Letter from Hattie to Mattie, April 27, 1882

noyes_c_cor_276.pdf

Dublin Core

Title

Letter from Hattie to Mattie, April 27, 1882

Subject

Gardening; Horses; Transportation; Sidesaddle riding; Visitors, Foreign

Description

In this letter to Martha, Harriet describes a variety of plants that they have in their garden. Mr. Lind and Mrs. Lind are going back home for good. Harriet wanted to buy Mrs. Lind's side saddle so as to hire a horse instead of a chair whenever she needed to go to the village since it would be cheaper. Hiring a horse costs $0.50 while a chair costs $1.50. However, Mrs. Lind is going to take the saddle with her, and also Harriet thinks that it would not be pleasant to ride a horse on the streets because the Chinese people would get too excited about it.

Creator

Noyes, Harriet Newell

Source

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

Publisher

Unpublished

Date

1882-04-27

Contributor

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

Format

PDF

Language

eng (English)

Type

Text

Identifier

noyes_c_cor_276

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

[Note: Written vertically]
Have I ever
told you that
Miss Isabella Bird
was married
not long since
to a Dr Bishop
of Glasgow
a wealthy
man I believe.

Canton China
April 27th 1882
My dear Mattie -
This has been
our first warm so
you will see we have had
a very unusually comfortable
spring this year. We have
had no rainy season at all
none of the damp [u]sticky[/u]
weather we so often have
so much of. The warmth
of the past day or two has
started everything to growing
nicely. You remember that
tree Mr Henry gave you
on your birthday. It had
put out branches this year
Your Calla has done
marvellously well there
have been [u]eight[/u] beautiful

blossoms and I think
there will be another one
at least I hope it will
not exhaust itself. That
[?Formosa?] fern which Mr
Cunningham gave us seemed
to do so. Last year it
had so many such
beautiful immense fronds
and then it pined away
and not withstanding all
our exertions to keep it alive
died soon after our return
from Linchau. Mr Henry's
Calla has a beautiful
blossom on it now. He
has an ocean of verbena
in blossom around in his
side of the yard and
lots of flower pots of all
sizes and descriptions.
Mr Faber has taken the
position of head gardener

over at Dr Kerr's and he
works around every day
and has a great number
and variety of flowers
in blossom. He has made
a "rockery", under that
palm in the middle
of the yard. Dr +
Mrs Graves succeeded
in getting that lot between
their house and Mr
Simmons so they will
have a nice yard
Mr + Mrs Simmons with
Mrs Happer + Henry +
his family are going to
the country tomorrow to
be gone about two weeks.
They are going to [illegible]
the place where nearly all
the workmen that built
the schoolhouse came from.
Mr + Mrs Lind have
just had an auction

They are going home and
will not come back again.
I thought of getting her side saddle
but found on inquiring that she
intended to take it home
I thought perhaps if I had
a saddle I might sometimes
hire a horse instead of a chair
to go out to the village. It would
be much cheaper as a chair
costs $1.50 and a horse they
say can be hired for 50 cts
a day. But I presume it
would not be very easy to
manage it and the Chinese
would doubtless have a great
excitement over any one riding
through the streets so I dont
suppose it would be very
pleasant at any rate.
I hope when this letter reaches
you you will be very much
better I am waiting rather
impatiently for the next
mail to hear how you are.
[Note: Written vertically]
Your Affly Hattie.



[注:竖着写]
我有没有告诉过你,
伊莎贝拉·伯德小姐不久前嫁给了一位格拉斯哥的主教医生,
我相信他是一位富有的人。
中国广州 1882 年 4 月 27 日 我亲爱的玛蒂 - 这是我们第一次温暖,
所以你会看到今年我们度过了一个非常舒适的春天。
我们根本没有雨季,
也没有我们经常遇到的潮湿粘稠的天气。
过去一两天的温暖已经开始一切都很好地成长。
你记得亨利先生在你生日时送给你的那棵树。
今年它已经长出了枝条,
你的马蹄莲做得非常好,
已经开了八朵美丽的花,
我想至少还会再开一朵,
我希望它不会自己枯竭。
坎宁安先生给我们的那株台湾蕨类植物似乎就是这样。
去年它长了这么多如此美丽的巨大叶子,
然后它枯萎了,
我们不顾我们所有的努力让它活着,
在我们从林州回来后不久就死了。
亨利先生的马蹄莲现在开了一朵美丽的花。
他在院子的一侧有一片盛开的马鞭草海洋,
还有许多各种大小和描述的花盆。
Faber 先生已担任 Kerr 医生的首席园丁,
他每天都在附近工作,
并且开满了种类繁多的鲜花。
他在院子中央的那只手掌下做了一个“假山”。
格雷夫斯医生和夫人成功地在他们的房子和西蒙斯先生之间找到了一块地,
这样他们就有了一个漂亮的院子,
西蒙斯先生和夫人和哈珀夫人,
亨利和他的家人明天要去乡下待两周左右。
他们要去[无法辨认]那个几乎所有建造校舍的工人都来自的地方。
林德先生和夫人刚刚进行了一次拍卖,
他们要回家了,
不会再回来了。
我想买她的侧鞍,
但询问后发现她打算把它带回家。
我想如果我有一个马鞍,
我有时可能会租一匹马而不是一把椅子去村里。
这会便宜得多,
因为椅子要 1.50 美元,
而他们说可以以每天 50 美分的价格租用一匹马。
但我想管理它不会很容易,
而且中国人无疑会对任何骑马穿过街道的人感到非常兴奋,
所以我认为无论如何这不会很愉快。
我希望当这封信寄到你时,
你会好很多。
我正在相当不耐烦地等待下一封邮件来了解你的情况。
[注:竖写] 此致,
海蒂。

Original Format

Letter

Citation

Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Mattie, April 27, 1882,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 29, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/332.

Output Formats