Letter from Henry to Mary, August 13, 1866
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Henry to Mary, August 13, 1866
Subject
Chairs; Nurses; Puppies; Botanical gardens; Cage birds
Description
Henry writes to Mary expecting her to be succeeding in many subjects. He describes to her a pair of bamboo chairs he acquired and details his daily routines. Henry describes the Fah ti flower gardens and three pet birds that Cynthia has had. He writes about the high-quality curiosity shops he has visited, comparable to ones in the United States. He describes the way locals carry their babies on their backs which he thinks is precarious.
Creator
Noyes, Henry Varnum
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #3
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1866-08-13
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_734
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Macao Aug 13th 1866.
My [u] very [/u] [u] dear little sister [/u] Mary
"Do they study any
yet at that school you go to?" I expect that
they do & that Mary Noyes is getting to be quite
a grammarian & mathematician & geographer
& reader & speller & maybe Algebraist & Geom-
etrician & Astronomer & Chemist & Botanist
& Geologist & ever so many other things.
Well Mary I have just this foreword been
getting me a great large chair equal to my
old blue one at home. It is made of bamboo
I can't tell you much about how it looks but
it is quite a good chair [Note: small drawing of chair] The seat back
arms &c are made like the cane bottom chairs
It is about the color of straw. I am [Illegible]
it with "our box" in my lap. I got a chair
or rather [--long--] lounge perhaps for Cynthia which
is very nice & so light that it is no trouble
to carry it about anywhere It is some-
thing this shape [Note: drawing of reclining chair] It is a very easy
thing just bending up for the knees
to bend over & then turning up at the foot for
the feet. Both chairs together cost about $4.00
And now I hardly know what to write
about. Perhaps you would like to know what
we do in a day. Each day is spent very much
in the same way. In the morning we get up
usually about 6-o-clock. We walk awhile
before it is too hot on the verandah, or on
a terrace which runs along about 100 feet on
the top of a portion of the house lower than
our part. "Amah" (that is what they always call
a lady nurse in China) who was so long
Mrs Happer's attendant & is now Cynthia's generally
brings us a cup of tea each & a little bread
or cake. About 1/2 past seven we have worship
& then breakfast with Dr Kerr & his wife. After
breakfast I study Chinese until dinner at
1/2 past one. Cynthia lies down, reads or writes
as she feels disposed. After dinner I some-
times go to studying, somestimes fall asleep
at 5-o-clock we get ready & go out for an
hour or two away from the town & along
the sea shore. Sometimes Dr Kerr & Mrs Kerr
go & sometimes not. It depends on how
their poor little Josie is. He has been sick
more or less with diarrhea for a long
time & requires a great deal of care.
After our walk we have supper at 8-o-
clock PM & go to bed about 9. Eight-o-
clock seems late to you for supper but
it does'nt seem so here In fact the
real fashionable English people eat
[u] dinner [/u] at 8-o-clock PM. We have
worship after supper & soon go to bed.
At Canton we never could sleep without
Musketo curtains but here we get along
very well without them. So much for one
day. The day after we came here a Por-
tuguesse woman who lives down below in
the same house sent Cynthia a nice
little black puppy. When the question of a
[--ma--] name for it came up "Rover" &
"Shep" were proposed. I told Cynthia it
was her dog & therefore she must
name it & so it came to be called "Shep"
The first night it made so much
noise that I had to get up & take it
down one story in the middle of the
night. The next night "Amah" carried
it down to its mother & brought it up
again in the morning. Yesterday & today
I hav'nt seen the little fellow & so I
presume he has gone home. I don't
know whether we shall try to get him
again or not. Cynthia is sitting by me &
she says "oh yes we will try to get him
again". Well Mary I don't actually
know what to write to you but I believe
I will tell you next a little about the
Fah ti flower gardens. They keep flowers
for sale of many different kinds.
They make frames of wire work & then
train green vines over them of all sorts
of shapes. The wires are all covered up
by the vines so that you see little trees
in the shape of all sorts of animals. Here
is a deer, there a buffalo, or a dragon
or a fish or a frog, or a man &c &c
They put big glass eyes in & so make
the things quite natural[--s--]. Then they
train the vines into fans, pagodas,
boats &c &c. There are plenty of
flowers in pots to be sold to whoever
desires them. These gardens are only
a very short boat ride from where we
live at Canton Flowers are often
carried about the streets of Canton for
sail. The Chinese too are quite fond
of keeping birds. One was sent to Cynthia
when she was sick. It died however in
a day or two. It was a Canary. Then
one of the school girls brought her another
It was a little green bird, I don't know
what they call it. It seemed to bad for
it to live all alone in the cage & so
we bought another little bird & put
with it. They were doing finely when
we left Canton. We left them in charge
of one of the school girls. The Chinese
are great hands for birds. Most every house
has a cage with one or two birds in it.
I wish Mary you could go into some
of the Chinese curiosity shops. They have
all sorts of funny little things. In the stores
here in Macao you can almost anything
you want foreign goods as well as domes-
tic. They have very much nicer stores
when I was at home. They are kept just
as nicely as any stores in the U States
A good many of them would do not dis-
credit to New York City. Well Mary I will pass
from stores to babies. It would make you
open your eyes to see how these people take care
of their babies. The baby's home is on the back
of its mother. They are tied on with a wide piece
of cloth with their legs & arms sticking out. Their
arms they can put around their mother's neck
when they wish to, are always bareheaded in
the hot sun & sometimes with the head
shaved as smooth as a glas bottle. Frequently
we see them strapped on the back of an
older brother. Sometimes the one that is
carried looks almost as large as the little
fellow carrying it. Yesterday I saw a little
fellow marching along the street with a baby
asleep on [--the--] his back. Its head was about
at right angles with its body hanging over
the edge of the cloth holding it & bobbing
about as though it was coming loose. It
looked every few minutes as though it would
get a knock against the wall but the
little fellow carrying seemed to know just
how near he could go without hitting & ran
along as though he did'nt know there was a
baby on his back at all. The ladies often
ride on the backs of servants & children are
carried to school so not very much in
Canton but out in the villages where sedan
chairs are not so easily obtained. They are
carried in the fashion that we used to call
"pig back" at home. But paper & time
tell me to close. You must be a real good
girl. I expect you are. Write to us to as often as
you are a mind to. Our [u] love [/u] [u] ever so much [/u] to [u] all [/u]
Give our kindest wishes to all missionary friends.
Your loving Bro "[u] Henry [/u]"
澳门 1866 年 8 月 13 日。
我非常亲爱的小妹妹玛丽
“他们有没有学习任何
但在你上的那所学校？”我希望
他们这样做了，而且玛丽·诺伊斯（Mary Noyes）变得相当
语法家、数学家和地理学家
& 读者 & 拼写者 & 也许代数 & 几何学家 & 天文学家 & 化学家 & 植物学家
和地质学家以及许多其他的东西。
好吧，玛丽，我刚刚有了这个前言
给我一把和我一样大的椅子
老蓝在家里。它是用竹子做的
我不能告诉你很多关于它的外观，但是
挺不错的椅子[注：椅子小图] 靠背
武器和c的制作就像藤椅一样
这是关于稻草的颜色。我是[难以辨认]
它和我腿上的“我们的盒子”。我有一把椅子
或者更确切地说，也许是为辛西娅休息
非常好，很轻，没有问题
随身携带 它是这种形状的东西 [注：躺椅图] 非常容易
只是弯曲膝盖的东西
弯腰，然后在脚上抬起
脚。两把椅子加起来大约需要 4.00 美元
现在我几乎不知道该写什么
关于。也许你想知道什么
我们在一天内完成。每一天都度过了很多
以同样的方式。早上我们起床
通常在 6 点左右。我们走一会儿
在阳台上太热之前，或
一个大约 100 英尺长的露台
房子的一部分的顶部低于
我们的部分。 “Amah”（他们总是这么称呼
中国的一位女护士）这么长
哈珀夫人的侍者，现在是辛西娅的侍者
给我们每人一杯茶和一个小面包
或蛋糕。七点半左右我们敬拜
然后与克尔医生和他的妻子共进早餐。后
早餐我学中文直到晚餐
1 点过去 1/2。辛西娅躺下，读或写
因为她觉得自己被处置了。晚饭后我——
有时去学习，有时睡着
5 点钟我们准备好出去玩
距离城镇及沿线一两个小时
海边。有时，克尔医生和克尔夫人
去，有时不去。这取决于如何
他们可怜的小乔西是。他病了
或多或少长期腹泻
时间和需要大量的照顾。
散步后，我们在
晚上 8 点，大约 9 点睡觉。 8 点
晚饭时间对你来说似乎迟到了，但是
这里似乎不是这样 事实上
真正时髦的英国人吃
晚上八点吃晚饭。我们有
晚饭后敬拜，很快就睡觉了。
在广州，我们永远睡不着
Musketo 窗帘，但我们在这里相处
没有他们很好。这么多一个
天。我们来到这里后的第二天，一位住在下面的葡萄牙女人
同一所房子给辛西娅送来了一个不错的
小黑小狗。当一个问题
它的名字出现了“Rover”&
提出了“Shep”。我告诉辛西娅
是她的狗，因此她必须
给它命名，所以它被称为“Shep”
第一个晚上就赚了这么多
我不得不起床并接受它的噪音
在中间的一个故事
夜晚。第二天晚上“阿玛”带着
它归于它的母亲并把它抚养长大
早上再次。昨天和今天
我没见过那个小家伙，所以我
假设他已经回家了。我不
知道我们是否会设法得到他
再次与否。辛西娅坐在我旁边
她说：“哦，是的，我们会设法得到他
再次”。好吧，玛丽，我实际上并没有
知道要写什么给你，但我相信
接下来我会告诉你一些关于
华帝花园。他们养花
出售许多不同的种类。
他们制作金属丝框架然后
在各种各样的上面训练绿色的藤蔓
的形状。电线都被遮住了
在藤蔓旁，你可以看到小树
各种动物的形状。这里
是鹿，是水牛，还是龙
或鱼或青蛙，或人等。
他们把大玻璃眼睛放进去，所以
事情很自然。然后他们
将藤蔓训练成扇子、宝塔，
船等。有很多
花盆里的花卖给谁
渴望他们。这些花园只有
从我们那里乘船很短
住在Canton Flowers经常
在广州的街道上走来走去
帆。中国人也很喜欢
养鸟。一个被送到辛西娅
当她生病的时候。然而它死在
一两天。那是一只金丝雀。然后
一个女学生给她带来了另一个
那是一只小绿鸟，我不知道
他们叫什么。这似乎对
它独自生活在笼子里等等
我们买了另一只小鸟并放了
用它。他们做得很好的时候
我们离开了广州。我们让他们负责
其中一名女学生的画像。中国人
是鸟类的好手。大多数每家
有一个笼子，里面放着一两只鸟。
我希望玛丽你能参加一些
中国的古董店。他们有
各种有趣的小事。在商店里
在澳门，你几乎可以做任何事
你想要国外的商品，也想要国内的。他们有更好的商店
当我在家的时候。他们只是保持
和美国的任何商店一样好
他们中的许多人不会抹黑纽约市。好吧，玛丽，我会通过
从商店到婴儿。它会让你
睁开眼睛看看这些人是如何照顾的
他们的孩子。宝宝的家在后面
它的母亲。它们系在一块宽大的
他们的腿和胳膊伸出来的布。他们的
他们可以把手臂放在妈妈的脖子上
当他们愿意时，总是光着头
烈日和有时头
剃得像玻璃瓶一样光滑。频繁地
我们看到它们被绑在背上
哥哥。有时那个是
携带的看起来几乎和小东西一样大
背着它的家伙。昨天看了一点
带着婴儿在街上游行的同胞
在他的背上睡着了。它的头大约是
身体悬垂在直角
拿着它和摆动的布的边缘
好像它正在松动一样。它
每隔几分钟看起来好像它会
撞墙，但
背着的小家伙好像知道
他能走多远而不撞和跑
好像他不知道有一个
婴儿在他的背上。小姐姐们经常
骑在仆人和孩子的背上
带到学校所以不是很喜欢
广而出的村子里有轿子
椅子不是那么容易得到的。他们是
以我们过去所说的方式进行
“猪回来”在家里。但是纸和时间
告诉我关闭。你一定是个真正的好人
女孩。我希望你是。经常给我们写信
你很介意。我们对所有人的爱如此之多
向所有传教士朋友致以最诚挚的祝福。
你亲爱的兄弟“亨利”
My [u] very [/u] [u] dear little sister [/u] Mary
"Do they study any
yet at that school you go to?" I expect that
they do & that Mary Noyes is getting to be quite
a grammarian & mathematician & geographer
& reader & speller & maybe Algebraist & Geom-
etrician & Astronomer & Chemist & Botanist
& Geologist & ever so many other things.
Well Mary I have just this foreword been
getting me a great large chair equal to my
old blue one at home. It is made of bamboo
I can't tell you much about how it looks but
it is quite a good chair [Note: small drawing of chair] The seat back
arms &c are made like the cane bottom chairs
It is about the color of straw. I am [Illegible]
it with "our box" in my lap. I got a chair
or rather [--long--] lounge perhaps for Cynthia which
is very nice & so light that it is no trouble
to carry it about anywhere It is some-
thing this shape [Note: drawing of reclining chair] It is a very easy
thing just bending up for the knees
to bend over & then turning up at the foot for
the feet. Both chairs together cost about $4.00
And now I hardly know what to write
about. Perhaps you would like to know what
we do in a day. Each day is spent very much
in the same way. In the morning we get up
usually about 6-o-clock. We walk awhile
before it is too hot on the verandah, or on
a terrace which runs along about 100 feet on
the top of a portion of the house lower than
our part. "Amah" (that is what they always call
a lady nurse in China) who was so long
Mrs Happer's attendant & is now Cynthia's generally
brings us a cup of tea each & a little bread
or cake. About 1/2 past seven we have worship
& then breakfast with Dr Kerr & his wife. After
breakfast I study Chinese until dinner at
1/2 past one. Cynthia lies down, reads or writes
as she feels disposed. After dinner I some-
times go to studying, somestimes fall asleep
at 5-o-clock we get ready & go out for an
hour or two away from the town & along
the sea shore. Sometimes Dr Kerr & Mrs Kerr
go & sometimes not. It depends on how
their poor little Josie is. He has been sick
more or less with diarrhea for a long
time & requires a great deal of care.
After our walk we have supper at 8-o-
clock PM & go to bed about 9. Eight-o-
clock seems late to you for supper but
it does'nt seem so here In fact the
real fashionable English people eat
[u] dinner [/u] at 8-o-clock PM. We have
worship after supper & soon go to bed.
At Canton we never could sleep without
Musketo curtains but here we get along
very well without them. So much for one
day. The day after we came here a Por-
tuguesse woman who lives down below in
the same house sent Cynthia a nice
little black puppy. When the question of a
[--ma--] name for it came up "Rover" &
"Shep" were proposed. I told Cynthia it
was her dog & therefore she must
name it & so it came to be called "Shep"
The first night it made so much
noise that I had to get up & take it
down one story in the middle of the
night. The next night "Amah" carried
it down to its mother & brought it up
again in the morning. Yesterday & today
I hav'nt seen the little fellow & so I
presume he has gone home. I don't
know whether we shall try to get him
again or not. Cynthia is sitting by me &
she says "oh yes we will try to get him
again". Well Mary I don't actually
know what to write to you but I believe
I will tell you next a little about the
Fah ti flower gardens. They keep flowers
for sale of many different kinds.
They make frames of wire work & then
train green vines over them of all sorts
of shapes. The wires are all covered up
by the vines so that you see little trees
in the shape of all sorts of animals. Here
is a deer, there a buffalo, or a dragon
or a fish or a frog, or a man &c &c
They put big glass eyes in & so make
the things quite natural[--s--]. Then they
train the vines into fans, pagodas,
boats &c &c. There are plenty of
flowers in pots to be sold to whoever
desires them. These gardens are only
a very short boat ride from where we
live at Canton Flowers are often
carried about the streets of Canton for
sail. The Chinese too are quite fond
of keeping birds. One was sent to Cynthia
when she was sick. It died however in
a day or two. It was a Canary. Then
one of the school girls brought her another
It was a little green bird, I don't know
what they call it. It seemed to bad for
it to live all alone in the cage & so
we bought another little bird & put
with it. They were doing finely when
we left Canton. We left them in charge
of one of the school girls. The Chinese
are great hands for birds. Most every house
has a cage with one or two birds in it.
I wish Mary you could go into some
of the Chinese curiosity shops. They have
all sorts of funny little things. In the stores
here in Macao you can almost anything
you want foreign goods as well as domes-
tic. They have very much nicer stores
when I was at home. They are kept just
as nicely as any stores in the U States
A good many of them would do not dis-
credit to New York City. Well Mary I will pass
from stores to babies. It would make you
open your eyes to see how these people take care
of their babies. The baby's home is on the back
of its mother. They are tied on with a wide piece
of cloth with their legs & arms sticking out. Their
arms they can put around their mother's neck
when they wish to, are always bareheaded in
the hot sun & sometimes with the head
shaved as smooth as a glas bottle. Frequently
we see them strapped on the back of an
older brother. Sometimes the one that is
carried looks almost as large as the little
fellow carrying it. Yesterday I saw a little
fellow marching along the street with a baby
asleep on [--the--] his back. Its head was about
at right angles with its body hanging over
the edge of the cloth holding it & bobbing
about as though it was coming loose. It
looked every few minutes as though it would
get a knock against the wall but the
little fellow carrying seemed to know just
how near he could go without hitting & ran
along as though he did'nt know there was a
baby on his back at all. The ladies often
ride on the backs of servants & children are
carried to school so not very much in
Canton but out in the villages where sedan
chairs are not so easily obtained. They are
carried in the fashion that we used to call
"pig back" at home. But paper & time
tell me to close. You must be a real good
girl. I expect you are. Write to us to as often as
you are a mind to. Our [u] love [/u] [u] ever so much [/u] to [u] all [/u]
Give our kindest wishes to all missionary friends.
Your loving Bro "[u] Henry [/u]"
澳门 1866 年 8 月 13 日。
我非常亲爱的小妹妹玛丽
“他们有没有学习任何
但在你上的那所学校？”我希望
他们这样做了，而且玛丽·诺伊斯（Mary Noyes）变得相当
语法家、数学家和地理学家
& 读者 & 拼写者 & 也许代数 & 几何学家 & 天文学家 & 化学家 & 植物学家
和地质学家以及许多其他的东西。
好吧，玛丽，我刚刚有了这个前言
给我一把和我一样大的椅子
老蓝在家里。它是用竹子做的
我不能告诉你很多关于它的外观，但是
挺不错的椅子[注：椅子小图] 靠背
武器和c的制作就像藤椅一样
这是关于稻草的颜色。我是[难以辨认]
它和我腿上的“我们的盒子”。我有一把椅子
或者更确切地说，也许是为辛西娅休息
非常好，很轻，没有问题
随身携带 它是这种形状的东西 [注：躺椅图] 非常容易
只是弯曲膝盖的东西
弯腰，然后在脚上抬起
脚。两把椅子加起来大约需要 4.00 美元
现在我几乎不知道该写什么
关于。也许你想知道什么
我们在一天内完成。每一天都度过了很多
以同样的方式。早上我们起床
通常在 6 点左右。我们走一会儿
在阳台上太热之前，或
一个大约 100 英尺长的露台
房子的一部分的顶部低于
我们的部分。 “Amah”（他们总是这么称呼
中国的一位女护士）这么长
哈珀夫人的侍者，现在是辛西娅的侍者
给我们每人一杯茶和一个小面包
或蛋糕。七点半左右我们敬拜
然后与克尔医生和他的妻子共进早餐。后
早餐我学中文直到晚餐
1 点过去 1/2。辛西娅躺下，读或写
因为她觉得自己被处置了。晚饭后我——
有时去学习，有时睡着
5 点钟我们准备好出去玩
距离城镇及沿线一两个小时
海边。有时，克尔医生和克尔夫人
去，有时不去。这取决于如何
他们可怜的小乔西是。他病了
或多或少长期腹泻
时间和需要大量的照顾。
散步后，我们在
晚上 8 点，大约 9 点睡觉。 8 点
晚饭时间对你来说似乎迟到了，但是
这里似乎不是这样 事实上
真正时髦的英国人吃
晚上八点吃晚饭。我们有
晚饭后敬拜，很快就睡觉了。
在广州，我们永远睡不着
Musketo 窗帘，但我们在这里相处
没有他们很好。这么多一个
天。我们来到这里后的第二天，一位住在下面的葡萄牙女人
同一所房子给辛西娅送来了一个不错的
小黑小狗。当一个问题
它的名字出现了“Rover”&
提出了“Shep”。我告诉辛西娅
是她的狗，因此她必须
给它命名，所以它被称为“Shep”
第一个晚上就赚了这么多
我不得不起床并接受它的噪音
在中间的一个故事
夜晚。第二天晚上“阿玛”带着
它归于它的母亲并把它抚养长大
早上再次。昨天和今天
我没见过那个小家伙，所以我
假设他已经回家了。我不
知道我们是否会设法得到他
再次与否。辛西娅坐在我旁边
她说：“哦，是的，我们会设法得到他
再次”。好吧，玛丽，我实际上并没有
知道要写什么给你，但我相信
接下来我会告诉你一些关于
华帝花园。他们养花
出售许多不同的种类。
他们制作金属丝框架然后
在各种各样的上面训练绿色的藤蔓
的形状。电线都被遮住了
在藤蔓旁，你可以看到小树
各种动物的形状。这里
是鹿，是水牛，还是龙
或鱼或青蛙，或人等。
他们把大玻璃眼睛放进去，所以
事情很自然。然后他们
将藤蔓训练成扇子、宝塔，
船等。有很多
花盆里的花卖给谁
渴望他们。这些花园只有
从我们那里乘船很短
住在Canton Flowers经常
在广州的街道上走来走去
帆。中国人也很喜欢
养鸟。一个被送到辛西娅
当她生病的时候。然而它死在
一两天。那是一只金丝雀。然后
一个女学生给她带来了另一个
那是一只小绿鸟，我不知道
他们叫什么。这似乎对
它独自生活在笼子里等等
我们买了另一只小鸟并放了
用它。他们做得很好的时候
我们离开了广州。我们让他们负责
其中一名女学生的画像。中国人
是鸟类的好手。大多数每家
有一个笼子，里面放着一两只鸟。
我希望玛丽你能参加一些
中国的古董店。他们有
各种有趣的小事。在商店里
在澳门，你几乎可以做任何事
你想要国外的商品，也想要国内的。他们有更好的商店
当我在家的时候。他们只是保持
和美国的任何商店一样好
他们中的许多人不会抹黑纽约市。好吧，玛丽，我会通过
从商店到婴儿。它会让你
睁开眼睛看看这些人是如何照顾的
他们的孩子。宝宝的家在后面
它的母亲。它们系在一块宽大的
他们的腿和胳膊伸出来的布。他们的
他们可以把手臂放在妈妈的脖子上
当他们愿意时，总是光着头
烈日和有时头
剃得像玻璃瓶一样光滑。频繁地
我们看到它们被绑在背上
哥哥。有时那个是
携带的看起来几乎和小东西一样大
背着它的家伙。昨天看了一点
带着婴儿在街上游行的同胞
在他的背上睡着了。它的头大约是
身体悬垂在直角
拿着它和摆动的布的边缘
好像它正在松动一样。它
每隔几分钟看起来好像它会
撞墙，但
背着的小家伙好像知道
他能走多远而不撞和跑
好像他不知道有一个
婴儿在他的背上。小姐姐们经常
骑在仆人和孩子的背上
带到学校所以不是很喜欢
广而出的村子里有轿子
椅子不是那么容易得到的。他们是
以我们过去所说的方式进行
“猪回来”在家里。但是纸和时间
告诉我关闭。你一定是个真正的好人
女孩。我希望你是。经常给我们写信
你很介意。我们对所有人的爱如此之多
向所有传教士朋友致以最诚挚的祝福。
你亲爱的兄弟“亨利”
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Henry Varnum, “Letter from Henry to Mary, August 13, 1866,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 29, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/806.