Letter from Henry to Edward, May 23, 1882

Letter from Henry to Edward, May 23, 1882

Missionaries; Boats and boating; Travel; Open-air preaching; Bamboo

In writing to Edward, Henry remembers that this is the day he arrived in China sixteen years ago. He tells his brother about their last country trip where Bella, Mr. & Mrs. Simmons, Mrs. Happer and himself went to small villages to preach and sell books. Apparently he sold more than he ever had before within the same number of days. They visited Sz-Ui and Kwong-Ning. He talks about the bamboo that grows in the country around the Kwong-Ning district and the tigers that also live there.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1882-05-23

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

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eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_763

Canton May 23d 1882
Dear Bro Edward
It is mail day and
I will write a few lines to you.
I am reminded by the date of this
that I have been in China just
16 years to-day. The mail has
been delayed two or three times or
it would have been gone before this.
Perhaps they are waiting to get a good
ship load of [u] Chinese [/u] passengers knowing
that their time for such work is
short. There seem to be a good
many Chinese leaving lately, several
members of our churches. I
think I have not written home
since our last country trip. It
was a very enjoyable one. We
went into a part of the country
where foreigners seldom go. The last
half of the distance I do not think
most of the people had ever seen
a foreigner. We were gone in
all just about two weeks. The

party consisted of myself Bella &
the children in one boat and
Mr & Mrs Simmons & Mrs Happer
in another. Mr Simmons and
I went through all the villages
of any size selling tracts and
books and preaching. I sold more
books than I ever did in the
same time before. While we
preached in the towns the ladies
talked with the women and
men too for that matter who came
in great numbers around the
boats. We visited two district
cities the first named Sz-Ui
and the second Kwong-Ning.
At Sz-Ui the Baptist Mission
have just secured a chapel
and are going to try to get
one at Kwong-Ning. The
Kwong Ning magistrate sent two

boats with soldiers to accompany
us all the time we were in
the Kwong Ning district. Fancy
a posse soldiers detailed to
accompany a Chinaman, who
wished to travel fifty to sixty miles,
to see that no one did him
harm. The officials often put
themselves to more trouble than
we wish or than seems necessary.
We are not asked nor wished
to pay anything for our escort.
The country in the Kwong
Ning district is hilly and the
hills at this season all covered
to the top with small bamboos
some 10 or 12 feet high. They are
beginning to cut them now to
float down the river in rafts
to Canton. Before the end of the
year they will be all cut off, and
there will be another growth next
year. On the small pieces of

flat land they raise a larger
kind of bamboo 20 or 30 feet
high. It grows to this height in
one year and is cut off every
year like a crop of corn and
new bamboos sprout from the
roots. Then bamboos are two or
three inches in diameter and make
strong poles for poling boats and
a great variety of other useful
purposes. At some places we
found holes dug under the
roots of a chunk of bamboos and
wondered what they were for. On
inquiry we found that they were
[u] tiger [/u] [u] traps [/u]. They said they tied
a fowl down in the hole and
had a sharp spike or arrow so
arranged that when the tiger under-
took to take away the fowl he
would spring the trip and get shot.
We did not hear that they had
got any tigers yet although they said
that there were tigers in the hills &
that some cattle had been taken. They
said they made their appearance at night
Now I must close. Love from Bella & the children to you all
and also from Your aff Bro, Henry.



广州 1882 年 5 月 23 日
亲爱的爱德华兄弟
这是邮件日
我给你写几行。
我被这个日期提醒了
我刚到过中国
16 年的今天。邮件有
被耽误了两三次或
在此之前它会消失的。
也许他们正在等待获得一个好的
船载中国乘客知
他们从事这项工作的时间是
短的。好像有个好
最近很多中国人离开了，有几个
我们教会的成员。我
想我还没有写回家
自从我们上次出国旅行以来。它
是一个非常愉快的。我们
进入了该国的一部分
外国人很少去的地方。最后
一半的距离我不认为
大多数人都见过
一个外国人。我们进去了
大约两周。这

派对由我自己组成 Bella &
孩子们在一条船上
西蒙斯先生和夫人和哈珀夫人
在另一个。西蒙斯先生和
我走过所有的村庄
任何大小的销售区域和
书籍和讲道。我卖得更多
比我以前做过的书
之前的同一时间。虽然我们
女士们在城镇中宣讲
与女性交谈并
男人也来了
大量围绕
船。我们参观了两个区
第一个命名为 Sz-Ui 的城市
和第二个广宁。
在 Sz-Ui 浸信会
刚刚获得了一个小教堂
并且会尝试得到
一个在广宁。这
广宁县令送二

有士兵陪伴的船
我们一直在
广宁区。想要
一队士兵详细到
陪一个中国人，他
想旅行五十到六十英里，
看到没有人做他
伤害。官员们经常把
比自己更麻烦
我们希望或似乎有必要。
我们没有被问到也没有被希望
为我们的护送支付任何费用。
邝国之国
宁区是丘陵地带
这个季节的山丘都被覆盖了
用小竹子到顶部
大约 10 或 12 英尺高。他们是
现在开始把它们剪成
乘木筏顺流而下
到广州。结束前
年他们都将被切断，并且
接下来会有另一个增长
年。在小块

他们在平坦的土地上养出更大的
一种 20 或 30 英尺的竹子
高的。长到这个高度
一年，每断一次
一年就像收成的玉米和
新的竹子从那里发芽
根。那么竹子是两个或
直径三英寸，使
用于撑杆船的坚固杆子和
种类繁多的其他有用的
目的。有些地方我们
发现下面挖的洞
一大块竹子的根和
想知道他们是为了什么。上
查询我们发现他们是
老虎陷阱。他们说他们绑
一只鸡掉进洞里，
有一个锋利的尖刺或箭头，所以
安排当老虎决定带走家禽时
会突然旅行并被枪杀。
我们没有听说他们有
有老虎虽然他们说
山上有老虎&
一些牛被带走了。他们
说他们在晚上露面
现在我必须关闭。贝拉和孩子们对你们的爱
还有来自你的兄弟亨利。

Letter