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
親愛的奧斯汀小姐：
你的來信使我很高興，也非常出乎意料。我已經80歲了，而且雙目失明。我現在除了織些東西外，已做不了什麼事情，這就是我為什麼織了許多帽子、外套和圍巾。 當然，我也寫不了信，所以我請我的兒媳代筆，她還給我編織的衣物縫接口和開扣眼。
親愛的，我特別想告訴你的是，60年來我一直在為教會收集捐助的衣服、食物、藥品或書籍等物。我在世界各地將這些東西寄往世界各地，有時收到過有關組織總部或教會
負責機構寄來的列印的簡訊，表示感謝，有時什麼也沒有。偶爾也有來信告知，我捐贈的東西已分發到敘利亞，或亞美尼亞，或長江上游地區。可是從來沒有人給我寫過一封親筆信，給我描述一些村裡的事，告訴我誰穿上了寄去的衣服，以及他們說了些什麼。我萬萬沒有想到，在我的一生中竟會收到一封如此珍貴的回信。願上帝保佑你。你誠摯的
蘿拉·拉塞爾