Letter from Hattie to Clara, December 14, 1889

Letter from Hattie to Clara, December 14, 1889

Finance, Personal; Travel; Women missionaries

Harriet writes to her sister Clara about the mail steamers and when she will next be able to get home. Miss Butler thinks she should go home sooner and plans to as well. Miss Lewis is being very frugal with money and Harriet thinks it is because she supports a Chinese man named APong, who Harriet thinks poorly of. He cannot keep a job and spends too much time with Miss Lewis.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

1889-12-14

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_449

Canton China
Dec 14th 1889
My dear Clara,
I will begin getting
ready for the next mail now
and hope to have more written
than I had for the last mail
when it comes mail day.
The steamers are not to run
so frequently this year. You
would receive the letters that went
over on the China very promptly
as the steamer crossed the
Pacific from Yokohama to San F.
in twelve days the best time that
has yet been made on that
line. I still keep my wretched
cold adding to it from time to
time as I find opportunity. You
can tell Edward that I sniff
more frequently and constantly
than we did both together while
I was at home. I wonder if you
are all able to keep free from
colds this winter. By this time
you are probably having very cold
weather, and when this reaches

you it wil be a year since I
left home, and one year of the
eight and a half if I stay,
until the summer of 1897 will
be gone. Miss Butler always says
I must go home in five years this
time. She is very miserable all the
time has just been having an
attack of dengue fever. I
suppose she really ought to go home
in the spring, but she wishes very
much to stay two or three years
more. She has set her heart on
going home through Europe and
visiting the Holy Land and in
order to do that will have to save
up some money and she is still
a good deal in debt, so it
will take her some time to get
out of debt and get anything
saved to use for travelling.
Miss Lewis goes to the other
extreme, is economical to the
last degree so much so that if
anything is needed for the home
she considers it unnecessary
and so Miss Butler and I who

consider it necessary buy it.
I suppose she is very wealthy
it would seem different if she
needed to save her money or if
any of her friends needed it
but they are all well off. She
must spend a good deal on
APong whom she considers her
"adopted son." I suppose she
supports him and his family
he now has two children and
his mother-in-law lives with him
so there are five of them but I
hardly suppose she would
give him more than ten
dollars a month. His
mother-in-law has studied in
the school here and would
make a splendid Bible Woman
but she insists on her living with
APong and looking after his
interests. He is not doing anything
whatever now. He is very fickle
and has never been able to
keep to anything long enough to
accomplish anything. He
undertook to study medicine
with Dr Kerr and left after a

little while then he went
to Dr Wenyon's hospital in
Fatsham but soon tired of that.
Some time since there was a
robbery in the Fatsham hospital
Dr Wenyon lost valuable
surgical instruments worth
about two thousand dollars &
APong was strongly suspected
of taking them. I think every
one is pretty well satisfied now
that he did not but the fact of his
being suspected shows that he
has a bad name. Every one
thinks that Miss Lewis' giving him
so much money has been bad
for him. I hope he will turn out
well in the end, he is bright, and
she has set her heart and affections
wholly on him. He used to go up
to her room whenever he liked
and eat with her sometimes while
Miss Butler was sick and took her
with him when she went on a trip
to the country & was very much
influenced by his opinions and all
these things made a great deal
of unpleasant talk both among
the Chinese and foreigners,

[Continued vertically on the first page]
which has
grieved her
beyond measure.
I remember
when Martha
went home
APong's
mother
wanted her
to take him
to America
to educate
and we
did really
talk a little
about it I
am very
thankful
we did not
get into
it. She
thought calling
him her adopted son
would make anything admissible
but of course it would not.
Must sign here Hattie.

中国广东
1889年12月14日
我亲爱的Clara，
我正在准备下一封邮件，
/
所以我会为这个邮件日写比上一个邮件日更多的邮件。
/
/
今年候轮船来来往往并不频繁。
/
你应该会收到从横滨穿越太平洋到旧金山的轮船在 12 天内寄出的信件。 
/
/
这是这艘轮船的新纪录。
/
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我的重感冒还是没有好
/
而且越来越严重。
你可以告诉Edward
我现在比在家时吸得更多，
我的鼻子一直在流。
我希望你能在这个冬天保持健康，
/
不要感冒。
每年的这个时候，
我预计那里的天气会很冷。

当你收到这封信时，
我离家已经一年了，
如果我在广州待到1897年，
那么我只剩下八年半了。
Butler小姐说
这次我必须在5年后回家。
她因为登革热一直很痛苦。
/
我想她应该在春天回家，
/
但她想在这里再呆两三年。
/
她想通过欧洲和圣地回家，
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所以她正在努力存一些钱。 
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她仍然欠债，
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所以她需要很长时间才能存钱用于旅行。
/
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Lewis小姐恰恰相反
/
她很节俭，
/
她甚至不会为她的房子买任何装饰品，
/

因为她认为它们是不必要的。
/
我猜她一定很有钱，
/
如果她想存钱给她的朋友，
那也无妨，
但她的朋友也都是有钱人。
她一定要花很多钱来照顾 A Pong，
她把他当作自己的养子。
/
她支持他和他的家人。 
他有两个孩子，
他的岳母和他住在一起。
/
总共有5个人，
但我无法想象她每个月给他的钱超过10美元。
/
他的岳母在学校读书，
她会是一个成功的圣经女人，
/
但她坚持照顾A Pong而不是做传教工作。
/
他现在不工作。
/
他很善变，
他永远无法做一件事足够长的时间来完成任何事情。
/
他试图跟Kerr医生学医，

但后来他离开了。
/
然后他去了佛山Wenyon医生的医院，
但他也厌倦了。
离开佛山医院后，
发生入室盗窃案，
Wenyon医生丢失了价值两千美元的宝贵手术器械
/
每个人都怀疑A Pong偷了它们。
现在，
/
谁都知道他没有偷他们，
/
但他们怀疑的事实表明他的名声是多么糟糕。
/
每个人都认为Lewis小姐给他钱是个坏主意，
对他不利。
我希望他最终会做得很好。 
他很聪明，
Lewis小姐真心爱他。
他曾经想什么时候就去她的房间。
有时候Butler小姐生病了，
他会陪Lewis小姐一起吃饭。
Lewis小姐游行时也带着他
有时，
/
她带他去乡下旅行，
他的意见对她影响很大。
/


这在中国人和外国人中引起了很多不好的谣言，
这让Lewis小姐很不高兴。
/
我记得
Martha回家时
A Pong的母亲
想让她
带他
去美国
读书，
/
我们实际上讨论过它，
/
但我很高兴我们没有这样做。
/
/
/
/
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她以为称他为她的养子就可以接受任何事情，
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但事实并非如此。
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我不得不在这里停止写作。Hattie

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