Letter from Varnum to his Sister, February 11, 1856
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Varnum to his Sister, February 11, 1856
Subject
Death; Funeral service; Sermons; Children; Old age
Description
In this letter, Varnum writes to his sister about how he got her letter over a month ago. The day before a funeral was held at the Presbyterian church for Mr. Horton. He was a very well-respected member of the church although he was a very busy person. His funeral at the Baptist Meetinghouse, the largest building, and it overflowed. Most of Varnum's children are attending school this winter and remarks that his family is rapidly growing up.
Creator
Noyes, Varnum
Source
Loose, The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1856-02-11
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_906
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Guilford Feb. 11th 1856
Dear Sister,
Your letter of Dec 26th was
duly received and was, (as is usual with
such letters) perused and reperused with pe-
culiar satisfaction. As this is Monday I have
a little leisure time to spend in answering
it. I got a small sheet of letter paper at first but
finding by reading your letter a commendation of
my last on account of its size I concluded to
take a large sheet for the purpose. As it is [u]Mon
day[/u] when ministers feel a little [u]Mondayish[/u], on
account of the labours of the preceding day you
will not expect any thing very laboured. Yesterday
was a solemn day to the Presbyterian church in
this place, rendered so by the funeral solemnities
connected with the disease of Mr Horton.
You are aware that he was a leading number
and [?ruling?] elder in the church. He had lived
among us almost twenty years, and was one
of those who was constant in his attendance
on public worship and also our weekly
prayer meeting. He was also always ready to
take a part in our prayermeetings. But that
voice which we have so often heard in
our prayermeeting will be heard no more.
We shall miss him very much. Although he
was considered rather close in his dealings
yet no one that I know of doubted the genuine
ness of his piety, and the whole community
seemed to realize the loss sustained by his
death. His funeral was attended yesterday
at the Baptist Meetinghouse, that being the
largest in the place and it was crowded
to overflowing. All the different denominations
in the place gave up their Separate meet-
ings and attended the funeral exercises.
[Note: Later notes added in red pen] On Christian duality: the seen + the unseen
I attempted to preach on the occasion from
2nd Corinthians, 4-17,18, dwelling mostly upon the
second verse of the text. Mr Horton seems deeply
to feel her loss though she appears to exer-
cise the feelings of a christian. I do not
think she will survive her husband very
long, as she appears to be rapidly failing
and her affliction may hasten her exit
form the world. But it is a consolation to
know that though christians die the church
will not die. Her Saviour lives and when
he calls some of his people home he can
easily raise up other to take their place.
The death of christian friends should have a
tendency to quicken us in the path of duty.
We know not how soon our day of labour
will be ended, but we know and are often
reminded that it is drawing towards its close.
[Note: In red] U.d. 32 yrs later
It certainly becomes us "to walk thoughtful
on the solemn, silent shore, of that vast ocean
we must sail so soon." The brethren seemed
to feel at our prayer-meeting last evening that
they were called upon to be up and doing.
But alas how soon do the most solemn impres-
sions vanish from our minds. Solemn providen
ces seem to awake us out of sleep for a little
while but soon we relapse again into a
state of spiritual apathy. Nothing but the
powerful influences of the divine spirit will
effectually and permanently awaken the peo
ple of God out of their spiritual sleep.
The state of religion among us is lamentably
low. Our youth are much given to vanity.
The Presbyterian church are about underta
king to build a new meetinghouse. But
this will be of little use unless the Lord
pour out his spirit upon us and build up
the Spiritual house. I visited families two
days last week in the church of Lafayette,
and really I felt very much discouraged.
Although I had given previous notice I found
the men mostly off about their worldly
business. It is hard work to make pastoral visits
when the church is in a cold and lifeless state.
And what increases the difficulty is that I
am much in the same state. If I were as
much engaged as I ought to be, I might hope
to be the means of kindling up the piety
of others, but now I suppose some have this
feeling though they do not express it. Physician
heal thyself. In one or two instances, however,
I found a little encouragement. The prospect
of building up the church in Lafayette is
upon the whole better than it is here.
My children are mostly attending school this
winter, the two oldest at Hayesville, and the
rest our district school. Those at Hayesville
are making satisfactory progress in their
studies. Our family are rapidly growing up.
Martha is taller than her mother, Harriet and
Emily most as tall. When we get our six
daughters all home we shall have quite
a company of girls. Clara is yet with
her Aunt Fay. The winter has been remark-
ably cold. We have had but very few days
when the weather was mild enough to that
since C^hristmas. Most of this time we have
had good sleighing. The snow is now over
a foot deep, though beginning to that a little
Francis, Martha and Harriet have gone to see
some of our old acquaintances in Wayne.
Since I received your letter I have received one
from sister Fay making the same proposi-
tion that you did in yours, viz, that Mrs N
should visit New England when I go to the
General Assembly. She is getting a little
inclined to accede to the proposition. There
are some difficulties in the way but I do
not think them insuperable. Sister fay's prop
osition is to have to her sister Wheeler from N.Y.
visit at the same time and so get the whole
Walker tribe together. I was thinking [--whether--]
if we carry out her plan whether we could
not continue to have the Noyes tribe together also.
May be brother J. would be able to go to Marlbo
rough and Westmoreland with us and so all
meet once more on the shores of time. I some
times feel almost inclined to give up the
project myself. It looks like a great under-
taking. I find that, as age beings to creep upon
me, I do not like to push out from home
as well as I once did, I shall find if I
come a sad vacancy made in our family
circle. Our aged mother, whom I have always
seen heretofore, I shall see in the flesh no more
I have written to brother Augustus in hopes
to learn the whereabouts of his children. I did not
know but I might call on Harriet if I spend
a week or two in Newyork. But there is much
uncertainty in all our earthly plans. We shall
all see in a little while what President Adams
calls [u]the last of earth[/u]. I have almost finished
my sheet and I think you will, say, enough unless
better. Mrs N unites in love to you all. My regards
to brother Syman. Let me hear from you soon
Affectionately yours
Varnum Noyes.
吉尔福德 1856 年 2 月 11 日
亲爱的妹妹，
你 12 月 26 日的来信是
正式收到并且是，（与往常一样
这样的信件）以一种特别的满足感反复阅读。因为这是星期一，所以我有
有一点空闲时间来回答
它。起初我得到了一小张信纸，但
通过阅读你的来信发现对
我的最后一个，因为它的大小，我得出结论
为此目的取一张大纸。因为是周一，部长们觉得有点周一，在
记下你前一天的劳动
不会指望任何事情很费力。昨天
对长老会来说是一个庄严的日子
这个地方，在葬礼上如此呈现
与霍顿先生的病有关。
你知道他是一个领先的数字
和教会中的长老。他曾经住过
在我们中间将近二十年，是一个
那些一直在他出席的人
在公共崇拜和我们的每周
祷告会。他也时刻准备着
参加我们的祷告会。但是那个
我们经常听到的声音
我们的祷告会不会再被听到。
我们会非常想念他。虽然他
在他的交易中被认为相当接近
然而，据我所知，没有人怀疑真正的
他的虔诚和整个社区
似乎意识到自己遭受的损失
死亡。昨天参加了他的葬礼
在浸信会聚会所，那是
这个地方最大，很拥挤
到溢出。所有不同的教派
在这个地方放弃了他们的单独会议，并参加了葬礼。
[注：后面用红笔添加的注释]论基督教的二元性：可见与不可见
我试图在这个场合讲道
哥林多后书 4-17,18，主要讲述
正文的第二节。霍顿先生似乎很深
去感受她的失落，尽管她似乎在锻炼基督徒的感情。我不
认为她会挺过她的丈夫
很长，因为她似乎正在迅速失败
她的痛苦可能会加速她的离开
形成世界。但这是一个安慰
知道虽然基督徒死了教会
不会死。她的救主活着，何时
他可以把他的一些人叫回家
轻易地举起其他人来取代他们的位置。
基督徒朋友的死应该有一个
倾向于加速我们走上职责的道路。
我们不知道我们的劳动节有多快
将会结束，但我们知道并且经常
提醒它正在接近尾声。
[注：红色] U.d. 32 年后
肯定会成为我们“走得体贴
在那浩瀚海洋的庄严、寂静的海岸上
我们必须尽快启航。” 弟兄们似乎
在我们昨晚的祷告会上感受到
他们被要求站起来做事。
但是，最庄严的印象很快就会从我们的脑海中消失。庄严的提供
ces 似乎能把我们从睡眠中唤醒一段时间
虽然但很快我们又重蹈覆辙
精神冷漠的状态。无非就是
神圣精神的强大影响力将
有效和永久地唤醒上帝的子民从他们的精神沉睡中。
我们中间的宗教状况是可悲的
低的。我们的青年人很虚荣。
长老会教堂即将举行
国王建造一个新的会议室。但
除非主
将祂的灵倾倒在我们身上，建立
精神家园。我拜访了两个家庭
上周在拉斐特教堂的几天，
我真的感到非常沮丧。
虽然我已经提前通知我发现
男人们大部分时间都在谈论他们的世俗
商业。牧灵访问是一项艰苦的工作
当教会处于冰冷无生气的状态时。
而增加难度的是我
我处于同样的状态。如果我是
我应该很投入，我希望
成为点燃虔诚的手段
其他人，但现在我想有些人有这个
感觉虽然他们没有表达出来。医师
治愈自己。然而，在一两种情况下，
我找到了一点鼓励。前景
在拉斐特建立教会是
总的来说比这里好。
我的孩子大多在这个学校上学
冬天，海斯维尔最年长的两个，还有
休息我们的地区学校。海斯维尔的那些
正在取得令人满意的进展
学习。我们的家庭正在迅速成长。
玛莎比她的母亲哈丽特和
艾米丽最高。当我们得到我们的六个
女儿们都回家了，我们将拥有相当
一群女孩。克拉拉还没有
她的费伊阿姨。冬天异常寒冷。我们只有很少的几天
当天气足够温和时
自圣诞节以来。大多数时候我们有
有很好的雪橇。雪现在结束了
一英尺深，虽然开始有点
弗朗西斯、玛莎和哈丽特去看了
我们在韦恩的一些老熟人。
自从收到你的信后，我收到了一封
来自 Fay 姐姐提出同样的建议——
你在你身上所做的，即 N 夫人
我去的时候应该去新英格兰
大会。她变得有点
倾斜的同意该提议。那里
路上有一些困难，但我愿意
不要认为他们不可战胜。小姐姐的道具
职位是她来自纽约的姐姐惠勒。
同时访问，所以得到整个
沃克部落在一起。我刚在想
如果我们执行她的计划我们是否可以
不继续有诺耶斯部落在一起也。
可能是J.兄弟可以去万宝
粗犷和威斯特摩兰和我们一起等等
在时间的彼岸再次相遇。我有些
时代感觉几乎要放弃了
自己项目。它看起来像一个伟大的under-
服用。我发现，随着年龄的增长
我，我不喜欢被赶出家门
就像我曾经做过的那样，我会发现如果我
来我们家制造一个可悲的空缺
圆圈。我们年迈的母亲，我一直都是
在此之前，我将不再看到肉体
我已经写信给奥古斯都兄弟，希望
想知道他孩子的下落。我没有
知道，但如果我花钱，我可能会拜访哈丽特
在纽约一两个星期。但是有很多
我们所有尘世计划的不确定性。我们应该
很快大家就会看到亚当斯总统的所作所为
呼唤地球的最后。我差不多完成了
我的床单，我想你会说，足够了，除非
更好的。 N 夫人爱你们所有人。致以我的问候
给西蒙兄弟。让我尽快收到你的消息
深情的你
瓦纳姆·诺伊斯。
Dear Sister,
Your letter of Dec 26th was
duly received and was, (as is usual with
such letters) perused and reperused with pe-
culiar satisfaction. As this is Monday I have
a little leisure time to spend in answering
it. I got a small sheet of letter paper at first but
finding by reading your letter a commendation of
my last on account of its size I concluded to
take a large sheet for the purpose. As it is [u]Mon
day[/u] when ministers feel a little [u]Mondayish[/u], on
account of the labours of the preceding day you
will not expect any thing very laboured. Yesterday
was a solemn day to the Presbyterian church in
this place, rendered so by the funeral solemnities
connected with the disease of Mr Horton.
You are aware that he was a leading number
and [?ruling?] elder in the church. He had lived
among us almost twenty years, and was one
of those who was constant in his attendance
on public worship and also our weekly
prayer meeting. He was also always ready to
take a part in our prayermeetings. But that
voice which we have so often heard in
our prayermeeting will be heard no more.
We shall miss him very much. Although he
was considered rather close in his dealings
yet no one that I know of doubted the genuine
ness of his piety, and the whole community
seemed to realize the loss sustained by his
death. His funeral was attended yesterday
at the Baptist Meetinghouse, that being the
largest in the place and it was crowded
to overflowing. All the different denominations
in the place gave up their Separate meet-
ings and attended the funeral exercises.
[Note: Later notes added in red pen] On Christian duality: the seen + the unseen
I attempted to preach on the occasion from
2nd Corinthians, 4-17,18, dwelling mostly upon the
second verse of the text. Mr Horton seems deeply
to feel her loss though she appears to exer-
cise the feelings of a christian. I do not
think she will survive her husband very
long, as she appears to be rapidly failing
and her affliction may hasten her exit
form the world. But it is a consolation to
know that though christians die the church
will not die. Her Saviour lives and when
he calls some of his people home he can
easily raise up other to take their place.
The death of christian friends should have a
tendency to quicken us in the path of duty.
We know not how soon our day of labour
will be ended, but we know and are often
reminded that it is drawing towards its close.
[Note: In red] U.d. 32 yrs later
It certainly becomes us "to walk thoughtful
on the solemn, silent shore, of that vast ocean
we must sail so soon." The brethren seemed
to feel at our prayer-meeting last evening that
they were called upon to be up and doing.
But alas how soon do the most solemn impres-
sions vanish from our minds. Solemn providen
ces seem to awake us out of sleep for a little
while but soon we relapse again into a
state of spiritual apathy. Nothing but the
powerful influences of the divine spirit will
effectually and permanently awaken the peo
ple of God out of their spiritual sleep.
The state of religion among us is lamentably
low. Our youth are much given to vanity.
The Presbyterian church are about underta
king to build a new meetinghouse. But
this will be of little use unless the Lord
pour out his spirit upon us and build up
the Spiritual house. I visited families two
days last week in the church of Lafayette,
and really I felt very much discouraged.
Although I had given previous notice I found
the men mostly off about their worldly
business. It is hard work to make pastoral visits
when the church is in a cold and lifeless state.
And what increases the difficulty is that I
am much in the same state. If I were as
much engaged as I ought to be, I might hope
to be the means of kindling up the piety
of others, but now I suppose some have this
feeling though they do not express it. Physician
heal thyself. In one or two instances, however,
I found a little encouragement. The prospect
of building up the church in Lafayette is
upon the whole better than it is here.
My children are mostly attending school this
winter, the two oldest at Hayesville, and the
rest our district school. Those at Hayesville
are making satisfactory progress in their
studies. Our family are rapidly growing up.
Martha is taller than her mother, Harriet and
Emily most as tall. When we get our six
daughters all home we shall have quite
a company of girls. Clara is yet with
her Aunt Fay. The winter has been remark-
ably cold. We have had but very few days
when the weather was mild enough to that
since C^hristmas. Most of this time we have
had good sleighing. The snow is now over
a foot deep, though beginning to that a little
Francis, Martha and Harriet have gone to see
some of our old acquaintances in Wayne.
Since I received your letter I have received one
from sister Fay making the same proposi-
tion that you did in yours, viz, that Mrs N
should visit New England when I go to the
General Assembly. She is getting a little
inclined to accede to the proposition. There
are some difficulties in the way but I do
not think them insuperable. Sister fay's prop
osition is to have to her sister Wheeler from N.Y.
visit at the same time and so get the whole
Walker tribe together. I was thinking [--whether--]
if we carry out her plan whether we could
not continue to have the Noyes tribe together also.
May be brother J. would be able to go to Marlbo
rough and Westmoreland with us and so all
meet once more on the shores of time. I some
times feel almost inclined to give up the
project myself. It looks like a great under-
taking. I find that, as age beings to creep upon
me, I do not like to push out from home
as well as I once did, I shall find if I
come a sad vacancy made in our family
circle. Our aged mother, whom I have always
seen heretofore, I shall see in the flesh no more
I have written to brother Augustus in hopes
to learn the whereabouts of his children. I did not
know but I might call on Harriet if I spend
a week or two in Newyork. But there is much
uncertainty in all our earthly plans. We shall
all see in a little while what President Adams
calls [u]the last of earth[/u]. I have almost finished
my sheet and I think you will, say, enough unless
better. Mrs N unites in love to you all. My regards
to brother Syman. Let me hear from you soon
Affectionately yours
Varnum Noyes.
吉尔福德 1856 年 2 月 11 日
亲爱的妹妹，
你 12 月 26 日的来信是
正式收到并且是，（与往常一样
这样的信件）以一种特别的满足感反复阅读。因为这是星期一，所以我有
有一点空闲时间来回答
它。起初我得到了一小张信纸，但
通过阅读你的来信发现对
我的最后一个，因为它的大小，我得出结论
为此目的取一张大纸。因为是周一，部长们觉得有点周一，在
记下你前一天的劳动
不会指望任何事情很费力。昨天
对长老会来说是一个庄严的日子
这个地方，在葬礼上如此呈现
与霍顿先生的病有关。
你知道他是一个领先的数字
和教会中的长老。他曾经住过
在我们中间将近二十年，是一个
那些一直在他出席的人
在公共崇拜和我们的每周
祷告会。他也时刻准备着
参加我们的祷告会。但是那个
我们经常听到的声音
我们的祷告会不会再被听到。
我们会非常想念他。虽然他
在他的交易中被认为相当接近
然而，据我所知，没有人怀疑真正的
他的虔诚和整个社区
似乎意识到自己遭受的损失
死亡。昨天参加了他的葬礼
在浸信会聚会所，那是
这个地方最大，很拥挤
到溢出。所有不同的教派
在这个地方放弃了他们的单独会议，并参加了葬礼。
[注：后面用红笔添加的注释]论基督教的二元性：可见与不可见
我试图在这个场合讲道
哥林多后书 4-17,18，主要讲述
正文的第二节。霍顿先生似乎很深
去感受她的失落，尽管她似乎在锻炼基督徒的感情。我不
认为她会挺过她的丈夫
很长，因为她似乎正在迅速失败
她的痛苦可能会加速她的离开
形成世界。但这是一个安慰
知道虽然基督徒死了教会
不会死。她的救主活着，何时
他可以把他的一些人叫回家
轻易地举起其他人来取代他们的位置。
基督徒朋友的死应该有一个
倾向于加速我们走上职责的道路。
我们不知道我们的劳动节有多快
将会结束，但我们知道并且经常
提醒它正在接近尾声。
[注：红色] U.d. 32 年后
肯定会成为我们“走得体贴
在那浩瀚海洋的庄严、寂静的海岸上
我们必须尽快启航。” 弟兄们似乎
在我们昨晚的祷告会上感受到
他们被要求站起来做事。
但是，最庄严的印象很快就会从我们的脑海中消失。庄严的提供
ces 似乎能把我们从睡眠中唤醒一段时间
虽然但很快我们又重蹈覆辙
精神冷漠的状态。无非就是
神圣精神的强大影响力将
有效和永久地唤醒上帝的子民从他们的精神沉睡中。
我们中间的宗教状况是可悲的
低的。我们的青年人很虚荣。
长老会教堂即将举行
国王建造一个新的会议室。但
除非主
将祂的灵倾倒在我们身上，建立
精神家园。我拜访了两个家庭
上周在拉斐特教堂的几天，
我真的感到非常沮丧。
虽然我已经提前通知我发现
男人们大部分时间都在谈论他们的世俗
商业。牧灵访问是一项艰苦的工作
当教会处于冰冷无生气的状态时。
而增加难度的是我
我处于同样的状态。如果我是
我应该很投入，我希望
成为点燃虔诚的手段
其他人，但现在我想有些人有这个
感觉虽然他们没有表达出来。医师
治愈自己。然而，在一两种情况下，
我找到了一点鼓励。前景
在拉斐特建立教会是
总的来说比这里好。
我的孩子大多在这个学校上学
冬天，海斯维尔最年长的两个，还有
休息我们的地区学校。海斯维尔的那些
正在取得令人满意的进展
学习。我们的家庭正在迅速成长。
玛莎比她的母亲哈丽特和
艾米丽最高。当我们得到我们的六个
女儿们都回家了，我们将拥有相当
一群女孩。克拉拉还没有
她的费伊阿姨。冬天异常寒冷。我们只有很少的几天
当天气足够温和时
自圣诞节以来。大多数时候我们有
有很好的雪橇。雪现在结束了
一英尺深，虽然开始有点
弗朗西斯、玛莎和哈丽特去看了
我们在韦恩的一些老熟人。
自从收到你的信后，我收到了一封
来自 Fay 姐姐提出同样的建议——
你在你身上所做的，即 N 夫人
我去的时候应该去新英格兰
大会。她变得有点
倾斜的同意该提议。那里
路上有一些困难，但我愿意
不要认为他们不可战胜。小姐姐的道具
职位是她来自纽约的姐姐惠勒。
同时访问，所以得到整个
沃克部落在一起。我刚在想
如果我们执行她的计划我们是否可以
不继续有诺耶斯部落在一起也。
可能是J.兄弟可以去万宝
粗犷和威斯特摩兰和我们一起等等
在时间的彼岸再次相遇。我有些
时代感觉几乎要放弃了
自己项目。它看起来像一个伟大的under-
服用。我发现，随着年龄的增长
我，我不喜欢被赶出家门
就像我曾经做过的那样，我会发现如果我
来我们家制造一个可悲的空缺
圆圈。我们年迈的母亲，我一直都是
在此之前，我将不再看到肉体
我已经写信给奥古斯都兄弟，希望
想知道他孩子的下落。我没有
知道，但如果我花钱，我可能会拜访哈丽特
在纽约一两个星期。但是有很多
我们所有尘世计划的不确定性。我们应该
很快大家就会看到亚当斯总统的所作所为
呼唤地球的最后。我差不多完成了
我的床单，我想你会说，足够了，除非
更好的。 N 夫人爱你们所有人。致以我的问候
给西蒙兄弟。让我尽快收到你的消息
深情的你
瓦纳姆·诺伊斯。
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Varnum, “Letter from Varnum to his Sister, February 11, 1856,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed November 21, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/982.