Letters from Henry to Father and Mother, November 26, 1880

Letters from Henry to Father and Mother, November 26, 1880

Vacations; Weight gain; School buildings; Missionaries

This paper is split into two letters addressed to both Henry's father and mother. In the letter to his father, Henry writes that his family returned from their trip to the country and are working on the school buildings. The letter to his mother is in response to a long letter he received from her. The whole family gained weight over the trip, which Henry sees as a success. They are getting ready to welcome and meet the new missionaries coming to Canton, one of whom knew Emily at Wooster.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection

Unpublished

1880-11-26

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_620

Canton Nov 26th 1880
My dear Father
I have no idea who got the last
letter from me but I am I know in your
debt for letters and so will begin again with
you. We got home from our country trip all
in safety last week Wednesday having been
gone in all 28 days and a very pleasant trip
throughout. The weather here is beautiful [--cla--]
clear sky always and not too cold nor too
warm. Bella (whose birth day it is [--too--] to day)
and Wm Dean and Richard Varnum are
all very well. We expect to have Richard
Varnum baptized probably a week from next
Wednesday. We expect to ask Dr Happer to officiate.
Yesterday was I presume Thanksgiving day
at home and I think of you as getting to-
gether as many of the family as possible. I pre-
sume all could be there but Sarah. It must
seem quite different for her at Columbus. I
hope that she will enjoy herself. Our Thanksgiving
was the opening of the Girls Boarding School
as the building was dedicated yesterday. I
had charge of the exercises as chairman of the

Building Committee and was followed by remarks
from Mr Henry and others. There was a good
audience of women and some of the Chinese
Native assistants and members. The room
was too small to give a general invitation
to the Church members. A number of the
missionaries and other foreign residents were
present and the exercises were I think
interesting and satisfactory to those present,
interesting so far as I was concerned [--in--] it
by the circumstances and the occasion more
than just what was said. After years of
waiting it is gratifying to have at last so
fine a building completed paid for and now
ready for use. It will accommodate 100
boarders and I presume will soon be full.
It has been built very substantially and
will stand I hope a long time. I presume
you may have had the dimensions sent but I
will give them 93 feet long 36 feet wide and
3 stories high each story 12 ft high. This is the main
building. There are in addition bath rooms and cook
rooms and a small chapel. I will now close
this and on the other half of the sheet write to mother from
whom I got a good long letter by last mail
Much love from us all Your aff son
Henry.

[Continued vertically on the third page]
Willie is much pleased with his picture book and send best thanks

Canton Nov 26th 1880
My dear Mother
Many thanks for your good letter by the last mail
We got home from our country trip on the 18th of this
month and enjoyed it very much all of us. We were
gone in all just 28 days. I gained weight
considerably during the trip so that [--when I--] when
I got back I weighed with ordinary black clothing
177 pounds. My former weight in China was
150 and even in California the highest I got
up to was 163. So you see I am likely to
be quite a [--sust--] substantial man if I keep on
The coat made for me at Seville I cannot
button up, not by two inches, but then I do
not care to button it up and it fits very
nicely. I could button it when I first got it.
Willie gained some too so that he now weighs
38 pounds and my wife also gained five
pounds during our trip so that in the matter
of health I think we may report it a success.
We had for company Mr & Mrs Simmons &
Miss Stein (of the Baptist Mission) and Mrs
Happer of our own mission. These four had
one boat and we had another, and so
we went tracking up the river day by day through

the beautiful mountain scenery for more than two
weeks to the city of Lin Chau where we have
this year opened a mission station. The man who
was driven away from Kau-Kong is the man who
is stationed there. There were no baptisms but one
inquirer who I hope will be baptized after awhile.
Mr Simmons and I went ashore and most of
the towns and villages of much [?sore?] on the way
and I hope did some good. We also sold a
number of books. We are now looking for
our new missionaries Mr & Mrs White and
Mr Fulton. We know they intended to leave San
Francisco the 4th of Nov and the steamer is ex-
pected here the 1st of December or very soon after.
I am glad you have seen Mr Fulton and
were pleased with him. He expects to live
at Mr Henry's for the present. The White's are going
to Dr Happer when they came but I presume
will after awhile have a house of their own
Just now we have missionaries here on their
way to Siam. Mr & Mrs McClelland and
Miss Olmstead. Mr McClelland says that he
was at Wooster two years while Emily was there
so that she will no doubt remember him. They all
seem like very pleasant people. Now I must close
as it is time for the mail to go
Much love from us all
Your aff son
Henry

Letter