Letter from Henry to Mary, February 16, 1869

Letter from Henry to Mary, February 16, 1869

Letters; Death; Gravestones; Suffering; Puppies; Singing

Henry writes to Mary noting that he has not written her in a very long time, compared to Hattie who writes letters to her often. He notes that the drawing that Frank sent of Hannah's grave monument will look nice and he wishes to see it. Cynthia's monument was recently finished. Henry is thankful that both he and Mary have their health compared to others like Miss Beatty who suffered over the winter.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1869-02-16

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_735

Canton Feb 16th 1869
My dear Sister Mary (N)
I am afraid that it
will seem as though I never got round
to you all at home + I am not so
sure that I keep the turn very
well lately but I think it is a long
long time since I have written to
you. Hattie however is a good girl to
write and you all hear from her
pretty often. I believe she has written
to you all this time. I don't see
how she can find Enough to write
but I warrant the letters are interes-
ting. You spoke in your letters about
dear sister Hannah's grave. Frank sent
a drawing of the monument. I think
it will look very pretty. I should like
much to see it - perhaps I shall
sometime but we must'nt be too san-
guine in our hopes. You will be glad
to know that Cynthia's monument is
finished. I wish so much you could
all see it. It looks quite as well
as I Expected. It seemed to me when
I went out to see it after it was
all finished + put up that it was
just Exactly the thing that I wanted
I sat down upon the stone at the base
and thought with sweet pleasure of
her whose Earthly part was sleeping
beneath.

I believe I sent you the inscrip-
tions some time ago. I want
sometime to draw the lettering just
as it is on the stone + the same
size + send it home. You can
then judge very nearly how it looks.
I was glad to hear that
you were all so well. It must
seem quite different from what it
did last year. We too [u]are well[/u]
I seem to have got completely over
the trouble I had last winter. Poor
Miss Beatty how much she must
have suffered. My suffering was
not I suppose at all what hers
was, but still sufficient to Enable
me to sympathize very deeply
with those who suffer from
rheumatic or neuralgic pains.
I hope she will get as thoroughly
over hers as I have over mine.
And the great ditch is finished
I hope you will congratulate
Edward + Frank on their
success in the matter. I should
like to have had a hand in
it myself although I suppose
it was anything but a dry or
clean job. I am glad too to know

that Edward has got so well +
strong again. And that little puppy
I rather hoped you would call
him Rover if he would do at all
for that name, for I would'nt be-
stow it on Every dog that comes
along - not by any means. Give
him my best regards + plenty to
Eat + tell him "He's a nice dog"
Tell him to be sure and learn
to drive sheep without biting
them too --- not pull out great
bits of wool + skin as old Rover
used to do . That was one of
old Rover's mistakes but we won't
speak of them now.
What about "Shep." I
forget whether he has met with
any accident or not If not I
suppose he is a great dog by this
time with an .A.B. or an A.M.
stuck to his na,e. I should
think he might be Employed to
advantage as a teacher of
Rover, of course with [u]Cyrus'[/u] per-
mission. And now about that
school you go to? I think it

must be nice to sing instead of
[u]writing composition[/u]. I Expect you
will all learn to sing like birds.
I shall be clear behind when
I come home but I take a few
strokes on the fiddle occasionally
still sometimes play on the melo-
deon + sometimes sing with Hattie.
Hattie has a much better voice
for singing than when I left home.
My voice however is about as it
used to be if not worse + my Ear
none of the best for musical sounds
as Edward can testify. I suppose
I [u]flat[/u] when I sing and re-
main in as blissful ignorance
of it as Ever. "Where ignorance
is bliss 'tis folly to be wise"
I send you a specimen
of my whiskers which the Chinese
think are "ho cheung" (very
long). I do not know whether they
think they are "ho tai" (very pretty)
or not. I suppose of course they do.
But it is time to send the letters and
I must stop. My thanks for all the good letters
if I dont send many my self + all the love the
letter will carry. Your loving Bro Henry



广州 1869 年 2 月 16 日
我亲爱的玛丽姐妹（N）
我怕它
好像我从来没有圆过
对你们所有人来说，我不是这样
确保我保持转弯非常
最近很好，但我认为这很长
很久没有写信给
你。然而，海蒂是个好女孩
写信，你们都会收到她的来信
很经常。我相信她写过
一直给你。我没看到
她怎么能找到足够的写作
但我保证这些信件很有趣。你在信中谈到
亲爱的姐姐汉娜的坟墓。弗兰克派
纪念碑的图画。我认为
它看起来会很漂亮。我应该喜欢
很值得一看——也许我会
有时，但我们不能对我们的希望过于乐观。你会很高兴
要知道辛西娅的纪念碑是
完成的。我多么希望你能
都看到了。它看起来也不错
正如我所料。在我看来，当
看完后我出去看了
一切都完成了，它是
正是我想要的
我坐在脚下的石头上
并愉快地想着
她的地球部分正在睡觉
下面。

我相信我前段时间给你发了铭文。我想
有时只画刻字
就像在石头上一样
尺寸 + 送回家。你可以
然后几乎判断它的外观。
我很高兴听到
你们都很好。它必须
看起来与它完全不同
去年做过。我们也很好
我似乎已经完全结束了
我去年冬天遇到的麻烦。较差的
比蒂小姐，她必须付出多少
受苦了。我的痛苦是
我根本不认为她的
是，但仍然足以启用
我深表同情
与那些遭受
风湿性或神经痛。
我希望她能得到一样彻底
在她的之上，就像我在我的之上一样。
大沟已经完成
我希望你会祝贺
爱德华和弗兰克在他们的
在这件事上取得成功。我应该
喜欢参与
我自己虽然我想
它不过是干燥的或
干净的工作。我也很高兴知道

爱德华已经痊愈了
再次强大。还有那只小狗
我宁愿你打电话
如果他愿意的话，他就是流浪者
为了那个名字，因为我不会——
把它放在每只来的狗身上
沿着 - 绝不是。给
我向他致以最诚挚的问候
吃完告诉他“他是只好狗”
告诉他要确定并学习
赶羊不咬人
他们也是——不是很好
像老罗孚一样的羊毛和皮肤
以前做。那是其中之一
老罗孚的错误，但我们不会
现在谈谈他们。
“谢普”呢？我
忘记他有没有见过
是否有任何意外如果不是我
假设他是条大狗
时间与.A.B.或上午
坚持他的名字，即。我应该
认为他可能受雇于
作为老师的优势
罗孚，当然要得到赛勒斯的许可。现在关于那个
你去的学校？我认为它

唱歌一定很好听而不是
写作作文。我指望你
都会学会像鸟儿一样歌唱。
我会在后面清楚的时候
我回家，但我带了一些
偶尔在小提琴上敲击
有时还会弹奏旋律，有时会和海蒂一起唱歌。
海蒂的嗓子好多了
因为唱歌比我离开家时。
然而，我的声音差不多
过去如果不是更糟的话，我的耳朵
对音乐声音来说都不是最好的
爱德华可以作证。我想
我歌唱时平淡无奇
一如既往。 “哪里无知
有智慧是幸福吗？
我寄给你一个样本
中国人的胡须
认为是“ho cheung”（非常
长）。我不知道他们是否
认为他们是“ho tai”（非常漂亮）
或不。我想他们当然会。
但现在是寄信的时候了
我必须停下来。我感谢所有的好信
如果我不发送很多我自己和所有的爱
信会随身携带。你亲爱的亨利兄弟

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