Letter from Hattie to Frank, May 31, 1870

Letter from Hattie to Frank, May 31, 1870

Birthdays; Teeth--Abscess; Dentistry, Operative; Indigenous physicians

Harriet writes this letter to his brother, Francis, on his birthday. Her other brother, Henry, has been suffering from an 'ulcerated tooth' and Harriet describes how the doctors have been treating him. There is a break in the letter, as Harriet finishes it on June 8th and concludes with her account of Henry's treatment, as well as comments on medicine in China. There is small embossed symbol in the top left corner.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1

Unpublished

1870-05-31

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_039

[Note: small embossed symbol on the top left corner]
Canton China
May 31st 70.
My dear Frank,
I will as usual
[u]commence[/u] your birthday
letter on the 31st of May. I
thought about it being your
birthday the first thing this
morning but the day has
gone and now it is after ten
o-clock. Henry has already
gone to bed he has been feeling
quite misterable for several
days with an ulcerated tooth
& has lost considerable sleep.
Dr Kerr lanced it some
days since but it does
not seems to stop discharging
yet, hope he will feel better

in the morning so that he
can go to Conference & enjoy
it. - June 8th This
is so long after the first date
of this epistle that I am able
to give you the remainder
of the account of Henry's
toothache although very
likely he will give it you
himself on another sheet.
Dr Kerr's lancing it did not
seem to reach the seat of
pain & as he went to Hongkong
the next morning Dr Wong
took the case in hand &
opened it again cutting it
deeper intending to take it
out but found he had
not the proper instruments

with him & so Henry was
obliged to wait until the
next day. It pained him
very much for a time but
the next day Dr Wong brought
over his instruments and
took it out & that ended
the chapter. Dr Wong is a
Chinaman but received his
education in USA & Scotland
speaks English very well.
He is the physician for
nearly all the foreign residents
here & is very well liked.
I sometimes wonder if
you would enjoy a visit
to Dr Kerr's hospital. As a
general thing the chinese
have a great deal of confidence

in the ability of their own
doctors to cure disease but as
they do not practice surgery a
great many cases requiring difficult
operations come to the hospital
Cancers tumors diseased bones blind,
and deaf, & maimed, some of them
are dreadful looking objects.
I often think when I go to the
chapel where the hospital service
is held that it must be something
like the congregation our Savior
used to have when "They brought
to him the lame & the [?halt?]
& the blind and he [u]healed[/u]
them". I think it must be
very hard indeed to be a
"medical missionary". There I
have filled this sheet all up with this.

[Note: Written vertically on the left-hand margin of the fourth page]
so I must say good-night. I wish I had written more
but I am too sleepy Your Loving
Hattie



[注：左上角的小浮雕符号]
中国广州
1870 年 5 月 31 日。
亲爱的弗兰克，
我会像往常一样在 5 月 31 日开始你的生日信。
我以为今天早上第一件事就是你的生日，
但这一天已经过去了，
现在已经十点多了。
亨利已经上床睡觉了，
几天来他的牙齿溃烂了，
他一直感觉很痛苦，
并且已经失去了相当多的睡眠。
Kerr 医生在几天后开始使用它，
但它似乎还没有停止放电，
希望他早上会感觉好些，
这样他就可以去参加会议并享受它。
6 月 8 日 这是这封书信的第一个日期之后的很长一段时间，
我可以给你关于亨利牙痛的其余部分，
尽管他很可能会在另一张纸上亲自给你。
克尔医生的刺刀似乎没有到达疼痛的地方，
第二天早上他去香港时，
黄医生拿着箱子再次打开，
把它切得更深，
打算把它拿出来，
但发现他没有合适的工具他&所以亨利不得不等到第二天。
有一段时间他非常痛苦，
但第二天黄医生带来了他的仪器并把它拿出来，
这章结束了。
黄医生是中国人，
但在美国和苏格兰接受教育，
英语说得很好。
他是这里几乎所有外国居民的医生，
非常受欢迎。
我有时想知道你是否愿意去克尔医生的医院看看。
一般来说，
中国人对自己的医生治疗疾病的能力很有信心，
但由于他们不做手术，
所以很多需要高难度手术的病例来医院治疗癌症肿瘤病骨盲、聋和致残，
其中一些是看起来可怕的物体。
我经常想，
当我去举行医院服务的教堂时，
它一定像我们的救主过去的会众，
当“他们把瘸腿的、瘸腿的和瞎眼的带到他面前，
他治愈了他们”。
我想，
当一名“医疗传教士”，
一定非常辛苦。
在那里，
我已经把这张表填满了。
[注：垂直写在第四页的左边]
所以我必须说晚安。
我希望我能写更多，
但我太困了。
来自，
海蒂

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