Letter from Hattie to Clara, May 21, 1885

Letter from Hattie to Clara, May 21, 1885

Birthdays; Sickness; Cholera; Thieves; Schoolgirls

Harriet spent most of her day with two girls who are sick. They suspected that one of them had cholera but now she is better. One night Harriet and Miss Butler suddenly heard noises coming from the school. When they went there, they saw all the girls standing in the hallway frightened because they had seen a man coming into the room from the window. At first, Harriet thought that one of the sick girls was hallucinating and scaring all the other girls. Nonetheless, they checked the room and found no one.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1885-05-21

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_371

[Note: Additional note on page one]
I send a
letter
from Henry
written
on May
18th in
memory
of the 17th

Canton China
May 21st 1885
My dear Clara,
It is late but I will
not go to bed until I have
written a few lines to assure
you that I have been
thinking of you. Your
birthday as it returns always
brings reminiscences of our
reaching home. it came
that year the first Sunday
after we reached home.
I thought about you all
all day on the 17th and
intended to write a little
although it was the Sabbath
but after the evening meeting
it stormed so that Miss
Young could not go
home and so she came

over and soent the night
May 5th I will only
add a little for it is after
midnight and I have
had a busy day. Two of
the girls have been sick
and I have been with
the most of the day.
Towards evening we became
frightened fearing that
one of them was going to
have the cholera. But after
working over her for
long time she became
so much better that we
went into the home and
thought we would have a
little quiet time for writing
Suddenly we heard the
greatest hubbub out in
the school and we flew

out to see what was the
matter . We found them
all out of their beds standing
in the hall and most
excited and frightened
They said a [u]man[/u] had
been seen coming into
one of the windows from the
roof. I thought when I first
heard the noise that our "cholera
patient" had became delirious
and was frightening them.
Dr Thomson heard the
noise and came over
thinking there was a fire
Miss Butler and I explored
all the rooms looking under
the beds and in the
closets, and finishing off
with an investigation of the
garret. Then we tried

to get them to go to bed but
they were too much frightened
and finally we brought our
writing out her and told
them we would watch while
they slept. So they went
to bed and here we are
still sitting in the school
verandah and the clock
has just stuck one and
as all are peacefully sleeping
I think we may now retire
from the field. Miss Butler
and I thought if we should
succeed in our endeavors
to find the thief we would
be as much frightened as
the girls. If there was one
at all he was doubtless
enough frightened by the
uproar they made to be glad
to escape the way he came.
[Note: Letter concludes sideways]
And now I must say goodnight with much love for all,
Hattie



[注：第一页附注]
我寄来亨利写于 5 月 18 日的一封信，
以纪念 1885 年 5 月 21 日中国第十七届广州大会，
亲爱的克拉拉，
时间不早了，
但我要写几行才能睡觉向你保证，
我一直在想你。
你回来的生日总是让人想起我们回到家。
那年我们回到家后的第一个星期日。
17日想了你一整天，
本来打算写一点的，
虽然是安息日，
但是晚上聚会后，
暴风雨让杨小姐不能回家，
所以她过来过夜，
5月5日我只会添加一点，
因为它是在午夜之后，
我度过了忙碌的一天。
其中两个女孩生病了，
我大部分时间都和我在一起。
到了晚上，
我们变得害怕，
担心其中一个会患上霍乱。
但是在她长时间的工作之后，
她变得好多了，
以至于我们回到家里，
以为我们可以有一点安静的时间来写作。
突然，
我们听到了学校里最喧闹的声音，
我们飞出去看看是怎么回事.我们发现他们都从床上站起来站在大厅里，
非常兴奋和害怕。
他们说有人看到有人从屋顶进入其中一扇窗户。
当我第一次听到声音时，
我以为我们的“霍乱病人”已经神志不清，
吓坏了他们。
汤姆森医生听到了声音，
以为着火了过来，
我和巴特勒小姐探查了所有房间，
看着床底和壁橱，
最后对阁楼进行了调查。
然后我们试图让他们上床睡觉，
但他们太害怕了，
最后我们把我们的文章拿出来给她，
告诉他们我们会在他们睡觉的时候看。
所以他们上床睡觉了，
我们仍然坐在学校的走廊里，
时钟刚刚停了一个，
大家都在安详地睡觉，
我想我们现在可以从球场上退休了。
巴特勒小姐和我想，
如果我们能成功找到小偷，
我们会和女孩们一样害怕。
如果真的有一个，
他无疑已经被他们制造的骚动吓坏了，
很高兴能从他来的路上逃走。
[注：信以横向结尾] 现在我必须怀着对所有人的爱说晚安，
海蒂

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