Letter from Henry to Clara, October 23, 1909

Letter from Henry to Clara, October 23, 1909

Steamboats; Typhoons; Sickness; Children of missionaries; Married people in missionary work; School buildings; Travel

In this letter, written aboard the "Princess Alice," Henry tells Clara that he has been appointed as one of two delegates from the Mission to meet with Dr. Brown in Shanghai. He discusses how the weather has caused some delays. Besides the weather, the journey has been enjoyable. Henry concludes by telling Clara about his summer which he spent building the school's dining hall and kitchen, while Bella prepared the school's garden.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1909-10-23

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_842

On board the
"Princess Alice"
Oct 23d 1909
Dear Clara:-
I have been in debt to you
for a letter a good deal longer
than I should have been. I do not
known whether I have ever written home
that I was appointed one of the
two delegates of our Mission to meet
Dr Brown at Shanghai- Dr Macble
is the other delegate who is with
me and we expect to arrive in
Shanghai to-morrow. [?We?] have had
quite an experience in the way
of a long journey to Shanghai from
Canton_ When we left we ex-
pected to arrive at our journey's
end Friday afternoon, or at latest
Saturday [?forenoon?]_ Now we shall
not arrive till to-morrow Sunday
Evening_ We left Canton Tuesday
morning at 8-o-clock expecting to
reach HongKong in six or seven
hours. When however we had
traveled 3 hours the barometer was
falling so fast that the steamer was
turned back and after an hour
reached a good anchoring place-
When we left Canton the barometer

was 29°52'_ At ll-o-clock it was
29°40' and the Captain realized
that we were running into a
typhoon and so turning to run
the other way_ We remained ---
-------- 12-o-clock Tuesday noon
Till 1/2 past seven Wednesday mor-
ning when we went on and
Reached HongKong at noon having
Been 28 hours on the road_ The
"Princess Alice" was also kept back
by the typhoon_ She however ar-
rived about 4-PM Wednesday
and left the harbor just before
dark on Thursday_ We had a
very smooth sea all night and
all day Friday but it got some-
what rough and a head sea and
head mud have been keeping us
back_ We have however a very
comfortable arrangement on this
German steamer 2nd Class_ Every
thing neat and plenty to eat so
we do not worry about the
voyage being slightly longer than
sometimes. Just not an
orchestra band is playing good
music in the dining room. There

are [--some--] three violins one bass-viol
one double bass-viol and some bass
instruments_ How Edward would
have enjoyed hearing it_ but he has
better music where he is_
I left Bella and Wm & Mary and
little William all well_ Dr George Thomas
and his wife were at our house
waiting for a boat to go to Yeung [?Kong?]
I measure they have gone by this
time. Dr Thomson was quite serious-
ly for a day or two. He said it was
the longest illness he had ever had
in this life_ I measure you were
aware that the Board had appointed
Dr J.C. Thomson's son to our mission.
It seems nice to have the children
of the older missionaries coming
to carry on the work commenced by
their parents. Dr Thomson Jr is to
live for the present at least in a
residence which stands almost on
the spot where his father tried to
build a small dispensary and
had it torn down and every brick
carried away.
During the summer Bella
& remained in Canton_ I wish she
could have a little vacation as I am

having now for about two weeks.
We got through the Summer very
well_ a little tired towards the End
of the hot weather_ Of course I was
kept busy building- got the Dining
Hall & Kitchen ready for operations
when school opened Sept 15th. The
mason work is done and the car-
penter work nearly except hanging
the shatters and making and
hanging 28 windows, and doing a
little partitioning_ The large building[--s--]
has two dining halls below and
over Each a large room - one for
a library and reading room and
one for a Social Hall. The Kitchen
building has also on the [?cover?] floor
6 bath rooms_ the upper part is
to be for rooms for the Employees -
Bella has [illegible] a good
deal of improvement int he lawn in
part of the Seminary building so
that it looks quite pretty with grass
and flowers- Well it is 1/4 past
ten-o-clock and so I will
say good night and go to bed_
Will write some more to the
other sisters after I get to Shanghai
and before the American Mail leaves
A great deal of love from your aff Bro
Henry

[Note: written horizontally across page 4]
P.S. I suppose Mattie ^will have left for China before this reaches you
I can imagine what a nice time she would have at the old house this summer.

[Note: written horizontally across page 1]
so the mail for the U.S.A is leaving here this afternoon I will send this now &
send another by the mail that will leave two or three days late. Arrived
in Shanghai Sunday afternoon Oct 24th



在船上
《爱丽丝公主》
1909 年 10 月 23 日
亲爱的克拉拉：-
我欠你的债
一封信要长很多
比我应该的。我不
知道我是否曾经写信回家
我被任命为其中之一
我们代表团的两名代表会面
上海的Brown医师——Macble医师
是另一位与
我和我们期望到达
明天上海。我们有过
一路上的体验
长途跋涉到上海
广州。当我们离开时，我们预计会到达我们的旅程
周五下午结束，或最迟
星期六早上。现在我们要
明天周日才到
晚上。我们星期二离开广州
早上八点，期待
六七点到达香港
小时。然而，当我们有
行驶了 3 小时，气压计是
坠落得如此之快，以至于轮船
一个小时后转身
到达了一个很好的锚地——
当我们离开广州时，晴雨表

为 29°52'。凌晨一点
29°40'，船长意识到
我们遇到了一个
台风等转身跑
另一种方式_我们留下了——
-------- 周二中午 12 点
直到星期三早上七点半，当我们继续前进时
中午到达香港有
28小时在路上。这
“爱丽丝公主”也被留了下来
受台风影响。然而，她在星期三下午 4 点左右到达
并在之前离开了港口
星期四天黑。我们有一个
整晚都很平静的海和
星期五一整天，但它变得有些粗糙，头海和
头泥一直留着我们
背部。然而，我们有一个非常
舒适的安排
德国蒸汽船二等舱。每一个
东西很干净，吃的很多
我们不担心
航程略长于
有时。只是不是一个
管弦乐队演奏得很好
餐厅里的音乐。那里

三把小提琴是一把低音提琴吗
一把低音提琴和一些贝斯
仪器。爱德华会怎样
很高兴听到它。但他有
在他所在的地方有更好的音乐。
我离开了 Bella 和 Wm & Mary
小威廉一切都好。乔治·托马斯博士
和他的妻子在我们家
等船去杨岗
我衡量他们已经过去了
时间。汤姆森医生一两天都非常认真。他说这是
他生过最长的病
在这一生。我测量你是
意识到董事会已任命
J.C.汤姆森博士的儿子到我们的使命。
有孩子似乎很好
年长传教士的到来
进行由
他们的父母。小汤姆森博士将
至少活在当下
几乎站立的住宅
他父亲试图去的地方
建立一个小药房和
把它拆掉，每一块砖
被带走。
在夏天贝拉
& 留在广州。我希望她
可以像我一样放个假

现在有大约两个星期。
我们度过了非常愉快的夏天
好吧有点累了
的炎热天气。我当然是
一直忙着建设 - 得到了餐厅
大厅和厨房准备就绪
9 月 15 日开学时。这
泥瓦匠的工作已经完成，木匠的工作几乎除了悬挂
破碎和制造和
挂了 28 个窗户，然后做了一个
小分区。大型建筑
下面有两个食堂和
在每个大房间 - 一个
图书馆和阅览室和
一个用于社交大厅。厨房
建筑也有盖楼
6间浴室。上半部分是
为员工提供房间 -
贝拉有[难以辨认]一个好
改善草坪的交易
神学院大楼的一部分，所以
和草一起看起来很漂亮
和鲜花——嗯，已经过去了 1/4
十点钟，所以我会
说晚安，然后上床睡觉。
会多写一些给
到上海后的其他姐妹
在美国邮政离开之前
来自你兄弟的爱
亨利

[注：横写在第 4 页]
附言我想马蒂会在你收到之前去中国
我可以想象今年夏天她在老房子里会过得多么愉快。

[注：横写在第 1 页]
所以今天下午寄往美国的邮件要寄到这里，我现在就寄这个&
通过邮件发送另一个，将延迟两三天。到达的
10月24日星期日下午在上海

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