Letter from Henry to Father, January 30, 1888

Letter from Henry to Father, January 30, 1888

Gifts; Bible; Steamboats; Building

Henry writes to his father to thank him for the Oxford Bible. He comments on how he will never prize anything more and will use it for as long as he lives. Henry likes to think that it's from both his father and mother. He is excited to see his father sometime soon but not as soon as he was originally planning. He thinks he will actually be back around the first of April as he has been very busy with purchasing and planning buildings for the new premises. He concludes by discussing mission building projects.

Noyes, Henry Varnum

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

Unpublished

1888-01-30

Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant

PDF

eng (English)

Text

noyes_c_cor_850

Canton Jan 30th 1888
My dear Father
I was glad to get your good letter
this morning along with others from home.
And I cannot tell you how much I am pleased
with the beautiful Oxford Bible you sent me.
I am sure I shall never get anything that
I will prize more. I intend to keep it and
use it as long as I live. I have just been
reading to night as my first use of it the 23d
Psalm which was the one you marked in my
other bible and then the 91st Psalm which was
read last in my home each time that I came
away. I am glad to think of this Bible as coming
from you and Mother both. I cannot help worry
whether she may not possible know that I have it
I am glad you are getting along with the cold weather
comfortable and hope I shall see you before very
many weeks. I am trying hard to get along with
the work I want to finish but do not get along
as fast as I would like to. I would like so much
to be with you March 24th but in order to do
that would have to leave here by the steamer Feb 11th
and could not get ready if I tried. I fear it will
be about the 1st of April before I get away. Have
been a good deal interrupted for the past two weeks
in purchasing a lot for new premises. You will
be glad to know that the purchase was completed
to day. The lot contains between 2 + 3 English acres,
is as large as the Mission + Hospital premises both at Kuk Fan

I should think. Hattie can tell you how large
that is. The lot has two artificial ponds on
it, of which one at least I think will have to be filled up.
I suppose Mr Wisner + I will settle where
we will each have our houses before I go home
and he may build before we come back. I
suppose my first job after I come back will
be some more building - We managed the
matter of trying so that I do not think there
will be any trouble. One of our preachers bought
the lot in his name no furnishing the money.
The owner understood that it was to pass into the
hands of foreigners. This preacher got a deed
for the place and all the former deeds and has
put them into our possrssion and written us
[Note: Page ripped in half] [?the lease?] for ninety nine years paying us the
same interest for the money we loaned him to buy
that we pay him for rent the two exactly balancing-
The land thus is not alienated from China which
I think is what the Officials mainly object to, and
practically we have all we want + do not need
to get the [--rent--] lease sealed and so do not come
before the Officials at all- Our damp cold weather
is just coming in. We have had an unusually
warm winter up to a few days since, but this
morning I am writing with my big ulster on-
I am boarding now with the Wisners as I did not
have have Ayan come up with me from Macao. They take
very good care of me. I will close now for this time
Very much love to you + all the rest from
Your Aff Son -Henry-



广州 1888 年 1 月 30 日
我亲爱的父亲
我很高兴收到你的好信
今天早上和家里的其他人一起。
我不能告诉你我有多高兴
和你寄给我的漂亮的牛津圣经。
我相信我永远不会得到任何东西
我会奖励更多。我打算保留它并且
只要我活着就用它。我刚去过
读到晚上作为我第一次使用它 23d
诗篇是你在我的
另一部圣经，然后是第 91 篇诗篇
每次我来的时候在我家最后一次阅读
离开。我很高兴想到这本圣经即将到来
来自你和母亲。我忍不住担心
她是否不可能知道我拥有它
我很高兴你能适应寒冷的天气
很舒服，希望我能在很早之前见到你
许多周。我正在努力相处
我想完成但相处不来的工作
尽可能快。我非常想要
3 月 24 日和你在一起，但为了做
必须在 2 月 11 日乘轮船离开这里
如果我尝试过，就无法准备好。我怕它会
大约在我离开之前的 4 月 1 日。有
在过去的两周里被打断了很多
在为新场所购买很多东西。你会
很高兴知道购买已完成
今天。该地段包含 2 + 3 英式英亩，
与位于 Kuk Fan 的教会和医院一样大

我应该想。海蒂可以告诉你有多大
那是。该地段有两个人工池塘
它，我认为至少其中一个必须被填满。
我想威斯纳先生和我会在哪里安顿下来
在我回家之前我们每个人都有自己的房子
他可能会在我们回来之前建造。我
假设我回来后的第一份工作会
再建一些 - 我们管理
尝试使我不认为有问题
会有什么麻烦。我们的一位传道人买了
他名下的地段没有供款。
车主明白是要通入
外国人之手。这位传教士得到了一份契约
对于这个地方和所有以前的事迹和有
把它们放在我们的手中并写给我们
[注：页面被撕成两半] 九十九年的租约付给我们
我们借给他买的钱的利息相同
我们付给他租金这两者正好平衡——
因此，这片土地并没有与中国异化
我认为这是官方主要反对的，并且
实际上我们拥有我们想要的和不需要的一切
把租约盖章，所以不要来
在所有官员面前-我们潮湿寒冷的天气
刚进来。我们有一个不寻常的
温暖的冬天长达几天，但这
早上我正在和我的大阿尔斯特一起写作——
我现在和 Wisners 一起登机，因为我没有
有阿燕从澳门来找我的。他们拿
很好的照顾我。这次我要关门了
非常爱你+所有其他人
你的爱夫儿子-Henry-

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