Letter from Hattie to Mary, March 31, 1883
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Mary, March 31, 1883
Subject
Birthdays; Travel; April Fools' Day; Picnics
Description
Harriet tells Mary about the March club and how it all started because Miss Butler, Hattie Kerr, Mr. Thorne, and herself have birthdays in March. Mrs. Graves' is on the same day as Miss Butler's. Harriet recounts the outing when they had planned to go to White Cloud Hills but ended up staying in, partly due to the rain and also because Miss Butler and Harriet did not want to go out. Mr. and Mrs. Graves were disappointed in them. She wishes Mary a happy birthday and says how narrowly she escaped being an "April Fool."
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1883-03-31
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_314
Coverage
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
March 31st 1883
My dear Mary,
I have been thinking
of you a great deal to-day
and wishing you all good
wishes. I was so glad that
the home letters came to-day.
I felt almost sure they would,
for almost always when I
want the letters to come on
a particular day they do,
and I wanted to have
them come on your birthday.
We have had quite a time
here about the "March Club."
It started in this way one
evening Miss Butler Hattie
Kerr and I were coming
down from "the other end"
in a boat with Mr Thorne
who is the agent of the
Bible Society here and we
happened to speak of our
birthdays and found that they
all came in March Hattie's
the 4th mine the 5th Mr Thorne's
the [?9th?] Miss Butler's the 23rd
So thereupon he said we must
form a March Club, and
he has talked about it more
or less ever since and have
been surprised to find how
many there are here whose
birthdays come in March.
Mrs Graves' comes on the same
day with Miss Butler's. Well
we all agreed to celebrate our
birthdays by a picnic to White
Cloud Hills and as we would
not have it on all our birthdays
concluded to select the one which
came first Mr Simmons' whose
birthday is on the 1st of March.
Mrs Graves agreed to provide
provisions &c for twelve & we
were to have enough for
twelve. In making the
arrangements she said that
if it should be a rainy day
we would not go but would
meet at her home in the
evening instead. In the
morning it rained a little
and as we were not very
anxious to go we easily made
ourselves believe that they would
give up going and so staid
at home most comfortably
and contentedly. About dark
several of the party appeared
"before our gates" with the report
that they had their picnic
minus "the maidens of [?Kirkfase?]"
It appeared that they decided
to go and went out and
waited at the little North Gate
where we had agreed to meet
for an hour and then as we
did not come they went on
without us. Nearly all of them
came and spent the evening
with us I suppose to make
up to us our lose of the
enjoyment of the day.
We expressed as much regret
as [?emaeinces?] would allow
and inwardly congratulated
ourselves that we had managed
to spend the day at home.
Miss Butler and I [u] grumble [/u] very
much at our hard fate in being
obliged to go out so much. Dear
Dr and Mrs Graves really
persecute us. Since that first
day of March the birthday of the
different members of the March
Club have come and gone
and now here is yours the
Last of all. How narrowly you
escaped being an "April Fool"
did you not. Miss Butler has
some plan for fooling us this year
but as the 1st comes on Sabbath
we tell her we shall insist on a
strict puritanical observance of
the day, and allow nothing
of the sort. Little Hattie Kerr
fooled me in a very harmless way
this morning pretending to have
brought me something in her hand
to look at. She said she wanted
to put some "Cod Liver Oil" in a bottle
& mark it California Honey & send to [Illegible]
but good Dr Kerr would not let her.
[Continued vertically on the first page]
Now I know
very well
this is a
very poor
letter for
your birthday
but you
must believe
that all
deficiencies
are made up
by a boundless
amount of
love from
Your aff sister
Hattie
中国广州
1883 年 3 月 31 日
亲爱的玛丽，
今天我很想你，
祝你一切顺利。
我很高兴今天收到了家信。
我几乎可以肯定他们会的，
因为几乎总是当我希望他们在某个特定的日子收到信件时，
我想让他们在你生日那天收到。
关于“三月俱乐部”，
我们在这里度过了相当长的一段时间。
一天晚上，
巴特勒·海蒂·克尔小姐和我从“另一端”和这里的圣经公会代理人索恩先生乘船从“另一端”下来，
我们碰巧谈到了我们的生日，
发现他们都三月来了 海蒂的第四矿 第五矿 索恩先生的第九矿 巴特勒小姐的 23 所以他说我们必须成立一个三月俱乐部，
从那以后他或多或少地谈到了这件事，
并且惊讶地发现这里有多少人他们的生日在三月。
格雷夫斯夫人和巴特勒小姐同一天来。
好吧，
我们都同意通过去白云山野餐来庆祝我们的生日，
因为我们不会在我们所有的生日都这样做，
所以我们决定选择西蒙斯先生的第一个生日，
他的生日是 3 月 1 日。
格雷夫斯夫人同意为十二人提供食物等，
我们将有足够的十二人。
她在安排时说，
如果是下雨天，
我们就不去，
而是晚上在她家见面。
早上下了点小雨，
我们不是很着急去，
我们很容易让自己相信他们会放弃去，
所以最舒服、最满足地呆在家里。
大约天黑时，
几个聚会出现在“我们的大门前”，
报告说他们有野餐减去“柯克法斯的少女”。
看来他们决定出去，
出去在我们约定见面的小北门等待一个小时，
然后因为我们没有来，
他们没有我们继续前进。
几乎所有人都来了，
和我们一起度过了一个晚上，
我想这是为了弥补我们失去的一天的乐趣。
我们尽可能地表示遗憾，
并在内心祝贺我们设法在家里度过了一天。
巴特勒小姐和我对我们不得不经常外出的艰难命运感到非常不满。
亲爱的格雷夫斯博士和夫人真的在迫害我们。
从三月的第一天开始，
三月俱乐部的不同成员的生日就来了又去，
现在这是你最后的生日了。
你是多么侥幸逃脱成为一个“愚人节”，
不是吗？
巴特勒小姐今年有一些愚弄我们的计划，
但是当第一个安息日到来时，
我们告诉她，
我们将坚持严格遵守清教徒式的日子，
不允许任何此类事情发生。
今天早上，
小海蒂可儿以一种非常无害的方式愚弄了我，
假装她手里拿了什么东西给我看。
她说她想在瓶子里放一些“鳕鱼肝油”并标上加州蜂蜜并寄给[难以辨认]，
但好心的克尔博士不会让她这样做。
[第一页垂直续] 现在我很清楚这是一封非常糟糕的生日信，
但你必须相信，
所有的不足都是由你姐姐海蒂的无限爱弥补的
March 31st 1883
My dear Mary,
I have been thinking
of you a great deal to-day
and wishing you all good
wishes. I was so glad that
the home letters came to-day.
I felt almost sure they would,
for almost always when I
want the letters to come on
a particular day they do,
and I wanted to have
them come on your birthday.
We have had quite a time
here about the "March Club."
It started in this way one
evening Miss Butler Hattie
Kerr and I were coming
down from "the other end"
in a boat with Mr Thorne
who is the agent of the
Bible Society here and we
happened to speak of our
birthdays and found that they
all came in March Hattie's
the 4th mine the 5th Mr Thorne's
the [?9th?] Miss Butler's the 23rd
So thereupon he said we must
form a March Club, and
he has talked about it more
or less ever since and have
been surprised to find how
many there are here whose
birthdays come in March.
Mrs Graves' comes on the same
day with Miss Butler's. Well
we all agreed to celebrate our
birthdays by a picnic to White
Cloud Hills and as we would
not have it on all our birthdays
concluded to select the one which
came first Mr Simmons' whose
birthday is on the 1st of March.
Mrs Graves agreed to provide
provisions &c for twelve & we
were to have enough for
twelve. In making the
arrangements she said that
if it should be a rainy day
we would not go but would
meet at her home in the
evening instead. In the
morning it rained a little
and as we were not very
anxious to go we easily made
ourselves believe that they would
give up going and so staid
at home most comfortably
and contentedly. About dark
several of the party appeared
"before our gates" with the report
that they had their picnic
minus "the maidens of [?Kirkfase?]"
It appeared that they decided
to go and went out and
waited at the little North Gate
where we had agreed to meet
for an hour and then as we
did not come they went on
without us. Nearly all of them
came and spent the evening
with us I suppose to make
up to us our lose of the
enjoyment of the day.
We expressed as much regret
as [?emaeinces?] would allow
and inwardly congratulated
ourselves that we had managed
to spend the day at home.
Miss Butler and I [u] grumble [/u] very
much at our hard fate in being
obliged to go out so much. Dear
Dr and Mrs Graves really
persecute us. Since that first
day of March the birthday of the
different members of the March
Club have come and gone
and now here is yours the
Last of all. How narrowly you
escaped being an "April Fool"
did you not. Miss Butler has
some plan for fooling us this year
but as the 1st comes on Sabbath
we tell her we shall insist on a
strict puritanical observance of
the day, and allow nothing
of the sort. Little Hattie Kerr
fooled me in a very harmless way
this morning pretending to have
brought me something in her hand
to look at. She said she wanted
to put some "Cod Liver Oil" in a bottle
& mark it California Honey & send to [Illegible]
but good Dr Kerr would not let her.
[Continued vertically on the first page]
Now I know
very well
this is a
very poor
letter for
your birthday
but you
must believe
that all
deficiencies
are made up
by a boundless
amount of
love from
Your aff sister
Hattie
中国广州
1883 年 3 月 31 日
亲爱的玛丽，
今天我很想你，
祝你一切顺利。
我很高兴今天收到了家信。
我几乎可以肯定他们会的，
因为几乎总是当我希望他们在某个特定的日子收到信件时，
我想让他们在你生日那天收到。
关于“三月俱乐部”，
我们在这里度过了相当长的一段时间。
一天晚上，
巴特勒·海蒂·克尔小姐和我从“另一端”和这里的圣经公会代理人索恩先生乘船从“另一端”下来，
我们碰巧谈到了我们的生日，
发现他们都三月来了 海蒂的第四矿 第五矿 索恩先生的第九矿 巴特勒小姐的 23 所以他说我们必须成立一个三月俱乐部，
从那以后他或多或少地谈到了这件事，
并且惊讶地发现这里有多少人他们的生日在三月。
格雷夫斯夫人和巴特勒小姐同一天来。
好吧，
我们都同意通过去白云山野餐来庆祝我们的生日，
因为我们不会在我们所有的生日都这样做，
所以我们决定选择西蒙斯先生的第一个生日，
他的生日是 3 月 1 日。
格雷夫斯夫人同意为十二人提供食物等，
我们将有足够的十二人。
她在安排时说，
如果是下雨天，
我们就不去，
而是晚上在她家见面。
早上下了点小雨，
我们不是很着急去，
我们很容易让自己相信他们会放弃去，
所以最舒服、最满足地呆在家里。
大约天黑时，
几个聚会出现在“我们的大门前”，
报告说他们有野餐减去“柯克法斯的少女”。
看来他们决定出去，
出去在我们约定见面的小北门等待一个小时，
然后因为我们没有来，
他们没有我们继续前进。
几乎所有人都来了，
和我们一起度过了一个晚上，
我想这是为了弥补我们失去的一天的乐趣。
我们尽可能地表示遗憾，
并在内心祝贺我们设法在家里度过了一天。
巴特勒小姐和我对我们不得不经常外出的艰难命运感到非常不满。
亲爱的格雷夫斯博士和夫人真的在迫害我们。
从三月的第一天开始，
三月俱乐部的不同成员的生日就来了又去，
现在这是你最后的生日了。
你是多么侥幸逃脱成为一个“愚人节”，
不是吗？
巴特勒小姐今年有一些愚弄我们的计划，
但是当第一个安息日到来时，
我们告诉她，
我们将坚持严格遵守清教徒式的日子，
不允许任何此类事情发生。
今天早上，
小海蒂可儿以一种非常无害的方式愚弄了我，
假装她手里拿了什么东西给我看。
她说她想在瓶子里放一些“鳕鱼肝油”并标上加州蜂蜜并寄给[难以辨认]，
但好心的克尔博士不会让她这样做。
[第一页垂直续] 现在我很清楚这是一封非常糟糕的生日信，
但你必须相信，
所有的不足都是由你姐姐海蒂的无限爱弥补的
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Mary, March 31, 1883,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 27, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/370.