Letter from Henry to Edward, September 30, 1901

Letter from Henry to Edward, September 30, 1901

Birthdays; Old age; Varicose veins; Death; Memorial service

Henry writes to Edward on his brother's 67th birthday. Henry says he hopes for many more birthdays for him but that they cannot always expect that in their old age. He is glad to hear that Edward is still working on the farm the best he can. Henry has been having trouble with his varicose veins and knows he needs to be more careful. Henry talks about Dr. Kerr's death and how he saw a great deal of his last few days. He concludes by discussing some of his plans for the coming days.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1901-09-30

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_848

Canton China Sept 30th 1901
Dear Bro Edward;
I remember that to-day is your 67th birth-day
and I send you my best wishes from this side of
the globe. I hope many more birth-days are before you
although at our age we cannot Expect the number to be
very many. I am glad you are still able to do some
work about the farm as I hear from the boys- and I suppose
light work is better than to keep in the house. I have
been troubled some lately with my varicose veins but they
are better now. I have to be a little careful about
walking too much. I get along with a fair amount
of work by taking it quietly and steadily but I could
not pitch on and off five or six loads ^of hay in an afternoon
There are three of the older members of the South China
Presbyterian Mission who have passed away during the
year all of who, had been vigorous workers. First
was Mr Jeremiassen who you know died of fever in
a boat coming from the interior station of Haikou. He
had done a great deal of hard work on that island
but his strong constitution gave way at last. Then in
June Dr Henry who was also a vigorous worker and
in the earlier days did a great deal of itinerating-
Last as you was Dr Kerr August "a shock of corn fully
ripe gathered into the gainer of the Lord"- Bella + I
were at his house and saw a good deal of him during
the last few days of his life- He was as you would
have expected perfectly calm and I think, while others
continued to hope, felt sure that it was his last illness.
He had made every preparation and when the Lord called
all he had to do was to go - to "be forever with the Lord"-
I presume Martha has written to you the details of
Dr Kerr's sickness- Possible one characteristic thing
she may not have written- HE passed away Saturday
Evening a little before ten-o-clock. Dr Ringer + Dr
McCandliss both thought he could live through Friday night

How many times I have heard Dr Kerr say "Oh the doctors
(of course including himself) may be mistaken" - "The Doctors
do not always know" - I think in this case they thought
he would pass away either near midnight or not long
before day light - though of course they did not tell Dr Kerr
but I suppose his medical knowledge led him to know
what they thought - towards midnight he inquired several
times "What time is it" - Then after 4-o-clock he asked
two or three times if it was coming daylight"- At last
daylight came- The windows were opened and
it was all light - Then he said with all his old
propensity for a joke - "[u]The doctors[/u] were [u]mistaken[/u]
this time" I am not going to the Kord quite so
soon as they thought I was" -- He seemed to notice everything
going on around him till almost the End- A grand
noble life is finished. I seem to feel it more than when
he was with us- Three things were said at the Memorial
Services of the Church by one or two of the Chinese
assistants who had long known him (1) I never saw
him angry" (2) He never lost an hour (3) [--Him--]
His name was known in Every province of China.
Bella + I are as usual. She has been translating
some of Dr Newton's books with which the Chinese are
much pleased. I am plodding in with school duties
treasury business and [illegible]. The School has
done very well this year. The Enrollment
is 90- the gen attendance first part of the year 80
now a little over seventy. Presbytery meets to-morrow
and Annual Mission next week when we
shall be busy- Was glad to hear from Sarah- she
says Hattie's feeling very well. I hope the same of all
the rest-
Bella joins [--te--] me in best wishes and love
Your Aff Bro -Henry-



中国广州 1901 年 9 月 30 日
亲爱的爱德华兄弟；
我记得今天是你的67岁生日
我从这边向你致以最良好的祝愿
全球。我希望更多的生日在你面前
虽然在我们这个年纪我们不能指望这个数字是
非常多。我很高兴你还能做一些
我从男孩们那里听到的关于农场的工作——我想
轻松的工作总比呆在家里好。我有
最近有些人被我的静脉曲张困扰，但他们
现在好多了。我得小心一点
走路太多。我相处得很好
安静而稳定地完成工作，但我可以
不要在一个下午上下颠倒五六堆干草
华南老成员有3位
长老会传教团在
当年所有的人，都是朝气蓬勃的工人。第一的
你认识的耶雷米亚森先生死于发烧吗
一艘从海口内陆站驶来的船。他
在那个岛上做了很多艰苦的工作
但他强壮的体质终于让位了。然后在
六月医生亨利，他也是一位精力充沛的工人，
在早期进行了大量的巡回演出-
上次你是医生科尔·奥古斯特（Kerr August）“完全震惊了玉米
成熟的聚集成主的赢家”——贝拉和我
在他家，期间看到了很多他
他生命的最后几天——他和你一样
期待完全平静，我想，而其他人
继续希望，确信这是他最后一次生病。
他已做好一切准备，当主呼召
他所要做的就是去——“永远与主同在”——
我想玛莎已经写信给你了
医生克尔的病-可能是一件特征性的事情
她可能没有写信——他星期六去世了
晚上十点前一点。林格和医生
麦坎德利斯都认为他可以熬过周五晚上

我听过多少次克尔医生说“哦，医生
（当然包括他自己）可能会误会”——“医生们
并不总是知道” - 我认为在这种情况下他们认为
他会在午夜附近或不久去世
在天亮之前——当然他们没有告诉医生克尔
但我想他的医学知识让他知道
他们是怎么想的——到了半夜，他问了几个
次“现在几点了” - 然后在 4 点钟之后，他问
两三遍，如果天亮了”——终于
天亮了——窗户打开了，
一切都很轻——然后他老老实实地说
开玩笑的倾向——“医生弄错了
这次“我不会去Kord
他们以为我是”——他似乎注意到了一切
在他周围一直持续到几乎结束-盛大
高尚的生活结束了。我似乎比什么时候更能感受到
他和我们在一起——在纪念会上说了三件事
一两个华人为教会服务
认识他很久的助手（一）我没见过
他生气了”（2）他从来没有浪费过一个小时（3）
他的名字传遍了中国的每一个省份。
贝拉+我和往常一样。她一直在翻译
牛顿医生的一些书，中国人喜欢看
很高兴。我正步履蹒跚地履行学校职责
财资业务和[无法辨认]。学校有
今年做得很好。招生
是 90- 今年上半年的一般出勤率 80
现在七十多岁了。长老会明天开会
和下周的年度使命，当我们
应该很忙-很高兴收到莎拉的消息-她
说海蒂感觉很好。我希望所有人都一样
其余的部分-
贝拉和我一起表达最美好的祝愿和爱
你的兄弟-亨利-

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