Section of Letter from M. Noyes
Dublin Core
Title
Section of Letter from M. Noyes
Subject
Christian education of girls; Loans; Prayer groups
Description
Mattie writes about lending money to women they work with and how she questions whether or not it is the right thing to do. Some girls had the school started a prayer group that she finds encouraging. She says she is grateful for her position and familial ties.
Creator
Kerr, Martha Noyes
Source
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
Unknown
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Relation
noyes_c_journal_582
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_604
Coverage
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
that if they do it again we
shall be very slow to help
them. Another thing they
do is to borrow money and
then pay such an interest
for it that unless some one
helps them, they are soon
so in debt they can not
possibly get out. One woman
a bible woman came to
us the other day to borrow
$12.00 saying she wanted to
pay a debt. Upon inquiring
she told me her son had been
ill and she had to get medi-
cine &c, and so had borrowed
money of a neighbor. Well
I found she was paying
.50 per ct interest. Of course she
did not know enough about
Arithmetic to see that .04 a
month on a dollar was nearly
fifty pr. ct. interest. We could do
nothing but help her out of the
difficulty and she is to pay us
as she can. Now $12.00 may not
seem very much to you but
it is just one third of this
woman's salary for the year
so if one of your papa's were
getting $9,00 a year it would be
the same as if he had to pay
some one $300. Then another
plan they have to get money
is to sell their girls and this is
the worst thing of all. It is so
hard to know what to do
sometimes, how to teach
them to be economical.
If they have enough for
to day never seem to think
how it will be to morrow.
Some missionaries in
China feel it is best never
to lend money at all. You
will not wish to hear any thing
more about this I am sure
but really it is very hard to know
always what is really most for
their good, and there are so
many about us who are so
poor. I often feel thankful
we have not much cold
weather for they all dread the
cold so much. Our school
has been very pleasant indeed
Eight of the pupil, four
girls and four women have
joined the church during the
year. One thing that seemed
very pleasant was the girls
[--orga--] formed a prayer meeting
that met in the teachers room
every night just before the good
nights were said. We did not
know any about it for some
time, but one Sat. morning
one of the older girls spoke of it.
It seems they would bring
up any verse they wanted to
know about, have it explained,
then another thing- if any one
among them had done any
thing during the day the others
thought not [--write--] right they
would speak about it, and
so as they said help each other
I asked one of them if no
one ever felt angry if thus
talked about and she said oh
this is the way we help each
other. how very nice it
will be when we have
room enough, and money
enough to take all the
pupils who would like to
come. The girls always
seem very glad to get back
after vacation, and they
are very industrious while
here. Our school closed on
Wednesday morning, and I
must tell you that of their
own accord they got the
lessons they would have
recited on Wednesday all
out and asked to have them
heard two days before the
term ended. It was their
own idea to do it. I know
quite well when I was at
their age I would not have
been sorry to skip out of a
recitation if it should have
been recited Wednesday
afternoon and we were let go
home in the morning.
I often tell them about you
and your S.S. Really they seem
quite acquainted with my
home and always seem
greatly interested to hear
about our family when the
home letters come, my old
class too when sister Mary
wrote me they were sending
me $7.00 I told them about
that and they said Please thank
them for us. It is so good in
them to send us money to help
us to know the gospel. I can
not add any more to this except
to send a great deal of love you all
[Continued vertically on the fourth page]
If Hattie were at home she would
send love I know but she is in Hong Kong
Your friend
M. Noyes
shall be very slow to help
them. Another thing they
do is to borrow money and
then pay such an interest
for it that unless some one
helps them, they are soon
so in debt they can not
possibly get out. One woman
a bible woman came to
us the other day to borrow
$12.00 saying she wanted to
pay a debt. Upon inquiring
she told me her son had been
ill and she had to get medi-
cine &c, and so had borrowed
money of a neighbor. Well
I found she was paying
.50 per ct interest. Of course she
did not know enough about
Arithmetic to see that .04 a
month on a dollar was nearly
fifty pr. ct. interest. We could do
nothing but help her out of the
difficulty and she is to pay us
as she can. Now $12.00 may not
seem very much to you but
it is just one third of this
woman's salary for the year
so if one of your papa's were
getting $9,00 a year it would be
the same as if he had to pay
some one $300. Then another
plan they have to get money
is to sell their girls and this is
the worst thing of all. It is so
hard to know what to do
sometimes, how to teach
them to be economical.
If they have enough for
to day never seem to think
how it will be to morrow.
Some missionaries in
China feel it is best never
to lend money at all. You
will not wish to hear any thing
more about this I am sure
but really it is very hard to know
always what is really most for
their good, and there are so
many about us who are so
poor. I often feel thankful
we have not much cold
weather for they all dread the
cold so much. Our school
has been very pleasant indeed
Eight of the pupil, four
girls and four women have
joined the church during the
year. One thing that seemed
very pleasant was the girls
[--orga--] formed a prayer meeting
that met in the teachers room
every night just before the good
nights were said. We did not
know any about it for some
time, but one Sat. morning
one of the older girls spoke of it.
It seems they would bring
up any verse they wanted to
know about, have it explained,
then another thing- if any one
among them had done any
thing during the day the others
thought not [--write--] right they
would speak about it, and
so as they said help each other
I asked one of them if no
one ever felt angry if thus
talked about and she said oh
this is the way we help each
other. how very nice it
will be when we have
room enough, and money
enough to take all the
pupils who would like to
come. The girls always
seem very glad to get back
after vacation, and they
are very industrious while
here. Our school closed on
Wednesday morning, and I
must tell you that of their
own accord they got the
lessons they would have
recited on Wednesday all
out and asked to have them
heard two days before the
term ended. It was their
own idea to do it. I know
quite well when I was at
their age I would not have
been sorry to skip out of a
recitation if it should have
been recited Wednesday
afternoon and we were let go
home in the morning.
I often tell them about you
and your S.S. Really they seem
quite acquainted with my
home and always seem
greatly interested to hear
about our family when the
home letters come, my old
class too when sister Mary
wrote me they were sending
me $7.00 I told them about
that and they said Please thank
them for us. It is so good in
them to send us money to help
us to know the gospel. I can
not add any more to this except
to send a great deal of love you all
[Continued vertically on the fourth page]
If Hattie were at home she would
send love I know but she is in Hong Kong
Your friend
M. Noyes
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Kerr, Martha Noyes, “Section of Letter from M. Noyes,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 23, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/661.