Letter from Harriet to Father, December 25, 1880

Letter from Harriet to Father, December 25, 1880

Christmas; Income distribution; Women missionaries; Cold weather conditions

Harriet wishes her father a merry Christmas. Mattie will be going home after her eight years is up. Hattie says single women missionaries get paid $450 to men's $1200 a year. Mattie and Harriet are having Christmas dinner with some other missionaries. They live far away from the Chinese people in Canton and Harriet prefers that. She hopes the family is staying healthy in the cold weather.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1880-12-25

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_227

Canton --
Dec 25th '80
My dear Father -
"I wish you a
merry Christmas"- How
nice it would be if we
could just spend the
rest of our Christmas with
you. How it would seem
to have a few hours
together to-day . Four
years have passed since
my last Christmas at
[u]home[/u]. I wonder when
I shall have another
there . It begins to seem
as though Mattie will
see you soon - She is
quite well now but if she
stays out her eight years

the time will soon be past
She is now in her eighth
year - I think eight years
is long enough for any
single lady to stay . I think
the Board might make a
little difference in our
favor, as we are [u]cheap[/u]
missionaries. They have
to pay Mr Henry 1200 dollars
and Henry 1100 a year
and get only the work of
[u]one[/u] while a single lady
only costs them 450--
And I think they ought
to take into account that
while married people have
their [u]home[/u] here + would'nt
be living with their Fathers
+ Mothers if they were at
home in America as a rule
single ladies are boarding
and have no home out
here-- Of course with us it
is different. I think M + I

have as pleasant a home
as there is in Canton.
We have quite a cold Christmas
to-day - a gray cloudy sky-
but we have a good fire
in the parlor and now at
nearly four-o-clock we are
commencing to write letters
for the mail which is to
leave Monday morning .
We are invited over to
Mr Henry's to a Christmas
dinner. Dr Kerr and
Mr Fulton are to be there -
I presume we shall
have a pleasant evening.
We are to have our [u]dinner[/u]
at half past six - we usually
dine at four - A great
many of the foreign
community here merchants
+c have their dinners at
eight in the evening .
Sometimes at their
parties they sit at the

dining table for three or
four hours English style
and have a dozen or
so different courses plates
changed +c +c +c----
We are so thankful that
we do not have to be
mixed up with it at all.
Lillie Cunningham invited
all of our Mission there this
evening but Mrs Henry had
already invited her company
for which we were very thankful
we would so much rather
stay down here We like
living down here very much
on account of being away from
the foreign community while
those at the other end all prefer
being near there excepting
Mrs Happer and Henry.
Mr and Mrs White
are going to board at
Dr Happer's for the present
We wonder how long they
will be able to see eye to eye.

[Note: The following is written vertically on the first page]
I hope you
are keeping
well this
winter +
not taking
any colds-
I do not
seem to
take cold
nearly as
easily
as I used to.
Ever your
loving daughter
[u]Harriet[/u]

Letter