Letter from Mattie to Hattie, June 9, 1887

Letter from Mattie to Hattie, June 9, 1887

Death; Diseases; Physicians; Widows

Mattie reflects on the past year before she got married to Dr. Kerr. She is very busy now that she is in charge of four schools. She says that this past year has been hard on Dr. Twice since there has been a fair amount of illness. She talks about the death of her mother.

Kerr, Martha Noyes

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #5

Unpublished

1887-06-09

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_502

June 9th 1887

My dear Hattie
I know you
will be thinking of us to
day and the occurrences in
that [?Kuk Fan?] house last
year at this date. How busy
we were, the last day of my
maidenhood. We have had
much crowded into the past
12 months. First the depart-
ure of the two Hatties. then
getting a little settled at home
the three weeks here during
the months of July. arranging
and rearranging for a country
trip which after all was never
taken. Then so much com-
pany as we had last year.
I could not possibly get

through with as much mission
and home work now. Though
I have the charge of four
schools now besides anything
I may attempt in the hospital
proper. The winter brought so
much illness first the German
Mission which the Dr visited
almost daily for more than
two months. Finally one of their
men died of fever. The our
great anxiety about Mrs Cunning-
ham. Afterward the long
strain in regard to Miss Butler
and she had only been in Macao
4 days when Helen was taken
It has been a terrible strain upon
the Dr. Twice we feared he was
coming down with Typhoid fever
He feels it has been a very hard
year . But he is now comfortably
well. And the 2nd of May we
found that our dear little Mother
was at rest . H we only learned
from that mail through Mrs Graves

that you were telegraphed for from
Philadelphia -on account of Mothers
illness. The suspense of that
two weeks preceeding the next
mail I can never never forget
Imagination could not conceive
what the reality could be. Before
the mail came I told the Dr that
it seemed as though the news of her
death would not be so hard as this
not knowing. I had those dreaded
letters describing her going home
and the very next day the Dr
was taken so ill that we were
all so alarmed about him. I do
not know when I ever spent
such a day. Every sound dis-
turbed him but we could not
help him quiet. there was so much
going on. I at once decided that
if he was not better on Monday
that we would go up to Henrys
where at least the house could
be quiet but he was better
ere Monday came. It does not

seem possible since then to get
rested. A tired body refused to do
otherwise than continue to be
tired. But the summer is now
upon us and no one can expect
to be very vigorous. We are
neither of us ill and that is a great
deal to be thankful for. Our
letters of May 5 reaches us last
eve. We were so relieved to know
that Father was improving. The
Dr says he thinks he will go on
[--as--] [?gaining?] as the summer advan-
ces. You must all be much
worn out . But there can not
be much rest in the home on
the hill. Cousin Maria will
be a great comfort to Father I
am sure. Olivia will no doubt
spend some time there during
vacation. She will be in Phil-
adelphia probably the coming
year. Josie and his wife wrote by the
last mail. Josie seems to feel he
has done the best thing he can for

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on the first page]
Mrs Henry [?boys?] are bringing on the dinner so ours will
follow suit. I hope we shall not lose Santa sancha
this year [illegible]
there seems to be
some prospect of
it. The Children
will have gone long
before this reaches
you I do hope
they had a nice
time and that
all did. It
seemed to me as
if their coming
would [?divert?] you
some from the
great sorrow which
has come upon us
God has [illegible]
much of mercy with it
With love Mattie.



1887 年 6 月 9 日，
我亲爱的海蒂，
我知道你今天会想起我们以及去年这个日子在 Kuk Fan 家发生的事情。
我们是多么忙碌，
我少女时代的最后一天。
在过去的 12 个月里，
我们非常拥挤。
首先是两个海蒂的离开。
然后在七月份的这三个星期里在家中稍微安顿下来。
安排和重新安排一次从未参加过的乡村旅行。
然后和我们去年一样多的公司。
我现在不可能完成那么多的使命和家庭作业。
虽然我现在除了在医院里可以尝试的任何事情之外，
还要负责四所学校。
冬天首先带来了如此多的疾病，
博士几乎每天都访问德国使团，
持续了两个多月。
最后他们的一个人死于发烧。
我们对坎宁安太太的极大焦虑。
后来巴特勒小姐的长期紧张，
海伦被带走时她才来澳门4天，
这对医生来说是一个可怕的压力。
有两次我们担心他会患上伤寒 他觉得这是非常艰难的一年。
但他现在很舒服。
5 月 2 日，
我们发现我们亲爱的小妈妈在休息。
H 我们只是从格雷夫斯夫人那封邮件中得知，
您是因为母亲生病而从费城电报过来的。
下一封邮件前两周的悬念让我永远无法忘记想象无法想象现实会是什么。
在邮件到来之前，
我告诉医生，
她去世的消息似乎不会像不知道那样难。
我收到了那些描述她回家的可怕信件，
第二天医生病得很重，
以至于我们都为他感到震惊。
我不知道我什么时候度过了这样的一天。
每一个声音都扰乱了他，
但我们无法帮助他安静下来。
发生了很多事情。
我立刻决定，
如果他在星期一没有好转，
我们就去亨利斯那里，
至少房子可以安静下来，
但在星期一到来之前他会好一些。
从那时起，
似乎就不可能休息了。
疲倦的身体除了继续疲倦之外拒绝做其他事情。
但是现在夏天已经来临，
没有人可以期望它会非常有活力。
我们俩都没有生病，
这是非常值得感谢的。
我们 5 月 5 日的来信是在前一天晚上寄到的。
得知父亲正在好转，
我们松了一口气。
医生说他认为随着夏天的到来，
他会继续进步。
你们一定都筋疲力尽了。
但在山上的家中不能有太多的休息。
我敢肯定，
玛丽亚表妹会给父亲很大的安慰。
奥利维亚无疑会在假期期间在那里度过一段时间。
明年她可能会在费城。
乔西和他的妻子在最后一封邮件中写道。
乔西似乎觉得他已经为[注：信在第一页横向结束]亨利夫人的孩子们带来了晚餐，
所以我们的孩子们也会效仿。
我希望今年我们不会失去 Santa sancha [无法辨认] 似乎有一些前景。
孩子们会在这到达您之前很久就走了，
我希望他们度过了愉快的时光，
而这一切都做到了。
在我看来，
他们的到来似乎会让你从降临在我们身上的巨大悲伤中转移一些注意力，
上帝对它[难以辨认]有很大的怜悯，
带着爱，
玛蒂。

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