Letter from Henry to Father, January 13, 1880

Letter from Henry to Father, January 13, 1880

Weather; Consuls; Concordances; Elections

Henry writes to his father to tell him about the holidays from the last month. In late December he finished his Concordance and is trying to get it printed. He was glad to hear about the election results and how the Republicans took most of the Northern states. Henry talks about the new Consul at Hong Kon, Col Mosly.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3

Unpublished

1880-01-13

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_643

1880 United States Presidential Election

Canton Jan 13th 1880
My dear Father
I was glad to get
your letter by the mail which
arrived last Saturday and
know that all at home were
well. All the Noyes's in Canton
are very well at present. I
almost forget when our last
mail went but I presume
it was just before Christmas,
so that since I last wrote
we have said [--god--] good bye
to 1879 and welcomed 1880.
Christmas evening we spent
at Mr Edge's of the London Mission
They had quite a large party
mostly missionaries. Dec 29th
I finished my Concordance
and now the next thing will
be to see if I can get it
printed. I have been making

my calculations that the
[?Ampact?] Society will probably
be willing to furnish the funds
but I have not yet made any
application. I expect to ask
the Endorsement of the Mission
when we hold our annual
meeting which will be before
long. New Years day I spent
in going around making
calls. Called on all the
ladies I know in the place
It is almost a universal
custom here for the men
to make New Year's calls.
I would have been glad
to have seen Mr & Mrs Locke
I wish Uncle Augustus could
have made the visit with
them. You write about
the Elections. I still retain
enough interest in politics to
be very glad to hear of the
Republicans sweeping the Northern

States. We had a call the other day
from the veritable [u] Col Mosly [/u]
who I presume you may know
is now Consul at Hong Kong. He
looks and seems like quite a
pleasant gentlemanly man. You
would not like him for a
"guerilla" at all. He does not
however stand in much fear of
men. He has been overhauling
Consular matters in Hong Kong
in such a way as to be anything
but pleasant to his predecessors.
He claims that during the past
few years they have pocketed some
$30 000 of government. He first
wrote home to the government
asking if he could keep there
perquisites, saying (it is reported)
that he would be very glad to
if the law allowed it. He is
going to put the investigations
through if possible and then
is going home. He says he
can make a good deal more
at home, that the salary is too

small to make anything and
that he "[u] won't steal [/u]". I wish
that we had a good many
more officials that [u] would'nt steal [/u]
Col Mosly is a Republican now
although he still feels rather proud
of his military exploits. He says
he thinks it is very poor policy
for the South to set themselves
in opposition to the North now
as a "Solid South" is certain
to make a "solid North" and
the solid North will be sure to
have the power. You must
have had unusually cold
weather last fall. We had
no cold weather until about
the 1st of this month. Now we
have [u] our [/u] cold weather which
brings the thermometer down to between
50° & 60° above zero in the house
and a few degrees lower out doors.
The coldest morning the thermometer
got down to 40° out doors & I saw
on the tops of the boats in the canal
a little [u] white [/u] [u] frost [/u], the first I have ever
seen in Canton Now I will close as I am

[Continued vertically on the fourth page]
going to write a little to Mother. Much love from
Bella & Baby and Your aff Son Henry

Letter