Letter from Hattie to Mattie, April 22, 1882

Letter from Hattie to Mattie, April 22, 1882

Diseases; Missionaries; Young adults in missionary work

In this letter to her sister Martha, Harriet writes that she hopes Martha is careful about not pushing herself too hard so that she can get well. Miss Butler also needs to recover her strength before returning to the mission field. Harriet likes the new doctor and his wife, the Thomsons, a lot. Harriet and Dr. Kerr believe that sending Mr. Fulton and Mr. White to Linchau was a mistake and the mission will not be as successful because they are newer missionaries. Harriet says it would have been better to send Mr. Henry. Harriet filled the sheet so is going to sign it and continue on another.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3

Unpublished

1882-04-22

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

noyes_c_cor_275

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_274

Canton China
My dear Mattie April 22nd 82
I was so sorry to
hear by the last mail from
Miss Cook's letter that you
were not feeling so well. The
letters from home were
quite encouraging but I
was sorry to find that hers
was of a later date. We
can not hear again until
the 8th of May it seems
such a long time to wait.
That will bring letters from
San Francisco as late as
the 8th of April and I do
hope by that time you will
be feeling much better. Miss
Butler tells me to tell you
to be sure and not try to
[u]walk[/u] even if you do
[u]feel[/u] well enough to do so.

She has been wishing to
write to you herself but hers
like all the rest of us ever
so many letters to write When
Miss Archibald went away
we thought we would surely
write to her every week or
so and instead of that
she has been gone nearly
two months and we have
not written a letter to her
yet. Miss Butler is a very
nice girl and will make
a good missionary I am
sure if she is strong enough.
Ten years of teaching in a
city school is a pretty hard
experience she taught on
the [u]third[/u] floor You know
doubtless that she is studying
medicine with Dr Kerr.
She likes it very much and
as she has always wished
to study it I am glad

that she now has the
opportunity. Our new Doctor
Thomson is a nice little man
just as good and kind
as he can be and his wife
is a perfect jewel. We were
rather more fortunate this
year than last in our
importation of new missionaries.
Mr Fulton and Mr White
are away at Linchau. They
have been gone about three
weeks and I suppose will
be back soon. Mr Henry
has leased a very good
large house but one of the
officials made some trouble
and they gave up the lease
so we do not know when
any one can get in there
to live Dr Kerr says he
does not know who has been
the "greenest" the [u]young[/u]
missionaries who went up

or the [u]old[/u] missionaries who sent
them. As it has turned out so
badly I cannot help wishing
Mr Henry had gone up and
then we would have felt that
the best possible had been done
however it resulted but such
young missionaries could not
be expected to know what
would be best to do in perplexing
circumstances. If Mr Fulton
would he could stay and live
at the chapel very well until
they became used to having
a foreigner there and wait
for a chance to get a place
but he has so little "gumption"
I doubt if it would be of any
use even if he were willing
to try. Dear little Mrs Thomson
is greatly disappointed. I wonder
if I have ever told you
how nice she is. She is
just a perfect jewel a
whole souled missionary --

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
I am
going to
finish this
off and
sign my
name
properly
and then
write more
on another
sheet
Your loving
[u]Hattie[/u]



广州
1882 年 4 月 22 日
我亲爱的玛蒂——我写信的时间太少了，
所以我几乎没有告诉你发生了什么，
我很抱歉。
昨天皮尔西先生回家了。
我想他无论如何都不可能回到中国。
他被董事会的一封电报叫回家，
还有一封电报告诉塞尔比先生回家，
但我们听说他不会去——我想事情已经发展到如此程度，
以至于董事会认为必须进行调查。
看到皮尔西先生离开似乎太糟糕了，
因此经过三十多年的艰苦传教工作，
无论他有什么过错，
他一直是一个认真的传教士。
这些“委员会”如何管理事务似乎很奇怪。
想想费伯先生，
曾经被解雇的最优秀的人之一。
我刚刚听说福州的一位英国教会传道会福斯特小姐被召回。
去年夏天她和我一起度过了几天，
我认为她是一个非常认真和忠诚的基督徒。
然而，
她将要结婚并以传教士的身份返回中国，
因此很明显，
尽管她的董事会反对她成为传教士，
但主并不反对。
Piercy 先生的离开让 Wenyon 医生独自留在 Fatshan。
他站在 Piercy 先生身边，
对此我感到非常高兴，
我认为他的判断和意见价值大约是他们的任务 Masters、Marris 和 Bone 先生的剩余价值的十倍。
你不觉得这三位年轻弟兄代表卫斯理会在广州的传道相当微弱吗？马斯特斯先生似乎一如既往地轻浮。
希望他们最终会对与皮尔西先生合作的成功感到满意。
轮船驶离后，
我们向皮尔西家族挥手告别后，
亨利夫人（你知道她是怎么说话的）转身对西蒙斯夫人说，
她希望她能送西蒙斯先生回家去拿一把左轮手枪，
然后射击卫斯理会的其余部分.前几天，
她用最严肃的脸问我们是否从卡罗夫人那里听到了这个悲伤的消息，
然后说卡罗医生听说她在她去过的那个休息治疗中心一天体重增加了一磅，
然后说想想到年底，
当她增重 365 磅时，
她会是什么样子。
我想卡罗医生要乘载这些信的汽船回家了。
他已将自己的诊所从爱尔兰卖给了威尔士医生。
他看起来是个很好的人，
他的新娘要在秋天出来。
我很高兴卡罗医生回家了，
我想他会比这里好得多。
来自汕头的 Lyall 医生刚刚 [注：信件在第一页垂直结束] 来这里参观，
我们非常喜欢他。
他似乎对卡罗医生的看法很差，
所以我认为丹尼尔斯小姐是从专业角度看待的。
我不知道，
因为我应该在我的信中如此随意地使用名字，
但我想当这些名字到达你时你会在家。
深情的，
海蒂

中国广州
我亲爱的Mattie 1882年4月22日
听到Cook小姐说你身体不舒服，
我很难过。
/
/
家里的来信说你好多了，
/
但她的信是在那之后寄来的。
/
我们要到 5 月 8 日才能再次收到信件，
/
而且感觉要等很长时间。
最晚会在 4 月 8 日收到来自旧金山的信件，
所以我希望到那时你会感觉好些。
/
/
Butler小姐让我告诉你
即使你感觉很好了，
也不要尝试走路。
/
/

她想亲自给你寄一封信，
但她和我们其他人一样，
有很多信要写，
/
Archibald小姐走的时候
我们以为我们每周都会给她写信，
/
现在她已经走了快两个月了，
/
我们还没有给她写过一封信。
/
Butler小姐是一个很好的人。 
/
如果她足够坚强，
我认为她会成为一名优秀的传教士。
她在一所城市学校任教十年，
这对她来说是个狠坎坷的经历
她在三楼教学。
你应该知道
她跟Kerr医生学医。
/
她很喜欢，
她一直想要学医，
我很开心

她现在有机会。
新医生姓Thomson，
他是个可爱的小男人，
他的妻子是个宝藏。
/
/
今年的新传教士比去年好多了。
/
/
Fulton先生和White先生在连州。
他们在那里已经过了3周
他们应该很快回来。
/
Henry先生租了个大房子，
但我认为一些地方官员惹了麻烦，
所以他不得不放弃租约。
/
现在我们不知道是否有人能够住在那里。
/
/
Kerr医生说
他不知道谁更天真，
去那里的年轻传教士
/

或派遣他们的老传教士。
结果很糟糕。
我希望Henry先生能去，
如果他去了那里，
那么我们就会知道已经尝试了所有可能的方法。
/
在这种情况下，
年轻的传教士很难知道该怎么做。
/
/
如果Fulton先生可以的话，
他会继续住在教堂里，
直到他们习惯了有外国人在那里，
然后等待有机会拥有自己的房子。
但我不认为他会想那样做，
/
我们也不想那样做。
/
/
Thomson太太非常失望。
/
我告诉你了她多么好，
她是一个了不起的人，
/
也是一位完美的传教士。


我要在这里签字并在另一页上写更多。
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爱你的，
Hattie

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