Section of Letter from Hattie

Section of Letter from Hattie

Death; Drowning; Water spirits; Death--Poetry

This letter begins with the death of Mr. Caldwell, who died by drowning in the river. His body was recovered by Chinese men diving in order for them to hold a funeral. Many of the missionaries are heavily affected, especially those also from England. Harriet writes about the belief some locals hold that those who die by drowning become water spirits.

Noyes, Harriet Newell

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

Unpublished

Unknown

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English); chi (b) Chinese

Text

noyes_c_cor_658

to be overflowing with happiness and
kindness toward all he met. He
told Mr Whitehead the Sabbath before
he did that he felt perfectly happy &
satisfied never to see England again
if he might only spend his life in preaching
to the heathen. He was untiring in
his zeal for the acquirement of the language
rising sometimes at 3 in the morning
and sometimes studying until
10 at night and if his life had been
spared would probably have acquired
such a knowledge of it as very few
possess. The sad tidings of his deaths
were brought to us in a note from
Mrs Piercy on Sabbath day just at
the close of our service. As soon
as Mr Piercy realized that there was
no hope of saving him he wrote a
hurried note to Mr Whitehead telling
him to come immediately with
Mr Graves that they might make every
effort to find the body. All that day
and the next we waited [u] so [/u] [u] anxiously [/u]
for their return or some message from
them. We were so fearful that the
current would carry it away so that
they would be unable to find it, but
by offering large rewards to the Chinese
a great many of them engaged in

the search and were at last successful.
It was a dreadful shock to Mr Piercy
He is the first of the Wesleyan Mission who
came here, and Mr Caldwell had come to be with
him during his stay and he seemed
to feel the affection of a Father for him.
Mr Piercy is very much out of health & the
trip was taken partly with the hope of
its proving a benefit to him. It must
have been a long [u] long [/u] night to him and
when he met Mr Whitehead & Mr Graves
he burst into tears and it was a
long time before he could control
his feelings to speak of Mr Caldwell.
The funeral services were held at
the Wesleyan Chapel. Mr Whitehead
made remarks in English and
Mr Graves in Chinese. The services
were very touching and some of the
Chinese seemed deeply affected.
None of the ladies went out to the
cemetery on account of the heat excepting
Mrs McKelvey & I. The body had
been carried out early in the morning
and the grave partially filled and
we gathered around the grave & after
Mr Piercy had read the burial service,
it was filled up. None of us looked
upon his countenance in death
but we remember him as he was with

us a few days ago in all the strength
and vigor of perfect health. "The memory
of the Just is blessed" I have written at
considerable length but I cannot help
adding a few lines from Willis' poem
on the "Death of a Missionary" that
seem almost as though they were
written for him.
"They laid him down with strangers for his home
Was with the setting sun and they who stand
And looked so earnestly upon his grave
Were not his kindred They had found him there
And loved him for his ministry of Christ
He had died young. But there are silvered heads
Whose race of duty is less nobly run."
I presume the Chinese boatmen who dived
for him only did it to satisfy Mr Piercy.
I suppose it is doubtful whether they
would have tried to save his life if
they could have done so. They have
many su[--s--]perstitions about death
and especially by drowning. They
think when a person is drowned in
any place his soul becomes a "shui
qui" (water spirit or devil) and must
remain there three years. At the end
of that time the "qui" attempts to
get another one to take his place,
and as soon as it succeeds in
drowning another man it can come

back into the world in the form of a
little child. & the one that it has drowned
then must stay three years. They firmly
believe that if they assist a drowning
man to escape the "shui qui" will be
angry at them and be sure to take
them in his stead so that we can
hardly wonder that they will not risk
their lives for a stranger. Some of them
say that they have seen the hands of
the spirit reaching up above the
water and as soon as it can get
hold of any one it drags them down
& holds them under the water. They
will not often help one of their own people
to escape and it is not very unusual
to see the corpse of a drowned person floating
upon the river & no one will touch it.
The morning that we went down to
the funeral our boat passed the
body of a child of perhaps ten years
that had evidently been floating
on the water for some time I am
often reminded that "The dark places of
the Earth are full of the habitations of
cruelty." I hope you will pray for us that
this sad lesson may not be lost upon us
but that we may strive to "Work while the
day last remembering that the night soon
cometh." Our last monthly concert held the
evening before the funeral was very sad. I
have not answered anything in your good
letter but my paper is filled. Your [u] own [/u] Hattie



充满幸福和
善待他遇到的一切。他
之前告诉怀特黑德先生安息日
他做到了，他感到非常高兴&
满足再也见不到英格兰
如果他一生只在传道上度过
对异教徒。他不知疲倦地
他对学习语言的热情
有时凌晨 3 点起床
有时学习到
晚上 10 点，如果他的生活是
幸免于难可能会获得
对它的了解很少
具有。他去世的悲伤消息
是在一张便条中带给我们的
皮尔西夫人在安息日就在
我们的服务结束。尽快
皮尔西先生意识到有
没有救他的希望，他写了一个
匆匆写信给怀特黑德先生告诉
他马上来
格雷夫斯先生，他们可能会让每一个
努力寻找尸体。那一天
接下来我们焦急地等待着
为了他们的回归或来自的一些信息
他们。我们非常害怕
电流会把它带走，这样
他们将无法找到它，但是
通过向中国人提供巨额奖励
他们中的许多人从事

搜索，终于成功了。
这对皮尔西先生来说是一个可怕的打击
他是卫斯理教会的第一位
来到这里，考德威尔先生也来了
他在逗留期间，他似乎
感受父亲对他的爱。
皮尔西先生非常不健康
这次旅行的部分原因是希望
这证明对他有好处。它必须
对他来说是一个漫长而漫长的夜晚
当他遇到怀特黑德先生和格雷夫斯先生时
他泪流满面，这是一个
很久之后他才能控制
他对考德威尔先生的感受。
葬礼在
卫斯理教堂。怀特黑德先生
用英语和
中文版格雷夫斯先生。服务
非常感人，其中一些
中文似乎深受影响。
女士们都没有出去
墓地的热量除外
McKelvey 夫人和我。
一大早就进行了
坟墓部分填满，
我们聚集在坟墓周围及之后
皮尔西先生读过葬礼，
它被填满了。我们都没有看过
在他死后的面容上
但我们记得他和他在一起

几天前我们全力以赴
和完美健康的活力。 “记忆
正义的人是有福的”我写在
相当长，但我无能为力
从威利斯的诗中添加几行
关于“传教士之死”
看起来好像他们是
为他写的。
“他们把他和陌生人放在他家
和落日一起站立的他们
并如此认真地注视着他的坟墓
不是他的亲人吗 他们在那里找到了他
并且爱他为基督的事工
他早逝。但是有银色的头
谁的职责竞赛不那么高尚。”
我猜是潜水的中国船夫
因为他这样做只是为了满足皮尔西先生。
我想他们是否值得怀疑
会试图挽救他的生命，如果
他们本可以这样做的。他们有
许多关于死亡的迷信
尤其是溺水。他们
想想当一个人被淹死
任何他的灵魂变成“水”的地方
鬼”（水灵或恶魔）且必须
在那里呆了三年。在最后
那个时候“qui”试图
让另一个人代替他的位置，
并且一旦成功
淹死另一个人 它可以来

以a的形式回到这个世界
小孩子。 &它淹死的那个
然后必须呆三年。他们坚定地
相信如果他们帮助溺水者
男子逃离“水鬼”将
对他们生气，一定要采取
他们代替他，这样我们就可以
难怪他们不会冒险
他们的生命是为了一个陌生人。他们中有一些
说他们见过
精神高高在上
水，一旦它可以得到
抓住任何一个它把他们拖下来
& 将它们放在水下。他们
不会经常帮助自己的人
逃跑，这不是很不寻常
看到溺水者的尸体漂浮
在河上，没有人会碰它。
我们去的那个早上
我们的船经过的葬礼
一个大概十岁的孩子的尸体
显然是漂浮的
我在水上待了一段时间
经常提醒“黑暗的地方
地球上到处都是
残忍。”我希望你会为我们祈祷
我们可能不会忘记这一可悲的教训
但我们可以努力“在工作的同时
最后一天记得那晚很快
来了。”我们上一次每月举行的音乐会举行了
葬礼前的晚上很伤心。我
没有回答任何对你有益的事情
信，但我的纸已填满。你自己的海蒂

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