A Most Treasured Letter of Reply
Dear Miss Austin,
Your letter made me happy. I did not expect such a full return. I am eighty years old, and I am blind.There is little I can do except knit,and that is why I knit so many caps and sweaters and scarves. Of course I cannot write this, so my daughter-in-law is doing it for me. She alsa sewed the seams and made the buttonholes for the knitted things.
What l most wanted to say, my dear, is this. For sixty years I have been making up missionary packages of such clothing or food or medicine or books as I could collect. In various parts of the world and to various parts of the world I have sent them. Sometimes I have received a printed slip of acknowledgement from the headquarters depot or mission board,sometimes nothing. Occasionally I have been informed that my contribution was destined for Syria or Armenia or the upper Yangtze. But never before in all that time have I had a personal letter picturing the village and telling me who is wearing the clothing and what they said. I did not suppose that ever in my lifetime I should receive a letter like that. May God bless you.
Sincerely yours,
Laura Russell
一封最珍貴的回信
親愛(ài)的奧斯汀小姐：
你的來(lái)信使我很高興，也非常出乎意料。我已經(jīng)80歲了，而且雙目失明。我現(xiàn)在除了織些東西外，已做不了什么事情，這就是我為什么織了許多帽子、外套和圍巾。 當(dāng)然，我也寫(xiě)不了信，所以我請(qǐng)我的兒媳代筆，她還給我編織的衣物縫接口和開(kāi)扣眼。
親愛(ài)的，我特別想告訴你的是，60年來(lái)我一直在為教會(huì)收集捐助的衣服、食物、藥品或書(shū)籍等物。我在世界各地將這些東西寄往世界各地，有時(shí)收到過(guò)有關(guān)組織總部或教會(huì)負(fù)責(zé)機(jī)構(gòu)寄來(lái)的打印的短信，表示感謝，有時(shí)什么也沒(méi)有。偶爾也有來(lái)信告知，我捐贈(zèng)的東西已分發(fā)到敘利亞，或亞美尼亞，或長(zhǎng)江上游地區(qū)?？墒菑膩?lái)沒(méi)有人給我寫(xiě)過(guò)一封親筆信，給我描述一些村里的事，告訴我誰(shuí)穿上了寄去的衣服，以及他們說(shuō)了些什么。我萬(wàn)萬(wàn)沒(méi)有想到，在我的一生中竟會(huì)收到一封如此珍貴的回信。愿上帝保佑你。
你誠(chéng)摯的
勞拉·拉塞爾
