Letter from Henry to Mother, August 6, 1883

Letter from Henry to Mother, August 6, 1883

Birthdays; Vacations; Rain and rainfall; Buildings; Missions

Henry writes to his mother wishing her well on her birthday, which he and his family are spending in Hong Kong. He is staying at the house of a lawyer who returned to England. He says that everyone's rest is well-deserved and that Willie and Richard Varnum are enjoying themselves. Most of their friends from Canton have visited at one point or another. Dr. Kerr is ill after over-working himself on a new building. Henry has heard that the Hearsts, the Whites, and the Thomsons will be stationed in Canton.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1883-08-06

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_791

Hongkong Aug 6th 1883
My dear Mother
We are all spending
your birthday in Hongkong.
Richard Varnum seems to be
having a first rate time. He is just
now in a great big bath tub with
Willie and they are splashing about
at a fine rate. I write to send
you best wishes and let you know
that you are not forgotten to-day. I
hope the year upon which you enter
to day may be a pleasant and use-
ful one from the beginning to the end.
You will see by the dating of this
letter that we are in [u] Hongkong [/u]. We
thought of going to [u] Macao [/u] but could
not find a house. At last we found
an exceedingly comfortable and pleasant
one here. It is furnished very nicely
throughout, is the house of a lawyer who
has gone home to England with his wife
for a visit of 9 months and they have left

all the furniture in the house just
as they used it. They expect to be
back by November. Mattie will know
pretty near where it is if I say
it is out on the West Road near
where [--Mr--] the Church Missionary
Society dwelling house is.
The change will do us all good
but was most needed by Bella &
perhaps Willie. I shall enjoy some
rest too and Richard though very
well will feel all the stronger for
a little fresh air. The little boys
seem to enjoy the change immensely.
They have fines times racing on the
long verandah and building steamers
with wooden blocks. Mr and
Mrs Simmons have taken the house
with us so we have their pleasant
company as [--they--] we have had so many
times before. We came last Friday
morning and landed in a pouring
rain, which kept up pretty much
all of Friday, Saturday & more or less

on Sunday. So that to-day [--Sunday--] Monday is
the first really bright day we have had
and even to-day it is more or less
cloudy. The rain and clouds
however make it very cool and
so we do not feel sorry to see it
rain especially as we need not go
out of the house unless we want
to. There is quite a delegation
of Canton people here now. Dr & Mrs
Kerr and Olivia, Mr & Mrs Pearce,
Verdie Happer, Mr & Mrs Fulton, and
the Masters may be down in a
day or two. Dr Kerr however went
up to Canton this morning, but expects
to come back in 3 or 4 days. He has
been far from well of late but is im-
proving. The new building in addition
to his other work was too much
for him and he is quite worn
out. I presume a thorough rest
is the medicine that he needs.
The Fultons expect to go back next
Wednesday evening. We have taken
the house for a month and so

will go back early in September. We
have a fine view of the harbor in
front and the hills behind and our
place has the romantic name of
Rose Villa. The incoming mail is ex-
pected on the 8th and the out-going
mail leaves on the 8th at 3-o-clock.
I expect we shall just miss
getting the mail in time to answer
it.
I do not know whether I have
written that Mr & Mrs Hearst from
Ching Mai have sent home an ap-
plication to be stationed at Canton
which, I presume, will be granted
so that we seem likely to have
quite a strong mission. The Whites
& Thomsons cannot get a place in
Lien Chau and so will likely come
back soon to Canton for the present
anyway. My paper is about finished
and so I will close sending much
love from us all
Your aff Son
Henry.
[Written vertically]
Bella has suggested putting in a handkerchief as a birth day token of remem-
brance which please find enclosed herewith.



1883 年 8 月 6 日香港
我亲爱的妈妈
我们都在消费
你在香港的生日。
理查德·瓦纳姆似乎是
有一流的时间。他只是
现在在一个很棒的大浴缸里
威利和他们四处乱窜
以很好的速度。我写信寄
你最好的祝福，让你知道
你今天没有被遗忘。我
希望你进入的那一年
从头到尾，今天可能是一个愉快而有用的一天。
你会看到这个约会
我们在香港的信。我们
想去澳门但是可以
找不到房子。最后我们发现
一个非常舒适和愉快的
一个在这里。布置得非常好
自始至终，是一位律师的家，他
和他的妻子一起回到了英国
访问了 9 个月，他们离开了

房子里的所有家具只是
因为他们使用它。他们期望成为
十一月回来。马蒂会知道
如果我说的话就在附近
它在西路附近
教会传教士在哪里
社会住宅是。
改变对我们都有好处
但这是贝拉最需要的
也许是威利。我会享受一些
也休息一下，理查德虽然很
好会感觉更强大
一点新鲜空气。小男孩们
似乎非常享受这种变化。
他们有罚款时间在赛车上
长长的走廊和蒸笼
用木块。先生和
席梦思太太拿走了房子
和我们在一起，所以我们有他们的愉快
公司，因为我们有这么多
之前几次。我们上周五来了
早上，倾盆大雨降落
雨，一直持续
周五、周六及更多或更少

星期日。所以今天星期一是
我们度过的第一个真正美好的一天
甚至在今天也或多或少
多云的。雨和云
然而让它非常酷，
所以我们看到它并不感到难过
下雨，尤其是因为我们不需要去
走出家门，除非我们想要
至。有相当多的代表团
广州人现在在这里。医生和夫人
克尔和奥利维亚，皮尔斯先生和夫人，
Verdie Happer，富尔顿先生和夫人，以及
大师赛可能会陷入困境
一两天。然而，克尔医生走了
今天早上到广州，但预计
3 或 4 天后回来。他有
最近还差得很远，但正在改善。此外，新大楼
对他的其他工作来说太过分了
对他来说，他很破旧
出去。我想彻底休息
是他需要的药。
富尔顿希望下一次回去
星期三晚上。我们采取了
房子一个月等等

九月初会回去。我们
可以欣赏到海港的美景
前面和后面的山丘和我们的
这个地方有一个浪漫的名字
玫瑰别墅。预计8日收到邮件，发出
邮件于 8 日 3 点离开。
我希望我们会错过
及时收到邮件回复
它。
我不知道我有没有
写的是赫斯特先生和夫人从
清迈已向家提出驻广州的申请
我想，这将被授予
所以我们似乎很可能有
相当强大的使命。白人
& Thomsons 无法进入
连洲等可能会来
很快回到广州暂时
反正。我的论文快写完了
所以我会关闭发送很多
我们所有人的爱
你的儿子
亨利。
【竖着写】
贝拉建议将手帕作为生日纪念，随函附上。

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