Letter from Hattie to Mother, March 30, 1884

Letter from Hattie to Mother, March 30, 1884

Travel; Mail service; Fever; Health; Church buildings--vandalism; Indemnity; Anti-Catholicism; Consuls; Sino-French War, 1884-1885

Harriet is replying to her mother's letter from February 6th. She tells her mother that today they received a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Henry reporting that they reached Suez so they expect to arrive in England by mid-March. Although Dr. Kerr's health is improving, Harriet thinks that he should go to the United States to rest and become strong again. Harriet comments on the article that was published titled "Wreck of the Canton Mission". This article recounts the disturbances that the station in Shek Lung faced while they were having a Communion service. Harriet clarifies that this city is known for having strong opposition to Christianity. Authorities agreed that they would pay the mission for the damages. Harriet believes that the American Consul is better than the English Consul when it comes to handling matters of this sort. The war is still going on, but they do not expect it to reach Canton.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1884-03-30

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_343

Sino-French War, 1884-1885

Canton China
March 30th 1884
My dear Mother,
Your letter of Feb 6th
came by the last mail. To-day
we have had a letter from
Mr and Mrs Henry. They
had reached Suez and
expected to be in England
by the middle of March.
They have had a very pleasant
quiet voyage. There was only
one other passenger, and they
found the ship very comfortable
and the officers kind.
Dr and Mrs Kerr have come
back from Macau today.
Dr Kerr seems some better and
much more cheerful. I think
that he ought to go to America.
It seems as though if he
would go home and take
a good long rest perhaps he
might get quite well and

strong again and have
another good long term of
service. Mrs Kerr does not
seem at all strong. She is
very large and seems to
get tired very easily it is a
great exertion for her to go up
stairs. Mrs Henry writes that
Mr Henry has had fever
several times since he left
here. I do hope he will get
entirely free from it at home.
The account of the "Wreck of
the Canton Mission" which you
saw in the paper was the
account of the trouble that
Mr Henry and Mr White
had in one of the cities in
the interior where we have a
station Shek Lung. I suppose
I wrote about it at the time.
They had been having
a Communion service and
the people gathered about
the door and began to be

very turbulent. It is a city where
there has always been very
bitter opposition to Christianity.
The mob would not listen to
reason and finally Mr Henry
started to go to the [?Mandarins?]
to apply for protection leaving
Mr White to remain at the
chapel. He remained as long
as he could with safety but was
obliged to leave as they commenced
tearing down the doors of the
chapel breaking up the seats
and throwing stones at him.
He was hit several times but
was not seriously injured. One
of the assistants was quite badly
wounded and came back
with them to the hospital.
The mob after finishing with
the Presbyterian chapel went
to the Roman Catholic's
premises and destroyed
considerable property there.
Mr White & Mr Henry
came directly back and

reported the matter and
the authorities at once took
measures to put a stop to such
proceedings and agreed to
pay a suitable indemnity.
Henry was sent out by the
mission here to receive the
Presbyterian share. Our Consul
is most prompt in attending
to such matters far better
than the English Consul.
We are most fortunate in
having such a good Consul
just at this juncture.
The "war" is still progressing
but we hope it will be over
soon. We have ceased to
expect that we shall be
disturbed here, but how it will
eventually be settled remains
to be seen. I was so sorry
to hear that Aunt [?Maren?] had
had such a fall. I am
afraid she will not be able
to walk well again. There is a
China woman here who hurt [?her?]
foot in much the same way some [Illegible] time

[Continued vertically on the first page]
since and although she is very old she has recovered so
that she walks
all right
again
Dr Graves'
father when
he was nearly
eighty broke
his leg &
it got quite
well again.
Now I must
say good night
With much love
for all
from
Hattie.

中国广东
1884年3月30日
我亲爱的母亲
您2月6日写的信刚来
今天收到来自Henry和他妻子的信。
/
他们到苏伊士运河，
他们认为他们将在三月中旬到达英国。
/
/
他们有一个非常好的安静的航行。
船上只有一名其他乘客，
军官们都很好。
/
/
今天Kerr医生和他妻子从澳门回来。
/
Kerr医生看起来更开心。
我觉得他应该去美国。
/
看来，
如果他回去好好休息一下，
就会好起来，
还能再回来。

/
/
Kerr太太看起来虚弱无力。
她很胖，
很容易累。
她上楼梯很困难。
Henry的妻子说Henry离开广州后发烧好几次。
/
/
/
我希望他回家后能完全康复。
/
你们在报纸看到的文章：“破坏广州传教士组织”
那是一份关于Henry和White先生在石龙遇到的困难的报告。
/
/
/
/
/
我确定我当时告诉过你这件事。
当一些人来敲教堂的门口时，
他们开始了圣餐礼拜。
人们很混乱。
/
/

/
在这个城市里，
基督教一直遭到强烈反对。
众人不听原因，
Henry只得向官员求救。
White先生留下来保护教堂。
/
/
他尽可能地呆久了，
但是一旦暴徒开始破坏教堂的门，
打破椅子，
并向他扔石头，
/
他就不得不离开。
他多次被石头击中，
但没有受重伤。
他们的一名助手受了重伤，
不得不被送往医院。
/
暴徒摧毁了长老会教堂后，
又开始摧毁天主教堂。
/
/
/
White先生和Henry直接回这里
/

他们向当局报告了此事，
当局处理了这种情况，
支付了赔偿金，
并采取措施防止这种情况再次发生。
/
传教组织派Henry去取回我们应得的赔偿金。
/
我们的领事馆在处理这些问题时非常迅速和积极，
比英国领事馆要好得多。
/
/
我们很幸运有这么棒的领事馆。
/
/
战争仍在继续，但我们希望它很快就会停止。
/
我们认为我们不会在这里遇到任何麻烦
/
但我们会拭目以待。
/
听到阿姨摔倒了，
我很难过。
恐怕她再也不能走路了。
/
这里有个中国女人不知怎么弄伤了她的脚，
虽然她已经很老了，
但她恢复很快又能走路了。

/
/
/
/
/
Graves医生的父亲在80岁时摔断了腿，
恢复得很好。
/
/
/
/
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现在我必须说晚安。 
/
我爱你们。
Hattie.

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