Letter from Hattie to Mary, February 28, 1889

Letter from Hattie to Mary, February 28, 1889

Home; Travel; Single people in missionary work; Steamboats; Letter writing

Harriet writes to her sister Mary about leaving home and what everything looked like that last morning. She said it seemed as though mother and father must be there in some kind of way. The house will feel less lonely when Henry and his family visit next summer. She will mail off her letters in Yokohama. Mr. Joseph Stubbs, the President of Berea College, came down to the steamer to say hello.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1889-02-28

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_398

SS Oceanic Feb 28th 1889.
My [u]dear Mary[/u]-
I could not answer all your letters on one
sheet so will continue on another. It does not
seem to me that I will ever forget just
how our [u]home[/u] looked as we saw it from the
train the morning I left surrounded with snow
and the smoke coming out of the chimney. It
seemed so strange to think there was no one
there it did seem almost as though father
and Mother must be there in some
kind of a way. I wonder if their spirits
ever do come back and how much they
know of our circumstances .I shall think
that you are having a nice time
together for I am sure that you will
and when Em is at home there will
be four of you and in the summer
time a house full always. Next
summer you will have Henry's family
and then only a rest of one summer
and Dr Kerr and Martha will be

there. I presume they will make
a short visit and will likely be
going about a good deal - but anything
you can do for dear Dr Kerr you can
feel is the lines of "ministering to
the saints ." To go back to the
letter you wrote Monday after I left
it was funny that Edward forgot
to get a teacher for Mary Elliott's
class . He is fortunate in having such
faithful coadjutors who will come
forward unbidden . I hope he will
not fail to appreciate his advantages
a married man has only one helpmeet
while he has [u]three[/u]. I am glad
your chickens turned out so well
you must keep me posted
about the account book .I hope
the yearly record will be a
satisfactory one . I found the
golden rod you gave me in
the blank book in which I am

copying poetry. It is beautifully
pressed . When I opened the
little trunk which I have in my
stateroom I found my best bonnets
pretty well crushed. I put them in
a box which was just large enough to
get them in with careful squeezing
but it had been compressed into
half its original size. There were books
in the trunk and it had been stood
on and the bonnet end down hence
this result. They looked as if they were
ruined but I was able to be them
into shape again so that they are
"[illegible]." I will put your handkerchief
when I can get it to wave to China
when I reach them .I did not
go to Denver after all I wondered
that it seemed to be marked
so on the time table for it is
out of the way . It seems such
a long time to wait to receive

letters from you until March 22nd
but you will have to wait longer. I
must see that my letters are mailed in
Yokohama myself I think last time I
left them with Dr Hepburn and he
forgot them and they missed one mail.
You will I hope receive them by the
2nd of April . It will seem when
we have regular communication
established. Unless we make very
good time between this and HongKong
I shall not be able to send by the
City of Sydney. I suppose she is near
HongKong now but I am glad I had
those days at home. I wrote to you
did I that Mr Joseph Stubbs the
Pres of Berea College came down to
the steamer to say goodbye. He had
just come from Ohio . It did seem
strange to think how our family reached
around the globe from New York to Canton.
If my school were in Cleveland it

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
would not
be so hard
to go now so
hard for you
to have me
go and I
expect that
part is good
for us is
it not.
It is getting
dark and
they are
setting the
table for
dinner so
I must
say goodnight
Ever and
always
Your aff
sister
Hattie -



SS Oceanic
1889 年 2 月 28 日。
我亲爱的玛丽——我无法在一张纸上回复你所有的信，
所以将在另一张纸上继续。
在我看来，
我永远不会忘记我离开时从火车上看到我们家的样子，
那天早上我被雪和烟囱冒出的烟雾包围着。
认为那里没有人似乎很奇怪，
似乎父亲和母亲必须以某种方式在那里。
我想知道他们的精神是否真的回来了，
他们对我们的情况了解多少。
我会认为你们在一起度过了愉快的时光，
因为我相信你们会的，
当 Em 在家时，
你们会有四个人在夏天的时候总是满屋子。
明年夏天你将拥有亨利的家人，
然后只有一个夏天剩下的时间，
科尔博士和玛莎会在那里。
我想他们会进行一次短暂的访问，
并且很可能会进行很多交易——但你能为亲爱的克尔博士做的任何事情，
你能感觉到的都是“为圣徒服务”的台词。
回到你周一离开后写的那封信，
很有趣的是，
爱德华忘记给玛丽·埃利奥特的课找老师了。
他很幸运有这么忠实的陪审员，
他们会不请自来地挺身而出。
我希望他不会不欣赏他的优势，
一个已婚男人只有一个助手，
而他有三个。
我很高兴你的鸡长得这么好，
你必须让我知道账簿的情况。
我希望每年的记录会是一个令人满意的记录。
我在我抄诗的空白本子里找到了你给我的金杖。
它压得很漂亮。
当我打开我在我的客舱里的小箱子时，
我发现我最好的帽子已经被压碎了。
我把它们放在一个盒子里，
盒子的大小刚好可以让它们小心地挤进去，
但它已经被压缩到原来的一半大小。
后备箱里有书，
它一直站在上面，
引擎盖向下，
因此产生了这个结果。
它们看起来好像被毁了，
但我能够重新塑造它们，
使它们“[无法辨认]”。
我 会 把 你 的 手帕 拿到 手 帕 ，
等 我 拿到 手帕 去 中国 挥手 .等到 3 月 22 日才收到您的来信似乎需要很长时间，
但您将不得不等待更长的时间。
我必须看到我的信是亲自在横滨邮寄的，
我想上次我把它们留给赫本医生，
他忘记了，
他们错过了一封邮件。
我希望您能在 4 月 2 日之前收到它们。
当我们建立定期沟通时，
它就会出现。
除非我们在这和香港之间度过一段愉快的时光，
否则我将无法从悉尼市派出。
我想她现在在香港附近，
但我很高兴我在家里度过了那些日子。
我写信给你，
是不是，
伯里亚学院的校长约瑟夫·斯塔布斯先生来到轮船旁道别。
他刚从俄亥俄州来。
想想我们家是如何从纽约到广州遍布全球的，
这似乎确实很奇怪。
如果我的学校在克利夫兰，
那么 [注：信在第一页横向结束] 现在走起来不会那么难，
你让我走就那么难，
我希望那部分对我们有好处，
不是吗。
天快黑了，
他们正在摆桌吃饭，
所以我必须说晚安，
永远永远你姐姐海蒂——

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