Letter from Hattie to Mary, August 11, 1889

Letter from Hattie to Mary, August 11, 1889

Death; Father figures; Heart failure

Harriet says that they have been looking over the life of Dr. Williams, he recently passed away. He was a father figure to her and was twelve years younger than her own father when he died. She discusses how peaceful her father had been, and how we all must have a clock that is slowly running out. She leaves them all "listening to one of Mr. Notestein's good sermons"

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1889-08-11

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_426

Canton China
Aug 11th 1889
My dear Mary
It is Sabbath eve
but it is getting so late
that it will soon be
Monday morning. I
had such a long nap
this afternoon that I thought
very likely I would not
be sleepy tonight so I left
my lamp burning in order
that I might get up and
write a little if I could
not sleep. It is now
between ten and eleven
so with you it is Sabbath
morning and you are
perhaps just now on your
way to church. How I
would like to spend the
next few hours with you
instead of sleeping. We
have had a very quiet
restful day, we had
Sabbath School as usual

at half past ten then
the morning service, but
the afternoon we spent in
resting I was sorry to lose
any of it in sleeping but
felt very tired and sleepy.
I have been looking over
the life of Dr Williams.
I think he seemed more
like Father to me than
any one else that I have
ever known. It seems nice
that they have the same
inscription on their monuments.
It reminded me so of
Father where on the 456th
page it speaks of his
earnestness in cutting the
pages of new books for the
University Library after he
had grown so feeble that
he was unable to attempt
much. It seems as though
he must have seemed
about as old as Father
did and yet he was

twelve years younger. I do
not think there are many
who live to Father's age and
are as comfortable and
happy as he was What a
blessing to us that he was
spared so long. Dr Kerr
says if he had not been
of such a temperament
and lived as he did he
would never have lived
to such an age with his
heart in the state in which
it must have been with
that accumulation of
fluid. I do not see
how a death could seem
more beautiful than his.
It seemed just like the
stopping of a clock that
has run down. How strange
it seems to think that
our lives are really all the
same, like an alarm clock
set for a certain time and
God knows just the hour

and moment when they
will stop. I often think of
what Prof Black said
at Mrs Myers funeral that
there is nothing in life so
certain as death and
nothing to us so uncertain
as when, and where, and
how it will come to us. But
that matters very little if we
are sure that we are ready,
and it is a blessed thing
to have the hope that when
for us all it is all over we
shall be [u] together [/u] [u] forever [/u]/
I have been thinking of
Mrs Myers today and
wondering if her son is still
in Los Angeles. How is Mattie
Orr getting along. I dreamed
last night of going to Wooster
to attend some king of a
performance. I think it
was a [u] drama [/u]. We were
all so [u] very [/u] sorry about your
disappointment after that long ride.

[Continued vertically on the first page]
Now I will
to bed
again
and if
I do not
go to sleep
will get
up and
write to
Sarah.
I will
leave you
all listening
to one of Mr
Notestein's good
semons possibly
Henry's instead
With love
Hattie



中国广州 1889 年 8 月 11 日
我亲爱的玛丽
这是安息日前夕，
但时间太晚了，
很快就到了星期一的早晨。
今天下午睡了很长时间，
我想我今晚很可能不会困，
所以我把灯点着，
以便我睡不着时可以起来写一点。
现在是十点到十一点之间，
所以你现在是安息日早晨，
你可能刚刚在去教堂的路上。
我多么想和你一起度过接下来的几个小时而不是睡觉。
我们度过了非常安静的一天，
我们像往常一样在十点半开始安息日学，
然后是早上的礼拜，
但是我们休息的下午我很抱歉在睡眠中失去了任何东西，
但感到非常疲倦和困倦。
我一直在关注威廉姆斯医生的生平。
我认为他对我来说比我认识的任何人都更像父亲。
他们的纪念碑上有相同的铭文似乎很好。
这让我想起了父亲，
在第 456 页上，
他谈到了在他变得如此虚弱以至于无法尝试太多之后，
他为大学图书馆剪下新书的认真。
似乎他看起来一定和父亲一样大，
但他却年轻了十二岁。
我认为没有多少人能活到父亲的年龄，
像他一样舒适快乐，
他能幸免于难，
对我们来说是多么幸运。
克尔医生说，
如果他没有这样的性情并像他那样生活，
他永远不会活到这样的年龄，
而他的心脏一定会随着液体的积聚而处于这种状态。
我不明白死亡怎么会比他的更美丽。
这似乎就像一个已经走完的时钟停止了。
认为我们的生活真的都是一样的，
这似乎是多么奇怪，
就像一个设置了某个时间的闹钟，
上帝知道它们会在什么时候停止。
我经常想起布莱克教授在迈尔斯夫人的葬礼上所说的话，
生命中没有什么比死亡更确定，
对我们来说没有什么比死亡的时间、地点和方式更不确定。
但是，
如果我们确定自己已经准备好了，
那就无关紧要了，
希望当我们一切都结束时，
我们将永远在一起，
这是一件幸福的事。
我今天一直在想迈尔斯夫人，
想知道她是否儿子还在洛杉矶。
Mattie Orr 相处得如何。
昨晚我梦想去伍斯特参加一场盛大的演出。
我认为那是一部戏剧。
在长途骑行之后，
我们都对您的失望感到非常抱歉。
[第一页垂直续] 现在我又要睡觉了，
如果我不睡觉，
我会起床给莎拉写信。
我会让你们都听诺特斯坦先生的好演讲之一，
可能是亨利的，
而不是爱海蒂

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