Letter from Hattie to Mary, June 22, 1885

Letter from Hattie to Mary, June 22, 1885

Flood damage; Mail steamers; Rice farming

Harriet writes to her sister Mary about the flood. She has just been up on the roof waiting for the steamer to approach and is describing the water. The water is currently two to three feet high in the yard, luckily the main house is four feet above the ground. The flood will doubtlessly lead to an influx of fever. It is not safe for boats to go on the river. They have sent an older servant man to fetch the mail.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1885-06-22

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_380

Canton China
June 22nd 1885
My dear Mary
I have just been up
on the roof to see if I could
discover any trace of the
approaching steamer and
was rewarded by seeing the
smoke some miles down the
river .The day that the
mail is coming we are quite
unsettled with our "great
expectations." We are almost
drowned out here just now.
there is a perfect flood.
All day the water has been
two or three feet deep all over
the yard under the house
and all. The house is set
up about four feet from the

ground so that there is no
danger that the water will
come into the main part of
the house but it has been a
foot or so deep in the
kitchen. Such a flood
causes the greatest distress
among the poor Chinese
Already the price of rice
has gone up as much of
the rice crop which is now
nearly ready to be gathered
will be ruined. We have
had such heavy and
continuous rains for some
weeks. The rain at first
we hailed with joy as it
cleared the atmosphere
and put a stop to the
Cholera. But this flood
will doubtless sow the

seeds for a large crop of fevers
We heard this morning
that a number of houses
in one part of the city had
falled soaked by the rain
from above and undermined
by the floods beneath.
Last evening Sabbath no
one was able to come for the
service so we did not even
have the lamps lighted.
The tide is so high and
the current so swift that
it is not very safe to go
out upon the river although
some boats do go up and
down. Dr Thomson is in
Macao ,and Miss Stein
has gone up to live in Shameen
for a month or so. So Miss
Butler and I have the

premises here to ourselves and
with the water two or three
feet high we feel quite safe
from intruders. There goes
the steamer There are no flags
up but this one the Honam
seems to be too lazy to put
them up , so we feel sure that
the mail is on board and
we shall get it after awhile.
It was due in HongKong on
Saturday so it has had one
day of grace already. We
have a good old man, who
lives over on Mr Henry's side
of the premises who goes for
the mail for all us here
at "Kukfan" (the Chinese name
of our locality) and also
brings the letters et cetera for
Dr Graves and Mr Simmons.

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
He is quite old and I am sorry he will have
such a
long [u]wade[/u]
through
the water
today to
get to the
Post office.
Many of the
streets are
two feet or
more under
water and
the sky still
looks threatening.
With much love
your aff
[u]Hattie[/u]



中国广州
1885 年 6 月 22 日，
我亲爱的玛丽，
我刚上屋顶，
想看看能不能发现任何接近的轮船的踪迹，
结果看到沿河几英里远的地方冒出浓烟。
对我们的“远大期望”感到非常不安。
我们刚才差点被淹死在这里。
有一场完美的洪水。
一整天，
房子下面的院子里到处都是水，
有两三英尺深。
房子离地面大约四英尺，
所以水不会进入房子的主要部分，
但它已经进入厨房一英尺左右。
这样的洪水给中国穷人带来了最大的痛苦。
大米的价格已经上涨，
因为现在几乎可以收割的大米作物将被毁掉。
几个星期以来，
我们一直在下大雨。
起初，
我们高兴地欢呼下雨，
因为它清除了大气并阻止了霍乱。
但这场洪水无疑会播下大量发烧的种子。
我们今天早上听说，
该市某个地方的一些房屋被上面的雨水浸透，
下面的洪水破坏了。
昨晚安息日没有人能来参加礼拜，
所以我们甚至没有点灯。
潮水如此之高，
水流如此之急，
尽管有些船确实会上下浮动，
但在河上出去并不是很安全。
汤姆森博士在澳门，
斯坦因小姐上楼在沙面住了一个月左右。
所以巴特勒小姐和我在这里拥有自己的房屋，
水有两到三英尺高，
我们对入侵者感到非常安全。
轮船走了，
没有挂旗，
但是湖南的这艘似乎懒得挂了，
所以我们确信邮件已经在船上，
过一会儿我们就会收到。
星期六在香港到期，
所以它已经有一天的宽限期了。
我们有一个好老人，
他住在亨利先生的房子里，
他在“库克凡”（我们当地的中文名称）为我们所有人取邮件，
还给格雷夫斯博士和先生带来了信件等等。
西蒙斯。
[注：信在第一页横着结束] 他年纪大了，
很抱歉他今天要趟这么长的水才到邮局。
许多街道在水下两英尺或更多，
天空仍然看起来很危险。
非常喜欢海蒂

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