Letter from Hattie to Edward, May 6, 1882

Letter from Hattie to Edward, May 6, 1882

Birthdays; Aging; Mail steamers; Christian hymns; Health; Planters (Agricultural machinery)

Harriet confesses that at 38 she does not feel old yet; she does not have grey hairs and her eyes and teeth are in good form. Henry, who is 46, is also in good shape. Harriet explains that this is an odd mail because they have a new steamer that came from England. Then, she tells an anecdote about Mrs. Thomson singing hymns. Miss Butler has a headache and Harriet thinks she is not very strong. She hopes that Edward's planter is paying him off for all the time and trouble he spent on it.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1882-05-06

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_279

Canton China
May 6th 1882
My dear Edward -
The last mail
brought my birthday letter
from my Brother Edward
with those from the rest of
the family circle excepting
Mattie + Sarah. I feel pretty
sure of getting a letter from
you once a year at least.
I dont feel very [u]old[/u] yet if I
am [u]38[/u] and my friends here
say they dont see that I look
any older than I did when
I came out first. I dont
find any grey hairs and
my [u]eyes[/u] and [u]teeth[/u] are
in good working order yet.
On Henry's birthday he
asked Mr Pearce one of
our new missionaries to
guess his age and he
guessed that he was 36

and could hardly believe
that he is ten years more
than that, so you see his
"trials and tribulations," have not
made him grow old. He looks
very strong and well and
I imagine manages to get
more or less comfort out of
life. He is away in the
country now with his family
so I suppose you will
not get a letter from him
by this mail. This is an
irregular mail the steamer
that we send this by is the
Coptic a new one that has
just come out from England.
We had another surprise mail
from America last Monday.
It did not bring one any
letter from home however
I only two one from Maggie
Beacom and one from
my church. We expect our
regular mail next Monday
day after to-morrow and

I hope that will bring [?us?]
good news. I hope your
Baptist Concert went off successfully.
I must tell you an incident from
Mrs Thomson's experience in leading
singing which she told us the other evening.
She tells anything in a very interesting
way. It seems she was at a meeting
once where there was no one to lead the
singing and the minister asked her to do it.
She told him she was no singer but as it
would'nt do very well not to have any
singing she would try. So he gave out
a hymn + she thought of a tune that
[?fitted?] and they got through all
right. After a little another hymn was
given out and a tune came to her
mind + she started off again.
She said that when she commenced
a lady who sat just before her
turned about halfway round and
looked at her but she said she
was doing the best she could and
so she kept on. In course of time
a third hymn was given out
and she started off for the third

time and then the lady in
front of her turned three quarters
round and stared at her rather
to her confusion as she could hear
those behind her laughing, but she
want bravely on. After the meeting
the lady came up to speak to her
and Mrs Thomson said "Now dont you
say a word about the singing for I
did just the very best I could'-
And the lady said, You sang well
enough but what did you sing the
[u]same tune[/u] three times for? She
says she has never forgotten [/u]Woodstock[/u]
since. As soon as she had an
opportunity she apologized to the
minister fearing that [--s--]he would
think she had done it for fun -
but found that he had never
dreamed it was all one + the same
tune. She is a dear good
little missionary if she isnt a
success as a chorister. We
were exceedingly fortunate this
year in you recruits. Miss
Butler has a dreadful headache

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
tonight. I am afraid she is not very strong after teaching
so many years
at home.
I hope your
planter will
repay you for
all the time
and trouble
you have
spent on it.
Aged now
I must
say good night
and go to
bed [u]+ sleep[/u]
Your aff sister
Hattie-



中国广州
1882 年 5 月 6 日
我亲爱的爱德华 -
最后一封邮件带来了我的爱德华兄弟的生日信，
以及除了玛蒂和莎拉之外的其他家庭成员。
我确信每年至少会收到一次你的来信。
如果我 38 岁，
我还不会觉得自己很老，
我的朋友说他们没有看到我看起来比刚出道时的年龄大。
我没有发现任何白发，
我的眼睛和牙齿还处于良好的工作状态。
亨利生日那天，
他请我们的一位新传教士皮尔斯先生猜他的年龄，
他猜他已经 36 岁了，
简直不敢相信他比这多 10 岁，
所以你看他的“考验和磨难”并没有让他变老。
他看起来很强壮而且很好，
我想他能或多或少地从生活中得到安慰。
他现在和家人在乡下，
所以我想你不会通过这封邮件收到他的信。
这是一封不规则的邮件，
我们发送的蒸汽船是科普特人，
是刚从英国出来的新船。
上周一我们收到了另一封来自美国的惊喜邮件。
它没有带一封来自家里的信，
但我只带了两封来自 Maggie Beacom 的信和一封来自我的教堂的信。
我们期待明天之后的下周一收到我们的普通邮件，
我希望这会给我们带来好消息。
我希望你的浸信会音乐会顺利举行。
我必须告诉你一件来自汤姆森夫人领唱的经历，
这是她那天晚上告诉我们的。
她以非常有趣的方式讲述任何事情。
似乎她曾经参加过一次没有人领唱的会议，
牧师让她来做。
她告诉他，
她不是歌手，
但如果不唱歌，
她会尝试的，
这不是很好。
于是他唱了一首赞美诗，
她想出了一首合适的曲子，
他们就顺利通过了。
过了一会儿，
又唱了一首赞美诗，
她脑海里浮现出一首曲子，
她又开始了。
她说，
当她开始时，
一位坐在她面前的女士转了半圈看着她，
但她说她正在尽力而为，
所以她继续说下去。
随着时间的推移，
第三首赞美诗发出，
她第三次开始，
然后她面前的女士转过四分之三，
盯着她看勇敢地前进。
会议结束后，
那位女士走过来和她说话，
汤姆森夫人说：“现在你不要说唱歌的事，
因为我已经尽我所能了”——那位女士说，
你唱得很好，
但你唱的是什么同一首曲子唱了三遍？她说从那以后她就再也没有忘记伍德斯托克。
她一有机会就向部长道歉，
担心他会认为她这样做是为了好玩——但发现他做梦也没想到这一切同一首曲子。
如果她不是一个成功的合唱团，
她是一位可爱的小传教士。
今年我们非常幸运地招募了你们。
巴特勒小姐今晚头痛得很厉害[注：信在第一页垂直结束]。
在家里教了这么多年，
恐怕她不是很坚强，
希望你的种植园主能报答你在这上面所付出的所有时间和烦恼。
现在年纪大了，
我必须说晚安，
去睡觉吧，
你的妹妹海蒂-

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