年6月5日，
我亲爱的父亲，
我必须给您写信告诉您新学校的建设进展如何。
/
/
我以为我会有一个蓝图寄给您，
但还没有准备好。
我可以花一晚上的时间为您画一幅蓝图，
但我已经很久没有一个空闲的晚上了。
/
我们试着在八点钟上床睡觉，
这样Mattie就可以睡觉了，
但我们的努力并不是很成功。
/
/
/
Mattie很难入睡，
似乎越想睡觉，
就越难入睡，
因为努力入睡会使人保持清醒。
/

/
工人们开始建造学校的第三层楼，
很快他们就会开始建造屋顶。
/
/
我敢打赌我们的朋友会被学校的规模所震惊。
/
/
/
/
/
我们学校在中国肯定是独一无二的。
/
福州有一所花5000美金建造的寄宿学校，
却只能容纳30名学生。
/
/
/
/
我们学校将能容纳100名学生。

建筑本身很漂亮，
但它离其他建筑太近了，
很难看出它有多美。
/
/
/
有 50 多名工人在建造这所学校，
工作人员都很愉快。
/
/
/
/
这与我们建造第一所学校时大不相同，
那个时候，
工人们给Henry带来了各种各样的麻烦。
/
Henry刚从连州回来。
/
/
/

我们都很高兴在连州有一个传教基地。
/
/
您还记得Observer报纸上一位名叫Cuan Li的助手的来信，
他试图在家乡开设一个传教士基地，
但被赶走了吗？
/
/
/ 
/
现在他去了连州，
并在那里成功进行了地传教工作，
他没有遇到太多困难。
/
Henry先生说
学医归来，
他想住在连州。
/
/
我希望我们能在广东所有的大城市都有传教士，
而不仅仅是在广州。
/
/

【纵向书写】
尽管已经快到六月的第二周了，
但天气仍然凉爽。
/
/
/
/
/
/
爱你们，
您的女儿，
Harriet

Letter