Unsigned Letter to the Seville School, August 10, 1874
Dublin Core
Title
Unsigned Letter to the Seville School, August 10, 1874
Subject
Schedules, School; Christian education of girls
Description
This letter, probably written by Mattie, is unfinished. In the beginning pages, she describes a day at the boarding school her and Hattie run. She mentions the separation of men and women and the attitudes and behaviors of some of the little girls.
Creator
Kerr, Noyes Martha
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1874-08-10
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_726
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
Aug 10th /74
To the dear scholars of the Seville S.S.
I have thought very many
times since coming to China
how much I should like to write
you a letter. The good old
steamer goes away to morrow,
and I think I must not fail
to send one this time. Perhaps
you would like to hear a little
about our Sabbath School in
Canton. I will try and tell you
how we do here on Sabbath
morning At 10 A.M. Hattie
rings a little bell and all the
women and girls from the
Boarding School which is just
behind our house, come into
our large front hall ready for
her to take them over to the
Chapel which is quite near.
They look as bright and
happy as possible, with their
nicely combed hair, neat blue
[?shawms?], and testaments care-
fully wrapped up in their
handkerchiefs so they may not
get soiled Henry does not go with
us. It would never do to have
men in the school with the
women, and girls, they would
think that very improper indeed
You must not imagine our
chapel is at all like the nice
Church you have, for that would
be a great mistake. It is a room
in an old house where Dr Happer
used to live, and we go quite
around to the back of the building
and walk in at a door just about
wide enough for [u] one [/u] to go in at
a time Then we must walk
through [u] two [/u] dark passages, before
we reach the sabbath school room
The floor is made of red tiles,
which look exactly like the
large red brick we see in our
hearths at home. We sit on benches
with high backs these seats
have been painted a dark slate
color. Right through the middle
of the room from the pulpit
to the door is a line of what
you would think were black-
boards were you to see them.
I think I hear some little boy
or girl say what can those be
for? Well this is the room
where Dr Happer preaches every
Sabbath. Men and women both
come to church but if they had
to sit where they could see each
other the women would not
come for there is nothing they
dislike more than to have men
looking at them. After the Dr
gets through his sermon the
women sit down and wait un-
til the men have passed out
and then they go out by themselves
At one end of the room is a
small platform on which stands
a table and behind this table two
chairs where Henry and the Dr sit
during our Sabbath meetings.
The windows are so far above
our heads that we can never
look out and this makes it
seem rather dark, and gloomy,
but it is better so far if they
were low the Chinese would be
always looking in and disturbing
us when we had our meetings
Well this is where we have our
School. Hattie is our Supt. and
we always begin our exercises by
singing some pretty hymn
Hattie plays on one of the tiniest
little melodeons I ever saw. It looks
precisely like a little box and has
to be put on a stool to make it
high enough for her to use
We sing Happy Land, Jesus loves
Me, and many other songs you know
only the words are Chinese. Now
Miss Lucy and I have not learned
all these strange words yet, but
we sing those we do know, and
slip over the others as well as we
can. Then come the lessons
I began teaching a class last
May and already love my little
girls very much. Now I can not
talk much yet but I have been
reading a book of stories about the
life of Christ and so we have one
of those stories every Sabbath.
I study my lesson during the
week with my teacher and I ask
him the questions I give them
中国广东
8 月 10 日 /74
致塞维利亚主日学校亲爱的学者们
我想过很多
来中国后的几次
我想写多少
你一封信。好旧的
轮船明天出发，
我想我一定不能失败
这次寄一份。也许
你想听一点
关于我们的安息日学
广州。我会试着告诉你
我们如何在安息日在这里
上午 10 点海蒂
敲响了一个小铃铛和所有的
来自世界各地的妇女和女孩
寄宿学校
在我们家后面，进入
我们的大前厅准备好了
她把他们带到
教堂很近。
它们看起来一样明亮
尽可能快乐，与他们
梳得漂亮的头发，干净的蓝色
肖姆斯和遗嘱被小心地包裹在他们的
手帕，所以他们可能不会
弄脏亨利不去
我们。永远不会有
学校里的男人
妇女和女孩，她们会
觉得确实很不妥
你不能想象我们的
小教堂一点也不像
你有教会，因为那会
是一个很大的错误。这是一个房间
在哈珀医生所在的一座老房子里
以前住过，我们去
绕到建筑物的后面
然后走进一扇门
足够宽，可以进去
有时间然后我们必须走路
穿过两条黑暗的通道，之前
我们到了安息日学室
地板是用红瓦铺成的，
看起来完全像
我们看到的大红砖
家里的壁炉。我们坐在长凳上
这些座椅靠背高
被漆成黑色的石板
颜色。正好穿过中间
从讲坛看房间
到门口是什么线
你会认为是黑色的-
板是你看到他们。
我想我听到了一些小男孩的声音
或者女孩说那些会是什么
为了？嗯，这就是房间
哈珀医生在这里宣讲每一个
安息日。男女双方
来教堂，但如果他们有
坐在他们可以看到每个人的地方
其他女人不会
来吧，他们什么都没有
不喜欢男人
看着他们。医生之后
通过他的讲道
女人坐下来等男人昏倒
然后他们自己出去
房间的一端是一个
站立的小平台
一张桌子和这张桌子后面两个
亨利和博士坐的椅子
在我们的安息日聚会中。
窗户在上面那么远
我们的头脑，我们永远无法
小心，这使它成为
显得相当阴暗，阴沉，
但到目前为止，如果他们更好
中国人会很低
总是看着和打扰
我们开会的时候
好吧，这就是我们拥有的地方
学校。海蒂是我们的副手。和
我们总是通过以下方式开始练习
唱一些漂亮的赞美诗
海蒂在最小的之一上玩耍
我见过的小旋律。它看起来
就像一个小盒子，有
放在凳子上做
足够高让她使用
我们唱快乐的土地，耶稣爱
我，还有很多你知道的歌
只有单词是中文的。现在
露西小姐和我还没学会
所有这些奇怪的词，但是
我们唱那些我们知道的，并且
像我们一样滑过其他人
能够。然后来上课
我最后开始教课
可能已经爱上了我的小宝贝
女孩们非常喜欢。我现在不可以
话不多，但我一直
读一本关于
基督的生命，所以我们有一个
每个安息日的那些故事。
我在上课期间学习我的课
和老师在一起的一周，我问
我给他们的问题
Aug 10th /74
To the dear scholars of the Seville S.S.
I have thought very many
times since coming to China
how much I should like to write
you a letter. The good old
steamer goes away to morrow,
and I think I must not fail
to send one this time. Perhaps
you would like to hear a little
about our Sabbath School in
Canton. I will try and tell you
how we do here on Sabbath
morning At 10 A.M. Hattie
rings a little bell and all the
women and girls from the
Boarding School which is just
behind our house, come into
our large front hall ready for
her to take them over to the
Chapel which is quite near.
They look as bright and
happy as possible, with their
nicely combed hair, neat blue
[?shawms?], and testaments care-
fully wrapped up in their
handkerchiefs so they may not
get soiled Henry does not go with
us. It would never do to have
men in the school with the
women, and girls, they would
think that very improper indeed
You must not imagine our
chapel is at all like the nice
Church you have, for that would
be a great mistake. It is a room
in an old house where Dr Happer
used to live, and we go quite
around to the back of the building
and walk in at a door just about
wide enough for [u] one [/u] to go in at
a time Then we must walk
through [u] two [/u] dark passages, before
we reach the sabbath school room
The floor is made of red tiles,
which look exactly like the
large red brick we see in our
hearths at home. We sit on benches
with high backs these seats
have been painted a dark slate
color. Right through the middle
of the room from the pulpit
to the door is a line of what
you would think were black-
boards were you to see them.
I think I hear some little boy
or girl say what can those be
for? Well this is the room
where Dr Happer preaches every
Sabbath. Men and women both
come to church but if they had
to sit where they could see each
other the women would not
come for there is nothing they
dislike more than to have men
looking at them. After the Dr
gets through his sermon the
women sit down and wait un-
til the men have passed out
and then they go out by themselves
At one end of the room is a
small platform on which stands
a table and behind this table two
chairs where Henry and the Dr sit
during our Sabbath meetings.
The windows are so far above
our heads that we can never
look out and this makes it
seem rather dark, and gloomy,
but it is better so far if they
were low the Chinese would be
always looking in and disturbing
us when we had our meetings
Well this is where we have our
School. Hattie is our Supt. and
we always begin our exercises by
singing some pretty hymn
Hattie plays on one of the tiniest
little melodeons I ever saw. It looks
precisely like a little box and has
to be put on a stool to make it
high enough for her to use
We sing Happy Land, Jesus loves
Me, and many other songs you know
only the words are Chinese. Now
Miss Lucy and I have not learned
all these strange words yet, but
we sing those we do know, and
slip over the others as well as we
can. Then come the lessons
I began teaching a class last
May and already love my little
girls very much. Now I can not
talk much yet but I have been
reading a book of stories about the
life of Christ and so we have one
of those stories every Sabbath.
I study my lesson during the
week with my teacher and I ask
him the questions I give them
中国广东
8 月 10 日 /74
致塞维利亚主日学校亲爱的学者们
我想过很多
来中国后的几次
我想写多少
你一封信。好旧的
轮船明天出发，
我想我一定不能失败
这次寄一份。也许
你想听一点
关于我们的安息日学
广州。我会试着告诉你
我们如何在安息日在这里
上午 10 点海蒂
敲响了一个小铃铛和所有的
来自世界各地的妇女和女孩
寄宿学校
在我们家后面，进入
我们的大前厅准备好了
她把他们带到
教堂很近。
它们看起来一样明亮
尽可能快乐，与他们
梳得漂亮的头发，干净的蓝色
肖姆斯和遗嘱被小心地包裹在他们的
手帕，所以他们可能不会
弄脏亨利不去
我们。永远不会有
学校里的男人
妇女和女孩，她们会
觉得确实很不妥
你不能想象我们的
小教堂一点也不像
你有教会，因为那会
是一个很大的错误。这是一个房间
在哈珀医生所在的一座老房子里
以前住过，我们去
绕到建筑物的后面
然后走进一扇门
足够宽，可以进去
有时间然后我们必须走路
穿过两条黑暗的通道，之前
我们到了安息日学室
地板是用红瓦铺成的，
看起来完全像
我们看到的大红砖
家里的壁炉。我们坐在长凳上
这些座椅靠背高
被漆成黑色的石板
颜色。正好穿过中间
从讲坛看房间
到门口是什么线
你会认为是黑色的-
板是你看到他们。
我想我听到了一些小男孩的声音
或者女孩说那些会是什么
为了？嗯，这就是房间
哈珀医生在这里宣讲每一个
安息日。男女双方
来教堂，但如果他们有
坐在他们可以看到每个人的地方
其他女人不会
来吧，他们什么都没有
不喜欢男人
看着他们。医生之后
通过他的讲道
女人坐下来等男人昏倒
然后他们自己出去
房间的一端是一个
站立的小平台
一张桌子和这张桌子后面两个
亨利和博士坐的椅子
在我们的安息日聚会中。
窗户在上面那么远
我们的头脑，我们永远无法
小心，这使它成为
显得相当阴暗，阴沉，
但到目前为止，如果他们更好
中国人会很低
总是看着和打扰
我们开会的时候
好吧，这就是我们拥有的地方
学校。海蒂是我们的副手。和
我们总是通过以下方式开始练习
唱一些漂亮的赞美诗
海蒂在最小的之一上玩耍
我见过的小旋律。它看起来
就像一个小盒子，有
放在凳子上做
足够高让她使用
我们唱快乐的土地，耶稣爱
我，还有很多你知道的歌
只有单词是中文的。现在
露西小姐和我还没学会
所有这些奇怪的词，但是
我们唱那些我们知道的，并且
像我们一样滑过其他人
能够。然后来上课
我最后开始教课
可能已经爱上了我的小宝贝
女孩们非常喜欢。我现在不可以
话不多，但我一直
读一本关于
基督的生命，所以我们有一个
每个安息日的那些故事。
我在上课期间学习我的课
和老师在一起的一周，我问
我给他们的问题
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Kerr, Noyes Martha, “Unsigned Letter to the Seville School, August 10, 1874,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed November 23, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/797.