Letter from Harriet to Father, May 18, 1882

Letter from Harriet to Father, May 18, 1882

Birthdays; Household employees; Missionaries--China--Correspondence; Church attendance

Harriet writes to her father to wish him a happy birthday and says that in two years' time, she will be exactly half his age. She talks about her cook, his wife, and their parents. She thinks that the wife is a real Christian but Akwai himself is simply uninterested and unimpressed to learn. She says that his relatives would be upset if he let his wife join the church. She and Miss Butler pray that he will change his mind so as not to drift further from the church. They are having to accommodate around 200 people in the chapel, construction for the new one will start in September.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1882-05-18

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_281

Canton China
May 18th 1882
My dear Father -
These letter will
reach the dear old "home
on the hill" just about the
time that you will be having
another birthday. I will
enclose some lines which I
found the other day in a
paper which I think are
very nice and very [u]true[/u].
In two years more if we
both live I shall be half
as old as you will be
and you can doubtless
remember the time if I
cannot when you were
forty times as old as I
So you see how fast
I am overtaking you.
AKwai's wife he is our cook
you know was telling me
tonight about her Father.

She wants to go out and
visit him next week says
she has never been back home
since was married sixteen
years ago. He came out here
ten years since. He is [u]ninety[/u]
years old. I wish he could
come out and stay awhile +
hear about the gospel. I
hope she can teach him for
I believe she is a real Christian
I have for years felt interested
in AKwai's Mother although I
have never seen her. His Father
is not living his Mother is now
over eighty and she is so deaf
she cannot hear a word.
I wish so much AKwai would
become a Christian but he does
not seem to care at all for
the things which are alone of
importance. I think he feels
that he is about as good as the
Christians. He has been with
us so many years and has

always been so faithful +
trusty and has ministered to us
in "temporal things" I wish we
could minister to him in spiritual
but he seems so unimpressible
His wife would be very glad
to apply for baptism - if he
were willing but he will not
hear of it. He dislikes a [u]fuss[/u]
very much and his relatives
would all make a great stir
doubtlessif he allowed her to
unite with the church.
Miss Butler + I feel so anxious
that he should become a
Christian this year will you
not all help us to pray for it.
It seems as though as the
years go by if he does not
come nearer the kingdom
he will be drifting farther
away. He used to attend
the services on Sabbath but
he has never been since
that Sabbath when the

school-building was burned
down so many years ago. I
suppose he prefers not to go
and excuses himself on the
ground of being here to look
after things. Our chapel is
crowded to overflowing every
Sabbath. There is really only
room for seating about 200
comfortably, and as we take
over about 80 women + girls +
Miss Butler has 40 boys in
her school, there isnt much
room left for the 2nd Church
and the hospital patients.
We hope to have the new chapel
before the end of the year Dr
Kerr thinks he will not begin
building until September. He has
had so much building to do he is
rather tired of it told me the other
day he wished I would take this
job off his hands and I wish
I could. I told him he would
have to promise in advance to be

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
satisfied with the result whatever it was - but of course "the
brethren" would
not want to
have a [u]woman[/u]
build the church
and I hav'nt any
time to spare But
I know I [u]could[/u]
do it and do
it well - if they
would give me
money enough.
I dont know as
I could manage
it as cheaply
as they would
With much
love Ever
yr aff daughter
[u]Harriet[/u].

中国广东
1882年5月18日
我亲爱的父亲，
这些信件会在您生日的时候及时送到我们家。
/
/
/
我会寄给您一些报纸上的引语，
它们非常好，
很真实。
/
/
两年后，
如果我们都还活着，
我就只有您的一半。
我相信您还记得您的年龄是我的四十倍，(我出生的时候您已经40了）
时间过得很快，
看看我有多快赶上您。
/
/
/
今晚，
我们厨师的妻子 A Kwei 告诉我她父亲的事。
/

她想下周去看他，
她说，
自从她十六年前结婚以来，
她就再也没有回家过。
她父亲十年前来到这里，
他九十岁了，
我希望他能来这里学习基督教，
我希望她能教他，
因为我相信她是一个真正的基督徒
多年来，
我一直对A Kwai的母亲感兴趣，
尽管我从未见过她。
/
他的父亲已不在人世，
他的母亲已经80多岁了，
耳聋了，
一个字也听不见。
我希望A Kwai成为一名基督徒，
但他认为这并不重要，
我认为他觉得他和大多数基督徒一样好，
他为我们工作了这么多年，
他忠诚可靠。
我希望我们能让他成为基督徒，
但他完全不感兴趣。
/

/
/
/
/
/
如果他妻子受洗，
她会很高兴，
但他不允许她，
他不喜欢反抗，
如果他的妻子受洗，
他的亲戚会吵架。
/
/
我和Butler小姐非常渴望他成为一名基督徒，
您会为他祈祷来帮助我们吗？
/
/
似乎岁月流逝，
他离上帝越来越远。
/
/
他曾经参加过教堂礼拜，
但自从校舍被烧毁后就没有参加过。
/
/

/
我想他宁愿不去，
还找借口说他宁愿在这里照顾事情。
/
/
我们的教堂每个星期天都挤满了人，
/
只有200人的座位，
我们有 80 名妇女和女孩，
Butler小姐的学校有40个男孩，
毕竟，
留给第二位教友和住院病人的空间已经不多了。
/
/
/
我们希望在年底前建造一座新教堂
Kerr 医生认为我们要到九月才能开始建造教堂。
/
他管理了这么多建筑，
他受够了。 
他说他希望我能取代他，
我也希望我能。
/
我说他必须保证无论结果如何都满意。
/

【纵向书写】
但当然，
其他传教士不希望女人来建造教堂，
还有，
我没有任何空闲时间，
如果他们给我足够的钱，
我知道我可以做到并且做得很好，
我不知道我是否可以像他们想要的那样便宜。
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
爱你们，
您亲爱的女儿，
Harriet。

Letter