Letter from Henry to Clara, May 24, 1894

Letter from Henry to Clara, May 24, 1894

Old age; Birthdays; Health; Family; Plague

Henry writes to Clara about how it has been exactly 28 years since he first arrived in Canton. Henry acknowledges that he feels older than he did then but thinks he is able to keep working. He has been balancing the Mission accounts. Bella is not as strong as she was five years ago and they are both finding it hard to say goodbye to the boys who are leaving for Hong Kong in about three weeks. Dr. Kerr and Martha arrived last Wednesday. Henry concludes the letter by writing about how there is a "black plague" in Canton as well as other places in China.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1894-05-24

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_847

[Note: Sideways on page one]
I am glad Edward can [u]ride[/u] on his plough. It will be greater an advantage.
You can read my letter to Mr High if you care to -

Canton May 2[--4th--]3d 1894
Dear Clara
I am in your debt for
two letters at least. The last was
a birth day letter written one
day ahead to make sure that
is on April 23d. It so happens
that to day May 23d is exactly
28 years since I arrived in
Canton. As you say 58 years
does not seem as old as it
used to when I was a boy.
I remember well when Father
was 40 and I thought then
that was quite old.
I feel a little older than I
did 28 years ago but still am
well and able to work straight
ahead through I find I must
save myself a little more than
when I was younger. I have just
finished wrestling with the Mission
accounts which come on every
year right after the 1st of May -
I finished copying them onto the

book this morning. One copy
is retained here and one goes
to Mr Dulles. The account is
pretty thoroughly itemized, amounts
somewhat over 60000 in silver
and takes 25 pages of good large
paper to record it - So to make
2 copies I have to cover 50 pages
besides all the calculations.
We are all fairly well
Bella is not so strong as she
was five years ago. She and I
will both find it hard to part
with the boys who have been
with us so long, but who will
leave Hong-Kong I suppose 3
weeks from next Tuesday. The
days are passing away all too
rapidly. They will go to Seattle
first and after a visit then
make their way Eastward.
They have both had very
good health lately. Richard seems
to [--g--] be entirely recovered from
his old trouble. Willie once in
a while is a little troubled with

fever but not very often. I hope
they will both practise in the
gymnasium in Wooster. Willie needs
it in order to straighten him up
a little. Brother Kerr + Mattie arrived
safely last Wednesday morning.
They both look as though the United
States had agreed with them. I hope
Dr Kerr may have still many years
of useful work ahead. He has been
a very busy man and certainly
has accomplished a great deal
in his line of work-
I was glad to hear all
that you wrote about the Seville
Church and its interests. I hope
Mr Sheely will see his way clear
to accept the call. I remember
him very well as the Theo. Seminary
although he was in a different
class from mine. Please remember
me to him and give him my
best wishes + tell him that I
hope to see him in Seville
some five years hence.
If you have not heard
about the "black plague" in Canton

very much, you will doubtless hear
about it soon, as the "China Mail"
in Hong Kong is now reporting pretty
thoroughly. It is in Hong Kong now
and a good many places in the
country. The doctors are not in-
clined to think it infectious, or at
least not very much so. They attribute
it rather to insanitary conditions and
therfore affecting those in these con-
ditions. The preventive is to keep
up general strength, and be par-
ticular about having every thing clear
around one's premises- I have not
year that a single foreigner has been
attacked, unless possible one Portuguese.
On [?date?], I have not yet heard
of a single case among the
Chinese either. We are fortunate
in our broad open air surroundings
and I think it prevails in more
thickly settled localities.
Dr Kerr yesterday gave me
a pretty knife which John High was
so kind as to send me. I have
found abundant use for it, the past
two days + shall continue to find it very
useful- will write a note to him and
Enclose in this. With love from Bella the
boys+ myself to you all Your Aff Bro
Henry



[注：第一页横向]
我很高兴爱德华可以骑在他的犁上。这将是一个更大的优势。
如果你愿意的话，你可以阅读我给海先生的信——

广州 1894 年 5 月 23 日
亲爱的克拉拉
我欠你的债
至少两个字母。最后一个是
一封生日信写的
提前一天，以确保
是 4 月 23 日。事情就这样发生了
到今天 5 月 23 日正是
我来28年了
广州。正如你所说的58年
看起来不像它那么古老
小时候用过。
我记得很清楚，当父亲
40岁，我当时想
那是很老了。
我觉得比我大一点
28 年前做过，但现在仍然是
很好，能够直接工作
通过我发现我必须
救自己多一点
当我年轻时。我刚刚
完成与使命的角力
每次出现的帐户
5 月 1 日之后的一年——
我完成了将它们复制到

今天早上预定。一份
保留在这里，一个去
给杜勒斯先生。账户是
非常彻底地逐项列出，金额
60000多银
并且需要 25 页好大的
记录它的纸 - 所以要制作
2份我必须覆盖50页
除了所有的计算。
我们都很好
贝拉没有她那么坚强
是五年前。她和我
都会觉得很难分开
和那些曾经
和我们在一起这么久，但谁会
我想离开香港 3
从下周二开始的几周。这
日子也在过去
迅速。他们将前往西雅图
首先和访问之后
向东走。
他们俩都非常
最近身体健康。理查德似乎
完全恢复
他的老麻烦。威利曾经
有一阵子有点烦恼

发烧但不经常。我希望
他们都将在
伍斯特的体育馆。威利需要
是为了让他挺直
一点。可儿弟兄和玛蒂到了
上周三早上安全。
他们看起来都像美国
各国已同意他们的看法。我希望
克尔博士可能还有很多年
前面有用的工作。他一直
一个非常忙碌的人，当然
取得了很大的成就
在他的工作中——
我很高兴听到所有
你写的关于塞维利亚的
教会及其利益。我希望
希利先生会看得清清楚楚
接听电话。我记得
他和西奥一样好。神学院
虽然他在不同的
我的课。请记住
我给他，给他我的
最好的祝福并告诉他我
希望在塞维利亚见到他
大约五年后。
如果你还没有听说
关于广州的“黑死病”

非常多，你无疑会听到
很快，作为“中国邮报”
在香港现在报道很漂亮
彻底。现在在香港
还有很多地方
国家。医生不倾向于认为它具有传染性，或者在
至少不是很多。他们归因于
它而不是不卫生的条件和
因此影响处于这些条件下的人。预防是保持
提高综合实力，讲究把事情搞清楚
在自己的处所周围-我没有
单身外国人的年份
攻击，除非可能是一名葡萄牙人。
在[无法辨认]，我还没有听说
中的一个案例
中文也行。我们很幸运
在我们广阔的露天环境中
我认为它在更多方面盛行
人口稠密的地方。
克尔博士昨天给了我
John High 是一把漂亮的刀
好心送我。我有
发现它的大量用途，过去
两天，将继续找到它
有用-会给他写个便条，然后
附于此。带着来自贝拉的爱
男孩们和我自己给你们你们的兄弟
亨利

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