Letter from Hattie to Father, May 10, 1871
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Father, May 10, 1871
Subject
Birthdays; Church; Missionaries; Letters; Girls' schools; Women's rights; Chapels; Buildings--Repair and reconstruction; Christianity; Rural clergy
Description
Harriet Noyes begins this letter to her father by thanking him for the birthday letters. Harriet then writes about the support of the Canton Mission by women at wealthy churches in the United States. Harriet also writes about a proclamation which sought to stop foreign women from teaching, and girls from going to school. She seems nonplussed, and continues on with a discussion of the construction of chapels in the country to further disseminate the word of God.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1871-05-10
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_051
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
May 10th '71 -
My [u]dear Father[u],
It was very kind
in you all to remember and
write to me on my birthday and
I would like to answer them
all but cannot will send my
[u]thanks[/u] through you to the
writers. I got such a nice lot
of letters by this mail fourteen
in all such good ones too.
The mail too gave us a pleasant
surprise by coming up on
Saturday when we had not
dared to expect it until Monday,
so all around it was "jolly" as
our English friends would say
It sounds like slang does'nt it but
they use it very often, Among my
letters was one from the Ladies of
the 1st church Phila da [Philadelphia] telling
me that they have adopted me
Many of the wealthy churches at
home (the ladies) are taking the
plan of selecting a missionary
whom they pledge themselves to support.
This was formerly Dr Barne's church
now Hewick Johnson's. Another
nice letter was from Mr Loomis,
He is a dear good friend and
writes me such good letters. We
carry on quite a brisk correspondence.
Another letter from the Mansfield
SS told me that they had just sent
$11.00 to the Mission Rooms for one
of my schools. I often think it is
too bad never to write anything
for Monthly Concert or Sabbath
School in our own church. it is
not neglected because forgotten.
A little while ago there was a long
proclamation in the China Mail
purporting to be from the authorities
at Pekin ordering all foreign
ladies to leave China forbidding
girls to attend schools +c +c. No one
however believed it was authentic
at the time as nothing of
the sort has been heard of since
of course it was not. I have
not the slightest doubt that they
would be glad to have us leave
would be glad to force us to
leave but they know very well
it would be useless to attempt it.
Our Mission has been trying for
sometime to get a building
for a chapel in Fatshan but
without success. At one time they
thought they had secured a
very good one but as the Chinese
so often do at the last moment
the [--owner--] owner would not consent to rent
it. Very often when the owner
of a house would be willing to
let it the Kai fong or people
of the neighborhood will not
allow him to. One assistant
is still in Fatshan and we hope
he may eventually succeed in
getting a place. The Wesleyan
Mission are feeling more Encouraged
in their work there say that it has
seemed brighter since the persecutions
we wrote of some months since
It is the storms that make the tree
take deeper root. The Government
is furnishing funds for rebuilding
the chapel and it is now going
up. Before they commenced to
rebuild a hundred or so of men
who are hostile to Christianity took
the pains to carry a vast amount of
of rubbish and pile it up on
the site of the chapel just to give
the Native Christians the trouble
of carrying it off again.
We are very anxious to get stations
established in the country it does
seem as if it has been a mistake
in the Canton missionaries to stay
in the city so much. In the time
of Christ those who believed in him
were not from Jerusalem but
from the villages round about
and it was the common people
that heard him gladly.
Henry has been appointed to
itinerate & he will probably be
away perhaps nearly half the
time . It is considered perfectly
safe by every one now to travel
anywhere in the country.
I have two schools now in Nganpin
both very small but Chinese ideas +c +c
make it impossible to put them into
one & secure the same scholars. When
I go out crowds of women 100 or so come
to the new school but the novelty will
soon wear off and then many most of
them probably will not care to come It
is often very discouraging but it is God's
work & if we are only [u]faithful[/u] we can
leave the results with him.
[Note: written vertically on page 4 margin]
With very much love for all from Your loving daughter
[u]Hattie[/u]
May 10th '71 -
My [u]dear Father[u],
It was very kind
in you all to remember and
write to me on my birthday and
I would like to answer them
all but cannot will send my
[u]thanks[/u] through you to the
writers. I got such a nice lot
of letters by this mail fourteen
in all such good ones too.
The mail too gave us a pleasant
surprise by coming up on
Saturday when we had not
dared to expect it until Monday,
so all around it was "jolly" as
our English friends would say
It sounds like slang does'nt it but
they use it very often, Among my
letters was one from the Ladies of
the 1st church Phila da [Philadelphia] telling
me that they have adopted me
Many of the wealthy churches at
home (the ladies) are taking the
plan of selecting a missionary
whom they pledge themselves to support.
This was formerly Dr Barne's church
now Hewick Johnson's. Another
nice letter was from Mr Loomis,
He is a dear good friend and
writes me such good letters. We
carry on quite a brisk correspondence.
Another letter from the Mansfield
SS told me that they had just sent
$11.00 to the Mission Rooms for one
of my schools. I often think it is
too bad never to write anything
for Monthly Concert or Sabbath
School in our own church. it is
not neglected because forgotten.
A little while ago there was a long
proclamation in the China Mail
purporting to be from the authorities
at Pekin ordering all foreign
ladies to leave China forbidding
girls to attend schools +c +c. No one
however believed it was authentic
at the time as nothing of
the sort has been heard of since
of course it was not. I have
not the slightest doubt that they
would be glad to have us leave
would be glad to force us to
leave but they know very well
it would be useless to attempt it.
Our Mission has been trying for
sometime to get a building
for a chapel in Fatshan but
without success. At one time they
thought they had secured a
very good one but as the Chinese
so often do at the last moment
the [--owner--] owner would not consent to rent
it. Very often when the owner
of a house would be willing to
let it the Kai fong or people
of the neighborhood will not
allow him to. One assistant
is still in Fatshan and we hope
he may eventually succeed in
getting a place. The Wesleyan
Mission are feeling more Encouraged
in their work there say that it has
seemed brighter since the persecutions
we wrote of some months since
It is the storms that make the tree
take deeper root. The Government
is furnishing funds for rebuilding
the chapel and it is now going
up. Before they commenced to
rebuild a hundred or so of men
who are hostile to Christianity took
the pains to carry a vast amount of
of rubbish and pile it up on
the site of the chapel just to give
the Native Christians the trouble
of carrying it off again.
We are very anxious to get stations
established in the country it does
seem as if it has been a mistake
in the Canton missionaries to stay
in the city so much. In the time
of Christ those who believed in him
were not from Jerusalem but
from the villages round about
and it was the common people
that heard him gladly.
Henry has been appointed to
itinerate & he will probably be
away perhaps nearly half the
time . It is considered perfectly
safe by every one now to travel
anywhere in the country.
I have two schools now in Nganpin
both very small but Chinese ideas +c +c
make it impossible to put them into
one & secure the same scholars. When
I go out crowds of women 100 or so come
to the new school but the novelty will
soon wear off and then many most of
them probably will not care to come It
is often very discouraging but it is God's
work & if we are only [u]faithful[/u] we can
leave the results with him.
[Note: written vertically on page 4 margin]
With very much love for all from Your loving daughter
[u]Hattie[/u]
中国广州 1871年5月10日 亲爱的父亲， 非常感谢您还记得我生日并且给我信， / / 我想回信， 并且等不及回复写给我信的所有人。 / 我收到了14封信， 让我非常高兴。 / 周六要来的邮包也会给我们带来惊喜 / 我们直到周一，不敢有太多的期待， / 所以一切都很好 就像我们在英国的朋友会说， 它听起来像俚语 但是他们经常用。 在我的信里， 有一个在费城的教堂女人告诉我 他们在金钱方面可以给我支持。 很多有钱的教堂女人， 正在计划支持一些传教士， 但不确定哪个组织。 / 之前是Barne医生的教堂， 现在是Hewick Johnson的。 另一封信是Loomis先生写的， 他是很好的朋友， 经常给我写一些很好的信。 我们继续很忙碌地回信。 另一封从Mansfield州立学校来的信上说， 他们刚刚给学校寄了11美元。 / 我经常在想， 是不是不写每月的音乐会活动或者安息日太坏了。 / / 它不是因为遗忘而被忽视。 刚刚中国邮政有一条长告示 / 那是权威的意思， 在北京下来命令， 所有的外国女人要求离开中国， 女孩不能上学。 虽然它第一次发布时间认为是真实的， 但是现在还没有发生什么， 所以它一定是假的。 / 我肯定他们会很高兴 让我们主动离开， 而不是强迫我们离开 但是他们知道， 那没有用。 我们的组织也是在努力在佛山建造教堂， / / 但是那没有成功。 他们以为他们找到了一个地方进行小型礼拜， 但是因为中国人经常在最后一刻读 拒绝了把房子租给我们 这种事情经常发生。 / / / 或者街区的人们不会让他们这么做。 其中一个助理还在佛山 / 我们希望他可以成功。 理工会组织感到工作更加振奋 / 他们说因为压迫， 他们想要让它变得更好， 我们在这个暴风雨来临之前的几个月写了信， 这困难使我们更加强大。 / 政府给我们更多的资金去重建教堂， 我们已经动工了。 开始重建之前， 数百名憎恨基督教的人 / 带来了很多垃圾， 并且把它们扔在教堂， / 只是为了给我们增加麻烦。 / 我们很着急 我们需要在乡村建一个基地， 在广州看起来待在城市里是一个错误。 / 同时，在耶稣时代， / 大多数人不是来自城市， 而是在农村里， 他的主要观众 是平民而不是贵族。 Henry安排他的日程 他很可能已经出去了一半了。 / 所有人看起来去乡村旅游是安全的。 / / 我在南平有两所很小的学校， 但是，中国思想使我们无法将两所学校结合起来。 / / 当我出去的时候，看到100个女人来到了新学校 但是新鲜感会很快过去， 然后很多人日后可能就不会再去。 / 总是很沮丧， 但是那是上帝的事， 如果我们对我们做的事情有信心，那么结果就有他来定。 【第四页边缘书写】 爱您的女儿 Hattie
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Father, May 10, 1871,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed April 25, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/99.