Letter from Mattie to Dear Ones at Home, August 24, 1889

Letter from Mattie to Dear Ones at Home, August 24, 1889

Diseases--Seasonal variations; Cholera; Bible--Versions; Dysentery; Dwellings

Martha writes home reporting spring fever. Dr. McCandlass and Olivia are ill and will not make it to Hai han; Dr. Kerr offers to go in their stead. Mattie thinks there is a great risk of cholera in this and could not go herself, as she doesn't speak Hainanese. She wishes she could have received Henry as he visited and looks to God to see them through this. The Fergusons are leaving missionary life as Mr. Ferguson is ill, and his original task was to translate the Bible for the KaiChins of Burmah. Henry and Olivia might go to Macao for lack of a sanitarium. Mattie is concerned for a leper whose fiancee died. She suspects Henry must have reached San Francisco by now.

Kerr, Martha Noyes

Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection

Unpublished

1889-08-24

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_813

Aug 24th 1889
My dear Ones at Home
We are in the last
stages of the disease called
at home Spring fever- and
you will believe this when
I tell you of the only hour
I had at command to write
home 1/2 of it has been spent
in a slate of doing nothing
almost. Dr McCandlass is
here and is not at all well
came last Monday. Olivia
is as well as one could
expect but by no means able
to go back to Hai han a
fortnight hence. The Dr feels
he must go in three weeks
and wants to take her. About
an hour ago Dr Kerr proposed
to go down himself and let
them stay here - until the
middle of Dec. This proposition

almost took my breath away
and I have not much vim
left. It does not seem a very
safe thing for him to go down
into this cholera district in
Sept and take on Dr Mc
Candlass practise. As for me
I should have literally nothing
to do as I could not speak
hainanese and my work
up here would be left undone
or looked after by others There
we would be away when
Henry and his family came
I have wanted so much
to be here to receive him
The Dr and I would be
the only ones at the station
And not able to speak the
language at all would be
away about three months.
I told my husband I thought
the time had come to pray
for direction. Truly we live a

day at a time. It seems as
though we can know in
the least what is coming.
But God does so we need not
worry. Yesterday a Mr & Mrs Furge
son from Bammo Birmah
were here leaving last night
about 10 oclock for Hongkong.
It just took up the time I
had arranged to give to letter
writing as a result no mail
for home. This Mrs Furgeson
was Miss Newell the daughter
of that gentleman who was
married to Mrs Fondas sister
in Newark when I was there
She has changed so much
I never should have known
her. Her husband does not
have good health at his station
and they are leaving the mission
field, think probably it is as
well they should. He came
out "not as a missionary but to

translate the bible into the
language of the KaiChins
a people resident in that part
of Burmah. Mr Gilman and
family are here at Dr Swans
Mrs G is not able to sit up.
has had Dysentery. Dr Kerr
says it will be some time
before she will get strong.
Henry and Olivia may go to
Macao next week or the
following one- Unfortunately
the Sanitarium was rented
the middle of Aug. for two
months or more so there is no
place for the Hainan people
except private houses. Our
leper girl put in an appearance
this morning. The man to
whom she was engaged died
and now his friends want
to get rid of her and are doing
so by forcing her to get married
This they are accomplishing

by refusing to give her enough
to ear poor child how I do
pity her. But we can do
nothing for her. Well good
bye Am so distressed at the
way I am doing, but energy
seems to have entirely oozed
out and so no letters. It must
be nice to have the house
with a new roof. [u]Dear old
home[/u] how I long to [u]see it
again[/u]. and the dear ones
there. Where er we roam
There is no place like home
And the old home on the
hill is where our hearts all
ways turn for rest and
comfort -- I do hope we can
see it and you before very
long- am going to think so
I think of you all so
much. Nothing but death
will ever separate us will
it. What a [u]blessing[/u] the

family relation is I do
not believe there are many
families where the bond is
so strong as with us. I wonder
where Henry is now perhaps
when this reaches you he
will have left for San
Francisco. The missionaries
will give him a warm
welcome when he returns.
Now I must not say
more. God bless you all
Do not worry or trouble
about any thing more
than you can help. The
[u]Lord[/u] will take care of us
all until the end of life
and then take us to himself
Much love from both
of us.
Mattie



1889 年 8 月 24 日
我亲爱的在家
我们在最后
这种疾病的阶段称为
在家里春天发烧-和
你会相信这一点
我告诉你唯一的时间
我有命令写
家 1/2 已经花掉了
在无所事事的情况下
几乎。麦坎德拉斯博士是
在这里，一点都不好
上周一来的。奥利维亚
是最好的
期待但绝不可能
回到海涵一个
两周后。博士觉得
他必须在三周内离开
并想带走她。关于
一个小时前，克尔博士提议
自己下去，让
他们留在这里——直到
十二月中旬 这个命题

差点让我屏住呼吸
而且我没有太多的vim
左边。似乎不是很
安全的事情让他下去
进入这个霍乱区
九月和麦克博士较量
坎德拉斯练习。至于我
我应该什么都没有
做我不能说话的事
海南人和我的工作
在这里将被搁置
或由他人照顾 那里
我们会在什么时候离开
亨利和他的家人来了
我想要这么多
来这里接待他
博士和我会
车站里唯一的人
并且不能说话
语言将是
离开大约三个月。
我告诉我丈夫我想
祷告的时候到了
为方向。真的，我们生活在一个

一天一天。好像是
虽然我们可以知道
至少会发生什么。
但是上帝这样做了，我们不需要
担心。昨天弗格先生和夫人
来自 Bammo Birmah 的儿子
昨晚离开这里
香港10点左右。
它只是占用了我的时间
已安排给信
结果写了没有邮件
为家。这位弗格森夫人
纽厄尔小姐是女儿
那个绅士
嫁给了方达夫人的姐姐
我在那里的时候在纽瓦克
她变了很多
我从来不应该知道
她。她的丈夫不
在他的车站身体健康
他们正在离开任务
场，认为可能是
他们应该。他来了
出“不是作为传教士，而是

把圣经翻译成
开钦语
居住在该地区的人
缅甸。吉尔曼先生和
家人在斯旺斯博士
G 夫人坐不起来。
得过痢疾。克尔博士
说会有一段时间
在她变得强大之前。
亨利和奥利维亚可能会去
澳门下周或
下面一个-不幸的是
疗养院是租来的
八月中旬两人
几个月或更长时间，所以没有
海南人的地方
私人住宅除外。我们的
麻风病女孩露面
今天早上。那个男人
她订婚的人死了
现在他的朋友们想要
摆脱她并正在做
所以强迫她结婚
这是他们正在完成的

拒绝给她足够的
听听可怜的孩子我怎么办
可怜她。但我们可以做到
对她来说没什么。不错不错
再见 我很心疼
我正在做的事情，但是能量
似乎已经完全渗出
出去，所以没有字母。它必须
有房子真好
有一个新屋顶。亲爱的老
回家，我多么渴望看到它
再次。和亲爱的
那里。我们在哪里漫游
哪里也不如自己的家
还有那个老房子
山是我们的心
道路转向休息和
安慰——我希望我们能
看到它和你以前很
长久以来-我会这么想
我都这么想你们
很多。除了死亡什么都没有
我们将永远分开
它。何等祝福

家庭关系是我做的
不相信有很多
债券所在的家庭
和我们一样强大。我想知道
亨利现在可能在哪里
当这到达你时，他
将前往圣
弗朗西斯科。传教士
会给他一个温暖的
他回来时欢迎。
现在我不能说
更多的。上帝保佑你们
不要担心或麻烦
关于任何事情
比你能帮上忙。这
主会照顾我们
直到生命的尽头
然后把我们带到他身边
双方的爱
我们。
马蒂

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