Letter from Hattie to Clara, February 18, 1889

Letter from Hattie to Clara, February 18, 1889

Home; Monuments; Memorials; Missionaries--China--Correspondence;

Harriet writes to her sister Clara, recalling her departure and thinking of when the next eight years will come to a close and when she will be home once again. With her parent's passing, she says they seem nearer to the old home than any other place on earth. Harriet asks if Clara remembers sitting in the pews with her mother, father, and herself. She likes that you can see their father's monument from the kitchen window and says it seems as though he is still preaching from his pulpit.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #4

Unpublished

1889-02-18

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_396

SS Oceanic
My dear Clara - Feb 18th 1889.
I do not know whether my letters
will read as well each sheet by itself
but it will avoid all difficulty in keeping
the sheets that belong together by themselves
if each one is independent of all the
others .I do not enjoy thinking of
an "eight year's correspondence"
but it is something to be very thankful
for that we have so good a means
of communication still left us .
and "some sweet day bye and bye"
it will all be over and we shall
be together [u]forevermore[/u]. I am
so glad you could all come out
to the car there in Cleveland you
all looked so bright and pleased.
It seems to me that I came down
on the lower step and kissed you
all again did I not. I wish I
had stepped off and stood with

you for a moment but I did
not know how soon the train would
start . The last moments did not
seem so dreadful at the time nor in
remembering as those at Elyria for
which I am thankful . It is
nice to think that father and
mother and Frank are beyond
all these sad partings. I told you
I would tell you if father and
mother seem nearer to me than
when I was at home. It does
not seem so at all it seems
as though they are nearer the
old home than any other place
on earth . I am glad the
Sabbath was a comforting day to you
I wish that my last Sabbath
might have been a brighter
one . It was so nice for Edward
to sit with Em and Mary
in our pew , it was still well filled

"Instead of the fathers shall be the
children" so it must be sooner or
later and we have great reason
for thankfulness that they were
spared to us so long and went home
[u]so easily[/u] when life was done. I
am glad you can remember
our pew with Father and Mother
and me occupying it. I do not
know who was the author of the
words I wrote on the cards. I
am so sorry I made the mistake
in writing so many of them if I
had not all might have been
alike and then it took so much
more time . It is nice that you
can see the monument plainly
from the kitchen window .I used
so often to look over there when
we were sitting at the table when
I sat on the west side . It
does seem as though it is Father's

[u]pulpit[/u] from which he is preaching
still .I wonder if the sunlight will
ever reflect from it as it does from some
of the monuments there. Think of
me sometimes when you look over
there .I know you will -
Decoration day there will be the
two graves in our lot . they looked
so pretty last year covered with
myrtle . I presume you will
get the lot all in order before the
next time .I will try and
imagine how it will look when
it is finished , Sarah thinks it
will be nice to put flowers on
"the pulpit" on decoration day
as Mr Goehler said and it
seems so to me. You know
Frank's name is on the
monument . And now I must
say goodbye for to day .
Ever your loving Hattie -



SS Oceanic
我亲爱的克拉拉 -
1889 年 2 月 18 日。
我不知道我的信是否能单独阅读每张纸，
但如果每张都独立于所有其他纸，
它将避免在保持属于自己的纸上的所有困难。
我不喜欢想到“八年的书信”，
但非常感谢我们仍然拥有如此好的沟通方式。
和“甜蜜的一天再见”这一切都会结束，
我们将永远在一起。
我很高兴你们都可以来到克利夫兰的车上，
你们看起来都那么开朗和高兴。
在我看来，
我似乎从较低的台阶上下来，
再次吻了你们所有人，
不是吗？我希望我已经下车和你站了一会儿，
但我不知道火车多久会启动。
在当时，
最后的时刻似乎并不像在伊利里亚的那些日子那样可怕，
我对此表示感谢。
很高兴认为父亲、母亲和弗兰克已经超越了所有这些悲伤的离别。
我告诉过你，
我会告诉你，
如果父亲和母亲似乎比我在家时更接近我。
看起来他们似乎比地球上任何其他地方都更接近老家。
我很高兴安息日对你来说是一个安慰的日子我希望我的最后一个安息日可能是一个更光明的安息日。
爱德华和艾姆和玛丽坐在我们的长椅上真是太好了，
它仍然充满了“孩子们将代替父亲”，
所以它迟早会到来，
我们有充分的理由感谢他们幸免于难我们这么久了，
当生活结束时，
我们就这么轻松地回家了。
我很高兴你能记住我们的长椅，
爸爸妈妈和我占据着它。
我不知道谁是我写在卡片上的话的作者。
我很抱歉我犯了一个错误，
写了这么多，
如果我不是所有人都一样，
那么我花了很多时间。
很高兴从厨房的窗户可以清楚地看到纪念碑。
我以前坐在西边的桌子旁时经常往那边看。
看起来好像是他仍在讲道的父亲的讲坛。
我想知道阳光是否会像从那里的一些纪念碑上反射出来一样。
有时当你往那边看的时候会想起我。
我知道你会的——装饰日我们的地段会有两座坟墓。
去年长满桃金娘的它们看起来很漂亮。
我想你会在下一次之前把所有东西都整理好。
我会试着想象它完成后的样子，
莎拉认为在装饰日将鲜花放在“讲坛”上会很好，
正如 Goehler 先生所说的那样在我看来是这样。
你知道弗兰克的名字在纪念碑上。
现在我必须和今天说再见了。
永远爱你的海蒂——

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