Letter from Henry to Em, March 20, 1882

Letter from Henry to Em, March 20, 1882

Language acquisition; Deciduous teeth--Eruption; Parties; Brothers; Children of missionaries

In this letter to his sister Emily, Henry writes about his children Willie and "the baby" Richard. Both are doing well. Willie is using both Chinese and English when he speaks but is having some trouble with his teeth. Henry also writes about the garden party they recently had at the English Consulate.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1882-03-20

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English); chi (b) Chinese

Text

noyes_c_cor_755

Canton China
March 20th 1882
Dear Em
I have just finished a
shirt letter to Mattie and
will write a few lines also
to you. I do not know whether
this letter will find you at
home or at school. I do not
hear very much about your
experience as teacher lately.
I have just seen the
flags of the steamer. I cannot
quite make out distinctly but
I thought they indicated that
the American Mail had arrived
If so I shall get the letters
soon after I get this finished
but not perhaps before I have to
send this away as it must
go to night to catch a steamer
that goes to-morrow Willie is

at the table with me playing
with his blocks. He is getting
to be quite a large boy - likes
to study Chinese some. He
can repeat several pages of
the three character class
which is the first book
the boys study in our
mission schools. He often gets
his books in the evening and
[illegible] to read both in English
and Chinese. He likes to
have people read stories to
him too. He understands
a good deal of English and
is beginning to talk himself
some.-- The other day he
saw the baby with the little
whistle that father sent him
and he said in Chinese
Grandpa loves "[u][?sai to?]" that is
"[u]younger brother[/u]" the name he
always gives to baby and then

he added "And he loves me
too" . Another day he asked if
his grandfather was a [u]worshipper
of Jesus[/u].
The baby is very well
and growing fast now. He
eats plenty of condensed milk
and eggs and cracked wheat.
He can go up stairs himself
and is beginning to talk. He
seems to get along faster
than Willie did but he has the
advantage of being with [u]another
boy[/u] which Willie did not. I
think he learns from Willie and
then he is so well. At his
age Willie was having a hard
time with his teeth.
We do not have much
that is [u]new[/u] to write from here.
The main ^thing that broke in upon
the usual routine last week

was a garden party at the
English Consulate. There
were two or three [--Navil--]
Naval ships here and the
Consul invited the officers
and most of the community
here to his large premises
inside the city. They had
various plans for amusement.
some races. There were races
where each one carried an
Egg in a long wooden spoon -
one dropped the Egg he lost. The
The first one to the goal was the
winner. There was one race
called the VEteran Race. Any
one for that race must have
been in China more than ten
years. In that race there were
[u]four[/u] who ran and [u]three[/u] prizes
your brother got the [u]third[/u] prize
The prize were more nominal things
for the fun of the thing. After a pleasant
afternoon the party dispersed [Note: Page folded] dark.
[Note: Letter continues sideways in left margin of page four]
Now I must close Bella wishes me to send her love to you all
which I do as well as my own

[Note: Letter concludes sideways on page one]
Your aff Bro
Henry



中国广东
1882 年 3 月 20 日
亲爱的
我刚刚完成了一个
给马蒂的衬衫信和
也会写几行
给你。不知道有没有
这封信会在
在家或在学校。我不
非常了解你的
最近有当老师的经历。
我刚刚看到
轮船的标志。我不能
很清楚但是
我以为他们表示
美国邮政已经到了
如果是这样，我会收到信
我完成后不久
但也许不是在我必须这样做之前
把它送走
去赶个蒸笼
明天去威利是

和我一起玩
用他的积木。他越来越
做个大男孩——喜欢
学习中文一些。他
可以重复几页
三字班
这是第一本书
男孩们在我们学校学习
教会学校。他经常得到
他晚上的书和
[无法辨认] 用英文阅读
和中文。他喜欢
让人们读故事
他也是。他明白
大量的英语和
开始自言自语
一些.- 前几天他
看到小宝宝
父亲送他的口哨
他用中文说
爷爷爱“sai to”那是
“弟弟”这个名字他
总是给宝宝然后

他补充说：“他爱我
也”。另一天他问是否
他的祖父是一名信徒
耶稣。
宝宝很好
并且现在增长很快。他
吃大量的炼乳
还有鸡蛋和碎小麦。
他可以自己上楼梯
并且开始说话了。他
似乎相处得更快
比威利做得好，但他有
与他人在一起的优势
威利没有的男孩。我
认为他向威利学习
那么他很好。在他的
威利年纪大了
时间用他的牙齿。
我们没有太多
这是从这里开始写的新内容。
闯入的主要事情
上周的例行公事

是一个花园派对
英国领事馆。那里
是两三个
这里的海军舰艇和
领事邀请官员
和大多数社区
来到他的大房子
城内。他们有
各种娱乐计划。
一些种族。有比赛
每个人都带着一个
长木勺里的鸡蛋——
一个人掉了他丢失的鸡蛋。这
第一个目标是
优胜者。有一场比赛
称为老将种族。任何
那场比赛的人必须有
来中国十多个
年。在那场比赛中有
四个跑者和三个奖品
你哥哥得了三等奖
奖品是更多名义上的东西
为了这件事的乐趣。愉快的过后
下午聚会散去 [注：页面折叠] 天黑了。
[注：字母在第四页的左边距中继续横向]
现在我必须关闭贝拉希望我把她的爱送给你们所有人
我做的和我自己的一样好

[注：信在第一页横向结束]
你的兄弟
亨利

Letter