Letter from Henry to Mary, March 29, 1883

Letter from Henry to Mary, March 29, 1883

Rain and rainfall; Reading; Unskilled labor; Travel

Henry writes to Mary about the heavy rain he's been experiencing. He had tried to get the "chair coolies" to come and get him in the morning but they never did. Instead, he read in the chapel. Later in the day, he bargained with two 'chair coolies' and they agreed to take him back after two minutes. He concludes by discussing that he got to his destination via a boat.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1883-03-29

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_785

San-Ui
March 29th, 1883
Dear Mary
I have just finished a
letter to Clara, in which I
left myself at Chung Lau.
I expected to start from there
early in the morning, but just
as I got ready to start it
commenced to rain heavily
and kept on steadily till noon.
I had bargained for chair
coolies to come, at 8-o-clock
in the morning, but they did
not make their appearance,
and if they had done so,
I would not have cared
to start as their chair
was nothing but two bamboo
poles fastened by cross pieces

so that they were about
a foot and a half apart,
and then had two boards
or rather one board and
a short stick suspended
from them; one (the board)
for a seat and the
other (the stick) for a foot
rest. Things being thuss
I wrapped myself up in
my blanket and stretched
myself on a chapel seat, with
a book, reading part of the
time, and sleeping more.
I had concluded that I
could not get away, until
the next day, when, about
one-o-clock, the clouds
broke away a little and

suddenly two chair coolies
from San-Ning city made
their appearance, said
they were going back and
would carry me. I made
a bargain with them, in
about two minutes, and in
a few minutes more, was
on my way to San Ning, with
an umbrella over my head
one of the rain coats of the
coolies over my knees, and
the other rain coat over
my bundle . Fortunately
it did not rain heavily
and I reached San Ning
by four-o-clock in a dry
condition. I could not get
a ^small boat to start down the

and so took passage on
a cargo boat, slept alongside
of two Chinamen, and
was glad to reach the
Ho Tau next morning ---
We went on to San-Ui
reaching that city before
noon on Saturday. I have
had a making [?sundry?] re-
pairs since arriving here
and so have been dealing
to some extent with brick
and mortar, to which I
have become quite accus-
tomed. The workmen will
likely be through to-morrow. We
expect to be here a month -
Before we get back, Mrs
Happer will have left for
home . So they come and go.
She has made a good long stay.
Now good bye for this time. Love
from us all to all the dear ones at home
Your aff Bro Henry --



三义
1883 年 3 月 29 日
亲爱的玛丽
我刚刚完成了一个
给克拉拉的信，其中我
把自己留在了Chung Lau。
我希望从那里开始
一大早，但只是
当我准备开始时
开始下大雨
并一直持续到中午。
我为椅子讨价还价
八点钟的苦力来了
早上，但他们做到了
不露面，
如果他们这样做了，
我不会在意的
开始担任他们的主席
只不过是两根竹子
用横条固定的杆子

所以他们大约
相距一英尺半，
然后有两块板
或者更确切地说是一块板和
一根短棍悬空
从他们;一（董事会）
一个座位和
其他（棍子）一只脚
休息。事情就是这样
我把自己包裹在
我的毯子和伸展
我自己坐在教堂的座位上，与
一本书，阅读的一部分
时间，睡得更多。
我得出的结论是，我
无法逃脱，直到
第二天，什么时候，大约
一点钟，云
挣脱了一点，

突然两个椅子苦力
从三宁市制造
他们的出现，说
他们要回去了
会带我。我做了
与他们讨价还价，在
大约两分钟，在
再过几分钟，是
在去三宁的路上，和
一把伞在我头上
其中一件雨衣
我膝盖上的苦力，和
另一件雨衣在
我的捆绑包。幸运的是
没有下大雨
我到了三宁
在干燥的四点钟之前
健康）状况。我无法得到
一条小船开始往下走

所以通过了
一艘货船，睡在旁边
两个中国人，和
很高兴到达
第二天早上河头---
我们去了三义
之前到达那个城市
周六中午。我有
到达这里后进行了各种维修
所以一直在处理
在某种程度上用砖
和砂浆，我
已经很习惯了。工人们会
很可能明天就过去了。我们
预计在这里待一个月——
在我们回来之前，夫人
哈珀将离开
家。所以他们来来去去。
她做了一个很好的长期逗留。
现在再见了。爱
从我们所有人到家里所有亲爱的人
你的亨利兄弟——

Letter