Letter from Henry to his Father, February 12, 1875

Letter from Henry to his Father, February 12, 1875

Toothache; Dentists; School buildings; Health; Christian converts

Henry tells his father about their recent visit to the dentist in Hong Kong. The dentist, who is American, had heard about the Noyes' missionaries before. Henry explains that they have already started rebuilding the school and describes some common Chinese strategies used when doing construction work. Henry fears that too many people are being admitted into the church.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1875-02-12

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_690

[Note: Left hand corner is torn]
Canton 12th Feb 1875

My dear Father
I am afraid I am
getting to be a very poor cor-
respondent. The girls have been
setting me a good example to-
day . I dont know how many
letters they have written. You will
doubtless get the benefit of some
of them. It is a [--damp or rather--]
cold rainy evening and we have
got a coal fire in a Franklin
stove in my study and are
writing for the mail Matt, Hatt + I.
Lucy is in her own room . She
has had tooth ache for two or three
days and her face is all swollen
up. Matt has had tooth ache also
for several days last week. It was
occasioned by having her tooth filled.
There was a dentist up from Hong-
kong and we all three had our
teeth looked after. He filled 7 for
Matt, 2 for Hatt + 1 for me. The
dentists name was Rogers and
he was from Northern New Hampshire

[Note: Right hand corner is torn]
He says he was acqu
with several men there
the name of Noyes and
one of them was under six feet
in height. He said we all
had strong teeth - said he
never looked into the mount
of a Noyes yet that had'nt.
He also said that they all
had a general resemblance.
While he was at work at
Hattie's teeth he asked me if
I got the Chinese easily. I replied
"I don't know as I got it particularly
easy but I worked away at it."
Either [--the--] from the tone in
which I paid it, or what I said
or both he laughed and said
"That will do you'll do for a
Noyes." He said they were
all very self-possessed. Well
so much for the Noyes connection.
We have commenced
rebuilding the school-house. The
bargain is for $1300- . They
are putting up the mat shed
now. I do not know whether I
have ever written that when they

[Note: Left hand corner torn]
going to build a house
here the first thing is to
up a big mat shed and
then build the house under
the shed. After the roof is on and
the outside work is all done the
mat shed is taken down. The
bamboo [illegible] work does for
ladders to go all over the out-
side. The shed keeps the walls
dry while they are going up +
allows the workmen to go on
rain or shine. This is quite
an important matter during
the rainy season. They are to
have the house finished in about
four months. When this job is
finished and the school fairly
started I expect Hattie and
I will beging to think about
getting ready to go home. I
have no doubt you will find we
changed some though perhaps not
so very much. Tell Edward if he
ever has occasion to cut my
hair he will not be troubled with
the locks sticking up on the crown
as he used to be.

[Note: Right hand corner torn]
It appears likely now
the woman's work will be
almost entirely with Matt.
Crouch as Miss Shaws health is
quite poor, and Lillie Happer expects
to go home when the other children
do in the spring. Possibly Miss
Shaw may go home also. She is
now in Yokahama. Hattie has
been getting quite fat for her since
the school house burned down. I
expect you will find us both in
good health when we get home at
least we hope so. My throat is
getting better. There has never been
any ulceration - only inflammation
from nervous wEakness, no radical
trouble the doctor says. I do not
expect to do much preaching this
year but work away in the study
which suits my taste first rate.
There were several joined the
church at the last communion
sometimes feel a little fear that too
many are being taken into the church
that there is not quite structurers enough
in regard to admitting [illegible] but
may be wrong. I must close. Give
[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
ever so much love to all the dear ones and much lo
from Your aff son -Henry-



[注：左手角被撕裂]
广州 1875 年 2 月 12 日

我亲爱的父亲
我怕我是
成为一个非常糟糕的记者。
女孩们已经
今天给我树立了一个好榜样。
我不知道有多少
他们写的信。你会
无疑得到一些好处
其中。它是一个
寒冷的雨夜，我们有
在富兰克林车里着火了
我书房里的炉子
为马蒂、海蒂和我写邮件。
露西在她自己的房间里。她
牙疼了两三年
几天，她的脸都肿了
向上。马特也有牙痛
上周连续几天。它是
由她的牙齿填充引起的。
有一个来自香港的牙医——
kong 和我们三个都有我们的
牙齿照顾。他填了 7 个
马特，海蒂 2 个，我 1 个。这
牙医的名字是罗杰斯和
他来自新罕布什尔州北部

[注：右手边角被撕裂]
他说他认识
那里有几个男人
诺伊斯的名字和
其中一个低于六英尺
在高度。他说我们都
牙齿很结实——他说
从来没有看过山
一个没有的Noyes。
他还说他们都
大体相似。
在他上班的时候
海蒂的牙齿他问我是不是
我很容易找到中文。我回答
“我不知道，因为我特别了解
很容易，但我努力做到了。”
无论是从音调
我付了钱，或者我说了什么
或者他俩都笑着说
“你会做的
不。”他说他们是
都非常自制。出色地
Noyes 的连接就这么多。
我们已经开始
重建校舍。这
便宜货是1300美元。他们
正在搭垫棚
现在。我不知道我是否
曾经写过，当他们

[注：左手角撕裂]
建房子
首先要做的是
搭起一个大垫棚和
然后在下面建房子
庇护所。屋顶打开后
外面的工作都做完了
垫棚被拆除。这
竹 [无法辨认] 工作为
梯子要遍及外面。
棚子保持墙壁
在他们上升的时候干燥
允许工人继续
风雨无阻。这是相当
期间的一件大事
雨季。他们要
房子大约完工了吗
四个月。当这份工作是
完成和学校公平
开始我期待海蒂和
我会开始思考
准备回家。我
毫无疑问你会发现我们
改变了一些虽然也许没有
非常非常。如果他告诉爱德华
曾经有机会削减我的
他不会为之烦恼的头发
锁在表冠上
和以前一样。

[注：右手边角撕裂]
现在看来可能
女人的工作将是
几乎完全和马特在一起。
克劳奇就像肖斯小姐的健康一样
很穷，莉莉·哈珀预计
当其他孩子回家时
在春天做。可能错过
肖也可以回家了。她是
现在在横滨。海蒂有
从那以后她变得很胖
校舍被烧毁。我
希望你能找到我们俩
当我们回到家时身体健康
至少我们希望如此。我的喉咙是
越来越好。从来没有
任何溃疡 - 只有炎症
从神经衰弱，没有激进
麻烦医生说。我不
期望做很多宣讲
一年，但在学习中工作
最适合我的口味。
有几个加入了
最后一次圣餐时的教堂
有时也会觉得有点害怕
许多人被带进教堂
没有足够的结构
关于承认 [无法辨认] 但是
可能是错的。我必须关闭。给
[注：信在第一页结束]
对所有亲爱的人和非常爱
来自你的儿子-Henry-

Letter