Letter from Hattie to Mattie, June 9, 1882
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Mattie, June 9, 1882
Subject
Weather; Human skin color; Racism--United States--History--19th century; Devotional literature; Missionaries' spouses; Marriage--Religious aspects--Presbyterians
Description
In this letter to her sister Martha, Harriet writes that she is traveling less to the country, but it is beautiful. Miss Butler worries that Harriet works too hard. Harriet's skin is much darker than Miss Butlers. She remarks that she hopes people will not think she is a "colored missionary" like they did Mr. McDonald. Harriet thinks Mr. Bainbridge's book about missions is very good and so is Mr. Simmon's paper. There was a wedding recently and there will one more soon.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1882-06-09
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_287
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
June 9th 1882.
My dear Mattie -
We are having
rather warm summer
weather now. I find it
quite warm going out to
my school in the country
to-day but it rained while
I was there so that coming
back it was cool and
pleasant. The country
is beautiful now the rice
fields are so green. I do
not go out to this school
but once a month the
chair is so expensive. It
costs $ 1.50 every time
I go. My chair hire
will be a great deal this
year the schools that
I have are all so far
away but Mr Henry and
Miss Butler say I must
not walk and I am
not going to any more this
summer. I have walked
a good deal, but to any of
my schools it makes a walk
of five or six miles to go and
return so it is tiresome.
You can trust Miss Butler
to look after me she is
very anxious I should
keep well, and I do not
find my work hard although
it keeps me pretty busy.
I burned my face going
out in the wind and sun
to-day. You can tell the
girls I am getting darker
and darker every day.
There is a great contrast
in [u]color[/u] between Miss
Butler and I The
hot weather makes her
look very white. Mrs Kerr
was talking to her last night
about looking so pale and
Miss Butler said I looked
tired and would look pale
too if my skin were whiter.
so you see I have got
beyond the possibility of
looking pale. I hope I
shall not get so dark before
I come home again that people
will say when they see me as
they did about Mr McDonald
that they did not know the
Board sent out [u]colored[/u]
missionaries. I took with
me today to read in the chair
Mr Bainbridge's book about
Missions. You saw him
in Swatow did you not.
I like his book [u]exceedingly[/u]
much better than I
expected. I think it is
one calculated to do a
great deal of good in
the interest of Missions He
gives his views and opinions
on all subjects and they
seem [u]very[/u] correct to me that
is of course they agree with
mine entirely - and so they
seem right to me. The
last Conference was at
Mr Whites it was a say
interesting one the paper
by Mr Simmons about How
to secure a deeper spirit
of consecration in our native
helpers. It was a [u]very[/u]
good paper indeed.
They are going to drop
out the August Conference
this year. I will send
you by this mail a little
book from Mrs Perkins which
came in my box from Philada
I have been intending to send
it for a long time but
neglected doing so --
[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
Mr Pearce
+ Miss Gittins
were married
a week or two
since and
are spending
their honeymoon
in Macao
Miss Jackson
will be
married in
about three
weeks. I
am sorry
to have her
go away but
I presume she will
enjoy living with Mr
Foster better than Miss Rowe
Yours Affly Hattie
中国广州，
1882 年 6 月 9 日。
我亲爱的玛蒂——我们现在的夏天天气相当暖和。
我发现今天去乡下的学校很温暖，
但是我在那里的时候下雨了，
所以回来很凉爽和愉快。
现在这个国家很漂亮，
稻田是那么绿。
我不去这所学校，
但一个月一次，
椅子太贵了。
我每次去都要花 1.50 美元。
今年我租用的椅子会很划算，
因为我所在的学校都很远，
但亨利先生和巴特勒小姐说我不能走路，
今年夏天我也不会去。
我已经走了很多路，
但是对于我的任何一所学校，
往返都要走五六英里，
所以很累。
你可以相信巴特勒小姐会照顾我，
她很担心我应该好好保养，
我觉得我的工作并不辛苦，
尽管它让我很忙。
今天我在风和太阳下把脸烫伤了。
你可以告诉女孩们，
我一天比一天黑。
我和巴特勒小姐的颜色反差很大，
炎热的天气让她看起来很白。
昨晚克尔太太和她谈起看起来很苍白，
巴特勒小姐说我看起来很累，
如果我的皮肤再白一点也会显得苍白。
所以你看我已经超越了脸色苍白的可能性。
我希望在我再次回家之前我不会变得如此黑暗，
以至于人们看到我时会像他们看到麦克唐纳先生一样说他们不知道董事会派出了有色人种传教士。
我今天带我去阅读班布里奇先生关于宣教的书。
你在汕头见过他是不是。
我非常喜欢他的书，
比我预期的要好得多。
我认为这是为了宣教的利益而计划做很多好事的人。
他对所有主题都发表了自己的观点和意见，
在我看来，
他们似乎非常正确，
当然他们完全同意我的看法-因此他们似乎是正确的我。
上一次会议是在怀特先生举行的，
西蒙斯先生关于如何在我们的本地助手中获得更深层次的奉献精神的论文说起来很有趣。
这确实是一篇非常好的论文。
他们将退出今年八月的会议。
我将通过这封邮件给你寄一本帕金斯夫人的小书，
这本书放在我从费城寄来的盒子里。
我早就打算寄给你了，
但没有这样做——[注：信在第一页垂直结束]
皮尔斯先生和Gittins
小姐结婚一两周后正在澳门度蜜月，
Jackson 小姐将在大约三周后结婚。
我很抱歉让她离开，
但我想她会比罗小姐更喜欢和福斯特先生一起生活。
亲爱的，
海蒂
June 9th 1882.
My dear Mattie -
We are having
rather warm summer
weather now. I find it
quite warm going out to
my school in the country
to-day but it rained while
I was there so that coming
back it was cool and
pleasant. The country
is beautiful now the rice
fields are so green. I do
not go out to this school
but once a month the
chair is so expensive. It
costs $ 1.50 every time
I go. My chair hire
will be a great deal this
year the schools that
I have are all so far
away but Mr Henry and
Miss Butler say I must
not walk and I am
not going to any more this
summer. I have walked
a good deal, but to any of
my schools it makes a walk
of five or six miles to go and
return so it is tiresome.
You can trust Miss Butler
to look after me she is
very anxious I should
keep well, and I do not
find my work hard although
it keeps me pretty busy.
I burned my face going
out in the wind and sun
to-day. You can tell the
girls I am getting darker
and darker every day.
There is a great contrast
in [u]color[/u] between Miss
Butler and I The
hot weather makes her
look very white. Mrs Kerr
was talking to her last night
about looking so pale and
Miss Butler said I looked
tired and would look pale
too if my skin were whiter.
so you see I have got
beyond the possibility of
looking pale. I hope I
shall not get so dark before
I come home again that people
will say when they see me as
they did about Mr McDonald
that they did not know the
Board sent out [u]colored[/u]
missionaries. I took with
me today to read in the chair
Mr Bainbridge's book about
Missions. You saw him
in Swatow did you not.
I like his book [u]exceedingly[/u]
much better than I
expected. I think it is
one calculated to do a
great deal of good in
the interest of Missions He
gives his views and opinions
on all subjects and they
seem [u]very[/u] correct to me that
is of course they agree with
mine entirely - and so they
seem right to me. The
last Conference was at
Mr Whites it was a say
interesting one the paper
by Mr Simmons about How
to secure a deeper spirit
of consecration in our native
helpers. It was a [u]very[/u]
good paper indeed.
They are going to drop
out the August Conference
this year. I will send
you by this mail a little
book from Mrs Perkins which
came in my box from Philada
I have been intending to send
it for a long time but
neglected doing so --
[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
Mr Pearce
+ Miss Gittins
were married
a week or two
since and
are spending
their honeymoon
in Macao
Miss Jackson
will be
married in
about three
weeks. I
am sorry
to have her
go away but
I presume she will
enjoy living with Mr
Foster better than Miss Rowe
Yours Affly Hattie
中国广州，
1882 年 6 月 9 日。
我亲爱的玛蒂——我们现在的夏天天气相当暖和。
我发现今天去乡下的学校很温暖，
但是我在那里的时候下雨了，
所以回来很凉爽和愉快。
现在这个国家很漂亮，
稻田是那么绿。
我不去这所学校，
但一个月一次，
椅子太贵了。
我每次去都要花 1.50 美元。
今年我租用的椅子会很划算，
因为我所在的学校都很远，
但亨利先生和巴特勒小姐说我不能走路，
今年夏天我也不会去。
我已经走了很多路，
但是对于我的任何一所学校，
往返都要走五六英里，
所以很累。
你可以相信巴特勒小姐会照顾我，
她很担心我应该好好保养，
我觉得我的工作并不辛苦，
尽管它让我很忙。
今天我在风和太阳下把脸烫伤了。
你可以告诉女孩们，
我一天比一天黑。
我和巴特勒小姐的颜色反差很大，
炎热的天气让她看起来很白。
昨晚克尔太太和她谈起看起来很苍白，
巴特勒小姐说我看起来很累，
如果我的皮肤再白一点也会显得苍白。
所以你看我已经超越了脸色苍白的可能性。
我希望在我再次回家之前我不会变得如此黑暗，
以至于人们看到我时会像他们看到麦克唐纳先生一样说他们不知道董事会派出了有色人种传教士。
我今天带我去阅读班布里奇先生关于宣教的书。
你在汕头见过他是不是。
我非常喜欢他的书，
比我预期的要好得多。
我认为这是为了宣教的利益而计划做很多好事的人。
他对所有主题都发表了自己的观点和意见，
在我看来，
他们似乎非常正确，
当然他们完全同意我的看法-因此他们似乎是正确的我。
上一次会议是在怀特先生举行的，
西蒙斯先生关于如何在我们的本地助手中获得更深层次的奉献精神的论文说起来很有趣。
这确实是一篇非常好的论文。
他们将退出今年八月的会议。
我将通过这封邮件给你寄一本帕金斯夫人的小书，
这本书放在我从费城寄来的盒子里。
我早就打算寄给你了，
但没有这样做——[注：信在第一页垂直结束]
皮尔斯先生和Gittins
小姐结婚一两周后正在澳门度蜜月，
Jackson 小姐将在大约三周后结婚。
我很抱歉让她离开，
但我想她会比罗小姐更喜欢和福斯特先生一起生活。
亲爱的，
海蒂
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Mattie, June 9, 1882,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed May 2, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/343.