Letter from Harriet to Father, September 12, 1882

Letter from Harriet to Father, September 12, 1882

Letter writing; Mail steamers; Christian converts; Women authors

Hattie is disappointed that she has not received the mail. The steamer came in today and indicated that it was carrying American mail but there was nothing for her. She has been writing letters all day and she would have more written if she did not write an article for Woman's Work. She hopes her father will appreciate the article. Mrs. Graves told her recently that a young man has been accepted into the church, and that they found that he has not been worshipping idols. Apparently, his grandmother came to the hospital twenty years ago and learned about Christianity, which she, in turn, taught her daughter, who in turn taught her son.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1882-09-12

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_297

Canton China
Sept 12th 1882
My dear Father -
I think before I put
down my pen and go to sleep
I must write you a few lines
to tell you how greviously disappointed
I am so that six weeks hence
when you receive this letter
you will give me your sympathy.
We have been looking for the
mail for a day or two, and to-day
when the steamer came up the
flags were all up showing that
the American mail was on board.
I went at once to send AKwai
for the letters but found Mr
Henry had already sent Nell
after a while he came back
but although he brought letters
and papers for the Kerrs +
the Henrys there was not
a sign of a letter or paper for
me. I have been waiting
and waiting hoping they would

come in from some source
or other but it is now ten-o-clock
at night so there is no hope of
them to-day. I do not know
what can be the matter we
have never had any such
trouble in getting our mail
after it came to Canton.
before. The last mail we
did not get our share until
three or four hours after it
came and Dr Graves and
Mr Simmons did not get
theirs until the next morning.
It is a comfort to feel sure
that the letters were [u]written[/u]
and that the failure is somewhere
this side of Seville. I have
been busy writing all day
have written eight "duty-letters".
I have got on better with my
writing this vacation than
usual. If I had not had
to write an article for Woman's
Work last week I would have
had a good number ready

for the mail that leaves soon
again. I often feel sorry that
I do not write you letters that
would be a help to you for the
Monthly Concert. Perhaps when
I send you that Magazine
what I wrote for it will be
of some use to you. I heard
quite an interesting incident
from Mrs Graves a day
or two since. It seems a
young man has just been
received in their church
and when he was examined
they found that no idols
had been worshipped
in his family for many
years. [u]Twenty[/u] years ago
his grandmother had come
to the hospital and while
here heard about Christianity.
She returned to her home
and taught her daughter
and she in turn her son

and they gave up the worship
of idols and all these years
have been worshipping the
true God as well as they
know how. No doubt there
are many such instances -
the gospel has been preached
her in Canton so long that
there are multitudes who
have heard more or less
of it, and only need the
Spirits influence to quicken
it in their hearts and
make it bring forth fruit
to life eternal. Next Sabbath
is to be our Communion Season
in the 2nd church. I presume
there will be a number of
applicants for admission
there are several in the
hospital I think will apply.
And now I will say good night
and go to sleep and dream
perhaps of letters and I hope
tomorrow morning we shall find
that they have come to hand.

[Note: Letter concludes vertically on page one]
With
much
love from
Your Aff
daughter
Harriet



中国广州
1882 年 9 月 12 日
我亲爱的父亲——
我想在我放下笔睡觉之前，
我必须给你写几行字，
告诉你我多么失望，
所以六周后当你收到这封信时，
你会给我你的同情。
我们找了一两天的邮件，
今天轮船开来的时候，
所有的旗帜都升起来了，
表明美国邮件已经在船上了。
我立刻去送 AKwai 去取信，
但发现亨利先生已经送了 Nell，
过了一会儿他回来了，
虽然他给 Kerrs 和 Henrys 带来了信件和文件，
但我没有收到任何信件或文件的迹象。
我一直在等待，
希望他们会从某个来源或其他来源进来，
但现在已经是晚上十点了，
所以今天他们没有希望了。
我不知道是怎么回事，
我们在收到邮件到广州后从来没有遇到过这样的麻烦。
前。
最后一封邮件是在三四个小时后我们才收到的，
而格雷夫斯博士和西蒙斯先生直到第二天早上才收到他们的邮件。
确信这些信是写的，
而且失败是在塞维利亚这边的某个地方，
这是一种安慰。
我整天忙着写已经写了八封“任务书”。
这个假期我的写作比往常更好。
如果我上周没有为《女人的工作》写一篇文章，
我早就准备好接收即将再次寄出的邮件了。
我常常感到遗憾的是，
我没有给你写信，
这将有助于你参加每月的音乐会。
也许当我把我为它写的那本杂志寄给你时，
会对你有所帮助。
一两天后，
我从格雷夫斯夫人那里听到了一件非常有趣的事。
似乎一个年轻人刚刚被他们的教堂接待，
当他被检查时，
他们发现他的家人多年来没有崇拜过任何偶像。
二十年前，
他的祖母来到医院，
在这里听说了基督教。
她回到自己的家，
教她的女儿和她的儿子，
他们放弃了对偶像的崇拜，
这些年一直在敬拜真神，
他们知道怎么做。
毫无疑问，
这样的例子还有很多——福音在广州已经传了这么久，
以至于有许多人或多或少都听过，
只需要圣灵的感化力在他们心中激发它，
让它结出果实永生。
下一个安息日将是我们在第二间教堂的圣餐季节。
我想会有很多申请入院的人，
我认为有几个在医院会申请。
现在我要说晚安，
去睡觉，
也许会梦到信件，
我希望明天早上我们会发现它们已经到手了。
[注：信在第一页垂直结束] 怀着你女儿的爱，
哈丽特

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