Missionary 
 
 
 
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 Memorials 
 
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tihvavy of trhe t:heolo0icd ^tmimvy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
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 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Malcolm 0. Young 
 
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 Wyeth, Walter N. 1833-1899 
 Sarah B. Judson 
 
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SARAH B; JUDSON. 
 
 ^ ^emovxaL N^Li(,io;.Lbr.'^ 
 
 By WALTER N. \V\^ETH, D. D., 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA- 
 
 Bloom, ocean-isle ! lone ocean-isle ! 
 Thou keep 'st a jewel rarer 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA.: 
 pubivished by the author. 
 
 i88q. 
 
5l^^il:c^tion, 
 
 To THE Young Men 
 
 AND 
 
 The Young Women 
 
 OF THE CHURCHES. 
 
 Very Sincerely, 
 
 The Author, 
 
 Electrotyped, Printed and Bound by Entered according to Act of Congress, 
 
 rilH ALDINE PRINTING WORKS, in the year iSSg.by W. N. Wyeth, 
 
 No. 248 Walnut Street, in the Office of the Librarian of 
 
 Cincinnati. Congress, at Washington. 
 
THE author offers this volume, the second of the series 
 of Missionary Memorials, as a further contribution 
 to the biographical literature of Missions. The first was 
 received so cordially, and has obtained such a wide circula- 
 tion, that he is encouraged to plan for a number of them, 
 believing that they will be specially useful in this partic- 
 ular period, and be a means of perpetuating a grateful 
 remembrance of those who were in the vanguard of the 
 missionary enterprise. 
 
 Referring to the times and labors of the first mission- 
 aries, Rev. J. N. Gushing, D. D., says: "The history of 
 those days, with their lessons of undoubted faith, of firm 
 trust in God for personal protection, and unflinching effort 
 to lay some foundations for Christianity, is an inspiration 
 which the Church cannot afford to lose." 
 
 The subject of this Memorial has received much less 
 mention than her predecessor, but not for want of excel- 
 lency of character nor of faithful and sacrificing service. 
 The time of her employment was full}- twenty years, and 
 her ser\'ice was of a very high character, both the intellect- 
 ual and the spiritual. There is but one elaborate sketch 
 of her life extant, and that one is out of print. Tie author 
 
IV PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 acknowledges his indebtedness to it for material and in- 
 spi ration with which to prepare his own sketch ; while he 
 has availed himself of some sources of information and 
 means of interest not heretofore used, and has aimed to 
 cast the light of events upon the instructive and beneficent 
 life he portrays. 
 
 The literary talent of the heroine designedly appears; 
 also that of her chief biographer, the charming story- 
 writer, " Fanny Forester," who became the third wife of 
 Dr. Judson. 
 
 Believing that he has performed a good work for the 
 cause of Christ in placing the beautiful character of Sarah 
 B, Judson before the churches in this form, he hopes for 
 the verdict of a large circulation, particularly among the 
 young. 
 
 W. N. W. 
 
 No. 854 Union Street, 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., April i, 1889. 
 
PAGE 
 
 I. Girlhood — Ai^stead and Sai,em, 7 
 
 II. Promptings— Anywhere, for Soui.s, .... 13 
 
 III. Events— Stranger than Fiction, 21 
 
 IV. Won — Married and Abroad, 32 
 
 V. Beginning— "Romance of Missions!" . . . . 42 
 
 VI. Home and Schooi. — Maulmain and Tavoy, . 52 
 
 VII. "Triai, of Affection "—The First Grave, . 65 
 
 VIII. Dispersion — Furtherance of the Gospel, . 74 
 
 IX. The Jungle— Baptisms, Bereavement, .... 86 
 
 X. Life Anew — The Model Teacher, .... 97 
 
 XI. A New Test— Second Marriage, 106 
 
 XII. The Helpmate— Toiling, Sacrificing, . . . 117 
 
 XIII. Deep Shadows— " Perils OF Waters," . . . .129 
 
 XIV. Illusive Hopes— Homeward Bound, .... 145 
 XV. Death's Arrest— The Burial, 157 
 
 XVI. A Contrast — Missionary, Emperor, .... 164 
 
 Appendix, 173 
 
3llt I tv0%naxx'i» love, xxt cotta^^, caxnp, axxXi cell, 
 ^rtst iiaxxxxUe»9 &txxUeh at txfctni atxii paitx anh chctitx» 
 ^xxi {t0 tratt«iceni>^ttt tr^ecort* tjet remain* 
 
 $0v ntiftftian atxnal» of the (S:vo&9 io telU 
 
 W. C. Richards, Ph. D.— " Tke Apostle of Burmahr 
 
SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 I. 
 (^ivihO 0h—ALSTEAD AND SALEM. 
 
 And green forever be the groves, 
 
 And bright the flowery sod, 
 Where first the child's glad spirit loves 
 
 Its country and its God. 
 
 Mrs. Hemans. 
 
 ALSTEAD, a post-village in Cheshire County, N. 
 - H., was the early home of Ralph and Abiah 
 Hall, of humble name and circumstances. They 
 dwelt here for only a short period, yet, meanwhile, 
 November 3, 1803, their first child was born. It was 
 a daughter, and they gave her the good Bible name 
 Sarah ; and to the end of her days she bore it in its 
 primitive simplicity, with none of the inflections now 
 given unto it. 
 
 While Sarah was a mere child, they removed to 
 Danvers, Mass., about eighteen miles north from Bos- 
 ton ; now a large town, possessing a library, founded 
 by George Peabody, with the sum of $200,000. To 
 this home she must have referred when, drawing a 
 comparison, she speaks of having left "beautiful 
 groves, orchards filled with fruit trees, and gently 
 gliding streams," and had found "nothing but houses 
 and steeples." 
 
 7 
 
8 SARAH B, JUDSON. 
 
 The next removal was to Salem, a town second 
 only to Plymouth in time of settlement, long a seat of 
 government officials, and the home of some literary 
 celebrities. The first vessel ever sent from this coun- 
 try to the Isle of France, Calcutta and China, was dis- 
 patched from this port. The first church organization 
 in this country was formed here ; and hence departed 
 the Caravan, the first ship bearing missionaries to the 
 East. Here, amid such opportunities as the first 
 period of the republic supplied, Sarah Hall received 
 her rearing and education. Her development took 
 place within the atmosphere of schools, but only in 
 small part by the use of their facilities. She was one 
 of a class of j^outh, still continuing, who receive some 
 important promptings by means of occasional advan- 
 tages, when it seems impossible to make large acquisi- 
 tions. She had a thirst for knowledge, and evinced it 
 very early, yet equally soon did she become convinced 
 that, owing to her parents' circumstances, the sweet 
 waters would be reached only with much difficulty. 
 Of this providential situation she made no complaint^ 
 but undertook to gain the most possible in the exist- 
 ing circumstances. 
 
 The want of a picture of her is and ever will be 
 regretted. To show how the girl "looked," and what 
 was the personal appearance of the woman and mis- 
 sionary, must remain an impossibility to the narrator; 
 and yet there are traces here and there of the portrait 
 borne in the hearts of those who enjoyed the privilege 
 of knowing her. One speaks of "faultless features, 
 moulded on the Grecian model; of beautifully trans- 
 parent skin; warm, meek blue eyes and soft hair, 
 
A MEMORIAL. 9 
 
 brown in the shadow and gold in the sun." Another 
 says: "She was of about middle stature, agreeable 
 in her personal appearance, and winning in her man- 
 ners." 
 
 And as mental and spiritual traits form a very im- 
 portant part of one's full portrait, a further expression 
 from the writer last quoted will aid the reader in gain- 
 ing an impression: "The first impression of an ob- 
 server respecting her, in her youth, at the time of her 
 departure from the country, would be of a gentle, con- 
 fiding, persuasive being, who would sweeten the cup 
 of life to those who drank it with her. But further 
 acquaintance would develop strength as well as loveli- 
 ness of character. It would be seen that she could do 
 and endure, as well as love and please. Sweetness and 
 strength, gentleness and firmness w^ere in her character 
 most happil}^ blended. Her mind was both poetical 
 and practical ; she had refined taste, and a love for the 
 beautiful, as well as the excellent."* 
 
 Her parents were married in Methuen, Mass., the 
 father at twenty-eight years of age, and the mother at 
 sixteen, and thither, with little Sarah and a tiny broth- 
 er in their arms, they made an early return for a visit 
 — a journey on horseback of sixty to seventy miles. 
 Danvers and Salem were not very far to the south-east 
 of Methuen, and following the oft-noticed disposition 
 of relatives to settle within easy reach of each other, 
 they soon made the former their place of residence, 
 and ultimately the latter. 
 
 ••= " Fanny Forester " (Mrs. E. C. Judson\ whose " Memoir of Sarah B. 
 Judson " is now out of print. Quotations from it, somewhat numerous 
 toward the close of this work, wiU be indicated simply by the marks. 
 
lO SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 At the time of their settling in Salem, Sarah was 
 about nine years of age. Already a fineness of nature 
 and an impressiveness of character began to appear 
 through her deportment. 
 
 A surviving sister of hers, Mrs. H. H. Edwards, 
 Mendota, Ills., in a recent communication to the au- 
 thor, renders the following most interesting tribute : 
 
 " From my earliest recollection, the thoughts of my 
 childhood, yes, and till the last parting kiss was ex- 
 changed, were always associated with her. Her anx- 
 iety for the present and future welfare of her brothers 
 and sisters knew no limit ; ever, as opportunity offered, 
 did she try to lead their thoughts heavenward, and 
 also the minds of others with whom she associated. 
 She was not obtrusive at all, but she seemed to know 
 just when to speak and what to say. She was indeed 
 a child-missionary. 
 
 "Listening to the preaching of the Gospel, by 
 others as well as by her own beloved pastor. Dr. Lucius 
 Bolles, was one of her richest enjoyments. Dr. Wor- 
 cester, pastor of the Tabernacle Congregational Church 
 in Salem, greatly interested her. She had no personal 
 acquaintance with him, yet I remember how sad she 
 was on the morning the bell tolled his death ; how she 
 mourned in her quiet way, as for a dear friend. I will 
 repeat from memory a part of some lines she wrote on 
 his death : 
 
 " * Oh, my sad soul ! That solemn sound 
 Proclaims thy hopes are fled ; 
 Each deep'ning swell declares anew, 
 He whom thou lov'st is dead 
 
A MEMORIAL. II 
 
 " ' And can it be, that voice so mild 
 Will ever mute remain ! 
 That tongue which Wisdom called her own — 
 Will it ne'er speak again ! ' " 
 
 From her ninth year she showed great delicacy of 
 appreciation and maturity of judgment, for one so 
 young, and thus became a subject of deepest interest 
 to her friends. On the occasion of a visit in Maiden, 
 when ten or eleven years old, an aunt, who derived, 
 great delight in calling her out and listening to her 
 mature sayings, sought her opinion of dancing, which 
 she herself approved, and '* was perfectly astonished at 
 the arguments she used against it." 
 
 Her early development in that which is beautiful 
 and good seems to have been quite remarkable. It 
 greatly impressed her sister, whose words have been 
 quoted, enabling her to remember, for more than three 
 score years, what she said and did. And when asked 
 how she appeared, she could only voice her impression 
 by saying : " She was just lovely, and I know was at- 
 tractive. One lady said to Dr. Bolles, * O dear ! why 
 couldn't they have taken some one to be a missionary 
 that everybody didn't love ! ' He answered, * We don't 
 want such ; but one that everybody does love.' " 
 
 Mrs. Edwards further states : " I think now of two 
 sweet verses that she wrote in the center of a wreath 
 of evergreen, on delicate rice paper, and fitted in the 
 case of Mr. Boardman's watch : 
 
 " * A wreath of gay flow'rets as varied I wove 
 As in Poestoni's garden were seen, 
 But I threw them aside and have twined for my love 
 This garland of pure evergreen. 
 
12 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 " * May the tender attachment that glows in thy heart 
 Ever be as it ever has been ; 
 And thy Sarah's afFedlion be void of all art, 
 As this garland of pure evergreen.' 
 
 This was beautifully written, and so plain that it did 
 not look crowded." 
 
 As the above does not carry the reader beyond her 
 early years, it will seem to have been fitly mentioned 
 here. And it will gratify many, even if it seem abrupt, 
 to add that the watch, bearing the touching sentiment, 
 was one of the treasures vStolen by the marauders of 
 Martaban, soon after the settlement of the missionaries 
 at Maulmain.* In view of that wholesale robbery, 
 this refined and grateful soul could say that she " took 
 joyfully the spoiling of their goods " when she thought 
 of the treasure spared — the husband, over whom, evi- 
 dently, the fatal spear had been held. 
 
 *The spelling in vogue during the period of the subject's career is 
 maintained throughout this work. 
 
A MEMORIAL. 13 
 
 II. 
 
 ^v0xnpiin00—ANyiv//£/^B, for souls. 
 
 How can I make the most of human life ? — Mrs. Sarah B. 
 
 JUDSON. 
 
 " Oh, be thou zealous in thy youth ; 
 Fill every day with noble toils. 
 Fight for the victories of Truth, 
 
 And deck thee with her deathless spoils." 
 
 SARAH HALL early became a subject of saving 
 Power ; but not in a marvellous manner, nor with- 
 out mature thinking. Her desire for improvement 
 developed very early, and, quite naturally, grew into 
 an anxiety for her soul's welfare. Her domestic duties 
 kept her at home, except as they admitted of brief 
 terms at school. She was "mother's girl," and from 
 the satisfaction derived by performing fiHal duty, there 
 readily grew the home feeling, with a sedate, studious 
 disposition. There was no appearance of melancholy 
 in her mental life, nor of fretfulness within her limits, 
 nor of disappointment and sullen submission. There 
 was no inclination to the life of the recluse. On the 
 contrary, she acquiesced in her circumstances, and 
 strove to make the most of the small opportunities 
 she found. 
 
 Mrs. Edwards remarks : " She was all that an affec- 
 tionate, dutiful daughter could be, doing all in her 
 power to assist our parents in the care and instruction 
 
14 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 of her younger brothers and sisters. We all looked up 
 to her, and with safet}^ could follow her example and 
 teachings. She never seemed vain or frivolous ; was 
 ever cheerful, and so happy that she could make what- 
 ever she said or did attractive, whether recreation or 
 study." 
 
 The spells intervening housework were devoted to 
 study ; and acquiring knowledge was to her a pleasure, 
 if not a pastime. And while she kept the windows of 
 her soul open to all light, the rays of Bible truth seem 
 to have been the most congenial. She proposed to a 
 friend the mutual consideration of passages of Script- 
 ure, as a basis of correspondence, and in this she found 
 great delight. 
 
 Her conviction of sin came on graduall}^ and in the 
 way usual to children. First, little spasmodic alarms, 
 coming and going with their immediate cause ; then a 
 settled determination "to forsake the objects of earth, 
 and live for Heaven." It was in her seventeenth year 
 that she publicly professed religion, and she did so 
 under a full sense of the importance of the step she 
 was taking. 
 
 The next we learn of her she is indulging tears 
 of pity for sinners ; a very trustworthy evidence of 
 her regeneration. Not doubting her own acceptance, 
 though repining over her indifference and coldness, 
 she sighs over the stupidity of sinners bent upon 
 destruction. And not satisfied with cherishing even a 
 tearful solicitude for them, she gives a practical turn 
 to her feelings by admonishing them of their guilt 
 and danger. 
 
 Her piety did not assume the romantic cast, cans- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 15 
 
 ing her to pine for beautiful scenes and wonderful cir- 
 cumstances in which to do good; nor was it of an 
 avScetic character, driving her to her chamber to vSpend 
 time in moping. She at once makes of herself a youth- 
 ful missionary to those within her reach, beginning 
 where converts usually have the greatest hesitancy, 
 and feel most powerless — within her own home. Nor 
 did she chide or censure, but drew with the cords of 
 love, admonishing of danger until those addressed were 
 affedled to tears. And the interest that leads to true 
 labor for souls does not discriminate with nicety in 
 favor of persons in America, and in cultivated com- 
 munities; nor is it partial to "little heathen," real or 
 imaginary, on beautiful isles or in golden cities. It is, 
 rather, that which begins at once and with people at 
 hand, and is gradually led outward to those in deepest 
 darkness. Such was the piety of Sarah Hall. She 
 loved lost souls, and to her love there was added a 
 peculiar pity for the perishing millions of the East. 
 
 She left a sheet of paper, folded in a little book, 
 containing the last writing in journalistic form that is 
 known to have come from her pen, and by it we learn 
 the tenor of her thinking. It is dated about one month 
 after her baptism, and reads : 
 
 " While I have this daj' had the privilege of worshiping 
 the true God in solemnit}-, I have been pained by thoughts 
 of those who have never heard the sound of the Gospel. 
 When will the time come that the poor heathen, now bow- 
 ing to idols, shall own the living and true God? Dear 
 Savior, haste to spread the knowledge of thy dying love 
 to earth's remotest bounds. ^ ^^ * * I have just com- 
 pleted the perusal of the life of Samuel J. Mills ; and never 
 shall I forget the emotions of my heart, while following 
 
1 6 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 thus the footsteps of this devoted missionary. I have 
 ahnost caught his spirit, and been ready to exclaim : ' Oh, 
 that I, too, could suffer privations, hardships and dis- 
 couragements, and even find a watery grave (as did he) 
 for the sake of bearing the news of salvation to the poor 
 heathen.' Then I have checked myself in the wild, un- 
 reasonable wish. Sinners perishing all around me, and I, 
 an ignorant, weak, faithless creature, almost panting to 
 tell the far heathen of Christ ! Surely this is wTong. I 
 will no longer indulge the vain, foolish wish, but endeavor 
 to be useful in the position Providence has placed me. I 
 can pray for deluded idolaters, and for those who labor 
 among them ; and this is a privilege indeed." 
 
 Could anything more accuratel}^ reveal the girlish 
 way of thinking that characterizes young Christians ! 
 Her new-found love would carry her to prison and to 
 death for Christ's sake, even as a preference ; then her 
 sensitiveness to the spiritual pride thus vaulting in her 
 heart compels a prompt revolt from the attitude of pre- 
 sumption she has taken, and she quiets down in the 
 decision to endeavor to be useful in the position where 
 Providence should place her. The presence of humil- 
 ity and the self-sacrificing spirit, evinced the normal 
 condition of her spiritual life. She longed to be the 
 means of saving some, and to labor in the place of 
 God's own choosing. Her fitness to carry the news of 
 salvation abroad became evident in her fidelity to those 
 at home. 
 
 With this interest in the welfare of souls there 
 developed a talent for writing rehgious poetry. Her 
 readings and meditations bloomed in verse, and showed 
 the nature of her sympathies, as well as the direction 
 of her fancy. She made no startling revealments of 
 
A MEMORIAL. 1 7 
 
 power, no lofty flights, had no bold conceptions, but, 
 rather, turned to poetical uses the substance of much 
 that she read, as also some of her heart's communings. 
 Her verses were religious, and somewhat hymnal in 
 style. The power to versify was quite marked, and, 
 doubtless, its exercise was to her a source of much 
 spiritual joy. When washing dishes she would com- 
 pose, mentally, and in doing the Monday's washing she 
 kept her pencil and paper at hand, and after thinking 
 out a stanza, would write it down. A poem thus 
 made was quite presentable, and in nearly every case 
 was of a character to affecT: the heart. 
 
 The subjects of her poems were matters upon 
 which she delighted to reflect, or which were thrust 
 upon her attention by occurrences in the rehgious 
 world. Gethsemane and Calvary, the love of Christ to 
 the world, and the love due to sinful beings from 
 those whom Christ had redeemed, were topics that 
 moved her soul deeply. It was very easy for her to 
 take up a Christian idea, and a strain of melody was an 
 almost spontaneous result. The Macedonian cry 
 awakened her lyre, and the death of missionaries 
 touched a responsive chord in her heart, as though 
 she were in some degree responsible for filling the 
 vacanc}', or for aiding in creating an influence that 
 would so result. Her hymn on the Macedonian cry 
 resembles in sentiment and melody those of Bishop 
 Heber and S. F. Smith. It begins : 
 
 " Ye, on whom the glorious Gospel 
 Shines with beams serenel}' bright. 
 Pity the deluded nations, 
 Wrapped in shades of dismal night. 
 
1 8 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Ye, whose bosoms glow with rapture 
 At the precious hopes they bear ; 
 
 Ye, who know a Savior's mercy, 
 Listen to our ear-nest prayer!" 
 
 Her piety sought expression in real deeds, from the 
 very first. She answered to the command, " My little 
 children, love not in word nor in tongue, but in deed 
 and in truth," by directing her youthful energies to 
 such kinds of service as were at hand, being neither 
 partial nor fastidious. Wliile yet a very young mem- 
 ber of the church she established a female prayer meet- 
 ing in a lady's chamber, across the way from her 
 home. Scarcely had she been a year in the Christian 
 life, ere she began the work of tracft distribution; a 
 w^ork that came to her hand through a Tract Society, 
 and in which she endeavored to enlist her friends. 
 Her efforts were very earnest, and they were mani' 
 festly attended by faithful spiritual labor, because, in 
 connection with them, some obtained a hope in the 
 Savior and publicly professed Him. "Although the 
 attendants on her meetings were all her seniors, and 
 some of them married ladies, yet she was the actual 
 and acknowledged leader." 
 
 A 3^oung girl aspiring to be useful, and filled with 
 the moral courage indicated, is not likely to stop with 
 moderate results, nor to feel that the exhaustion of 
 her power for good upon her neighbors is an evidence 
 of limitation of ability. Far from it. Achieving good 
 in work at hand, in small things it may be, is a sure 
 sign of fitness to be trusted with greater work abroad ; 
 and it imparts a confidence to the worker, and a holy 
 unrest that admits of nothing short of great enterprises 
 
A MEMORIAL. 19 
 
 or endeav^ors. A little success in work for God excites 
 a relish for the work itself, and leads on to higher 
 aspiration and nobler doing. In whatever situation she 
 was, she was still trying to answer that momentous 
 question, " How shall I make the most of human life?" 
 
 Young Sarah, though modestly viewing the fruits 
 of her fidelity as a new disciple, found her mind stretch- 
 ing away to fields remote from home. It seemed to 
 her that redemption was needed everywhere, and was 
 possible to all nations, and that effort to multiply the 
 triumphs of the Cross was the most delightful of 
 human employments; nor did she permit necessities 
 at home to blind her to the needs of people abroad. 
 Her sympathies inclined to the side of those having 
 the fewest advantages. She looked eastward and west- 
 ward ; her eye follow^ed through the whole course of 
 the sun, and all the way she saw poor, deluded creat- 
 ures needing a light they had not knowm. 
 
 It was but natural that she should early feel the 
 incentive of love " to tell* the far heathen of Christ," 
 seeing that the very tone and tenor of the Great Com- 
 mission suggest the remotest parts of the earth as 
 Charity's proper field. Nor was it less natural that a 
 young woman of meek and quiet life should shrink 
 at the first rising of desire to go so far to find work, 
 and into the midst of so great perils, as from "a vain, 
 foolish wish." 
 
 She became somewhat acquainted with the missions 
 to the American Indians, and soon felt a longing to 
 enlist in them. Bits of correspondence were found by 
 her biographer, showing that she had opened her heart 
 on this subject. And it is stated as an undisputed fact 
 
20 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 that at one time " she had serious thoughts of becom- 
 ing a member of the Indian Mission under Isaac 
 McCo}^" The latter had been in progress about four 
 years at the time she was converted, and it had become 
 an object of much interest to the churches, as had that 
 to the Oneidas in New York, and that to the Cherokees 
 in the South. 
 
 Those at all familiar with the history of the Baptist 
 cause in the north-west territory will take a moment 
 here for refledlion. What if Sarah Hall had spent her 
 days in missionary work with the intrepid McCoy, 
 along the Wabash ! What if her character had de- 
 veloped in the West instead of in the East ! — her con- 
 secrated spirit been brought into contact with the anti- 
 mission spirit that asserted itself in McCoy's time, and 
 the aroma of her piety, like the fragrance of the forests, 
 been manifest in every place ! Her gentleness would 
 have made her great, and by it she would have sub- 
 dued the savage mind ; and, taken with other virtues, 
 it might have given a truer Cast to the Christian char- 
 a(5ler of the generations following. 
 
A MEMORIAL. 21 
 
 III. 
 
 (Bvtni^— STRANGER THAN FICTION. 
 
 By degrees 
 The human blossom blows; and every day, 
 Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm : ' 
 The father's lustre and the mother's bloom. 
 
 Thomson— 'T^<? Seasons:' 
 
 As in the dew-drop stars may shine, 
 So love itself, august, divine, 
 Kindles our finite lives with fire 
 That cannot smoulder nor expire. 
 
 Rose Terry Cooke. 
 
 IV /TISS HALL'S early childhood had ended with 
 ^^ the close of her living in the towns of Al- 
 stead and Dan vers. The second stage, that of girl- 
 hood, which in the best natures continues to one's 
 majority, was now passing in the old federal town of 
 Salem. And while retaining the elements of the child- 
 nature, she matured rapidly in Christian graces, pre- 
 senting a noticeable, beautiful character. Her first 
 pastor was the eminent Dr. Lucius Bolles, first Secre- 
 tary of the Baptist Foreign Mission Society, which was 
 then supporting a few missionaries. He was such a 
 Christian, so fully in sympathy with missions, that he 
 could but encourage the spirit that was already devel- 
 oping so rapidly in the heart of this young woman. 
 She was a means to his own development — a flower to 
 
22 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 regale the spiritual sense with its fragrance, a witness 
 to confirm his preaching, and an example of the power 
 of the Gospel to beget its own benevolent spirit in the 
 heart of the true believer. He could not only pray 
 for sacrifices for the missionary altar, but could also 
 have the joy of presenting an offering from his own 
 flock. 
 
 It was said of her by those who knew her well, 
 that she was remarkable, " from the period of first pro- 
 fessing herself a disciple of Christ, for the symmetry 
 and early maturity of her piety. This made her an 
 object of attention and attraction among all the more 
 spiritual-minded members of that lovely church" — the 
 church in Salem. 
 
 To show the purity of her motives we need only 
 copy her words to her parents, at the time her conse- 
 cration was made : " lyCt us, my dear parents, go to 
 Calvary ; let us behold, for a few moments, the meek, 
 the holy Lamb of God, bleeding for our transgressions. 
 Then let us inquire, 'Shall I withhold from this Savior 
 any object, however dear to my heart ? Shall I be un- 
 willing to suffer a few short years of toil and privation 
 for His sake ?' Let us call to remembrance those days 
 of darkness through which we passed before Jesus 
 lifted upon us the light of His countenance. We have, 
 I trust, each of us seen our lost and ruined condition 
 by nature ; have seen ourselves exposed to the righteous 
 indignation of our Creator ; have felt ourselves sinking 
 into endless despair and ruin, and all this is merited. 
 But oh, amazing love ! at that desperate moment the 
 Savior smiled upon us. He opened His arms of com- 
 passion, all polluted as we were with iniquity; He 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 23 
 
 received us, forgave our sins, and bade us hope for joy 
 unutterable beyond the grave. Did we not then sur- 
 render all into His hands ? Was not this the language 
 of our hearts : 
 
 " ' Had I a thousand Hves to give 
 
 A thousand lives should all be Thine'? 
 
 And has not the precious Redeemer as strong claims 
 upon us now as He had then?" 
 
 Surely this was receiving the Gospel in the old, the 
 natural way. Its message of mercy was first to be wel- 
 comed with a glad heart, and then to be sent or carried 
 on ; and one so sincere as Sarah Hall could not choose 
 the easier course and place upon others the weightier 
 duty, but must present herself to the King with the 
 proposal, " Here am I ; send me." 
 
 Her consecration was not that of one at liberty, 
 with no antecedent claims resting on her ; for so great 
 was the dependence felt by her parents, and such the 
 needs of children which an elder sister was best calcu- 
 lated to meet, that to take herself away would cause a 
 serious disruption of ties. We get a view of the su- 
 preme claims of Jesus Christ in the devotement of this 
 young woman, not rashly but rationally, to other fami- 
 lies, people and countries than her own, that He might 
 be glorified. We even see an appreciation of home in 
 the decision to leave it, in the benevolent attempt to 
 impart the true home idea to those w^ho are deeply 
 degraded for want of it. 
 
 The immediate occasion for offering herself to the 
 cause of foreign missions was the lamented death of 
 an ardent young missionary at his post Rev. James 
 
24 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Colman, of Chittagong. At that time the laborers were 
 exceedingly few, and every one was cherished as a 
 treasure whose loss might not be made up. The fall 
 of one was not only a shock to be borne, but also a 
 " providence" to be prayerfully considered;" and, more 
 than in this age of missions, the inquiry as to a per- 
 sonal relation to the crippled cause arose in the hearts 
 of the consecrated. 
 
 Edward W. Wheelock, who went with Mr. Colman, 
 died still earlier, and the two-fold bereavement of the 
 mission touched a sympathetic chord in American 
 churches. Such a heart as was that of Sarah Hall was 
 peculiarly susceptible to the refined grief experienced 
 in this way. Heart and lyre were alike awakened by 
 the tidings borne from the East, and she at once pro- 
 duced an elegy on the event that attracted much atten- 
 tion. The poetic element appears mainly in the accu- 
 rate measure and the sentiment of gratitude and grief 
 so fervently expressed, savored throughout by the au- 
 thor's charming piety. 
 
 Mrs. Edwards, in speaking of her impressions at 
 that time, remarks : 
 
 The tidings of the death of Colman and Wheelock 
 affected her most deeply, and she no doubt pra3^ed ear- 
 nestly that their places might be filled. Not long after, she 
 came from meeting so happ}^ and elated one would have 
 thought she had just come into the possession of some- 
 thing exceedingly valuable (I can almost see her now), 
 and said: " I am vso glad! Another missionary has of- 
 fered himself to the Board, and been accepted," little 
 dreaming that when he bade adieu to home and friends, she 
 too would be by his side, and gaze for the last time on all 
 
A MEMORIAIv. 25 
 
 that had been dear to her from childhood. I don't think 
 that she knew his name, or whether he had a family ; only 
 that he had given himself to God and His cause in Bur- 
 mah. Of course, after a while, more was said about it ; 
 for in thOvSe days, as compared with now, few went out. 
 After some months, our pastor. Dr. Bolles, said to her in 
 his quiet way : " Sarah, I want you to think .seriously on 
 a mission to Burmah." Not many words ; but how full of 
 meaning ! Oh, the tender chords they touched ! Some of 
 them, we felt from the first, must be riven. I must not 
 enter into particulars, only to say that her parents could 
 not give their consent for a long time ; but they dared not 
 say no, for they felt it in their hearts that God had fitted 
 her for this very work. This wanting their cheerful acqui- 
 escence weighed heavily on her heart. But God, in His 
 own time and way, enabled them to make the offering. 
 
 Meantime the heavy tidings from India were being 
 pondered by others. The heart of a young tutor in 
 Waterville College, Maine, was deeply stirred by them. 
 While the prayer, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to 
 do?" was still passing his lips, the death knell from 
 over the sea seemed to bring the answer. And as he 
 mused, the fire burned, fanned by the elegy referred to, 
 which had casually met his e3'e. Looking toward the 
 East he saw a man of Macedonia, crying, " Come over 
 and help us." Looking to a neighboring state he saw 
 a lovely woman lifting her voice in song to arouse the 
 soldiers of the Cross to press to the field and close the 
 ranks. It was a vision through verse and the means 
 of introduction to Sarah Hall. 
 
 This 3'oung man, George Dana Boardman, enter- 
 tained sentiments and feelings exactly similar to those 
 of Miss Hall ; and his Christian experience resembled 
 
26 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 hers. They sought the same ends, actuated b}^ the 
 same motives, and inspired by the same spirit. They 
 wanted to save souls, no matter where found, and 
 regardless of their own temporal interests. Yet the 
 circumstance is significant that their minds were led 
 in the same way ; his having been fixed, as was hers, 
 first on missions to the Western Indians, "rejoicing 
 at the thought of laboring and at last finding a grave 
 in the forest." 
 
 However, they were not yet to meet each other, 
 nor to enjoy the consummation of their first hopes as 
 to missionary work, nor, in fact, to enter upon any for- 
 eign service at once. Each must have further educa- 
 tion and experience at home. Mr. Boardman, an 
 unusually bright scholar, was surprised, on his gradu- 
 ation, by an appointment to a tutorship in his Alma 
 Mater. It caused him-, he says, "great grief and as- 
 tonishment." Yet, as a young man, he scarcely felt 
 that the privilege of deciding belonged to him ; the 
 call was the voice of wisdom. He entered upon the 
 tutorship, but, though preferment was just before him, 
 he soon perceived that his soul could not rest in that 
 vocation. Taking up a newspaper he saw a notice 
 of the death of Mr. Colman, and was profoundly im- 
 pressed by the event. " Who will go to fill his place?" 
 " I'll go !" This question and answer occurred to him 
 in succession, he says, as suddenly as the twinkling of 
 an eye. The spirit of Miss Hall, " a spirit as enthusi- 
 astic, as devoted, as noble as his own," responded with 
 equal promptness, but only with her harp ; it was all 
 she could then do. 
 
 The convictions of these ardent souls had thus far 
 
A MEMORIAL. 27 
 
 been individual and apart, and yet identical. But it is 
 scarcely possible that such ones should not find each 
 other. They met ; probably while Mr. Boardman was 
 visiting Boston and vicinity, with a view to create 
 interest in the subject of his appointment. It did not 
 require protracted visitation to determine the question 
 of their affinity; "their spirits, their hopes, their 
 aspirations were one." " Their interest in each other," 
 says his biographer, " kept pace with their acquaint- 
 ance. It was not the superiority of her personal 
 charms, Mr. B. remarked in conversation wath a friend, 
 though these were by no means small, but what he 
 was pleased to term her intrinsic excellence, heightened 
 by her modest, unobtrusive spirit, that most endeared 
 her to his heart." 
 
 It only remained to complete their plans and prep- 
 arations for a missionary life in India, yet this required 
 considerable time. They did not lack for leading of 
 heart, nor for moral courage ; nor did either find it 
 necessary to importune the other to become a partner 
 to an agreement to go. They w^ere detained by counsel 
 of the Board. And meantime the ten 3'ears of mission- 
 ary history already passed, though without the success 
 that gives enthusiasm, were fraught with interest as a 
 subject of study, and every element of it was fully con- 
 sidered. Each missionary and mission became famil- 
 iar. The infant cause, in the great family of denomi- 
 national interests, was the one calling for and receiving 
 the tenderest solicitude and care. It was nourished by 
 the monthly concert of prayer ; and the Magi of the 
 churches devoted to it their ripest wisdom. 
 
 Thus far the deaths of Wheelock and Colman 
 
28 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 were the most notable and painful events in the 
 mission. That of the first having occurred previous to 
 or at about the time of Miss Hall's conversion, was 
 not particularly regarded by her, while that of the lat- 
 ter, coming in the period of her earliest contemplation 
 of the missionary life, made a very deep impression on 
 her mind and heart. Now another event was passing 
 that contained within it some unturned leaves of most 
 marvellous interest — Mrs. Ann H. Judson was visiting 
 this country. When the state of her health admitted 
 she attended public meetings, particularly those con- 
 ducted for missionary purposes. Such a meeting was 
 held at Salem, and she was there in the maturity of 
 her powers, and with a ten-years' experience in heathen 
 lands as an added element of attractiveness. Serene 
 and dignified, and intensely interested in the proceed- 
 ings, she inspired all with reverence ; the young with 
 an awe akin to fear. 
 
 In the same audience sat Sarah Hall. She was four- 
 teen years younger than, or but little over one-half as 
 old as, Mrs. Judson ; a difference that, when added to 
 girlhood, means much to the girl looking on. Little 
 did Sarah dream that she should ever overtake her 
 senior in development, and by the same class of serv- 
 ice bear the honors and prerogatives of a remarkable 
 career. She only hoped that she might be permitted 
 in an humble way "to teach the poor little Burmans" ; 
 the Burman nation being at that time the only foreign 
 mission field of American Baptists, the first-born of 
 their prayers, and most tenderly cherished. 
 
 The circumstances in the lives of the two, in the 
 subsequent years, render doubly interesting the follow- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 29 
 
 ing paragraphs from the Memoir by " Fanny Forester," 
 while the touching simpHcity and naturalness of the 
 narration impart a life-like interest to the incident 
 itself: 
 
 At Salem the two met — the brilliant, accomplished 
 woman, who had studied the human heart in its various 
 phases, on three continents, and who, by her innate lofti- 
 nesSj as well as high-toned devotedness of spirit, could awe 
 both savage and cultivated minds; and young, timid 
 Sarah Hall, an unsunned dew-drop, in her sweet weakness. 
 How strangely interesting this meeting! If any there 
 had but possessed the power to turn a few leaves in the 
 book of destiny ! 
 
 A little anecdote will serve to illustrate a trait of char- 
 acter in the younger, which was prominent through life. 
 True greatness, after it has once been developed, however 
 unassuming, bears always with it a consciousness of 
 power, perfectly consistent with feminine delicacy and 
 Christian humility. Clothed in this power sat the 
 returned missionary, surrounded by listening admirers 
 and learned divines, discussing topics of vast magnitude 
 and weighty importance. Miss Hall, totally unaware of 
 the wealth of thought and feeling as yet but partly 
 unlocked in her own bosom, and blushing with girlish 
 timidity whenever the fine, dark eye fell on her, endeav- 
 ored to shrink from observation, while she drank in every 
 word with greedy earnestness. But the nature of the 
 " consecration vow" she had breathed was no secret ; and 
 so her personality was gone, or at least that part of it 
 which consisted in an indulgence of natural feeling, as 
 well as that which would have made her the exclusive 
 proprietor of the swellings of her own heart. I believe it 
 is the opinion of wise men, that a woman daring enough 
 to identify herself with one who is to stand on the out- 
 
30 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 posts of Zion, vshould have no objection to occupying a 
 kind of honorable pillory before both church and world, 
 till the curiosity of all amiable gazers is fully satisfied ; so 
 one who loved young Sarah well, but could not compre- 
 hend the delicate attunement of her spirit, made a start- 
 ling proposition. 
 
 What could be more interesting here, in the presence 
 of one who had seen Colman in India, than the reading 
 of the elegy ; and that by the fair, young author, now on 
 the eve of following in his footsteps ? Interesting to the 
 listeners of course ! So, despite her low pleadings (for 
 genuine modesty would not allow her to attract the atten- 
 tion of the waiting company by stronger demonstrations 
 of reluctance), the poor, trembling girl w^as dragged before 
 the awe-inspiring circle, and the paper thrust into her 
 hand. One better versed in the ways of the world would 
 have released herself from the embarrassing position with 
 ease ; and two years after so would she. But now she saw 
 no mode of escape. She commenced reading in a hurried, 
 faltering tone, quite unusual ; but she also had enthusiasm 
 of character, and a quiet dignity, and her soul had been in 
 the subject when she wrote ; so her voice gradually grew 
 firm, and resumed its natural modulations. She finished, 
 and without raising her head enough to perceive that the 
 eyes she most dreaded were filled with tears, stole away to 
 hide her burning blushes in some retired corner. Twenty 
 years afterwards, when she mentioned the little incident, 
 as one of exceeding painfulness at the time of its occur- 
 rence, she said nothing, probably she knew nothing, of the 
 murmur of applause which went around the circle, while 
 her own cheeks were tingling with mortification. 
 
 This coincidence belongs to the time just prior to 
 Mrs. Judson's return to India — the Spring of 1823 — 
 when she was making her final visits in Massachusetts, 
 
A MEMORIAIv. 31 
 
 She was much entertained by the then unusual spec- 
 tacle of a modest maiden reading religious verses in 
 public, under pressure of an admiring community, 
 while she was deeply affected by the fact that they 
 were her own, were written through sympathy with a 
 bereaved mission, and without a thought that they 
 would be brought to notice in this way. The occasion 
 was one to be recalled when, in her work in Burmah, 
 the depressing fear should arise that the young cause 
 was not remembered as it ought to be. And to the 
 author belonged the merit of a noble impulse, originat- 
 ing apart from the *' friend " not yet found, and without 
 expe(5lation that it would help her into notice and to 
 his acquaintance, and finally to a missionary field. 
 
32 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 IV. 
 
 ^cn— MARRIED AND ABROAD, 
 
 But happy they ! The happiest of their kind ! 
 Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
 Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend. 
 Thomson — " The Seasons^ 
 
 " There are green isles in each ocean, 
 O'er which affection glides ; 
 And a haven on each shore. 
 
 When love's the star that guides." 
 
 IN the following year Mr. Boardman visited Salem, 
 where was made " nearly the first acquaintance he 
 formed in Massachusetts." Some benevolent ladies of 
 that town had combined to promote the spiritual good 
 of its colored population, and had employed him as 
 their missionary, for his vacation. It is not assuming 
 much to say that this engagement gave the opportu- 
 nity upon which he met the congenial spirit he needed 
 to find. At that day the rarity of such souls, tempered 
 with missionary fire, makes their meeting, like the con- 
 junaion of stars, something to be noted and recorded. 
 The Hand that brings such things to pass is surely the 
 Divine ! 
 
 In April, 1823, Mr. Boardman offered himself to the 
 Board, and some expectation was created that he 
 would be accepted and sent out with Mrs. Judson. 
 But as Mr. and Mrs. Wade had been accepted and were 
 
A MEMORIAL. 33 
 
 in readiness, it was finally decided that the}^ should 
 accompany her — "animating intelligence" she calls it 
 — and Mr. Boardman remained to further qualify him- 
 self for the work. Meantime the labor in Salem was 
 performed, a temporary agency for the Triennial Con- 
 vention prosecuted in the South and West, and his 
 marriage engagement made. The first disappointment 
 of his glowing heart was compensated for in the in- 
 creased fitness he obtained at Andover, and more 
 especially in the added blessing of a noble wife. Sarah 
 Hall would have found her way to heathendom, east 
 or west, had she never met Mr. Boardrnan ; yet it was 
 an important providential circumstance in the mission- 
 ary enterprise that she should go as the wife of the 
 "Apostle to the Karens." 
 
 It may be thought tame and unnecessary to remark 
 that these young Christians were ardently interested 
 in the welfare of souls about them ; yet it stands to 
 their credit that they did not wait for grand opportu- 
 nities of doing good, nor did they apologize for neglect- 
 ing their neighbors or countrymen under the specious 
 plea that they had a mission to far distant Gentiles. 
 The journals and letters of Mr. Boardman are fraught 
 with sentiments of anxiety for the conversion of 
 former associates and fellow citizens, and of joy at the 
 occasional awakenings that took place. And the few 
 expressions from Miss Hall that remain from this early 
 period contain gleams of a mind corresponding to his 
 in this particular. 
 
 Previous to their marriage they paid a visit to his 
 home in New Sharon, Me., and Mr. Boardman's young- 
 est sister, still living, Mrs. F. G. Bullen, Eau Claire, 
 
34 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Wis., even now tells of the impression made upon her 
 by Miss Hall's grace and loveliness. She felt that she 
 was looking upon a lady; such an one as she had 
 never before met. She also recalls, with pleasure, how 
 this charming visitor in the privacy of her own room, 
 and sitting familiarly on the edge of her bed, tenderly 
 urged her to accept for herself this blessed Savior 
 whom she hoped to present to darkened ones on 
 heathen shores. 
 
 On July 4, 1825, they were married. Theirs was a 
 marriage that meant more than continuity of union; 
 it was a unity in soul and spirit and purpose of life. 
 The bent of their being was thenceforward identical ; 
 and it was strong, almost bej^ond the ability of nature 
 to endure. 
 
 A generous supply of wedding-cake for the friends 
 in Maine was forwarded in a neat wooden box, which 
 is still preserved, and bears the easily read inscription, 
 " Rev. Sylvanus Boardman, New Sharon, Me." One 
 into whose possession it came devoted it to the keep- 
 ing of missionary leaflets and clippings, not knowing 
 till years later that not only had it belonged to the 
 father of the first missionary to the Karens, but had 
 first come from the hands of the missionary himself. 
 
 Mr. Boardman is described as having been some- 
 what tall and of light weight, and seemingly predis- 
 posed to brevity of life. In his studies he was very 
 ardent, and possibly worked to excess. His mind was 
 unusually active, and in utmost sympathy with truth, 
 and in its rapid working and far reaching it may have 
 drawn upon his physical powers too heavily. Symp- 
 toms of latent consumption appeared while he was still 
 
A MEMORIAI.. 35 
 
 a Student. Mrs. Boardman was not specially " marked 
 for the grave," yet, as is common to her sex, there 
 were certain limits of endeavor that she might not 
 prudently pass. They entered on their married life 
 hopefully, glad to be accounted worthy vessels to bear 
 the Savior's name to the Gentiles. 
 
 Mr. Boardman had been ordained previously to his 
 marriage (February i6, 1825); had made his tour of 
 visitation in behalf of missions through New York and 
 the South, and now he and his young wife depart for 
 the East, embarking at Philadelphia on the ship Asia, 
 July 1 6th, twelve days after marriage. 
 
 They were deeply exercised with the painful 
 thought of leaving their friends, with no clear expecta- 
 tion of ever seeing them again, and they looked back- 
 ward, v/hile as j^et they were only one day from port, 
 and voiced their sadness. With the plaintive strain 
 came also the breathing of anxiety that the uncon- 
 verted in the family addressed might soon be num- 
 bered with God's loved ones. "Tell them it is our 
 last, best wish that they would give themselves no rest 
 till they rest in a good hope in Jesus." 
 
 As further showing what was the companion-heart 
 that made Mr. Boardman a happy husband — its fine 
 susceptibility to both joy and sorrow, and the delicate 
 sympathy that always accompanies that qualitj^ — the 
 following poem, addressed to him a short time previ- 
 ous to their marriage, is introduced here. As a pen- 
 sive, plaintive production, admirably fitting the cir- 
 cumstances, its parallel will rarely be found in the 
 language : 
 
36 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 " When far from those whose tender care 
 Protected me from ills when young; 
 And far from those who love to hear 
 AfiFedlion from a sister's tongue ; 
 
 "When on a distant heathen shore, 
 
 The deep blue ocean I shall see; 
 And know the waves which hither bore 
 
 Our bark, have left me none but thee; 
 Perhaps a thought of childhood's days 
 
 Will cause a tear to dim my eye; 
 And fragments of forgotten lays 
 
 May wake the echo of a sigh. 
 Oh ! wilt thou then forgive the tear ? 
 
 Forgive the throbbings of my heart? 
 And point to those blest regions, where 
 
 Friends meet, and never, never part? 
 
 "And when shall come affliction's storm, 
 When some deep, unexpe6led grief 
 Shall pale my cheek, and waste my form, 
 Then wilt thou point to sweet relief? 
 
 "And wilt thou, then, with soothing voice. 
 
 Of Jesus' painful confli6ls tell? 
 And bid my aching heart rejoice, 
 
 In these kind accents — 'All is wellf 
 When blooming health and strength shall fly, 
 
 And I the prey of sickness prove. 
 Oh ! wilt thou watch with wakeful eye. 
 
 The dying pillow of thy love ? 
 
 "And when the chilling hand of death 
 Shall lead me to my house in heaven, 
 And to the damp, repulsive earth. 
 In cold embrace, this form be given; 
 
 "Oh, need I ask thee, wilt thou then. 
 Upon each bright and pleasant eve, 
 Seek out the solitary glen. 
 To muse beside my lonely grave? 
 
A MEMORIAL. 37 
 
 And while fond memory back shall steal 
 
 To scenes and days forever fled; 
 Oh, let the veil of love conceal 
 
 The frailties of the sleeping dead. 
 
 "And thou niay'st weep, and thou niay'st joy, 
 For 'pleasant is the joy of grief; 
 And when thou look'st with tearful eye 
 To heaven, thy God will give relief. 
 
 "Wilt thou, then, kneel beside the sod 
 
 Of her who kneels with thee no more. 
 And give thy heart anew to God, 
 
 Who griefs unnumbered for thee bore? 
 And while on earth thy feet shall rove. 
 
 To scenes of bliss oft raise thine eye, 
 Where, all-absorbed in holy love, 
 
 I wait to hail thee to the sky." 
 
 On the ocean Mr. and Mrs. Boardman had no extra- 
 ordinary experience; scarcely the ordinary trials of 
 seasickness and of annoyance from the wickedness of 
 the crew. They had the best of accommodations, and 
 were treated with the kindest attention b}^ the officers, 
 and respect by all on board. They were permitted to 
 have divine worship on Lord's-day morning and pray- 
 ers in the cabin every evening. Their private devo- 
 tions were not undisturbed, still they enjoyed the 
 presence of the Spirit. 
 
 It was not too early for Mr. Boardman to begin to 
 derive evidences of the value of the wife God had 
 given him. Though on the sea, and without the usual 
 domestic responsibilities, 3'et the time had come for her 
 to evince some of the qualities she possessed — the com- 
 panionable disposition, and the power to bear a strain 
 of nerves and to accept of the new conditions of sea- 
 
38 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 going. When about two months out, he wrote to Dr. 
 Bolles : " It is always pleasant to enjo}^ more happiness 
 in an object than we anticipated. Such a happiness, 
 I am pleased to say to you, I enjoy in my dear Sarah." 
 
 On the second day of December, 1825, the Asia 
 came to harbor in the port of Calcutta, nearly five 
 months from Philadelphia. Some knowledge of what 
 they should meet there, and from whom to expect 
 greetings, had been a support to their pleasant antici- 
 palions, and had modified such as were unpleasant. 
 
 The English missionaries were ever ready to wel- 
 come recruits for the service from any part and for any 
 part of the world. And, then, somewhere in heathen- 
 dom — the reflecftion was alleviating — were to be met 
 those to whom they had given farewell in America — 
 Mrs. Judson and Mr. and Mrs. Wade, who had arrived 
 in Rangoon just two years prior to their own arrival 
 in Calcutta. The Wades remained there temporarily, 
 while Mr. and Mrs. Judson and Dr. Price, after a few 
 days' time, started for Ava, that city of prison cruelties. 
 
 During the greater part of two years just preceding 
 their arrival, Mr. and Mrs. Boardman were among 
 those deeply anxious as to the fate of those pioneers. 
 There was war, and news from them could not be 
 received. Already, as it seemed, the faith and patience 
 of the saints in England and America were exhausted 
 by the delay of tidings. Mrs. Boardman was very 
 deeply affecfled by the circumstances, as they contained 
 painful suggestions as to what eventually might be- 
 come of herself. Missionary work in Burmah had 
 been suspended; in fact, all distinctively American 
 missions in the East ; and Mr. and Mrs. Wade, having 
 
A MEMORIAI,. . 39 
 
 made their escape from Rangoon at the outbreak, 
 were in Chitpore, four miles from Calcutta. 
 
 Very soon Mr. and Mrs. Boardman also took up a 
 temporary residence at Chitpore, where they enjoyed 
 opportunities for studying the Burman language, hav- 
 ing the help of a native teacher and of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wade. Here they were cheerful and happy, except as 
 the prevailing uncertainty concerning the missionaries 
 at Ava was painful, and cast a shadow upon their own 
 prospects. Ere long they removed to Calcutta and 
 obtained quarters wath Mr. and Mrs. Wade, in Circular 
 Road, near the English Baptist missionaries and their 
 chapel. Here they continued to live for about one 
 year and eight months, during which period they 
 prosecuted their study of Burmese, with assiduity. 
 He, having an educative faculty, which soon became 
 knowai, took great interest in the schools estabHshed 
 by different societies, and by invitation visited them. 
 Also, he made himself familiar with the many publish- 
 ing and other enterprises for the promotion of religion 
 and science in which this heathen city abounded ; in- 
 terests that were to be accounted for by the existence 
 of the English East India Company for two centuries. 
 Mrs. Boardman, though not an indifferent spectator to 
 these important concerns, kept her mind closely oc- 
 cupied with study of the native language. In a let- 
 ter to her pastor, Dr. Bolles, of Salem, dated February 
 27, 1826, she says : 
 
 It is a source of much satisfaction to us. that while in 
 Bengal we can employ our time in the studj- of the lan- 
 guage. Mr. Boardman and myself have just commenced 
 reading Mr. Judson's translation of the New Testament. 
 
40 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 The highest motives present themselves to urge us on to 
 diligence and perseverance in study. We feel that to 
 point the wretched Burmans to the Cross of Christ is to 
 be the great object of our lives. Until we have acquired 
 their language we cannot engage in this important work. 
 How then can we spend one moment in idleness ! I trust 
 that, in the acquisition of this difficult language, the hope 
 that I shall one day be able to tell idolaters of a Savior 
 will beguile many a tedious hour. 
 
 I sometimes fancy myself surrounded by a little group 
 of Burman girls, listening eagerly to every word falling 
 from my lips, as if upon that word depended their eternal 
 happiness. I seem to see the tears of contrition rolling 
 down their little cheeks. They anxiously plead for par- 
 don, and an interest in the blood of Jesus. O, my pastor, 
 I cannot express what I feel on this subject. At the 
 anticipation of beholding a scene like this, the tear of grat- 
 itude already starts from my eye — ni}^ hand trembles, and 
 my bosom beats high with hope. What though no loved 
 parent gaze upon me in that lonely dwelling, and hear me 
 tell of Jesus ; what though no brother nor sister fondly 
 watch my looks and listen to my accents ! God will be 
 there, and He who bled on Calvary, and now sits enthroned 
 at the right hand of the Majesty on high, will smile upon 
 a scene like this. 
 
 Here is discernible that same true spirit of devotion 
 to the interests of souls that began with her spiritual 
 birth. The oppressive efFe(5ls of paganism on the 
 mind could not quench it; and the alienating in- 
 fluences of an English Society at the Indian capital, 
 involved in schemes of gain and pleasure, did not ma- 
 terially divert it. Nor did the vileness of the natives 
 abate her sympathy for them as immortal beings. She 
 
A MEMORIAIv. 41 
 
 had in her chara<5ler no element of fastidiousness to be 
 consulted or to hinder her usefulness; nor had she 
 offensive names to give to repulsive creatures. She 
 was right in heart when she left America, and thus she 
 continued. She was anxious for the conversion of 
 souls in the land she left and in that to which she had 
 come — for souls everywhere, without discrimination — 
 and while she could only pray for those afar off, she 
 could both pray and labor for those at hand. 
 
42 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 V. 
 
 ^jc^inning—^'j^OMANCE of missions/'' 
 
 "What is the meaning of the Christian life? 
 
 Is it success? or vulgar wealth, or name? 
 Is it a weary struggle — a mean strife 
 
 For rank, low gains, ambition, or for fame? 
 What sow we for? The world? For fleeting time? 
 
 Or far-off harvests, richer, more sublime ? 
 The brighest life on earth was one of loss. 
 
 The noblest head was v/reathed with sharpest thorn. 
 Has He not consecrated pain — the Cross? 
 
 What higher crowns can Christian's brow adorn? 
 Be we content to follow on the road 
 
 Which men count failure, but which leads to God." 
 
 A BOUT the middle of April (1826) joyful tidings 
 -^"^ reached Calcutta — tidings from the missionaries 
 at Ava. They had been imprisoned — no mistake ! — 
 but their release had finally come. At first the bare 
 fact of their imprisonment was made known, and by 
 and by its terrible features were revealed; the story 
 growing more horrifying with each added fact, to the 
 announcement of their deliverance. Dr. Price, one of 
 the unfortunate seven, had borne the entire ministra- 
 tion of " bonds and imprisonment," and was now in 
 Calcutta ; and there could be no reason for doubting 
 the circumstances as narrated, nor was there probabil- 
 ity if, indeed, there was possibility, of exaggerating 
 them. 
 
A MKMORIAI.. 43 
 
 The termination of hostilities and the treaty of 
 peace at last rendered it possible for the missionaries 
 to move to their prospective field. Mr. and Mrs. Wade 
 left Bengal for Burmah in September, and Mr. and 
 Mrs. Boardman, who were detained longer, in the fol- 
 lowing Spring. The lives of these advance messen- 
 gers of peace were thus far flowing together; their 
 joys, their hopes, their aims were one, and providen- 
 tial circumstances had rendered their domestic life like 
 that of one family. And now they were to join the lib- 
 erated brethren from Ava, and thus enlarge the vol- 
 ume of missionary power. 
 
 A new element of domestic joy had been granted 
 the Boardmans, and their cup was running over. The 
 thirtieth of October brought to their chamber the light 
 of a new life — a little daughter, who was named for 
 her mother. And in evidence of the just admiration 
 of Mr. Boardman for his wife, he declared it to be his 
 earnest desire that the child might " become very much 
 like her dear, excellent mother." 
 
 On the 2oth of the following March, a little more 
 than one year and three months after their arrival in 
 India, they embarked for Amherst, Burmah, where the 
 little force that American Baptists had sent out, less the 
 dead, w^as now centered. They were too late, by near- 
 ly six months, to be welcomed by the w^oman pioneer, 
 the head and crown of American female missionaries ; 
 she had finished her course and w^as resting beneath 
 the Hopia tree. But they were in time to see the ob- 
 ject of her maternal affedlion before its death — the 
 only child feeling the dying pressure of her encircling 
 arms, and the gift of her final hour to the sympathies 
 
44 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 of the living. Mrs. Boardman had brought in her own 
 arms the evidence and pledge that no sister mission- 
 ary's child should be neglected. She found little Maria 
 in the good hands of Mrs. Wade, but saw that she was 
 fast following in the way to the Hopia tree. How 
 much she was able to do for her before she was taken 
 away cannot be determined, except that it is known 
 how well she was qualified by practice in her Salem 
 home, and in her new experience of motherhood, to 
 minister to her from a full heart. 
 
 Ten days elapsed, and little Maria was with her 
 mother. Mrs. Boardman was numbered with the few 
 who " closed her faded eyes, and bound up her discol- 
 ored lips, where the dark touch of death first appeared, 
 and folded her little hands — the exact pattern of her 
 mother's — on her cold breast." — {Dr. Jiidson?) Then 
 she sat down to versify the sentiments suggested by 
 the melancholy event, showing that her poetic and 
 pathetic powers awakened readily at the touch of an 
 occasion. She clasps her little Sarah more firmly to 
 her bosom, as though suspecting death to be mak- 
 ing a close search among missionary families, and 
 then turned to the duties of life. 
 
 Such was her introduction to Burmah, long con- 
 templated as the field of her life work. Her initiation 
 was that of a second heroine looking upon the grave 
 of the first and laying by her side the last of her chil- 
 dren. She needed assurance that should such be her 
 own experience she would be able to go through it 
 with unfailing faith. She was one of those concerning 
 whom the first made the dying plaint, " The mission- 
 aries are long in coming;" but she had come, and come 
 
A MEMORIAL. 45 
 
 to supply the place of the fallen in more respects and 
 to greater satisfaction than human sight unaided ever 
 could have discovered. 
 
 Mr. Boardman, having visited Maulmain, twenty- 
 five miles from Amherst, agreed with others in the 
 conviction that operations should be begun there also, 
 and he was the proper one to take that post. He had 
 made the acquaintance of Sir Archibald Campbell, Gov- 
 ernor General, who offered him "a beautiful spot of 
 ground, sufficient for a large mission establishment," 
 situated about a mile south of the military canton- 
 ments. Here he built a small bamboo house, costing 
 a little over one hundred dollars. Of the circumstances 
 he then wrote : 
 
 Although our prospects are not so settled as we could 
 wish, there still being no small uncertainty in regard to 
 the future measures of the English Government, yet my 
 dear companion and myself feel more than we have ever 
 felt, that we have reached the scene of our future labors. 
 These are people for whom we are willing to labor and to 
 die. 
 
 Again, May 28th, a week later: 
 
 Arrived at INIaulmain. After nearly two years of wan- 
 derings, without any certain dwelling-place, we have to-day 
 become inhabitants of a little spot on earth, and have en- 
 tered a house which we call our earthly home. None but 
 those who have been in similar circumstances can conceive 
 the satisfaction we now enjoy. 
 
 Maulmain obtained prominence on account of hav- 
 ing been fixed upon, finally, as the seat of the govern- 
 ment in preference to Amherst. Sir Archibald made 
 
46 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 it the headquartens of the army, as being most con- 
 venient, and immediately the tide of population flowed 
 to it. In one year's time it grew from a thick jungle 
 to a populous city of about 20,000. It was located on 
 the east bank of the Salwen river, which flowed due 
 south, about twenty-five miles from its mouth and not 
 far from the Bay of Bengal on the west. Across the 
 river was the town of Martaban, which had suffered an 
 exodus of its population, a thing easy of occurrence 
 here, and was now comparatively desolate, and the ren- 
 dezvous of marauders. These robbers were beyond 
 the reach of British authority when in their retreat, 
 and they used their opportunities to sally forth and 
 prey upon any people they could reach; going in 
 squads, armed with spears, knives and other weapons, 
 and showing no mercy to any who stood in their way. 
 Mrs. Boardman had removed to Maulmain while 
 suffering from an attack of the liver complaint, in a 
 form and with a virulence peculiar to the country, from 
 which she was relieved by intervals but not finally un- 
 til death brought the release. So weak w^as she that 
 she was necessarily carried to the boat by w^hich she 
 was conveyed to her new home. This illness and the 
 care of her young babe rendered her quite helpless, es- 
 pecially in great and unexpected emergencies, and also 
 liable to a very great strain of nerves. It seems 
 strange that her home should have been placed as it 
 was ; for its seclusion could not compensate for the in- 
 curring of perils, such as it at once passed through. 
 The bandit put their mark upon it, and directly deter- 
 mined to know what it contained for them. As 
 "Fanny Forester," in her graphic manner, says: 
 
A MEMORIAL. 47 
 
 " Men in loose garments of gaily-plaided cloth, and 
 with their long, black hair wound about their heads, and 
 confined by folds of muslin, looked curiously in at the 
 door of the strange foreigner ; and then encouraged by 
 some kind word or glance, or the spreading of a mat, 
 seated themselves in their own fashion, talked a little 
 while with their host, though often, from misapprehen- 
 sion of each other's meaning, at cross purposes, and 
 went away, leaving him to his books and teacher. 
 Women and children gathered more timidl}^ but with 
 curiosity even less disguised, about the Kalah-ma-pyoo 
 (white foreigness), wondering at her strange costume, 
 the fairness of her skin, and the superiority displayed 
 in her bearing ; and some of the bolder of them ven- 
 turing to touch her hand, or to pass their tawny, taper 
 fingers from the covered instep to the toe of the neatly- 
 formed slipper, so unlike their own clumsy sandals." 
 
 At night the humble dwelling became a theater, 
 wherein was enacted a real scene; almost a tragedy, 
 with plunderers as its players, yet a beautiful tableau, 
 with unconscious sleepers as the principals. How two 
 inharmonious parts could be performed at once, Mrs. 
 Boardman shall be permitted to tell. In her artless, 
 epistolary style, addressing Mrs. Dr. Bolles, she well 
 delineates the circumstances: 
 
 My Very Dear Friend: — I have hitherto refrained 
 from letting you know the extreme loneliness of our condi- 
 tion, and the constant danger to which we have been ex- 
 jjosed. I knew that the mention of these things would fill 
 the hearts of m3' parents and friends with fears and fore- 
 bodings. I knew, too, that 3^ou, my dear friend, would 
 weep when thinking of your vSarah in such circumstances. 
 
48 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 But now that the danger is past, and our situation has 
 become more favorable and pleasant, I may mention some 
 circumstances which you will probably be interested to 
 learn. 
 
 Maulmain, the place of our residence, is vSeparated from 
 the Burman province of Martaban only by the river. The 
 opposite side is the refuge of robbers, who come over in 
 parties, twenty or thirty in number, armed with mus- 
 kets, spears, knives, etc. Thus equipped they break into 
 houses in the most daring manner, seize everything valu- 
 able, and retreat immediately with their booty to the other 
 side of the river, where they are entirely beyond the reach 
 of British authority. They have, in one or two instances, 
 surprised and destroyed whole villages that were left un- 
 guarded ; and in one place they even attacked a guard of 
 Sep03^s. In some cases, persons by attempting to defend 
 themselves and property have fallen victims to the cruelty 
 of these monsters. 
 
 Thus surrounded by dangers we lived alone in a house 
 of such frail materials that it could be cut open in any part 
 with a pair of scissors, in the midst of a desolate wood, and 
 at some little distance from even a Burman neighbor. 
 There was then not one person in the Burman village in 
 whom we could place the least degree of confidence. It 
 was even intimated to us that the head man of the village 
 had, in former times, been a leader of a part}' of robbers. 
 The military cantonments are about a mile distant, and w-e 
 are the only Europeans living outside. Before we took up 
 our abode here, Sir Archibald Campbell intimated that 
 some danger might be apprehended from wild beasts and 
 robbers if we built without the cantonments, and gener- 
 ously offered us a place inside. This kind offer we felt it 
 our duty to decline, as a residence in the cantonments 
 would have cut off nearly all our intercourse with the Bur- 
 mans, and thus our dearest hopes and fondest anticipations 
 
A MEMORIAL. 49 
 
 would, be blasted. Mr. B., therefore, with the approbation 
 and advice of his brethren at Amherst, erected a house on 
 this spot, which we now occupy. We came to this place, 
 wishing, I trust, to spend and be spent among this people, 
 and trusting in an Almighty arm for protection. Be 
 assured, my dear friend, we felt happy in our decision. 
 We saw this wretched, deluded people perishing in their 
 ignorance of the Gospel ; we thought of the love of the 
 Savior to precious souls ; we cast a glance toward Geth- 
 semane and Calvar}^ and that was sufficient. " Shall we 
 consult our pwn ease and comfort?" we said; "or shall we 
 be willing to take joyfully the spoiling of our goods?" 
 This was the question, and, I trust, the grace of God 
 enabled us to choose the latter. And the spoiling of our 
 goods we were soon called to take. 
 
 About a month after our removal we were awakened 
 one morning just before da3'break. Mr. B. called for a 
 light, and, to our surprise and consternation, we found 
 every trunk and box in the room broken open and robbed 
 of their contents. The bureau also shared a similar fate. 
 The looking-glass we brought from Philadelphia was gone ; 
 the watch Mr. B. had kept so long, and our silver spoons, 
 
 given me by my . They also took our bunch of keys, 
 
 causing us to fear that they might visit us again ; especially 
 as they had found only eight or nine rupees in money. 
 After the first surprise had a little subsided I raised my 
 eyes to the mosquito curtains surrounding our bed, and to 
 my indescribable emotion saw two large holes cut, the one 
 at the head and the other at the foot of the place where my 
 dear husband had been sleeping. From that moment I 
 quite forgot the stolen goods, and thought only of the 
 treasure that was spared. In imagination I saw the assas- 
 sins with their horrid weapons standing by our bedside, 
 and ready to do their worst had we been permitted to 
 awake. O, how merciful was that watchful Providence 
 
50 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 which prolonged those powerful vSlumbers that night, not 
 allowing even the infant at my bosom to open its eyes at 
 so critical a moment. If ever gratitude glowed in my 
 heart, if ever the world appeared to me worthless as vanity, 
 if ever I wished to dedicate myself, my husband, my babe, 
 my all to our great Redeemer, it was at that time. 
 
 The next morning persons were employed in critically 
 searching the village, in order to recover the lost goods, 
 but to no purpose. To this day not a trace has been found 
 of them, leaving no doubt that they were taken immedi- 
 ately over the river to Martaban. Since our loss we have 
 received many kind presents from our friends, so that we 
 now find ourselves comfortable, and are contented and 
 happy. Yes, my beloved friend, I think I can say that, 
 notwithstanding our alarm, never did five months of my 
 life pass so pleasantly as the last five have done. The 
 thought of being among this people, w^hom we have so long 
 desired to see, and the hope that God would enable me to 
 do some little good to the poor heathen, has rejoiced and 
 encouraged my heart. I confess that once or twice my 
 natural timidity has for a moment gained the ascendency 
 over my better feelings. And at the hour of midnight, 
 when the howling of wild beasts has been silenced by the 
 report of a musket near us, we would say to each other, 
 " Perhaps the next attack maj^ be upon us, and the next 
 charge aimed at our bosoms." Then I have been almost 
 ready to exclaim, " O, for one little, little room, composed 
 of such materials as would enable us to sleep in safety." 
 But these moments of fear have been transitory, and we 
 have generall}^ been enabled to put our trust in the Great 
 Shepherd of Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps, assured 
 that He would protect us, and, if most for His glory, would 
 suffer no arm of violence to be raised against us ; and we 
 have also felt a sweet composure in the recollection that 
 God had marked out our way, and, if it best accord with 
 
A MEMORIAL. 51 
 
 His designs that we should fall a prej'to these blood-thirsty 
 monsters, all would be right. 
 
 Shortly after the robbery Sir Archibald kindly fur- 
 nivShed us with two armed vSepoys to guard our house; also 
 with two guns. A short time since one of the Sepoys, 
 while sitting in our veranda, was attacked by a tiger, or 
 some other wild beast, but the creature was frightened 
 away before the man was much injured. 
 
 But what contributed more than anything else to pro- 
 duce the pleasant change in our circumstances is the pros- 
 pect of settlers near us. I just begin to speak the language 
 a little, and am anxious to be engaged in this long antici- 
 pated einplo3-ment. 
 
 Such was Mns. Boardman's introduction to the 
 arena of her life-work. If this experience forms a 
 part of the "romance of missions," it need not be 
 feared that the number of applicants for appoint- 
 ment will be unduly enlarged through mere senti- 
 ment. Woman's sensibilities will generally save her 
 from casting herself into a den of robbers or of wild 
 beasts, wdthout a sufficient occasion. The patient 
 continuance of missionaries, especially in the early 
 time, is ample vindication of the sublime motive 
 actuating them. 
 
52 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 VI. 
 ^onxe antf School — maulmain and 
 
 TAVOY. 
 
 * 
 
 " I looked to the West, and the beautiful sky 
 
 Which morning had clouded was clouded no more; 
 Kven thus, I exclaimed, can a Heavenly Eye 
 
 Shed light on the soul that was darkened before." 
 
 For love with loving is not spent, 
 Not such is love's divine intent; 
 What year on year the sun shall dim ? 
 What worship tire the seraphim? 
 
 Rose Terry Cooke. 
 
 ^ I '^HE growth and spread of population soon gave 
 ^ the missionaries a central position in the town, 
 and not only was their danger much lessened, but 
 likewise their contact wdth those they hoped to benefit 
 was much increased. 
 
 Mrs. Boardman's skill as a teacher was now brought 
 into requisition, and her wand, mild but powerful, was 
 not laid aside for many a year. Teaching w^as her 
 "element," if a person may be said to have a special 
 element, after mentioning the domestic and spiritual, 
 which to her mind were supreme. In writing home 
 to a little sister some seven months after commencing 
 life at Maulmain, she says : 
 
 " I have a Sabbath school of little Burman girls, 
 who are learning their catechism and their pra^'ers. 
 
A MEMORIAL 53 
 
 We have no hymns in the Burmese, or I should teach 
 them hymns also. We have (I and Mrs. Wade), besides 
 this, a school during the week, in which the tawny 
 little girls learn to read and sew. They are also learn- 
 ing the multiplication table ; and they are just begin- 
 ning the first part of the same arithmetic which you 
 study, translated into the language. These poor lit- 
 tle girls would have nobody to tell them of God and 
 of Christ, of Heaven and of Hell, if there were no 
 missionaries here. Are you not glad that your sis- 
 ter Sarah has come to tell them of these important 
 things?" 
 
 Inquirers as well as the curious-minded had been 
 gathering about the missionaries for some months, 
 and kindness to them, especially in their afflictions, 
 had won a place of influence in their hearts. Their 
 knowledge of Burmese was sufficient to enable them to 
 make known the Gospel to some extent; but the 
 minds of the inquirers, as they themselves said, were 
 "dark and uncultivated, like the jungle." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Boardman had vSat down by them- 
 selves and commemorated the Redeemer's d^'ing love, 
 rejoicing in the delightful privilege, but longing for an 
 increase of comnumicants from among the deluded 
 idolaters. The time was now at hand when they were 
 to be gratified. The mission at Amherst was discon- 
 tinued, as being unpromising, and all the laborers were 
 now at Maulmain ; among them Moung Ing, an early 
 troph}' of the Rangoon Mission, and the devoted helper 
 of Mrs. Ann H. Judson, who had been ordained re- 
 centh' and had been laboring among his countr3'men 
 in the vicinit}'. The few other disciples from Am- 
 herst were also here. 
 
54 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 After the opening of the new 3- ear (1828), Mrs. 
 Boardman had another joy : that of witnessing a bap- 
 tismal scene — the first she had looked upon in Burmah 
 — with Burmese as the subjects and Mr. Judson as 
 administrator. Another convert was maturing in evi- 
 dence of fitness for the ordinance, but slowly. He had 
 been a slave, but was redeemed by Mr. Judson ; was a 
 man of bad temper and was dangerous, and so his ac- 
 ceptance was deferred for about one year. Finally the 
 Maulmain church authorized his baptism, and Mr. 
 Boardman, taking him with him on his removal to 
 Tavoy, there baptized him — the first Karen convert, 
 and the first native prer.cher to the Karens, Ko Thah- 
 byu. This occurred on May 16, 1828; and though 
 Mr. Boardman rejoiced with trembling, it proved to be 
 the starting of this man on a career of service rarely 
 equaled by that of any other converted heathen to the 
 present time. 
 
 A short sketch of this peculiar and interesting char- 
 acter, so closely identified with the rise and progress of 
 the Karen Mission, has been furnished for this work 
 by Mrs. F. G. Bullen, youngest sister of Mr. Board- 
 man, now in her eighty-first year. She writes : " When 
 Dr. Judson was in this country, in 1846, he visited my 
 home in New Sharon, Me. While there he related the 
 following incidents, as nearly as I can recollect, con- 
 cerning Ko Thah-byu. If what I have written will be 
 of any use to you, it is at your service : 
 
 Ko Thah-byu became a member of the mission family 
 through his own solicitation. He went to Mr. Judson and 
 begged him to pay the twent}' rupees required for his free- 
 dom and let him live with him. Mr. Judson told him 
 
A MEMORIAL. 55 
 
 plainly he did not want him, saying, " I have no use for 
 you." Still the man begged so hard that Mr. Judson told 
 him to go away for a few days and then come back, and he 
 would tell him whether or not he would take him. Accord- 
 ingly after a few days Ko Thah-byu returned and learned 
 that Mr. Judson had decided to grant his request. After 
 giving him his freedom the first thing to be done was to 
 cleanse him from his filthiness, "for," said Mr. Judson, 
 " he was the ugliest-looking, filthiest person in human 
 shape I ever saw." After this Mr. Judson procured a mat 
 for him to sit on, and then placed writing material before 
 him. "But," said Mr. Judson, "how he was to hold a 
 pen in his hand was more than I could see, for his hands 
 were more like the claws of a wild beast than like human 
 hands." But, to Mr. Judson's great surprise, he succeeded 
 after a fashion. In the next place he began to teach him 
 to read, and in this department he did equally well. When 
 Mr. Judson told him of the one true and only God, and of 
 Jesus Christ the Savior of sinners, he at once took in the 
 thought that perhaps Christ might save him, although he 
 ivas the z'ery chief of sinners. He then confessed his sins 
 before God and man, and his great need of pardon through 
 the Savior of siniers, and gave his heart to God. 
 
 On the arrival of Messrs. Judson and Wade in Maul- 
 main it was necessary for them to build a house for them- 
 selves. There was on the mission premises an old miser- 
 able shanty occupied by two lepers. It was thought best 
 by the missionaries to offer these lepers ten rupees to leave 
 the old shanty, and then to burn it down, as no one except 
 lepers would live in a place previously occupied by lepers. 
 The missionaries succeeded in getting rid of the lepers, 
 but being much engaged in their work they neglected to 
 burn down the wretched house. One day, returning from 
 town, where he had been to make preparations for build- 
 ing, to his great surprise and horror INIr. Judson saw smoke 
 
56 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 issuing from the old building, and the thought at once 
 came to him that other lepers had gone there for shelter. 
 Feeling that it would be rather an expensive operation to 
 buy off another set, he was led to go and look in through 
 the cracks to see who was there. To his astonishment he 
 saw in one corner a sick old woman, lying on a pile of 
 straw with her daughter, a young woman, and two small 
 bo3-s. He inquired into their condition and learned that 
 they were Karens from Martaban, who had come dow^n the 
 river in a small boat. While on their passage to Maulmain 
 the husband and father had died from fever, and now the 
 mother was suffering from the same disease, and in the 
 most wretched condition imaginable; sick unto death in 
 this miserable hovel, with no one to minister to her or care 
 for her children. Mr. Judson thought at once he would 
 go to the mission house and get some comforts for the 
 d3'ing woman ; but, strange to say, the pressure of house 
 building and other important duties drove the poor dis- 
 tressed sufferers out of his mind. 
 
 A few days later he saw passing along the street the 
 poorest, most miserable looking funeral procession he 
 ever saw in his life. The thought immediately came to 
 him that this poor old Karen woman had died, and that 
 she was being borne to her burial by the heathen. His 
 large heart w^as rent with anguish as he went to his home, 
 and on reaching it he threw^ himself down, and, to use his 
 own words, "I cried like a baby, to think that I, a mis- 
 sionary to the heathen, could neglect this poor woman in 
 her dying hours, and that these heathen should do what 
 I ought to have done. I then and there resolved that 
 what I had neglected to do should, in part at lea.st, be 
 atoned for by providing for the orphan children. I took 
 the girl into my own keeping, when she gave her two 
 brothers, about eight and ten j^ears old, to Mr. Boardman 
 for his own." The girl, about eighteen years old, was at 
 
A MEMORIAL. 57 
 
 once put into school and learned to read quite readily. As 
 soon as she could understand concerning the religion of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ she became interested to learn about 
 it, and one or two years later received it into her heart. 
 She had not been with Mr. Judson very long before it 
 was discovered that an attachment was growing up be- 
 tween herself and Ko Thah-byu, and finally Ko Thah-byu 
 asked Mr. Judson if they could be married. Permission 
 being granted, the ceremony was performed in a Christian 
 manner. After a few weeks Ko Thah-byu presented him- 
 self to the church for baptism. The church at Maulmain 
 at that time numbered ten members. It was their custom, 
 whenever any one applied for admission, to vote on the 
 case by ballot, and if there was one blank in the box the 
 candidate was refused. At this time two blanks were 
 found. When ^Mr. Judson told Ko Thah-b3'u he was not ac- 
 cepted b}' the church, he replied, " I don't wonder; I don't 
 see how they could receive such a sinner as I am ; but if it 
 is possible for me to live so that they can receive me, I 
 shall do it." A few days later Mr. Judson asked ISIr. 
 Boardman if he could tell who cast those two ballots. Mr. 
 Boardman replied that he did ; it was his wife and himself. 
 "Why," said Mr. Judson, " don't you believe that Ko Thah- 
 byu is a Christian?" "Yes," said Mr. Boardman, "I sup- 
 pose he is ; but he is so disagreeable I could ?io^ vote for 
 him to come into the church." It soon became verj- evident 
 to all that Ko Thah-b3'u was trj'ing ver}^ hard to over- 
 come his terrible temper, and to live a consistent Christian 
 life. At the next covenant meeting, a month later, he 
 again presented himself for baptism, and to his great jo}^ 
 he was received by a unanimous vote. The day was ap- 
 pointed for his baptism, but the weather prevented the 
 ordinance being administered, and two or three other days 
 were appointed, but unavoidable circumstances prevented 
 the baptism. 
 
58 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 The night before Mr. Boardman was to leave Maulmain 
 for Tavoy, the wife of Ko Thah-byu went to him and .said, 
 " Teacher, you go to Tavoy to-morrow, do you?" "Yes," 
 replied Mr. Boardman. " Well," said Mah-ay (for that was 
 her name), " you can't have my brothers to go there." Mr. 
 Boardman said, " Yes, I want my boys." " No," continued 
 Mah-ay, " if you want my brothers, teacher, you must take 
 me." " No," said Mr. Boardman, " I don't want you, but I 
 do want my boys. You gave them to me, and now they 
 are mine." " No," said the sister, " if you take them, you 
 must let me go too." Mr. Boardman saw that argument 
 was useless, and went to Mr. Judson to ask his advice. 
 Mr. Judson said : " Now would it not be best for you to 
 take Ko Thah-b3^u and his wife with you to Tavoy ? He 
 has not yet been baptized. You can baptize him there, 
 and thus make a beginning." " Oh," said Mr. Boardman, 
 " I can not have Ko Thah-byu in my family ; he is so very 
 disagreeable ; I don't see how I can take them." " Think 
 and pray over it, and perhaps the Lord will show you that 
 it is best to take them with you," said Mr. Judson. 
 
 Mr. Boardman followed this advice. He spent the 
 w^hole night pacing the floor, and praying that the Lord 
 would show him his duty. At the dawn of day Mr. Board- 
 man went to the apartment of Ko Thah-byu and told him 
 he had decided to bring them to Tavoy. At nine o'clock 
 they were on their way down the river. They had been in 
 Tavoy but a few days when Ko Thah-byu went up into the 
 mountains and brought down over thirty of his countr}-- 
 men to inquire about the new religion. When Mr. Board- 
 man saw with what eagerness these wild people of the 
 forests listened to his instructions, and the earnest desire 
 Ko Thah-byu manifested for the conversion of his country- 
 men, he fell down before God, and, as Mr. Judson said, 
 "wept like a child;" wept that he should for once have 
 doubted God's ability to use any means, however repul- 
 
A MKMORIAI^. 59 
 
 sive to our human nature, to bring souLs to hinivSelf ; yea, 
 and he wept tears of joy, that this poor, ignorant race 
 were so ready to listen to the doctrines of the Cross. 
 
 This company of Karens were nearly all, subsequently, 
 brought into the Kingdom of Christ. 
 
 MRS. F. G. BUIvIvEN. 
 Eau Claire, Wis., August i, 1888. 
 
 To complete this episode, it should be said that the 
 wife of Ko Thah-byu became a Christian and was bap- 
 tized at Tavoy in less than a year after the removal to 
 that place. Mr. Boardman's journal contains the fol- 
 lowing reference, March 5, 1829: " Mah-ay, Ko Thah- 
 byu's wife, underwent an examination in relation to 
 her Christian experience. She was formerly very igno- 
 rant and very wicked, but under the care and instruc- 
 tion of her husband and Mrs. Boardman she has, within 
 the last few months, become a very hopeful inquirer, 
 and now appears to be truly converted. She requested 
 baptism three months ago." 
 
 Great solicitude was felt that the Lord would " give 
 stability and perseverance to his handmaid," and he 
 did. She maintained a creditable profession, and died 
 at Kans-Kaw-Syah, November 29, 1887, after nearly 
 sixty years of patient continuance in well-doing. 
 
 With the accession of converts and the enlargement 
 of the number of participants at the Lord's Supper, life 
 began to have such an aspecfl as Mrs. Boardman had 
 been hoping it might have. She was very active in her 
 school work, yet her heart retained its characteristic 
 desire that all might have the supreme good, the 
 heavenly. It maybe said that she was "not slothful 
 in business " and was " fervent in spirit." Her husband 
 
6o SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 wrote of her that she was " delighted with her employ- 
 ment." Later, in a letter to his mother, he said: "As 
 Sarah is most incessantly engaged in the school, and in 
 family cares, she hopes you will not think her wanting 
 in filial affection, if, instead of writing a separate letter, 
 she should sign her name with that of your son. * * * 
 We feel deeply interested in the schools. Sarah spends 
 all her time from breakfast till noon with the Burman 
 girls, besides having the charge of all the clothes of 
 both the schools and the provisions for the boys. On 
 Lord's-days she spends some time in instructing them 
 in Christianity, and occasionally^converses, as she is 
 able, with Burman women on religious subjects." 
 
 Time brought about another change in the life of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Boardman. Scarcely a year had passed 
 since they entered Maulmain, yet they had seen a city 
 spring up in the wilderness and had been instrumental, 
 in part, in establishing there a permanent mission. 
 And now it seemed good to the brethren here and also 
 to the Board in America that the missionary force, 
 small as it was, should be distributed. And who should 
 go to an untried field, if not those who had been the 
 first to enter this one, and had learned how to receive 
 first experiences, especially "perils of robbers?" 
 
 Tavoy, an inviting province on the south, having 
 a coast line of about one hundred miles on the Bay of 
 Bengal, seemed to have most attraction for present 
 effort. It was a part of the territory ceded by the Bur- 
 man monarch in the late treaty, and was now under 
 the British government. And yet no field, except for 
 the object already mentioned — distribution of labor — 
 could have enticed Mr. and Mrs. Boardman to leave 
 
A MEMORIAL. 6l 
 
 the spot they had begun to call " home " and the in- 
 terest prevailing among the natives that had so touched 
 their hearts. There were the schools, such a credit and 
 joy to Mrs. Boardman — how could she leave them? 
 But she did all things without murmuring. 
 
 On the 29th of March of this year, 1828, the Board- 
 mans, with a small but ver}^ interesting group of na- 
 tives, made up of one recently baptized, Ko Thah-byu, 
 who was expecting to be baptized, and four of the boys 
 from the Maulmain school, started for Tavoy, one 
 hundred and fifty miles south. Their course was by 
 river to Amherst, and thence by sea and the Tavoy 
 river to within twenty-one miles of destination, where 
 ships were compelled to anchor, and the rest of the w^ay 
 by boat. The embarkment at Amherst was very nat- 
 urally delayed, and opportunity was thus given the 
 mission family to go ashore and visit the memorable 
 spot where reposes the dust of Mrs. Judson and her 
 child. Mr. Boardman recorded in his journal the re- 
 flections that the sad associations suggested, while Mrs. 
 Boardman could but register hers on the finer tablet of 
 the heart, to be revived in other, eventful years. Soft 
 and solemn was the tread about the "rude fence," with 
 its precious inclosure, and softer, on account of the 
 visit, was the walk of the after life before Him w^ho is 
 supreme Disposer of persons and events ! * 
 
 Tavo}^ which from that date has had a prominent 
 place in missionary annals, was then a city of nine or 
 
 =■' The original Hopia tree has succumbed to the elements. The sea, 
 washing- away the earth, has encroached on the long repose of the pre. 
 cious dust, and the Woman's Baptist Foreign Mission Society of the U. 
 S. is preparing to remove the remains inland and to surround them 
 with a suitable fence. Another Hopia tree has grown up near by. 
 
62 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 ten thousand inhabitants, the majority of them Bur- 
 mans. " The city itself was one of the leading strong- 
 holds of the religion of Gaudama, and when Mr. and 
 Mrs. Boardman took up their abode there in April, 
 1828, it was the residence of two hundred priests. 
 Temples and shrines dedicated to heathen worship 
 arose in every part of the city, and as the missionary 
 wandered through its regular and well arranged streets 
 in search of a site whereon to build a zayat and a 
 mission house, he could find scarcely a spot that was 
 not crowded with emblems of idolatry. It alone con- 
 tained nearly one thousand pagodas, besides great num- 
 bers which crowned the hill-tops and eminences in the 
 surrounding country." — {Ga7nmell.) 
 
 This» in brief, was the city to which the Boardmans 
 went, and where their missionary career really com- 
 menced. They had been preparing for their work at 
 Calcutta and at Maulmain as best they could, but thej^ 
 ascertained that the dialect that they had been learning 
 would not answer for the Karens, and that they must 
 come into immediate contact with this people in order 
 to get the sounds, tones, etc., necessary to form a me- 
 dium of communication with them. 
 
 Mr. Boardman w^as self-reliant and courageous, and 
 so, foregoing all dependence on the professed friend- 
 ship of the priests and determining to do the work he 
 came to do, he fixed the seat of his operations in the 
 very best part of the town. He found an old zayat 
 there, which he repaired and put in order, and in which 
 he spent each day in conversing with callers, on the 
 subject of religion, and in further qualifying himself in 
 the language. The men knew more of the Burmese 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 63 
 
 dialect than did the women, on account of their greater 
 advantages by outdoor contact ; and hence Mrs. Board- 
 man was still longer in becoming able to converse sat- 
 isfactorily with the females about her. She had no 
 female Christian with her, and the most she could do 
 was to sympathize with her husband, and depend upon 
 him for instruction in the language. 
 
 Still, w^ith the boys brought down from Maulmain 
 under her care and tuition, whose number was increas- 
 ing, and with her child in her arms and her own health 
 to recuperate or preserve, she was not without employ- 
 ment. And yet, teaching being to her a joy if not a 
 passion, and affording her present opportunity for use- 
 fulness, she succeeded, after " unwearied toil, repeated 
 repulses and discouragements, in establishing a girl's 
 school, and, as soon as possible, emplo3'ed a woman, 
 whom she had taught to read, as an assistant." The 
 following mention of a visit to it is highly character- 
 istic of her, and is a gleam from her beautiful life : 
 
 " I am just returned from one of the day-schools. 
 The sun had not risen when I arrived, but the little 
 girls were in the house ready for instru6lion. My walk 
 to this school is through a retired road, shaded on one 
 side by the old wall of the city, which is overgrown by 
 wild creepers and pole-flowers, and on the other by 
 large fruit-trees. While going and returning I find 
 it sweet and profitable to think on the shortness of 
 time, the vanity of this delusive world — and, oh! I 
 have had some precious views of that world where the 
 'weary are at rest,' and where sin, that enemy of God, 
 and now constant disturber of my peace, will no more 
 affedt me." 
 
64 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Such was the growth of interest, her home became 
 a kind of rehgious rendezvous. The verandas on the 
 several sides gave opportunity for groups to converse, 
 or for inquirers to meet some one competent to direct 
 them, or for the native Christians to hold praj-er meet- 
 ings. Within, Mr. Boardman would impart instruc- 
 tion, and Mrs. Boardman do likewise, or study apart 
 from him. 
 
 On the 1 8th of August of this year, 1828, the house- 
 hold was enlarged : the domestic joy and care increased 
 by the birth of a son — George Dana. He was " a pale, 
 puny creature, with his father's spiritual look — the 
 same delicate fashioning of feature and transparenc}^ of 
 complexion, and the same blue veins crossing the tem- 
 ples," that formed the description of his father's young 
 manhood as a student at Waterville. On the contrary 
 the little daughter was the very personification of 
 health, ''plump and ros)^-cheeked as could be wished." 
 And yet, in a few months the tale was reversed, and 
 little Sarah was the special subject of sympathy, and 
 was finally borne away to her burial, while the little son 
 stood firmly against the destroyer and has lived to this 
 day. God was gracious to His handmaiden in that 
 though death sometimes desolated her home, there w^as 
 no time from the coming of the first-born to the hour 
 of her own decease when she was without a token of 
 motherhood to cheer the way. 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 65 
 
 VII. 
 
 ^*®rial 0f S^ffiictxon''—T//B FIRST 
 
 GRA VE. 
 
 O, fear not in a world like this, 
 And thou shalt know ere long, 
 
 Know how sublime a thing it is 
 To suffer and be strong. 
 
 LONGFEI.1.OW. 
 
 Death knits as well as parts. 
 
 Lowell. 
 
 AS the life of a wife is identified with that of her 
 - husband, and the more completely so when both 
 are enlisted in a single benevolent enterprise, it will be 
 regarded a part of Mrs. Boardman's biography to trace 
 the special journeys and labors her husband performed 
 and in which she may be said to have participated. 
 The natural expansion of his work w^as from the zaj^at 
 to the jungle. The former alone did not afford ample 
 opportunity to a man of his temperament and elasticity 
 of mind and method. He was scholarly in his tastes, 
 but he was also and pre-eminently evangelistic in 
 spirit. 
 
 The Providence who furnishes the fields takes care 
 that the paths to them are broken, that there be no 
 misgiving as to His will and the fields themselves. He 
 sends his herald into the wilderness to announce his 
 coming and message, and ofttimes he retains him there 
 
66 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 for further service. Ko Thah-byu was a marked in- 
 stance of divine provision to break the way for a 
 skilled workman. He had been a bold, bad man ; then 
 he was a convert to Christ whom the brethren doubted, 
 and kept back from professing his faith for a full year ; 
 then an inmate of the home of the man who was exadlly 
 qualified to understand his errors, to appreciate his 
 strong points and to put him to the noblest use. Such 
 was the chosen Karen Herald. Immediately after his 
 baptism, accompanied by two of his countrymen, he 
 started on a tour eastward, beyond the mountains, 
 to tell his fellow-men of Christ. Baffled by rains and 
 floods he turned back and directed his steps to a settle- 
 ment out of the way, there to preach and gain a con- 
 vert, who came with him to Tavo}^ was baptized, and, 
 returning, was the means of evangelizing his village. 
 Ko Thah-byu goes again, returning successful. Again 
 and again he threads the mazes, with which he was 
 already familiar, and always with trophies of conquest 
 for the Master. The people heard him, and then they 
 flocked to town to see and learn further from "the 
 teacher " from whom he came. Back and forth went 
 this remarkable " wild-man," fearing nothing, ready for 
 anything — a burning and a shining light amid pagan 
 darkness. His more striking characteristics were con- 
 sistency of life (abated only by the snares into which 
 his temper cast him), power of persuasion, zeal in 
 behalf of his countrymen, and a tireless energy that 
 scarcely recognized an obstacle. He studied the field, 
 threaded every part of it amid great difficulties, often 
 wading streams to the arm-pits, attempting great things 
 for God and expecting great things from God, and was 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 67 
 
 never disappointed. He broke ground for subsequent 
 ingatherings by Boardman, Abbott, Vinton and others. 
 He died at about sixty-two years of age, having been a 
 Christian about twelve years, and all that time a herald 
 of the Cross — a voice crying in the wilderness."^^ 
 
 Such was the man who kindled the first Pentecostal 
 fires among the mountains of Burmah and Siam. It is 
 unparalleled in Christendom that a heathen should be 
 converted in order to open his own nation to the Gos- 
 pel. Whatever may have been the hope entertained 
 concerning his movement for saving his countrymen, 
 it was distinctively his own, and it had the influence 
 on Mr. Boardman's mind that originality in such a case 
 is calculated to exert. It was an advance step, taken 
 by a native who was presumably in a state of spiritual 
 tutelage. But Mr. Boardman's quick-discerning eye 
 saw the strategic force of the plan, and his glowing 
 heart ^provided the necessary impulse. Not only 
 should this ardent disciple be countenanced, but he 
 should be reinforced as well; and his own' consecration 
 vow at Waterville was not forgotten — ''I will go'' 
 
 February, 1829, was the month in which the new 
 departure in missions was inaugurated at Tavoy, and 
 in which a consequent new experience began in the 
 Boardman home. Mr. Boardman at that time made 
 his first tour among the Karens. In December pre- 
 ceding, a large number came in and desired him to go 
 out with them to their villages. But being engaged in 
 building a house, a necessity he could not avoid, he 
 put them off for one month. On the next day he ex- 
 
 =■= A full Memoir, by Rev. Francis Mason, D. D., and published at 
 Bassein, Burmah, may be had of the Mission Rooms, Boston. Price 50c. 
 
68 SARAH B. JUDSON, 
 
 perienced the first alarming symptom of pulmonary 
 disease, spitting of blood, which continued for one day, 
 and was quite copious. On the third day he felt quite 
 well again ; and the same day Ko Thah-byu started on 
 his third tour among the villages of the wilderness, 
 accompanied by his Karen friends. What must have 
 been the joy of the missionary to follow them! 
 
 But there was a household interested in all these 
 things — a wife who had suffered much from illness, 
 two little ones and the boarding school. No one could 
 more earnestly desire the salvation of the singular 
 creatures who were visiting their home than did Mrs. 
 Boardman. Every benevolent impulse of her hus- 
 band's heart found a responding pulsation in her own. 
 But to bear this sickness and these cares, with no one 
 present who could speak of home or heaven in the dia- 
 led; of her country, and her only earthly protector away 
 and amid all manner of perils, the worst of which, as 
 she knew, was the exposure of his frail system to 
 inevitable ills — this was most too much for a tender 
 heart to experience. She, however, was comforted by 
 gentle words from the wife of Ko Thah-byu, who had 
 recently become a Christian. The consoling thought 
 expressed was that the teacher had "gone on a mes- 
 sage of compassion to my (her) poor perishing country- 
 men," and that God would take care of him. Such 
 simplicity of thought and genuine Christian feeling in 
 one so recently brought into the light must have acted 
 upon Mrs. Boardman's mind as a counteracting in- 
 fluence of much power. 
 
 After nine days' absence Mr. Boardman " had the 
 pleasure of reaching home and of finding all healthful 
 
A MEMORIAI.. 69 
 
 and happy." He had traveled more than one hundred 
 miles in the wilderness and preached seventeen times. 
 Many parts were entirely destitute of habitations and 
 were infested by ravenous beasts. Ko Thah-byu, a 
 very important companion, and another Karen pro- 
 fessor, with two of the largest boys in the school and a 
 cook, constituted the company. The country being 
 almost entirely without roads, they were compelled to 
 tramp through rice fields and thickets, in sun and in 
 shade, and in want of shelter to be drenched repeatedly 
 by the heavy tropical showers. The Karens, apprised 
 of their coming, did the best they could for their 
 comfort and success, building zayats and furnishing 
 lodgings and provisions. Ko Thah-byu had made "the 
 teacher" famous, and stood as his interpreter in so far 
 as his imperfect Burmese discourse required interpre- 
 tation. The other teacher, performing domestic duty 
 and school work at home, was a good obser^^er of the 
 expedition, as was apparent in after years. 
 
 Mrs. Boardman at this time. May, 1829, was in great 
 need of some expedient for improving her health. 
 Though it "had generally been good," in the hopeful 
 phrase of missionaries who have not all the time been 
 ill, 3'et her strength needed to be recruited. She had 
 labored unceasingly, and it was so far impaired that she 
 could not rally without a change. A respite and a trip 
 to Mergui, about two days' sail southward, was resolved 
 upon, and the family joined in the voyage. The vessel 
 encountered adverse winds, and was eleven daj^s in 
 reaching its destination, but this detention gave them 
 more opportunity to enjoy the sea air and sea bathing 
 for which they had gone. Thej^ were very hospitably 
 
70 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 entertained by the civil magistrate of Mergui. They 
 returned to Tavoy after fourteen days' absence, and 
 found that the schools, entrusted to native teachers, 
 had been well conducted, and that the Christians were 
 in love and harmony. 
 
 Still, trials of an afflictive nature soon thickened 
 upon them. Those already past left no deep scars, nor 
 did they weaken their faith in the God of Missions and 
 the Father of Mercies.; and as fresh ones came, with 
 added severity, they found their hearts tempered to 
 bear them. And yet, O, how crushing ! Pastors know 
 how disheartening is the failure of converts of their 
 ministry to fulfill the expectation cherished concerning 
 them, but their experience is only slightl}^ painful 
 compared with what most missionaries suffer from a 
 similar cause. With the latter, a convert in the early 
 period was a trophy of years, and was expected to show 
 to the heathen mind the superiority of the Gospel over 
 the heathen systems, as also to be a much needed 
 auxiliary in mission work ; and when disappointment 
 in hopeful cases was the result, the heart sank. When 
 Mr. Boardman came in from his journey, to be con- 
 fronted by his wife with the heavy tidings of defec- 
 tion, or " public and disgraceful sins," it was as if the 
 dead were in the house. But this was incidental 
 merely, not an all-time reality. A different experience 
 was that with Ko Thah-byu, who was doubted and held 
 back, but who finally triumphed over all misgivings 
 respecfting him, and became a great light to his wild 
 and scattered countrymen to the day of his death. 
 
 Mrs. Boardman was greatly tried at times in her 
 efibrts to establish schools ; girls' day-schools in par- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 71 
 
 ticular, which "met with one continued series of oppo- 
 sition and discouragement." But she finally overcame 
 prejudice and obtained the approbation of even the 
 higher class of Hindoos. She secured native Tavoy 
 females as teachers, and adopted a plan b}'^ which their 
 pay should be proportional to the progress of the 
 pupils. Four rupees was the price for teaching a single 
 girl to read. She was quite jubilant over her success, 
 but those defections among the converts were very 
 distressing, and in common with Mr. Boardman she 
 was disposed to find the cause in themselves. Her 
 path " led hard by the borders of despair." 
 
 In connection with this trial came losses of 
 property. In some unexplained way they suffered 
 three successive losses of goods and necessaries of life 
 by shipwreck. After the second, some " Christian 
 friend " had the goodness to suggest to them the pro- 
 priety of searching their hearts and conduct to see 
 wherefore God had thus contended with them ! That 
 "miserable comforter," who has his duplicates in the 
 world, was not regarded at first, but when the third 
 disaster came, they began to think that God was dis- 
 pleased with them. Mr. Boardman saj's : "We accord- 
 ingly retrenched, both in food and in apparel. We 
 submitted to the plainest fare, and thought ourselves 
 happy in thus having it in our power to do more by 
 way of charit3\ But the health of Mrs. Boardman evi- 
 dently declined, and with it that of her nursing child, 
 so that she was obliged to resume her former diet. 
 During all this time we were filled with the most dis- 
 tressing views of our utter sinfulness in the sight of a 
 holy God." The cruelty of that "Christian friend" 
 would help to illustrate a Book of Martyrs. 
 
72 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 A portentous shadow now again fell upon the mis- 
 sionary home. Mr. Boardman was attacked with an 
 expectoration of blood, more copious and alarming 
 than before. The little ones in Mrs. Boardman's 
 arms became unwell; more unwell. The scales of 
 life did not indicate truly. The " plump and rosy- 
 cheeked" daughter, in spite of appearances, paled 
 before the Destroyer; and while her parents hardly 
 thought of losing her, they found on the third day 
 that the " icy arms of Death had embraced her." At 
 the interesting age of two and a half years, their first- 
 born, beautiful and engaging, old enough to prattle; 
 yes, to speak English well, and to talk in Burmese like 
 a native, was removed to the Father's House on High, 
 and it was left to the parents to observe the pro- 
 prieties of the occasion alone. 
 
 In recalling the circumstances a year after the 
 event, Mrs. Boardman wrote : " O, wath what feelings 
 did I wash and dress her lovely form for the last time, 
 and compose her perfect little limbs, and then see her 
 — the dear child that had so long lain in my bosom — ■ 
 borne away to her newly made grave ! My heart grew 
 faint when I thought that I had performed for her 
 my last office of love ; that she w^ould never need a 
 mother's hand again. My dear husband performed the 
 funeral vService with an aching though not desponding 
 heart. The grave is in our own inclosure, about fifteen 
 rods from the house — a beautiful, retired spot in a 
 grove of Gangau trees. Near it is a little Bethel, 
 erected for private devotion. Thither we have often 
 repaired ; and we trust that God, who in His infinite 
 wisdom has taken our treasure to himself, often meets 
 us there." 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 73 
 
 One element of this sore trial was her lack of 
 preparation to bear it. A very " hght affliction " is too 
 much for a soul that has been weakened by the in- 
 fluence of erroneous views of Providence, and such 
 was her condition of mind. The influence had been 
 wrought in America, through " the speculative conver- 
 sations of a friend," and much strengthened during her 
 residence in Calcutta ; but its fruits had not appeared 
 to others, nor had it affected unfavorably her zeal for 
 perishing souls. Yet, when a real occasion came the 
 test proved to be very severe, though very beneficial. 
 Her devout heart could not be turned away from 
 God, and, as her affliction must affe(5l her for good or 
 for ill, the only result to be expected was one of bless- 
 ing. Her eyes were opened, and in her prostrate state 
 she could not do otherwise than look up. She ex- 
 perienced an increase of faith and trust, and ever after- 
 ward was better fitted to bear her trials. 
 
74 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 ^X^ptX^\<:^n— FURTHERANCE OF THE 
 GOSPEL. 
 
 Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the in- 
 dignation be overpast. — Isa. 26 : 20. 
 
 There's nothing dark below, above. 
 But in its gloom I trace Thy love, 
 And meekly wait that moment when 
 Thy touch shall turn all bright again. 
 
 Thomas Moore. 
 
 THE missionaries had been in Tavoy some sixteen 
 months, suffering such loneliness as was experi- 
 enced by Paul in the city of Athens, " full of idols," and 
 they had also borne the heavy hand of death in their 
 home. And while they were hoping that afai(5lion 
 was to be succeeded by some visitation of blessing on 
 the mission, through its disciplinary effedl upon them- 
 selves, a cloud of a very strange nature and of terrible 
 portent burst upon the unsuspedling city. The prov- 
 ince of Tavoy had engaged in open revolt against the 
 British government, to which it had been ceded by 
 the treaty of peace, and the demonstrations began at 
 the hour of deepest slumber — at four o'clock on Sun- 
 day morning. The movement was first observed by a 
 lad of the boarding school, who soon understood its 
 meaning and was able to communicate the same to the 
 
A MEMORIAL. 75 
 
 members of the household. The gathering of Tavoy- 
 ans near by, the fierce yeUing, and the report of mus- 
 ketry confirmed the lad's declaration, while the whist- 
 ling of balls that passed over their heads and pene- 
 trated their frail abode told unmistakably that danger 
 to them was in the air. The town was almost entirely 
 defenceless, no English troops being stationed there, 
 and only about one hundred Sepoys (natives in the 
 English army) being in occupation. 
 
 Experience with the Martaban robbers was still 
 fresh in mind, and Mr. Boardman at first, and very nat- 
 urally, assumed that his family was now in somewhat 
 similar peril. He flew to the door, armed for defence. 
 He also hurried Mrs. Boardman and George through 
 a back door to a retired building in the rear, which was 
 open on the least exposed side, and there vShe crouched 
 on the floor to avoid any missiles of death that might 
 fly through it. He then took position in the house to 
 watch movements and learn the danger. 
 
 After an hour of the greatest uproar, anxiety, and 
 uncertainty, the Sepoys were victorious and in posses- 
 sion of the city gates. A guard of six had even re- 
 pulsed a company of two hundred and fifty rebels, and 
 saved the powder magazine and gun shed, both of 
 which were near Mr. Boardman 's house. Other gangs 
 were committing depredations about the tow^n, one of 
 which fell upon the prison guard and released all the 
 prisoners, who became the most desperate of insur- 
 gents. 
 
 Major Burney, civil and military executive officer, 
 was at Maulmain. Not suspecting any disturbance he 
 had left the general direction of affairs with a young 
 
76 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 and inexperienced man, with Mrs. Burney as adviser. 
 Mrs. Burney proved equal to the situation, in respedl 
 to such matters as it was possible to control. She was 
 specially regardful of the missionaries, and invited 
 them to occupy a part of the government house, where, 
 after some hesitation, they w^ent, and were most cor- 
 dially received. They caught up such light articles as 
 they could readily reach, and, with the native Chris- 
 tians, took refuge as stated. Mr. Boardman visited 
 the house several times and saved a few clothes and 
 papers, after which it was plundered ; a large part of 
 the books, clothes, and furniture being stolen or de- 
 stroyed. Such a loss as this, dreadful to woman any- 
 where, was quite distressing to Mrs. Boardman, with a 
 puny child in her arms and no opportunity in the 
 country for replenishing her small stock of comforts. 
 But she was by no means done with this kind of ex- 
 perience. 
 
 In a short time it was agreed to evacuate the town 
 and seek refuge at the wharf. This necessitated a 
 second removal by the Boardmans, in which a consid- 
 erable part of the scanty supplies they had before 
 rescued were left to fall into the hands of the plun- 
 derers. The following descriptive extracft imparts 
 vividness to their experience in moving: 
 
 " The Chinese, who had built their shops wdthout 
 the town, along the river-side, constituted a party of 
 exclusives, probably fifty in number, professing neu- 
 trality; still they hung upon the skirts of the Eng- 
 lish in a manner to insure present safety and escape 
 any special odium if the insurrection should in the 
 end prove unsuccessful. A few Portuguese traders 
 
A MEMORIAL. 77 
 
 joined the foreign party, not with the expectation of 
 rendering any assistance, but to gain protection for 
 themselves and families; and one wily old Mussul- 
 man, who knew enough of the English to see how 
 the affair must necessarily terminate, seized gladly on 
 what seemed to him a golden opportunity, and lent 
 his aid wherever he could be most serviceable. 
 
 " This singular procession, as it passed beyond the 
 gate of the city, must needs have won a smile from 
 an anchorite. The dark line of native soldiers, in 
 their Indian uniform, the mulatto-faced Portuguese, the 
 keen-eyed Mussulman, the long train of women and 
 children, attached to the Sepoys and others, stripped 
 of the ornaments which might have roused the 
 cupidity of the enemy, and in the meanest, filthiest 
 apparel, and the handful of English, with their troop 
 of Burmese and Hindoo servants, constituted a sin- 
 gularly motley company. But Mrs. Boardman, as she 
 hurried on her way, now startled from her forced 
 calmness by the hideous yells of the insurgents, or 
 the report of musketr}^ from the defenders of her 
 own party, and again half-springing from her path 
 as her gaze fell upon the glazed, staring eyes and 
 bleeding wounds of the dead heside it,' was in no 
 condition to take note of trivial circumstances. One 
 apparition, however, excited her attention even then 
 ■ — the figure of a man, the very personification of 
 Death, as he often comes in an Indian climate, seat- 
 ed on a led horse, at the head of the small detach- 
 ment. It was the English commander, who had been 
 hurried from his bed to escape the massacre ; and who 
 hoped, by appearing in his saddle once more before 
 
78 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 his men, to give them some Httle encouragement. 
 But his face was thin and cadaverous, his complexion 
 ahiiost orange in hue, and his eye sunk deeply in its 
 socket; and, as Mrs. Boardman looked on his bent, 
 skeleton figure, swaying helplessly to every motion 
 of the animal he bestrode, the sight added a kind 
 of indefinite horror to her impressions of their immi- 
 nent peril." 
 
 They were now housed, barely, in a large wooden 
 building of six rooms ; somewhat capacious, it might 
 be thought, but rather limited, it will be seen, when it 
 is stated that within its walls were huddled together 
 Europeans, all the Sepoys with their baggage, several 
 hundreds of women and children belonging to the 
 Portuguese and others, all of whom looked to the 
 English for prote(5lion. Added to all, and as a rather 
 dangerous bed-fellow for all, was a store of several 
 hundred barrels of gunpowder, with cannon. The 
 imagination of woman is not slow to picture the peril 
 of such a situation. What if some one were skulking 
 about wnth torch in hand ! Or, a scintillation from the 
 sole of a shoe were to strike the explosive material ! 
 
 In this motley company of three hundred to four 
 hundred, and amid arms, ammunition, and provisions, 
 and, it may be added, a wreck of household goods, 
 there were only two ladies — Mrs. Burney and Mrs. 
 Boardman. And these refined women sat down to 
 nurse their wailing infants, that of the former being 
 but three weeks old, and to cherish their fears as to 
 the future. 
 
 Four days from the outbreak had now passed, 
 when, on the morning of the 13th, a little before the 
 
A MEMORIAL. 79 
 
 break of day, a party of five hundred advanced from 
 the town upon the refugees and set fire to several 
 houses and vessels near the wharf But the Provi- 
 dence that by a breeze turned back the devouring 
 flames that canie down from the mountain and almost 
 to the mission house, on one occasion, now extin- 
 guished the fires by a heavy shower of rain, and en- 
 abled the Sepoys to repel the assailants. On the same 
 morning the Diana, from Maulmain, steamed into port, 
 bringing Major Burney, to the joy of all. He had not 
 and could not liave heard of the insurre(5lion, and he 
 was, therefore, greatly surprised, on approaching the 
 wharf, by what he witnessed. With great alacrity he 
 prepared for a vigorous engagement with the rebels. 
 This vessel was ordered to return immediately for a 
 reinforcement of troops, and the Major had the kind- 
 ness to furnish a passage to Mrs. Boardman and fam- 
 ily, to accompany his own ; Mr. Boardman remaining, 
 in hope of being useful as interpreter and intercessor 
 for peace. 
 
 The Diana slipped away with those weary and care- 
 worn women reposing in her cabin, but not without a 
 heavy, though harmless, cannonading from the city 
 walls. Where those balls struck or fell it was not 
 known ; there was One w^ho had them under control. 
 And those excellent ladies had learned recent lessons 
 in Divine care, enabling them to realize the assurance 
 given in the Sacred Word : " Thou shalt not be afraid 
 for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by 
 day." They reached their destination in safety, yet 
 the severe strain of previous days and nights, which 
 the babes must have shared, was enervating to all. 
 
8o SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 The English lady very soon saw her child close its 
 eyes in death, while the other lived only by the 
 greatest care. 
 
 Two more days passed, and on the 15th it was 
 agreed by the government forces to make an attack 
 on the town and thus try to regain possession. By a 
 desperate attempt the walls were scaled, and the guns 
 mounted thereon w^ere thrown down and conveyed 
 away to the wharf. After a little rest a second attack 
 was made and the prisoners released; and very soon 
 the city was evacuated by the insurgents. 
 
 On the following morning, the Sabbath, Mr. Board- 
 man, with the conquering party, was permitted to walk 
 at large. But what desolation everywhere appeared ! 
 It was a victory, with heaps of ruins as trophies. 
 What could not be carried away had been wantonly 
 destroyed. Mr. Boardman's house, as he describes the 
 scene, was cut to pieces, the books scattered, torn, and 
 destroyed, the furniture either cut, or carried off, or 
 broken in pieces, and the house itself and the zayat 
 converted into cook-houses and barracks. He and his 
 friends spent three days in picking up the fragments 
 and repairing his house. Then, on the 20th, he took 
 passage on the Diana, which had arrived from Maul- 
 main the day before with a reinforcement of European 
 soldiers, and went to join his family. The household 
 and boarding school were scattered. The Karen mem- 
 bers of the little church were mostly back in the jun- 
 gles ; one was with Mrs. Boardman, one with him, and 
 one was left to guard the house. 
 
 The missionaries were now free frbm tumult, and 
 they profited by the rest that their enforced cessation 
 
A MEMORIAL. 8 1 
 
 from labor gave them. Also they enjoyed in a high 
 degree the society of their missionary associates labor- 
 ing in Maulmain ; a privilege they had not had for 
 eighteen months. After eight or ten days the enthu- 
 siastic and intrepid Boardman, leaving his family, re- 
 turned to Tavoy, and for a month dwelt among the 
 broken homes and wrecks of property, bringing order 
 out of chaos that work might again proceed in the 
 mission. He then returns to Maulmain to bring his 
 family, with whom, in a few days, he embarks again 
 for the desolate city. 
 
 As previously, all had an opportunity for revisiting 
 Amherst and spending a thoughtful hour at the grave 
 of Mrs. Judson, and holding a pleasant interview with 
 the few native Christians still living there. The old 
 mission house was in ruins, and Dead w^as the proper 
 inscription for everything. Less than three years had 
 passed since those precious remains had been laid 
 beneath the Hopia tree, and it is not strange that in 
 the slowness of the period the grave should be yet 
 unmarked. But the heart of Mr. Boardman was 
 moved to mark the spot in a permanent w^ay, and he 
 then made arrangements for the erection of a mound 
 of brick upon the grave ; a circumstance that seems 
 the more impressive when it is reflected that he was 
 almost within the shadow^ of a similar honor, and that 
 Mrs. Boardman, standing by, heard the hollow cough 
 and saw the fated flush upon the cheek, the sure sign 
 of the end. Her own spirit could but commune with 
 that of the departed, and thus confirm the memories 
 that made heaVen seem so near and so dear. 
 
 On the 7th of October (1829) the mission family 
 
82 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 disembarked at Tavoy and assembled once more at 
 their post of labor in the town. The house had been 
 rebuilt and arrangements made for recommencing the 
 work. The war had scattered the disciples and broken 
 up the schools, but when it w^as known that the 
 teachers had returned, the Karens came back from 
 the jungles to which they had fled, only too glad to 
 get into their company and enjoy the former privi- 
 leges. Those who had asked for baptism previous to 
 the revolt now repeated their request, not having 
 been frightened from the Cross nor having lost their 
 interest. The school immediately became larger than 
 ever before ; so that Mrs. Boardman's hands were not 
 for a day unoccupied. 
 
 Mr. Boardman now began a course of itinerary 
 preaching, "going into the next towns," like the Mas- 
 ter, that he might preach there also. He visited three 
 to four villages each week; and the burden of this 
 special work must, of course, be shared by the wife 
 at^ home. With the care of her family and of the 
 school there were inquirers occasionally, whom she 
 led forward as far as to the baptismal waters. Then, 
 owing to the death of Dr. Price, two of his sons, little 
 boys, had come to be cared for, by request of the 
 executor. At about this time she bore another son, 
 making her family proper to consist of four boys ; two 
 of them her own. 
 
 For some time previous to the event last men- 
 tioned her health had been declining, and this decline 
 continued, awakening the most serious apprehension 
 as to the result. All mission work was temporarily 
 suspended to enable Mr. Boardman to give his time to 
 
A MKMORIAI,. 83 
 
 her; and finally, some ten days after the suspension 
 of the work, the crisis was passed and her case became 
 quite hopeful. She was then removed from town to a 
 bungalow (one-story house) at the sea-side, about ten 
 miles away, where she enjoyed the sea air and was 
 much impro\'ed. 
 
 Early in the year 1830 another severe experience 
 came to Mrs. Boardman ; one for which, however, she 
 had been slowly prepared. It was not a sudden, unex- 
 pected occurrence, overwhelming her in sorrow, but a 
 confirming of conviction as to sorrows in the future, 
 and a sure prophecy that they were not far in advance. 
 When death gives timely evidence of its approach we 
 learn to endure its coming ; 3'et when some new de- 
 velopment of a disease startles us, we feel it as a new 
 distress. 
 
 From the time the Waterville student visited 
 Salem, there must have been apparent in his face 
 and form the signs of early physical decline. And 
 yet an admiration of nobility of soul, and the half- 
 belief that intrepidit}^ will compensate for physical 
 weakness, would naturally enchain the admirer. All 
 along and through the 3'ears succeeding marriage, 
 those signs kept their place, intensifying solicitude 
 and awakening new apprehension continually. Effort 
 and exposure rendered the cough and voice more 
 hollow and added depth to the flush on the cheek. 
 The 3^ears that from the beginning seemed so few 
 were now almost spent; and of this fact none was 
 more fully conscious than was she who had most to 
 lose At the close of the year 1830 she wTote : "He 
 has been unable to preach the last five months, and 
 
84 SARAH B. JUDvSON, 
 
 my sad heart sinks within me at the desolate pros- 
 pect before me." The more sad was his decline on 
 account of the increasing prosperity and promise of 
 his work. In the same letter containing the above 
 we find this statement: "The voice of prayer and 
 praise rises sweetly from the dwellers on the deso- 
 late mountains of Tavoy, and I doubt not is as ac- 
 ceptable to God as the incense offered in the churches 
 of dear New England. Within the last year twenty- 
 six have been baptized, making in all thirty-one, not 
 including Ko-Thah-byu." 
 
 The gracious Providence that did not arrest the 
 adlion of law in disease, found a way of mitigating the 
 ills which it was sure to bring with the termination of 
 its course. Mr. Boardman, in his last letter to relatives 
 in America, remarked that it "deserved to be men- 
 tioned " that his " fond, too fond wife " had not been so 
 free from missionary and family cares, or from attacks 
 of illness, as during the three months of his own se- 
 vere sickness just preceding his waiting, when he most 
 needed her kind and soothing attentions. Besides, the 
 Board had sent out reinforcements in the persons of 
 those heroes of faith, Kincaid and Mason, and their 
 wives. Mr. Mason reached Tavoy just in time to 
 accompany him in that last, that memorable tour 
 among the Karens, in which he witnessed his triumph- 
 ant departure to Heaven, and received his mantle. 
 
 Mr. Boardman, in his joy and gratitude, made ex- 
 traordinary exertions to give Mr. Mason a cordial wel- 
 come to the field. Being unable to walk, he obtained 
 conveyance to the landing in a chair ; and as the new 
 recruit looked upon the death-marks of his brother, so 
 
A MEMORIAL. 85 
 
 clearly discernible, he was convinced that he had not 
 come a moment too soon. The dying man, with hi§ 
 heart set upon fulfilling a promise to make another 
 tour of visitation among the Karen villages, was not 
 to be diverted from his purpose. He was encouraged 
 by his physician, and by the affecftionate regard of the 
 Karens, who built him a zayat at the foot of the moun- 
 tain he had climbed in a previous visit, and who came 
 in to carry him out to it. A large number were await- 
 ing examination and baptism, and the new missionary 
 was pleased with the prospect of aiding in the work. 
 Mrs. Boardman, at first expelling to remain at home, 
 could not consent to be separated from her husband 
 so long as wifely attentions might be needed or might 
 conduce to alleviate his illness. 
 
 Their youngest child, Judson Wade, had died five 
 months before this projected visit, aged eight months. 
 
86 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 IX. 
 
 ^hc ^nn^U— BAPTISMS, bereavement. 
 
 " Where Nature sows, herself, 
 And reaps her crops ; whose garments are the clouds, 
 Whose minstrels, brooks ; whose lamps the moon and stars," 
 
 " O, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, 
 But as truly loves on to the close ; 
 As the sunflower turns to her god when he sets 
 The same look which she turned when he rose !" 
 
 THUS the little company was formed and equipped 
 for the march — invalid and carriers, mother and 
 babe — with guarded premises behind and perilous jun- 
 gles ahead. Mr. Boardman was carried all the way on 
 a cot-bed, except when the path around a precipitous 
 hill w^as too narrow for two to walk abreast, and Mrs. 
 Boardman was conveyed in a chair. The company 
 reached its destination on the evening of the third day, 
 and without special exhaustion, even to the invalid. 
 
 Mrs. Boardman, a ministering angel to her hus- 
 band, observing his loss of strength after arrival, be- 
 sought him to return ; but without avail. With great 
 animation he said : " The cause of God is of more 
 importance than my health, and if I return now, our 
 whole objedl will be defeated. I want to see the work 
 of the lyord go on." She speaks thus of the circum- 
 stances : " The place was central, and nearly one hun- 
 dred persons had assembled, more than half of them 
 
A MEMORIAL. 87 
 
 applicants for baptism. O, it was a sight calculated 
 to call forth the liveliest joy of which human nature 
 is susceptible, and made me for a moment forget my 
 bitter griefs — a sight far surpassing all I had ever 
 anticipated, even in my most sanguine hours. The 
 Karens cooked, ate, and slept on the ground by the 
 river-side, with no other shelter than the leaves of the 
 forest. Three years ago they were sunk in the lowest 
 depths of ignorance and superstition. Now the glad 
 tidings of mercy had reached them, and they were 
 willing to live in the open air, away from their homes, 
 for the sake of enjo3dng the privileges of the Gospel." 
 
 The chapel was a large, open one, with an apart- 
 ment, a little cell-like room, five by ten feet, for Mr. 
 Boardman and his family. It was poorly inclosed, 
 exposing the patient, and so low that Mrs. Boardman 
 could not stand upright within it. Still it w^as an 
 abode of love and of the peace that passeth all un- 
 derstanding. " If I live to see this one ingathering," 
 said Mr. B., " I may well exclaim with happy Simeon, 
 ' Lord, now lettest thou thy serv^ant depart in peace, 
 according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy 
 salvation ! ' " 
 
 Distinct evidence of the near approach ol death 
 now became manifest, not only to the friends but also 
 to Mr. Boardman himself, as he looked into a mirror, 
 causing him to say: "I have altered greatly; I am 
 sinking into the grave very fast — just on the verge." 
 It was quite early in the day when the sad revelation 
 was made, and, on being recognized by all, it cast a 
 shadow upon the plans of the meeting and brought the 
 conviction that they must be changed and executed 
 
88 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 speedily, and an immediate return be made to Tavoy. 
 Mr. Boardman acquiesced in the opinion, it being 
 agreed that the females and old men, who could not 
 very conveniently come to town, should have the first 
 opportunity for examination and baptism. Having 
 reached this decision, all knelt, and Mr. Mason asked 
 the Divine favor upon it, and then with sorrowful 
 hearts they sat down to their frugal breakfast. While 
 at the table Mr. Boardman spoke confidingly of Him 
 with whom he was soon to be, and compassionately of 
 her who would then be in the loneliness of widow- 
 hood. 
 
 A little before sunset, gladdened saints of both 
 hemispheres, laborers and their disciples, assembled at 
 the water side, and there found the same lyord over all 
 rich unto all. Mr. Boardman was carried to the place, 
 " though so weak that he could scarcely breathe with- 
 out the continual use of the fan and the smelling-bot- 
 tle." He lifted his languid head to look upon the 
 baptismal scene, and the joyful sight was almost too 
 much for his feeble frame. At the hands of Mr. 
 Mason thirty-four converted heathen received the or- 
 dinance, having given satisfactory evidence that they 
 had passed from death unto life, while as many more, 
 perhaps, standing by, cherished the hope of being ad- 
 mitted to the same blessed privilege. How beautiful 
 upon the mountain were the feet of him who brought 
 the good tidings, and how careful of him now were 
 those who heard them from his lips ! Once subject to 
 bondage and wanton cruelties from the Burmans, how 
 must not the liberated Karens, free in Christ, have re- 
 joiced in the charity that is kind and in the hope which 
 
A MEMORIAIv. 89 
 
 is as an anchor of the soul ! The solitary place was 
 glad for them, and reverberated with songs unheard 
 there before, while the setting sun had a parting view 
 of a work that added to the promised inheritance of the 
 Sun of Righteousness and awakened joy in heaven. 
 
 On returning to the "chapel Mr. Boardman, at his 
 request, took tea with the family, having been bol- 
 stered on his cot near the table. He once more asked 
 the blessing, with his right hand upraised, and in a 
 manner that struck Mrs. Boardman to the heart, as she 
 testified : " It was the same tremulous, yet urgent, and, 
 I had almost said, unearthly voice, with which my aged 
 grandfather used to pra}-. We now began to notice 
 that brightening of the mental faculties which I had 
 heard spoken of in persons near their end." 
 
 After tea was removed Mrs. Boardman busied her- 
 self with preparing for his comfort during the night, 
 and meanwhile he made a touching farewell address of 
 counsel to the disciples who, to the number of about 
 fifty, had gathered about him; following the address 
 with a short pra3'er and the distribution of trails and 
 portions of Scripture. The next morning, early, the 
 return trip was begun ; the little company being rein- 
 forced by all the males and some of the females, the 
 remainder returning to their homes in the wilderness. 
 The tabernacle and the shechinah enjoyed in this 
 lonely jungle were not more grateful to the heart than 
 was this affecftionate following of the new converts, 
 so anxious to bestow their ser^dces upon those who 
 had brought to them the good tidings. 
 
 The march and the day to four o'clock in the 
 afternoon were without incident or unfavorable change 
 
90 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 in the patient, and then a violent thunder storm oc- 
 curred. No house being in sight they were exposed to 
 the merciless rain, with only mats, blankets and um- 
 brellas with which to shelter the sick man, all of which 
 were ineffe(ftual, while the pitying wife, reserving no 
 pity for herself, was compelled to see his couch com- 
 pletely drenched. Hastening on they soon reached a 
 Tavoy abode, but being refused admittance they ran 
 for shelter into the outhouses, Mrs. Boardman happen- 
 ning to take refuge in a shed that proved to be "the 
 house of the gods," and thus committing a great of- 
 fense. She plead with tears for a place within doors 
 for her sick husband, but with no other result than 
 permission to occupy the veranda. The missionary, 
 as the inmates knew, taught a foreign religion, and the 
 Karens in company had embraced it, and hence the 
 hostility toward them. 
 
 The httle mission family thus improved their only 
 opportunity and tried to compose themselves on the 
 bamboo floor of the veranda, which was so open as to 
 make lodging dangerous. Mrs. Boardman found a safe 
 place for the little boy and then threw herself down 
 beside her husband, where in sleepless anxiety she 
 watched and waited for the morning. She spoke with 
 him often during the night, and frequently applied cold 
 water to relieve him of an uncomfortable feeling in his 
 mouth and throat, his only cause of complaint. His 
 heart overflowed with gratitude to God, instead of 
 murmurings at his situation, and also to her who so 
 tenderly cared for him. He expressed his feelings at 
 the time in such terms as the following: "I suff"er 
 nothing, nothing to what you, my dear Sarah, had to 
 
MEMORIAI,. 9t 
 
 endure last year, when I thought I must lose you. 
 And then I have you to move me so tenderly. I 
 should have sunk into the grave ere this, but for 
 your assiduous attention." 
 
 In the morning he seemed to be a little better, 
 though his breath was very short. At nine o'clock 
 his feet and hands grew cold, and the affecftionate Ka- 
 rens rubbed them tenderly for hours. When appear- 
 ing specially distressed, and about to depart, he ex- 
 plained by saying that since his wdfe, two days previ- 
 ous, had most earnestly besought him to pray for their 
 little son, he had prayed for him almost incessantly — 
 more than in all his life before. 
 
 As the hour of twelve drew near, the time an- 
 nounced for the departure of a boat by which they 
 could go the greater part of the way homeward, they 
 were reludlant to remove the sick man, who seemed to 
 be quite on the verge of heaven. But the wretched 
 Tavoyan, in no proper sense their host, made them feel 
 that they had no right to consider themselves his 
 guests. He falsified to Mrs. Boardman when asked 
 for a fowl from which to make some broth for the d}^- 
 ing man, saying he had none, while at the very mo- 
 ment she saw three or four under the house, through 
 an opening in the floor. "My heart," she says," was 
 well-nigh breaking." How feebly the poor heathen 
 realized the effect of such unkindness ! And how 
 little he cared ! 
 
 Finally the sorrowful little procession moved toward 
 the river. The muddiness of the shore rendered access 
 to the boat difficult, and the Karens first carried Mr. 
 Boardman aboard and then, returning, performed the 
 
92 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 same kind pffice for Mrs. Boardman, who was taken im- 
 mediately to him. Only a few steps intervened between 
 the house and the boat, yet before they could be taken 
 the Pallid Hand was placed upon the sufferer. The 
 hour of parting had come, and he barely had time to 
 look again into the face that had charmed him in his 
 youth and cheered him in his toil and trials. First a 
 look, then a stare — "his eyes changed; not dimmed, 
 but brightened." Once more the word was spoken, 
 the kiss offered, but recognition was not returned. 
 The hand was pressed, with no responsive pressure 
 as at other times. Love grew intense as its last op- 
 portunity was closing, but the object was insensible to 
 it. " The faithful Karens, who loved him so much and 
 whom he had loved unto death, by previous request 
 were called to watch his last gentle breathings, for 
 there was no struggle." It was death ! — death in 
 the jungle, yet death in Christ. The bark and stream 
 were the emblems of closing life ; his work done, his 
 face homeward. And he loved not his life even unto 
 the death. 
 
 It was a gloomy place for the first experience of 
 widowhood; yet it was measurably relieved by the 
 sympathetic tears and prayers of Mr. Mason and the 
 sorrowing Karens. Slowly and silently the little craft 
 left its moorings and proceeded down the river to a 
 point within three miles of Mrs. Boardman's home, 
 where the company landed. The Karens bore the 
 remains the rest of the way. The mournful intelli- 
 gence had already reached the town, and Moung Ing, 
 so well remembered for his fidelity to Mrs. Ann H. 
 Judson, came out, and, on seeing them, burst into a 
 
A MEMORIAL. 93 
 
 flood of tears. lyikewise came the two Christian sisters 
 who had been Hving at Mr. Boardman's. Every meet- 
 ing suggested anew the painfulness of the circum- 
 stances, while the height of anguish was reached on 
 arriving at the home and laying out the corpse. " They 
 took him into the sleeping room," wrote Mrs. Board- 
 man, "and when I uncovered his face, for a few mo- 
 ments nothing was heard but reiterated sobs. He had 
 not altered — the same sweet smile, with which he was 
 wont to welcome me, sat on his countenance. His 
 eyes had opened in bringing him, and all present 
 seemed expecting to hear his voice ; when the thought 
 that it was silent forever rushed upon us, and filled 
 us with anguish, sudden and unutterable. There were 
 the Burman Christians, who had listened so long, with 
 edification and delight, to his preaching — there we"e 
 the Karens, who looked to him as their guide, their 
 earthly all — there w^ere the scholars whom he had 
 taught the way to heaven, and the Christian sisters, 
 whose privilege it had been to wash, as it were, his 
 feet." 
 
 The next morning at ten o'clock, Februarv- r2, 1831, 
 the funeral occurred, attended by all the European 
 gentlemen and ofiicers of the station, and by many 
 natives. He was buried on the mission premises, by 
 the side of his first born. Age, thirty years. " His 
 epitaph is written in the adjoinijig forests^ — (From 
 the tomb at Tavoy.) 
 
 Were a star quenched on high, 
 ^ For ages would its light 
 
 Stream downward from the sky 
 Upon our mortal sight. 
 
94 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 So, when a great man dies, 
 
 For years beyond our ken 
 The light he leaves behind him lies 
 
 Upon the paths of men. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 The sorrowful scenes just described seem the more 
 sad as we listen to the chief mourner, in the following 
 pathetic lines, written at a romantic place on the sea 
 shore which she had often visited with the deceased : 
 
 " The moon throws her bright and glistening ray 
 On ocean's heaving breast ; 
 And with her light is the landscape gay— 
 But to me 'tis in sable dressed. 
 
 " For the eye is dim, and the voice is hushed, 
 That with me admired the scene ; 
 And present enjoyments all are crushed 
 'Neath the tread of those that have been. 
 
 " The ocean rolls on in sullen pride. 
 As for ages past he has done ; 
 But my guide over life's more fearful tide, 
 The friend of my youth, is gone. 
 
 '* The tree to which the frail creeper clung. 
 Still lifts its stately head ; 
 But he on whom my spirit hung 
 Is sleeping with the dead. 
 
 " The evening star sheds her silvery light. 
 Bright orbs in their beauty roll ; 
 But to me 'tis a dark and dreary night, 
 For quenched is the star of my soul. 
 
 " 'Tis long since they bore thee away from me, 
 
 And laid thee low in the grave ; , 
 
 But could I forget thee, my soul would be 
 Ivike the rock that repels the wave. 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 95 
 
 " And oh, thou departed and sainted one, 
 In thy robes of glory clad, 
 Dost thou e'er from thy bright abode look down 
 On me, deserted and sad ? 
 
 ** Oh, thine is indeed a bright abode ! 
 And brilliant thy diadem — 
 The crown of life from the hand of God, 
 Adorned with many a gem. 
 
 " For thou didst bear the gospel light 
 To the heathen world afar ; 
 And the darkness of their moral night 
 Gave way to the Morning Star." 
 
 Rev. H. Morrow, a missionary at Tavoy, wrote the 
 author (February 28, 1889) just before returning to 
 his field, as follows : 
 
 " We had the pleasure of knowing one of the thir- 
 ty-four baptized by Mr. Mason, with the dying Board- 
 man as a deeply interested spectator. She was an 
 earnest Christian, much interested in the cause of 
 Christ, particularh' in reference to the spirituality of 
 the members of the church. She w^as called to rest 
 in 1882; the last of the band. She loved to tell of 
 the early struggles, and also joys of those of her 
 people who first owned Christ. 
 
 " I had the privilege a few years ago to superintend 
 the building of a brick wall around the little cemetery 
 in Tavoy, where the remains of Mr. Boardman were 
 laid, and to put up a monument over the grave. It is 
 of red granite, and consists of two square blocks and a 
 shaft on a lower base of common American granite ; 
 the whole about twelve feet in height. It was sent 
 
96 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 out b}^ Dr. G. D. Boardman. The inscription on 
 one side is : 
 
 SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN, 
 
 American Missionary to Burmah. 
 
 BORN, FEB. 8, i8oi. Died, Feb. h, 1831. 
 
 His epitaph is written in the adjoining forests. 
 
 On another side 
 
 Ask in the Christian villages of yonder 
 mountains— Who taught you to abandon the 
 worship of demons ? Who raised you from 
 vice to morality? Who brought you your 
 Bibles, your Sabbaths, and your words of 
 prayer ? I^et the reply be his eulogy. 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 97 
 
 X. 
 
 gif^ ^netV—TH/i: MODEL TEACHER. 
 
 Hearts of love and souls of daring, in the world's high field 
 of action — 
 
 Ye who cherish God's commandments, bending not to rank 
 or faction ; 
 
 Ye whose lives in slothful pleasure never sink or idly stag- 
 nate, 
 
 Ye who wield the scales of justice, weighing peasant man 
 with magnate — 
 
 Lo! the Voice of Benediction falls upon you from on high: 
 
 Ye are chosen — ye are missioned — ye are watched by Heav- 
 en's eye! 
 
 Augustine Duganne. 
 
 A YOUNG widow in a land of heathen darkness, 
 with a helpless child clinging to her, and the 
 deep sea rolling between her and all her kindred, w^as 
 a spectacle to excite the sympathy of angels. It w^ould 
 naturally add to the poignancy of her grief to reflect 
 that not a soul beyond the waters knew^ of her loss 
 or could know of it for months; hence, the con- 
 sciousness of sympathy from the absent, so grateful 
 to the heart, could not be enjoj^ed as even a slight 
 relief to her sufferings. And when, after some da^'S, 
 the full sense of widowhood should come upon her, 
 how crushing its weight ! 
 
 In the case of a missionary's death, leaving a 
 circle of beginners in Christian knowledge to gather 
 
98 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 about the home of the "teacher" for their wonted 
 lessons, how tender the pity and how heavy the felt 
 responsibility of her who occupies the place alone ! 
 Mrs. Boardman had taught much, and many of the 
 pupils about the mission were hers as well as her 
 husband's ; yet the yoke and burden of two was heavy 
 for a woman to bear. Mr. Mason had but just arrived 
 and, presumably, could do nothing without her assist- 
 tance ; in fact, he also must be taught by her. With 
 such a company at her feet, paying deference to her 
 superior knowledge and character, and with her little 
 son drawing upon her time and sympathies, how was 
 she to become equal to the situation? 
 
 Then there were motives to a return to her native 
 land; such as would in the majority of similar cases 
 outweigh all others. Whether alone in her counsels, 
 or advised by others, there scarcely could be but one 
 decision, in that day, unless motives higher than 
 human gained control. The strain of mind conse- 
 quent upon conflicting feelings is clearly seen in a 
 note to a missionary friend, in which she says: "I 
 have been trying, with fasting and prayers and tears, 
 to inquire what my duty is about going home with 
 little George. I feel conscious of the weakness of my 
 own judgment, and am about writing to Maulmain, 
 Rangoon and Mergui, to ask the advice of my breth- 
 ren and sisters." 
 
 Letters of advice when asked for are quite likely 
 to be written under constraint, and to leave the seeker 
 still in perplexity; but when one comes unbidden, and 
 from a heart similarly stricken, its personal, sj^mpa- 
 thetic tone imparts to it great force. Such a letter 
 
A MEMORIAL. 99 
 
 was sent to Mrs. Boardman ere any one of doubtful 
 import reached her, and before any prompted by purely 
 personal affection came from America. It is probable, 
 therefore, that she was influenced only by the one 
 mentioned, if indeed anybody's judgment was allowed 
 to afifect her mind. Her true, loving heart expressed 
 itself in the following communication : 
 
 " When I first stood by the grave of my husband 
 I thought that I must go home with George. But 
 these poor, inquiring, and Christian Karens, and the 
 school-boys, and the Burmese Christians would then 
 be left without any one to instruct them ; and the poor, 
 stupid Tavoyans would go on in the road to death, 
 with no one to warn them of their danger. How then, 
 oh ! how can I go ? We shall not be separated long. 
 A few more years and we shall all meet in yonder 
 blissful world, whither those we love have gone before 
 us. I feel thankful that I was allowed to come to this 
 heathen land. Oh ! it is a precious privilege to tell 
 idolaters of the Gospel; and when we see them dis- 
 posed to love the Savior, we forget all our privations 
 and dangers. My beloved husband w^ore out his life 
 in this glorious cause; and that remembrance makes 
 me more than ever attached to the work, and the 
 people for whose salvation he labored till death." 
 
 Her biographer makes the following obser^^ations 
 on her situation at this time: "For three years previ- 
 ous to the death of her husband, Mrs. Boardman had 
 been almost constantly ill ; and this, together with the 
 illness of her family, by which her cares were greatly 
 increased, prevented her engaging but slightly in mis- 
 sionary labor. Beside, the station had been twice 
 
lOO SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 broken up, and all operations suspended; and this 
 was ruinous to the prospects of the few schools she 
 had succeeded in establishing. Sometimes she con- 
 versed a little with visitors; but her husband was 
 better qualified for the task, and he was free from 
 the small, necessary cares which, in Burmah, triple 
 the weight of a woman's usual domestic duties. She 
 had made an effort to establish daj^-schools ; and these 
 had, at times, been prosperous, though at other times 
 they were entirel}^ broken up. She had also kept the 
 boys' boarding-school in existence — bare existence; 
 for at the time of her husband's death it was very 
 small indeed. But when she was left alone, with the 
 wild, simple mountaineers flocking about her, and 
 looking to her lips for the words which were to reno- 
 vate their natures; when she turned to the Tavoyans, 
 and considered that even among them, impudent and 
 reckless as they were in their ignorance, might lie, 
 unrecognized, some beautiful stone, to be cut and pol- 
 ished for the temple of the Eternal — when she looked 
 about her, and thought of all these things, she began, 
 more than ever, to feel and 
 
 ' Know how sublime a thing it is 
 To suffer and be strong.'" 
 
 Thus far nothing has appeared in the experience 
 of Mrs. Boardman to show a lack of moral courage; 
 though from the very formation of a purpose to be 
 a missionary her course had been a constant succes- 
 sion of struggles, requiring the very best elements of 
 womanhood in her who would go through them suc- 
 cessfully. In* every instance she has manifested a fine 
 type of womanliness as well as of consecration. 
 
A MEMORIAL. lOi 
 
 Now that a new condition of things has come to 
 pass she has no lack of heart or of mind, but only 
 needs a renewed girding of soul for increased respon- 
 sibilities in the old paths. The change is in her 
 home, not in her work. Her bereavement must be 
 borne and the work performed; a redoubled work, 
 however, and to be carried on with a heart more heavy 
 than it had ever been made by other afflictive cir- 
 cumstances. Possibly her new affliction aided her to 
 submit the more readily to be the willing servant of 
 the heathen for Christ's sake, yet the cost was not 
 less heavy nor the work less arduous on this account. 
 
 The presence of Mr. and Mrs. Mason was doubt- 
 less some relief to her; still their inexperience as mis- 
 sionaries left them unqualified to assume any part of 
 her work. And as they became qualified* the field 
 stretched away before them in such wideness that they 
 could not share her duties, but must add to the mis- 
 sion all the strain it would bear. Mr. Mason under- 
 took the same kind of service that Mr. Boardman 
 had performed, while she pursued the work he left at 
 death, to the best of her ability, that it might not fail 
 of its proper fruits by being unfinished, and because 
 it seemed so full of promise. 
 
 Need the reader be assured that Mrs. Boardman 
 was now a busy woman? She sa3^s that "every mo- 
 ment of time is occupied, from sunrise till ten o'clock 
 in the evening." With her family cares and the re- 
 organized schools on her hands, it must have been 
 true that, with the addition of her husband's labors, 
 "such a mantle as his, so heavy with important duties, 
 seldom weighs upon the shoulders of a woman." The 
 
I02 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Karens began to come to her in companies. They 
 were so distressed by the death of their teacher that 
 when mentioning him they would turn away their 
 faces and weep. But having unbounded confidence 
 in her abihty to benefit them, they came as aforetime, 
 and in increasing numbers ; and it seems evident that 
 she taught them in word and doctrine, as a preacher 
 would have done. 
 
 A year passes, from the loss of her husband, and 
 Mrs. Boardman is fully established in her single- 
 handed work. She has learned to adapt herself to 
 her circumstances and to perform the duties assigned 
 her by Divine Providence; and the favor of Heaven 
 is bestowed upon her efforts. The little church has 
 grown, and its membership is considerably more than 
 one hundred. It is composed mostly of Karens, living 
 at a great "^ distance, who, by their frequent coming, 
 fording swollen streams, "over almost impassable 
 mountains, and through deserts, the haunt of the ti- 
 ger, evince a love for the Gospel seldom surpassed." 
 Such progress and such attachment to the cause were 
 truly gratifying in that day of small things. 
 
 Her schools have prospered greatly. From a be- 
 ginning of five scholars, her home school, under the 
 care of a Tavoy woman, and others established later, 
 have attained to a membership of eighty. " These, 
 with the boarding-schools, two village schools, and 
 about fifty persons who learn during the rainy season 
 in the Karen jungle, make upwards of one hundred 
 and seventy under the instruction of the mission." 
 Those in the jungle cannot come often to the town, 
 but a great many come to be examined in their les- 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 103 
 
 sons, and they surprise and delight their teachers by 
 the progress they make. 
 
 Mrs. Boardman continued to establish schools until 
 she had more on her hands than she could manage. 
 She says : " The superintendence of the food and cloth- 
 ing of both the boarding-schools, with the care of five 
 day-schools, under native teachers, devolves wholly on 
 me. My day-schools are growing every week more 
 and more interesting. We cannot, it is true, expect 
 to see among them such progress, especially in Chris- 
 tianity, as our boarders make ; but they are constantly 
 gaining religious knowledge, and will grow up with 
 comparatively correct ideas. They, with their teach- 
 ers, attend worship regularly on Lord's Day." 
 
 The East India Company was in favor of general 
 instrucftion, and appropriated funds to secure it. But, 
 as is well known, it had agreed to protecft the existing 
 religions of the country, and therefore could not coun- 
 tenance the inculcation of Christian truths in its 
 schools. Mrs. Boardman had a number of its schools 
 under her management, and, without realizing that 
 she was violating the rules of the Company, was care- 
 fully and modestly giving religious instruction and 
 securing a considerable following. The Government 
 felt compelled to notice the facts, though manifestly 
 reluctant to interfere with the good work she was do- 
 ing. She was conscientious and was the first to intro- 
 duce the matter to the authorities. A correspondence 
 arose between herself and the Commissioner, in which 
 she sought, in a most dignified and lady-like manner, 
 to convince him that while it was desirable for the ris- 
 ing generation of the Province to become acquainted 
 
104 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 with useful science, and the male part of the popula- 
 tion with the English language, "it is infinitely more 
 important that they receive into their hearts our holy 
 religion, which is the source of so much happiness in 
 this state, and imparts the hope of a glorious immor- 
 tality in the world to come." She frankly assured him 
 that there was danger that children in her schools 
 would forsake the religion of their ancestors; a fact 
 of which parents and priests must have been aware. 
 The pupils who had already been converted were like- 
 ly to hasten the issue by their example and teaching. 
 To avert the peril was no part of her desire or efforts. 
 After making such an ingenuous representation of 
 the case, she showed the defectiveness of heathen sys- 
 tems, and declared that should she neglect to set be- 
 fore them brighter hopes and purer principles, she 
 should at last "suffer the overwhelming conviction of 
 having lived in vain." Then, with a rare combination 
 of firmness and humility, she declines longer to re- 
 ceive Government patronage, and proposes to cast 
 herself on the hands of such as "would wish the chil- 
 dren to be taught the principles of the Christian 
 faith." She says: " With this view of things you will 
 not, my dear sir, be surprised at my saying it is im- 
 possible for me to pursue a course so repugnant to 
 my feelings, and so contrary to my judgment, as to 
 banish religious instruction from the schools in my 
 charge. It is what I am confident you yourself would 
 not wish ; but I infer from a remark in your letter 
 that such are the terms on which Government affords 
 patronage. It would be wrong to deceive the patrons 
 of the schools ; and, if my supposition is correct, I 
 
A MEMORIAL. I05 
 
 can do no otherwise than request that the monthly 
 allowance be withdrawn." 
 
 The Honorable Commissioner was distressed by 
 this communication, since he .secretly hoped that she 
 would prosecute her work on her own plan, not ex- 
 cepting Christianity from the subjects of instruction, 
 and because he was already considering how he might 
 best succeed in establishing a Hindoo College on the 
 system she had adopted. He claimed that his Gov- 
 ernment " in no way proscribed the teaching of Chris- 
 tianity," yet it thereafter showed the statement to be 
 unreliable. It made an appropriation for schools 
 throughout the Province, "to be conducted on the 
 plan of Mrs. Boardman's schools, at Tavoy ;" and then 
 very soon prohibited the propagation of Christianity 
 in them. It, however, did her the honor to declare 
 hers a model, excepting the religious feature, and then 
 paid her a high tribute of respect by making her case 
 exceptional. In the face of its agreement with the 
 natives " she was always allowed to teach as her own 
 conscience dictated." 
 
 Rev. H. Morrow, now a missionary at Tavoy, 
 writes, recently: "A Christian Chinaman, Sait Koik, 
 is still living in the town of Mergui, who was a pupil 
 in Mrs. Boardman's school. For many years he was 
 the only native Christian in that town, but he has 
 kept his light burning." 
 
I06 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 XI. 
 
 31 Sl^nr '^t^X— SECOND MARRIAGE. 
 
 In outskirts of thy kingdom vast, 
 Father, the humblest spot give me; 
 
 Set me the lowliest task thou hast. 
 Let me, repentant, work for thee." 
 
 "H. H."^ — Last Prayer. 
 
 See! the mountains kiss high heaven, 
 And the waves clasp one another; 
 
 No sister flower would be forgiven 
 If it disdained its brother. 
 
 ShelIvEY. 
 
 AFTER Mr. Boardman's death the success of the 
 - mission was Mrs. Boardman's supreme concern. 
 She had turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of friends 
 in America to return to her native land, and she be- 
 came so engaged in labors for the heathen that only 
 continuance in them could be contemplated. A voice 
 calling her away would have been regarded as the 
 voice of a siren. She began the study of the Karen 
 language, but her duties interfered and she became 
 content with the Burmese, of which she was exceed- 
 ingly fond, and in which she daily read the New Tes- 
 tament, translated from the English by Dr. Judson. 
 
 In her great desire to have her husband's work car- 
 ried forward, and without greater interruption than his 
 death made necessary, she soon took up the lines that 
 had fallen from his hands, and the Gospel chariot 
 
A MEMORIAL. 107 
 
 moved on. It was to do his work and bring it on to 
 larger fruitage that she had determined to remain in 
 the country. The jaunts into the wilderness were a 
 part of the plan, and to omit them would bring disap- 
 pointment to the native Christians, and might destroy 
 their hope- of the success of the infant cause, which 
 they had espoused at their peril. 
 
 It seems probable that the tour with Mr. Board- 
 man in his last days was the only one she had taken 
 to the jungle. By it she had learned how to travel and 
 what inconveniences, fatigue and perils to expect. Af- 
 ter his death, the continuance of the tours appears to 
 have entered at once into her plans. Though Mr. Mason 
 was at the head of the post at Tavoy, and had also the 
 care of the scattered Karen villages among the mount- 
 ains, still she felt it to be her duty and privilege to add 
 herself to the work, that the decease of her husband 
 might be less seriously felt. Very little information re- 
 mains to indicate the amount of service she performed 
 in the capacity of mountain missionary ; for she was as 
 modest in keeping her deeds from record as she was in 
 their performance. She traveled with a sufficient es- 
 cort of Karen Christians, by whom she was helped 
 along with luggage and child, and through whom she 
 w^as enabled to reach the native minds in their own 
 tongue. 
 
 To show what she did, and how she endured, an 
 extended extract from " Fann}^ Forester's" work is 
 here inserted ; a bit of narrative of surpassing interest : 
 
 " Mrs. Boardman's tours in the Karen wilderness, 
 with little George borne in the arms of her followers 
 beside her — through wild mountain passes, over swol- 
 
I08 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 len streams and deceitful marshes, and among the 
 craggy rocks and tangled shrubs of the jungle — if they 
 could be spread out in detail, would doubtless present 
 scenes of thrilling interest. But her singular modesty 
 always made her silent on a subject which would pre- 
 sent her in a light so enterprivsing and adventurous. 
 Even her most intimate friends could seldom draw 
 from her anything on the subject ; and they knew lit- 
 tle more than that such tours were made, and that the 
 progress of the Gospel was not suspended among the 
 Karens while her husband's successor was engaged in 
 the study of the language. There is a note addressed 
 to Mrs. Mason from a zayat by the way-side, just be- 
 fore she reached the mountains, and this is the only 
 scrap among her writings alluding in any way to those 
 tours. It was sent back by a party of men who were 
 to bring her provisions, and contains only directions 
 about the things necessary to her journey. She says, 
 * Perhaps you had better send the chair, as it is con- 
 venient to be carried over the streams when they are 
 deep. You will laugh wdien I tell you that I have 
 forded all the smaller ones.' 
 
 " A single anecdote is related by Captain F , 
 
 a British officer stationed at Tavoy; and he used to 
 dwell with much unction on the lovely apparition, 
 which once greeted him among these wald, dreary 
 mountains. He had left Tavoy, accompanied by a few 
 followers, I think on a hunting expedition, and had 
 strolled far into the jungle. The heavy rains, which 
 deluge this country in the summer, had not yet com- 
 menced ; but they were near at hand, and during the 
 night had sent an earnest of their coming, ^lich was 
 
A MEMORIAL. 109 
 
 anything but agreeable. All along his path hung the 
 dripping trailers, and beneath his feet were the roots 
 of vegetables half-bared and half-imbedded in mud; 
 while the dark clouds, with the rain almost incessantly 
 pouring from them, and the crazy clusters of bamboo 
 huts, which appeared here and there in the gloomy 
 waste, and were honored by the name of village, made 
 up a scene of desolation absolutely indescribable. A 
 heavy shower coming up as he approached a zayat 
 by the way-side, and far from even one of those prim- 
 itive villages, he hastily took refuge beneath the roof. 
 Here, in no very good humor with the world, es- 
 pecially Asiatic jungles and tropic rains, he sulkily 
 ' whistled for want of thought,' and employed his 
 eyes in watching the preparations for his breakfast. 
 
 " ' Uh ! wdiat wretched corners the world has, hid- 
 den beyond its oceans and behind its trees.' 
 
 '* Just as he had made this .sage mental reflection 
 he was startled by the vision of a fair, smiling face in 
 front of the zayat, the property of a dripping figure, 
 which seemed to his surprised imagination to have 
 stepped that moment from the clouds. But the party 
 of wild Karen followers, which gathered round her, 
 had a very human air ; and the slight burdens they 
 bore, spoke of human wants and human cares. The 
 lady seemed as much surprised as himself; but she 
 courtsied with ready grace, as she made some pleasant 
 remark in English, and then turned to retire. Here 
 was a dilemma. He could not suffer the lady to go 
 out into the rain, but — his miserable accommodations, 
 and still more miserable breakfast ! He hesitated and 
 stammered, but her quick apprehension had taken in 
 
no SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 all at a glance, and she at once relieved him from his 
 embarrassment. Mentioning her name and errand, 
 she added, smiling, that the emergencies of the wilder- 
 ness were not new to her ; and now she begged leave 
 to put her own breakfast with his, and make up a 
 pleasant morning party. Then beckoning to her Ka- 
 rens, she spoke a few unintelligible words, and disap- 
 peared under a low shed — a mouldering appendage of 
 the zayat. She soon returned with the same sunny 
 face, and in dry clothing ; and very pleasant indeed 
 was the interview between the pious officer and the 
 lady missionary. They were friends afterward; and 
 the circumstances of their first meeting proved a very 
 charming reminiscence. 
 
 " Mrs. Boardman had always been peculiarly do- 
 mestic in her character and habits ; esteeming herself 
 blessed above measure when in the bosom of her fam- 
 ily, administering to her husband's happiness, or un- 
 folding the budding intellects of her children, and fit- 
 ting their little spirits for their future destiny. But 
 now she sat in the zayat, which had been erected for 
 her husband, at the foot of the mountain, and in oth- 
 ers, wherever a little company of worshipers could be 
 collected, and performed even weightier offices than 
 those of Miriam and Anna; not like the wild-eyed 
 priestess of Apollo, breathing burning words from the 
 sacred tripod, and mad with imagined inspiration ; but 
 meek, and sometimes tearful, speaking in low, gentle 
 accents, and with a manner sweetly persuasive. In 
 several instances she thus conducted the worship of 
 two or three hundred Karens, through the medium of 
 her Burmese interpreter; and such was her modest 
 
A MEMORIAL. Ill 
 
 manner of accomplishing the unusual task, that even 
 the most fastidious were pleased ; and a high officer of 
 the English Church, which is well known to take strict 
 cognizance of irregularities, saw fit to bestow upon her 
 unqualified praise. These acts, however, were not in 
 accordance with her feminine taste or sense of pro- 
 priety. The duty which called her to them was fash- 
 ioned by peculiar circumstances ; and, as soon as op- 
 portunity offered, she gladly relinquished the task, in 
 favor of a person better suited to its performance." 
 
 Mrs. Boardman now appears under a new test — an 
 offer of marriage. Three years have passed in widow- 
 hood and in circumstances essentially homeless. Even 
 in her own house and with a little son to image the de- 
 parted, she was desolate; while, with all her love for 
 the poor Karens, a wilderness life, with no one of her 
 own tastes and habits of living for a companion, tended 
 to intensify her feeling of bereavement. It was only 
 as Christians that the Karens were companionable and 
 worthy of affedlion. She said that it required the pa- 
 tience of a Job and the wisdom of a Solomon to get on 
 with them, much as she loved them. Thus in that 
 populous region she was essentially alone. No one 
 was there to consciously share with her the glories of 
 the morning and the beauties of the evening, or to ap- 
 preciate the wonders of a tropical forest and to ascribe 
 praise to Him who in wisdom had made them all. The 
 language of nature was a lesson as 3^et far in advance 
 of the untutored Karen. Her enjoyment of what was 
 at hand was abated one-half by the want of a com- 
 panion of kindred tastes, and only the closest engage- 
 ment in religious work could prevent her solitariness 
 from becoming intolerable. 
 
112 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Here, too, was a man whose domestic situation was 
 similar to her own ; one who had made full proof of 
 his nobility, in the home no less than in the highest 
 forms of missionary service. Here in a land of dark- 
 ness the tenderest tie of life had been dissolved, and 
 the idol of his heart was reposing within its shadows. 
 For nearly eight years had he borne the trial, much of 
 the time a great sufferer on account of it, and the cir- 
 cumstances were fully known. He had the most com- 
 plete realization of the anguish she had passed through, 
 and at the first had written to her in delicate, sympa- 
 thetic terms as follows : 
 
 " I can only advise you to take the cup with both 
 hands and sit down quietly to the bitter repast, which 
 God has appointed for your sandlification. ^ ^ * 
 You will soon learn there is sweetness at the bottom. 
 * * You will find heaven coming nearer to 3^ou ; and 
 familiarity with your husband's voice will be a con- 
 necting link, drawing you almost within the sphere of 
 celestial music." And then he added some words of 
 counsel respecting her affairs, making the most gener- 
 ous, fraternal offer of assistance, both with influence 
 and with money, in case events should make some 
 special manifestation of sympathy toward herself and 
 child necessary. 
 
 What woman could forget such words, spoken at 
 such a time and reaching her in such a place? How 
 they must have helped to form a proper estimate of 
 the wealth of the nature w^hence they came ! And 
 such estimate was of much importance when afterward 
 an interested acquaintance was sought, in order that 
 the force of circumstances might not have a greater in- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 113 
 
 fluence over her mind than the desirable and necessary 
 quahties. How easily such a friendship would precipi- 
 tate a marriage, if not controlled. Souls of kindred tastes 
 and occupation, alike talented and trained for the same 
 enterprise, also similarly afflicted and in need of com- 
 panionship, would naturally flow together when meet- 
 ing in a foreign land where there was no alternative for 
 either. The wonder is that the case did not decide 
 itself at once, at a muc^h earlier date, and while love 
 was not yet developed. 
 
 Three years was a long time for Mrs. Boardman to 
 be in widowhood in such a country and with such a 
 friend doing her reverence ; and this consideration of 
 time enters into the verdict of favor that must be 
 bestowed upon her as a woman of judgment and 
 intelligent affedlion. 
 
 The time came when she could with propriety re- 
 ceive an offer of marriage, and w^ithout an effort bestow 
 her heart's wealth upon one who loved her with all the 
 earnestness of his ardent nature. He came down from 
 Maulmain to Tavoy on April 6, 1834, and on the loth 
 of the same month they "received the benedidlion of 
 the Rev. Mr, Mason " — were married, and went im- 
 mediatel}^ to Maulmain, as Adoniram and Sarah B. 
 Judson. 
 
 In resuming the married state our heroine was nec- 
 essarily brought into new circumstances and compelled 
 to undergo changes. The cause of missions was that 
 upon which the mind was fixed supremely, and all cal- 
 culations must point toward its prosecution. Even 
 home and comforts must be secondary. And it seemed 
 advisable that she sacrifice her location for that of her 
 
114 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 husband. He had been longer in the country and had 
 become estabUshed at Maulmain, while she would nat- 
 urally expect to follow custom and go to the home her 
 husband should provide for her. 
 
 The ties at Tavoy, however, were found to be 
 strong. There were the graves of Mr. Boardman and 
 the children, the little bethel near them in the grove 
 of Gangau trees, Yalah, the romantic spot on the sea- 
 shore which she and Mr. Boardman had often visited 
 together, and the dwelling itself, which, however 
 "homely," was really home. The rudest of houses is 
 rendered precious by sandlities that the heart can feel 
 better than the tongue can describe ; and though they 
 be due to sufferings, it receives the "lingering look" 
 as the relucftant foot turns from it to one untried. 
 Then there were the " beloved Karens." Would not 
 they sometimes come in from the mountains and 
 gather about the house as beforetime, scarcely able to 
 realize that the devout soul w^ho was as dear as life to 
 them had really left them, and there mourn for the 
 white inamma f Her regret at leaving was abated by 
 the refle(5lion that they had been left in the hands of 
 good teachers, yet she never forgot them, "and, for 
 many years, required a list of all the converts to be 
 sent her, and frequently had occasion to rejoice over 
 the final ingathering of those for whose salvation she 
 had in former times zealously labored." 
 
 Concerning the city to which she now returns after 
 an absence of six years, we have the following account : 
 
 " Maulmain had grown into a large, populous town 
 since young Boardman erected his bamboo cottage in 
 the jungle ; new missionaries had gathered there ; sev- 
 
A meSioriai.. 115 
 
 eral flourishing schools had been established ; and the 
 printing-press was sending forth its publications in 
 every direction. When she left her first Burman 
 home, in 1828, for Tavoy, there was one church at 
 Maulmain, containing three native members. Now, 
 in charge of her present husband, were three flourish- 
 ing churches — one Burmese, of about one hundred 
 members, and two Karen, containing unitedly the 
 same number. An English church had also been es- 
 tablished by the missionaries, but was kept in a fludlu- 
 ating state by the frequent changes occurring in the 
 army. Still this success seemed to those who occupied 
 a position to measure the extent of the immense field, 
 but one small step in their progress ; and Mrs. Judson, 
 instead of finding her usefulness retarded by her new 
 position, saw opening before her a wider and more 
 effecftive range. The river of her life now flowed on 
 more evenly — deeper, broader, serener — with nothing 
 to obstruct its course ; but its wealth of w^aters scarce 
 made a sound as they floated by. It was a life of 
 which there is much to remember and little to tell; 
 as a year of stirring events may fill a volume, while 
 perhaps the dozen valuable years of patient toil and 
 quiet endurance that follow have their only record on a 
 single page. She did not establish schools, for that 
 ground was already occupied ; nor did she make long 
 tours in the wilderness and speak to listening crowds 
 in the za3^at ; but she was in heart and life a mission- 
 ary still. ' I can truly say,' she writes to a very inti- 
 mate triend, a year after her marriage, ' that the mis- 
 sion cause and missionary labor is increasingly dear to 
 me every month of my life. I am now united with one 
 
Il6 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 whose heavenly spirit and example is deeply calculated 
 to make me more devoted to the cause than I ever 
 have been before. Oh, that I may profit by such 
 precious advantages !' " 
 
 Dr. W. C. Richards, in his missionary epic, " The 
 Apostle of Burmah," makes reference to the main 
 event recorded in this chapter, in just and delicate 
 poetic phrase : 
 
 " Now may a happy marriage song be sung. 
 
 When two lone hearts their widowhood forsake. 
 And in love's hallowed bonds fit union make. 
 Where double griefs their shadows long had flung. 
 
 "With three slow years of sacred, sweet employ 
 
 Had sainted Boardman's widow crowned his tomb, 
 And kindled light from Heaven 'mid heathen gloom 
 In scores of Karen hearts at old Tavoy. 
 
 " Her holy heroism matched with Judson's well ; 
 One only aim each earnest soul inspired ; 
 And his great heart, with whelming conflicts tired, 
 Found rest and life again in Love's strong spell." 
 
A MEMORIAI^. 117 
 
 XII. 
 
 mhC i^eip%MatC—TO/L/NG, SACRIFICING. 
 
 Who in Life's battle firm doth stand 
 Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms 
 Into the Silent Land. 
 
 J. G. Vox Salts. 
 
 We parted ii silence — we parted in tears, 
 
 On the banks of that lonely river ; 
 But the odor and bloom of those by-gone years 
 
 Shall hang o'er its waters forever. 
 
 Mrs. Crawford. 
 
 ON settling in Maulmain the second time, with the 
 memory of her first husband fresh and fragrant, 
 and the recollection of the solitary bamboo hat and 
 the invasion of the Martaban robbers still vivid, what 
 must have been Mrs. Judson's unspoken thoughts ! 
 Less than seven years had passed since she here found 
 what she supposed to be her permanent home and set- 
 tled down to an earnest stud}^ of the language, endeav- 
 oring, meantime, to attract and converse with " the 
 half-wild children who stood gaping at her in amused 
 curiosity." She wrote at the time: "We are in ex- 
 cellent health, and as happ}" as it is possible for human 
 beings to be upon earth. It is our earnest desire to 
 live and labor and die among this people." Alas, the 
 uncertainties of life ! In four days after penning these 
 words occurred the robbery which came so near being 
 
Il8 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 a tragedy ; within a 3'ear the removal to Tavoy ; then 
 three years of domestic trials — sickness and death of 
 husband and children — followed by three other years 
 of solitariness and consecrated widowhood, in the cause 
 of the heathen. 
 
 She now returns to the place of her first settlement, 
 leaning upon the arm of the apostle of modern mis- 
 sions, the recognized chief of all the Baptist mission- 
 aries in the East. Favored handmaid of the Lord ! — 
 to have such husbands as Boardman and Judson ! And 
 equally favored were those noble souls, to possess in 
 her the gentlest, purest, noblest of Christian women. 
 
 Mrs. Judson, with the advice of her husband, at 
 once began the study of the language of the Peguans, 
 or Talings, a people who comprised a large part of the 
 population of Maulmain, and who differed from the Bur- 
 mans in everything except their religion. They became 
 interested in the new religion through a Burmese tract 
 translated into their tongue, but they found no sympa- 
 thy until Dr. and Mrs. Judson looked into their neces- 
 sities. Mrs. Judson applied herself to the acquisition 
 of this dialect with patient industry. She also estab- 
 lished female prayer-meetings, "having the timid Bur- 
 mese women come to her in classes, instead of forming 
 together one great assembly." She likewise formed a 
 class to which she taught the Scriptures weekly, and 
 under her direction the mothers in the church formed 
 themselves into a maternal society which met once a 
 month and grew in interest. "Then there were the 
 seemingly small, never ceasing duties of a pastor's 
 wife ; the ignorant to instruct by the daily, patient ' line 
 upon line,' the erring to admonish, the sorrowful to 
 
A MKMORIAI^. 119 
 
 pray over, little difficulties to settle, and many a small 
 obstacle to remove from the path that weak, timid feet 
 were treading. About half of the church were females, 
 who required to be guided and led along like children." 
 
 The performance of such duties was a great relief 
 to Dr. Judson, who was busy, early and late, superin- 
 tending the publication of the Burmese Bible that had 
 been but recently completed and dedicated to the God 
 of missions. She was efficient, too, in establishing a 
 Sunday school, embracing all the day-schools, six in 
 number. And at about this time she speaks of having 
 finished the revision, in Peguan, of the standard tracts, 
 Catechism, View, Balance, and Investigator, and gone 
 partly through with the Gospel of Luke. 
 
 "Assisted by Ko Man-boke, a Peguan Christian, 
 who was familiar with the Burmese, she followed her 
 revision of the tracts by a translation of the New 
 Testament; and at the "close of the year, 1837, she 
 gave to the Press an edition of the Life of Christ, 
 which she had translated from the Burmese. In the 
 meantime Mr. Haswell had arrived; and, as soon as 
 she could do so to advantage, she gladly placed all her 
 books and papers in the hands of a missionary of 
 whose facility in acquiring languages she speaks ad- 
 miringly ; and whose indefatigable labors in a field 
 which had interested her so deeply must have been 
 very gratifying. 
 
 " Mrs. Judson's labors in the Peguan w^ere some- 
 what singular ; indeed, I believe scarcely precedented. 
 Missionaries sometimes abandon one language and de- 
 vote themselves to the acquisition of another, in which 
 they hope to effect more good. But I know of only 
 
I20 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 one other instance (Ann H. Judson, in the Siamese) 
 of stepping from the path which has grown famiUar 
 to the foot, toiUng for years merely to supply an exi- 
 gency, and then resigning the labor and its fruits to 
 another as willingly as though it had never cost an 
 effort. She used to sit by her study-table all day 
 long, except when called elsew^here by imperative 
 duty, with two or three assistants about her; and 
 though the translations and revisions there made 
 were necessarily imperfect, there has been a time 
 when they were invaluable." 
 
 The following letter, from an aged minister who 
 had occasion to be grateful to Mrs. Boardman, will 
 serve as a side-light upon the beneyolent feature of 
 her character: 
 
 Whitewater, Wis., December 3, 1888. 
 Rev. W. N. Wyeth, D. D. 
 
 TIfy Dear Brother : — Your letter of 29th nit. is here. 
 You wish to know something from me about the second 
 Mrs. Judson. 
 
 I first heard the Gospel — " pure and undefiled," from 
 the fervid lips of Eugenio Kincaid, " The Hero Mission- 
 ary." It was at Maulmain, Burmah, in February, 1831. 
 I was an artilleryman in the service of the notorious 
 East India Company. 
 
 Mr. K.'s ministry in English was the chief human 
 agency in leading me out of darkness into marvelous 
 light. He baptized me in the river Sal wen in March, 
 1 83 1. I united at once with an English speaking church, 
 organized there some eight months before by one of the 
 best men this side of Paradise — George Dana Boardman. 
 There were only five members. The number was swelled 
 
A MEMORIAL. 121 
 
 to a hundred before the year 1831 ended; nearly all mis- 
 sionaries in some .sense. 
 
 I had but little personal acquaintance with Mrs. Jud- 
 son. It was, however, enough, with the grand reputation 
 she bore, to give me the following facts : First, the phys- 
 ical person was rather small ; second, her social qualities 
 were naturally fine, and finely cultivated; third, printed 
 productions proved that hers was a rich intellect ; fourth, 
 her religious and spiritual character was no less than 
 saintly. She belonged to a class of men and women 
 of whom I think it can be fitly said that there were no 
 persons yet amid the infirmities of the earth who came 
 nearer being incarnations of the true missionary spirit. 
 
 Dr. Judson gave me the first thought I have ever had 
 about preaching Christ and Him crucified to the perish- 
 ing. He formed a plan for my future action. I have 
 tried to act according to it ever since October, 1834. I 
 then received my discharge from a hateful service. I took 
 the first chance to start for the United States, via Madras 
 and I^ondon. In June, 1835, I reached the " Hamilton 
 Seminary," and put myself under the instruction of some 
 grand Christian men. In 1844 I came to Wisconsin. 
 Here I have been since, all but some time spent as chap- 
 lain in the late war. 
 
 A few days before leaving Maulmain I enjoyed a spe- 
 cial interview with Dr. and Mrs. Judson. Out of the lim- 
 ited compensation awarded her personally by the officers 
 in Boston, she made me a present of fifty rupees ($25) to 
 meet special wants on the long journey. It was an offer- 
 ing of self-abnegation to the sublime enterprise against 
 sin, which takes in the entire field, called the World. 
 How many are my thoughts of those consecrated men 
 and women even now, when very nearly eighty-five years 
 old ! And there is hardly a thought that is not more or 
 less salutary to my poor, frail nature. But I must close. 
 
122 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Your work is laudable. I wish you the success you 
 have a just right to anticipate. I shall feel it a privilege 
 to do all I can to encourage your enterprise. Hoping that 
 your labors will not be in vain in the Lord, 
 
 I am, yours, &c., 
 
 JAS. DELANY. 
 
 Mrs. Judson had been much reduced by a recur- 
 rence of her malady with alarming virulence. The 
 attack came soon after the removal to Maulmain, and 
 only after many weeks of lingering low at the gate of 
 death did she begin to recover. Her own account of 
 her suffering and subsequent experience is both inter- 
 esting and suggestive : 
 
 " When I first came up from Tavoy I was thin and 
 pale ; and though I called myself pretty well, I had no 
 appetite for food and was scarce able to walk half a 
 mile. Soon after, I was called to endure a long and 
 severe attack of illness, which brought me to the brink 
 of the grave. I was never so low in any former ill- 
 ness, and the doctor who attended me has since told 
 me that he had no hope of my recovery ; and that when 
 he came to prescribe medicine for me, it was more out 
 of regard for the feelings of my husband than from 
 any prospect of its affording me relief. I lay confined 
 to my bed week after week, unable to move except as 
 Mr. Judson sometimes carried me in his arms from the 
 bed to the couch for a change; and even this once 
 brought on a return of the disease, which very nearly 
 cost me my life. * -^^ I never shall forget the pre- 
 cious seasons enjoyed on that sick-bed. Little George 
 will tell you about it, if 3^ou should ever see him. I 
 think he will always remember some sweet conversa- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 123 
 
 tions I had with him, on the state of his soul, at that 
 time. Dear child ! his mind was very tender, and he 
 would weep on account of his sins, and would kneel 
 down and pray with all the fervor and simplicity of 
 childhood. He used to read the Bible to me every day, 
 and commit little hymns to memory by my bedside. 
 'i' -'' It pleased my Heavenly Father to raise me up 
 again, although I was for a long time very weak. As 
 soon as I was able I commenced riding on horseback, 
 and used to take a long ride every morning before sun- 
 rise. After a patient trial I found that riding improved 
 my health ; though manj^ times I should have become 
 discouraged and given it up but for the perseverance 
 of my husband. After riding almost every day for 
 four or five months I found my health so much im- 
 proved, and gained strength so fast, that I began to 
 think walking might be substituted. About this time 
 my nice little pony died, and we commenced a regular 
 system of exercise on foot, walking at a rapid pace, 
 far over the hills beyond the town, before the sun was 
 up, every morning. We have continued this persever- 
 ingly up to the present time ; and during these years 
 my health has been better than at any time previous 
 since my arrival in India, and m}' constitution seems 
 to have undergone an entire renovation." 
 
 It was also soon after her settlement at Maulmain 
 that the greatest trial 3'et experienced — the severest 
 known in missionary life — was to be met. It was that of 
 sending her little son, George, to America. He was now 
 six years of age, and it was high time that he should 
 be removed from the enervating influences of the Asi- 
 atic climate. It was some abatement of the pain of 
 
124 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 parting that she came deliberately to her conclusion. 
 The circumstances, as told by herself and her biogra- 
 pher, are very engaging and pathetic, and preference is 
 given to their accounts : 
 
 " Mrs. Judson had taken the formidable resolution 
 of parting with her one darling boy previous to her 
 second marriage ; and soon after this- event an oppor- 
 tunity offered for sending him to America, which 
 might not occur again in many years. The ship Cash- 
 mere had brought a number of missionaries to Maul- 
 main, and would return directly to Boston, with the 
 exception of a few weeks to be passed at Singapore. 
 Mrs. Judson hesitated, for little George, being her 
 'only one,' had been most tenderly nurtured; and his 
 nature had about it a clinging tenderness and sensi- 
 tiveness which peculiarly unfitted him for contact with 
 strangers. She says : 'After deliberation, accompanied 
 with tears and agony and prayers, I came to the con- 
 vidlion that it was my duty to send away my only child, 
 my darling George, and yesterday he bade me a long 
 farewell. Oh, my dear sister ! my heart is full, and I 
 long to disburden it by writing you whole pages ; but 
 my eyes are rolling down with tears, and I can scarcely 
 hold my pen. * * Oh ! I shall never forget his looks, 
 as he stood by the door and gazed at me for the last 
 time. His eyes were filling with tears, and his little 
 face red with suppressed emotion. But he subdued 
 his feelings, and it was not till he had turned away 
 and was going down the steps that he burst into a 
 flood of tears. I hurried to my room ; and on my 
 knees, with my whole heart, gave him up to God ; and 
 my bursting heart was comforted from above. I felt 
 
A MKMORIAI,. 125 
 
 such a love to poor, perishing souls as made me will- 
 ing to give up all, that I might aid in the work of 
 bringing these wretched heathen to Christ. The love 
 of God, manifested in sending his only-begotten and 
 well-beloved Son into this world, to die for our sins, 
 touched my heart, and I felt satisfaction in laying upon 
 the altar my only son. My reason and judgment tell 
 me that the good of my child requires that he should 
 be sent to America ; and this of itself would support 
 me in some little degree ; but w^hen I view it as a sac- 
 rifice, made for the sake of Jesus, it becomes a de- 
 lightful privilege. I feel a great degree of confidence 
 that George will be converted, and I cannot but hope 
 he will one day return to Burmah, a missionar}- of the 
 Cross, as his dear father w^as. * ^^ His dear papa 
 took him down to Amherst in a boat. He held him in 
 his arms all the w^ay ; and he says his conversation 
 was very affectionate and intelligent. He saw his 
 little bed prepared in the cabin, and every thing as 
 comfortable and pleasant as possible, and then, as 
 George expressed it, returned to 'comfort mamma.' 
 And much did I need comfort ; for this is, in some 
 respects, the severest trial I have ever met with.' 
 
 " Here let us leave the mother to her griefs and con- 
 solations, and give, here and there, a glance at the little 
 wanderer, w^ho has commenced the long and dreary 
 voyage to the land of his parents' birth. We find him 
 at first surrounded by gentle and loving friends — so 
 gentle and so loving that he scarce misses his mother's 
 voice and kiss ; and longs to behold her only that he 
 may give her an account of the wonders he is from day 
 to day beholding. Everybody loves him and studies 
 
126 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 his happiness. The missionaries destined to Singa- 
 pore pity him, and pity the parents left behind, and 
 the}^ vie with each other in bestowing upon him the 
 minutest attention which they think might be sug- 
 gested by a mother's love. The officers and the crew 
 are all charmed with him ; for the presence of a child 
 in the ship is not a common thing, and he is a child of 
 peculiar gentleness. Arrived at Singapore, he is still 
 with missionaries whose sympathies are all enlisted in 
 his behalf; and the children are his pleasant playmates. 
 And now he attracts other attention ; and so he goes to 
 sit in richly furnished apartments, such as he has never 
 seen before ; and he looks at handsome paintings, and 
 walks through fine gardens, while he is loaded with 
 caresses by those who wonder of what magic power 
 the mother is possessed who has thus far and thus 
 well bred up her son in heathen Burmah. 
 
 " Next, we will step into the open boat and follow 
 the little wanderer to the ship all ready to spread her 
 sails for America. It is rowed b}^ natives; but the 
 child is still under the protection of two missionaries, 
 Jones and Dean. They are ten miles from the shore, 
 and five from the ship — all alone, and without arms. 
 A boat with three wild, fierce-looking men hails them 
 in a seemingly friendly manner; and coming near 
 enough to spy out their strength, or rather weakness, 
 moves on. But the little company suspects no danger. 
 A few moments pass and the sp3'-boat re-appears. It 
 heads directly towards them, and conies with more 
 speed — a sail hoisted, and better manned. A quick 
 glance of suspicion is exchanged, but their is time for 
 no more, for the sail is close alongside. The strangers 
 
A MEMORIAI.. 127 
 
 ask but a cluster of fruit however, and one of the gen- 
 tlemen rises to give it them. What a gleaming of 
 fiendish eyes ! A moment of rapid action succeeds — a 
 push — a plunge — and the kind fruit-giver is struggling 
 with the waves which have closed above his head. 
 They attempt to wrestle a little with his companion, 
 but finally seize their arms. The little boy, from his 
 hiding-place beneath a bench, marks every thrust ; and 
 his flesh creeps, and his blue eyes glitter and dilate un- 
 til they assume an intense blackness. And now the 
 form of his protector sw^ays and reels, and the red 
 blood trickles from his wounded side to the bottom of 
 the boat. He stands, however, and receives another 
 wound. And now the three iron prongs of a fishing 
 spear send their barbed points through bone and mus- 
 cle, and the heavy wooden handle is left hanging from 
 the transfixed and bleeding wrist. At this fearful crisis 
 a hand from without clutches the boat — a pale, dripping 
 face appears, and the drowning man is dragged over 
 the side by the bewildered oarsmen. What a place to 
 seek safety in ! The marauders stand with drawn cut- 
 lass, or brandishing the cur\^ed creese ; but they pause 
 a moment in their deadly work, and substitute threats 
 for blows. Their tones are those of infuriated mad- 
 men, and their gestures — hah ! a light begins to break ! 
 Can that one small box, standing so unpretendingly in 
 the center of the boat, be the cause of the affray ? It 
 contains treasure, true, but not such as the}' can ap- 
 preciate — messages of love from absent children, broth- 
 ers, sisters and friends, to those who would value them 
 far above gold and rubies. It is gladly flung to them 
 however, and the pirate-boat wheels and flees like a 
 bird of prey. 
 
128 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 '• Thank God that death came neither in the wave 
 nor the steel ! And oh, how heart-felt, how unutter- 
 ably deep will be the mother's gratitude, when she 
 hears of her darling's safety ! When she knows that 
 he has not been borne away to some dark haunt of vice 
 and crime, to be bred to the bloody trade of a wild 
 Malayan corsair!" 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 129 
 
 XIII. 
 
 ^CC\1 ^hat>0tV^—'PER/LS OF WATERSr 
 
 A new home and new labor in ]\Ianlniain 
 
 Were clouded yet with shadows of the grave ; 
 Domestic charms and sweetness could not save 
 
 The happy threshold from the feet of pain. 
 
 And all the while the shadow deeper grew, 
 
 And the fond mother's cheek beneath it paled. 
 
 Richards— '^-://>a9/'/<" of Bunnahr 
 
 For God hath marked each sorrowing day 
 
 And numbered every secret tear, 
 And Heaven's long age of bliss shall pay 
 
 For all his children suffer here. 
 
 Bryant. 
 
 MRS. JUDSON was now well established in her 
 new home and had become accustomed to her 
 new duties. Evidently she did not marry to obtain a 
 home, but rather to add to present advantages and 
 modes of usefulness, and in fulfillment of the higher 
 designs of life. She began her work at once. Mov- 
 ing and settling was not a work of magnitude, because 
 there was little to be moved ; and improvement of a 
 domicile beyond its character as a mere shelter was 
 scarcely to be contemplated. 
 
 Her only child had been sent to America about six 
 months after marriage, and though her heart was lead- 
 ing her over the sea continually, her mind was in close 
 
130 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 and constant S3^mpatliy with daily duties. She entered 
 with great zeal and zest into the plans of her husband, 
 rejoicing the more in the successes she helped to 
 achieve. With what extreme gratification did she 
 write the following to his mother : 
 
 He has lately baptized eighteen persons — seven Eng- 
 lish soldiers, five Indo-Britons, three Burmans, one Hin- 
 doo, one Arracanese, and one Mahometan. The latter is 
 faithful old Koo-chil, the Hindoo cook mentioned in Mrs. 
 Judson's "Narrative." The poor old man resisted the 
 truth long and stubbornly, and we were sometimes al- 
 most discouraged about him. But divine grace was too 
 mighty for him, and on last Lord's Day we saw him bow 
 beneath the Salwen's yielding wave, and rise, I trust, to 
 " newness of life." 
 
 When our readers recall the experiences of Ann 
 H. Judson at Ava and Oung-pen-la — the privations, 
 the small-pox, the spotted fever, the death scene at 
 Amherst — and reflect that through all she was faith- 
 fully attended by this Bengalee servant, who often 
 went without food that she might have a little, they 
 also will rejoice that after some years from her death 
 he broke the iron bands that held him to the false 
 prophet and embraced the Savior she had commended 
 to him. Verily, "one soweth and another reapeth," 
 and both rejoice together. 
 
 Another shadow now began to creep over her 
 heart and home. Little children had come to glad- 
 den her eyes, like rays of morning light, yet her joy 
 in them was not always to be unmixed with the 
 element of sorrow. Two are necessary to make the 
 enjoyment of children complete — a father and a 
 
A MEMORIAL. 131 
 
 mother — and now the father seems to be verging 
 on the better world. For six months he had been 
 troubled with a cough that, by its continuance, was 
 to her an evident premonition of consumption, with 
 which she had already had such sad experience. 
 With the cough there was the shortened breath and 
 the pain in the side, and, following, an entire failure 
 of voice and a consequent suspension of pastoral 
 duties. Finally books of study were thrown aside, 
 and a sea voyage was taken as the last resort. 
 
 In the five years that had elapsed since her last 
 marriage the affections had greatly matured, being 
 promoted b}^ the presence of the little ones about 
 her. Life in a single place had come to seem natu- 
 ral — to seem like life — and her home permanent. But 
 those symptoms — how ominous of the truth that here 
 man has no continuing city ! How precarious the ten- 
 ure to life, with malady in the lungs and treacherous 
 waters beneath the feet ! Should it be thought 
 strange that, with the gloomy prOvSpect and the 
 memory of the past before her, her eyes should be- 
 come a fountain of tears ! In depicting the circum- 
 stances however, her first letter to her absent hus- 
 band gives not only an occasion for others' sympa- 
 thy, but likewise a glimpse of the beautiful in a 
 true domestic life: 
 
 " As soon as you left the house I ran to your 
 dressing-room and watched you from the window. 
 But you did not look up — oh, how I wished you 
 would ! Then I hastened to the back veranda and 
 caught one last glimpse of you through the trees; 
 * * * and I gave vent to my feelings in a flood 
 of tears. 
 
132 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 "Then the children came around me, asking to go 
 to the wharf, and the women looked their wishes ; and 
 though I said ' no ' to the httle ones, I could not deny 
 the others. After they were gone I took all three of 
 our darlings into your own little room, told them why 
 you had gone away, and asked Abby Ann and Ado- 
 niram if they wished me to ask God to take care of 
 papa while he was gone. They said ' yes ;' and so 
 I put Elnathan down on the floor to play, and kneel- 
 ing beside the other two, committed 3^ou and ourjfelves 
 to the care of our Heavenly Father." After mention- 
 ing the return of the Burman women from the wharf, 
 she speaks of other prayers ; and in this connection 
 adds, " I never heard more appropriate petitions from 
 the native Christians. They prayed for you, for me, 
 and for the children, in just such a manner as I wished 
 them to pray. Mah Klah and Mah Tee could scarce 
 proceed for sobs and tears. Oh ! who would not pre- 
 fer the sincere, disinterested love of these simple, 
 warm-hearted Christians, to all the applause and adu- 
 lation of the world, or even to the more refined but 
 too often selfish regard of our equals in mental culti- 
 vation and religious knowledge ! Ko Man-boke says 
 he has only one request to make, and that is, if you 
 must die, he begs you will come back to Maulmain, 
 and die in the midst of the disciples who love you 
 so dearly. 
 
 " How sweet is the thought that when you go into 
 the presence of God you always pray for me and for 
 our dear children ! We have family worship morn- 
 ings in the sleeping-room. Abby and Pwen* kneel, 
 
 * Pwen, a flower. A name given to Adoniram by the natives. 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 133 
 
 one on each side of me, and after I have read and 
 prayed I teach them the Lord's prayer. I make them 
 repeat it distinctly-, only two or three words at a time. 
 They both sit at the table with me, Pwen occupying 
 his beloved father's place. But thCvSe things do not 
 beguile my loneliness. Oh, when shall I see you 
 again, here, in your old seat? 
 
 " Your little daughter and I have been praying for 
 you this evening. She is now- in bed, and I am sit- 
 ting by my study-table, where I spend all my time 
 after evening worship, except what is devoted to the 
 children. I wish, my love, that you would pray for 
 one object in particular — that I may be assisted in 
 communicating divine truth to the minds of these 
 little immortals. -'^ ''' * At times the sweet hope 
 that you will soon return, restored to perfect health, 
 buoys up my spirit ; but perhaps you will find it nec- 
 essary to go farther, a necessity from which I cannot 
 but shrink with doubt and dread ; or you may come 
 back only to die with me. This last agonizing 
 thought crushes me down in overwhelming sorrow. 
 I hope I do not feel unwilling that our Heavenly 
 Father should do as He thinks best with us ; but my 
 heart shrinks from the prospect of living in this sin- 
 ful, dark, friendless world without you. But I feel 
 that I do wrong to anticipate sorrows. God has 
 promised strength only for to-day ; and, in infinite 
 mercy, He shuts the future from our view. I know 
 that there is small ground for hope — few ever recover 
 from your disease ; but it may be that God will restore 
 you to health for the sake of His suffering cause." 
 
 After an absence of nearly two months Dr. Judson 
 
134 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 returned to his home and labors at Maulmain, with 
 health much improved; yet the work was retarded 
 by his absence and by inability to preach, extending 
 through a period of ten months. Mrs. Judson con- 
 tinued her work as best she could, though much in- 
 terrupted by the afflidlion mentioned and the excess of 
 cares arising from it. Her literary labor suffered most 
 embarrassment, since domestic duties and the mainte- 
 nance of the interests of the little church naturally re- 
 ceived preference. Still, she accomplished considerable 
 on a translation of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and 
 the preparation of Questions on the Acts of the 
 Apostles, in Burmese, for the use of Bible Classes and 
 Sabbath Schools. 
 
 With the dawn of the year 1840, another birth 
 having occurred in the home, she w^as the happy 
 mother of four children; and thus she was severely 
 taxed with her family cares, literary labors and such 
 work through the community as her position seemed 
 to require. Yet her ability for doing much and with 
 facility was wonderful. Dr. Judson, when visiting her 
 parents and talking over their severe bereavement, 
 made the remark : " It was a wonder to me how she 
 could accompHsh so much, and in so many ways. She 
 would sit with one child in her arms, another by her 
 side, and translate and write at the same time." Thus 
 she solved the problem of her girlhood, " How to make 
 the most of life." And Dr. Judson speaks of her Hn- 
 guistic attainments and work as being of the very 
 highest excellence. She had ready and full command 
 of the Burmese, none surpassing her either in speak- 
 ing or in writing it. 
 
A MEMORIAL. 135 
 
 The responsibilities now resting on her as a 
 mother, particularly with regard to the health of her 
 growing family, were quite weighty. To rear the 
 children in a tropical climate and escape the diseases 
 of the country was not to be expected, and how to 
 manage the complaints so as to save life was a problem 
 of no small magnitude. Quite early that dire disease 
 of the tropics, dysentery, began to seize the little ones, 
 as well as the mother, and the emergency was upon 
 her in its worst reality. She was quite suddenly pros- 
 trated ere they were through a severe spell, and "the 
 dear sisters of the mission came to give her a last look 
 and pressure of the hand, for she was too far gone to 
 speak." 
 
 On recovering, partially, she accepted an invitation 
 of an English officer to pass the hot season with his 
 family on the sea shore at Amherst. But on returning 
 she found herself in worse condition than when she 
 went away, and the exigency was greater than ever. 
 The physician now decided that a sea voyage was im- 
 peratively necessary; and the entire famil}-. Dr. Jud- 
 son being needed as nurse, early embarked for Cal- 
 cutta. There were "perils of waters," as well as 
 dangers on land, and of these Mrs. Judson speaks; 
 
 " We had been out only four days when we struck 
 on shoals, and for about twenty minutes were expect- 
 ing to see the large, beautiful vessel a wreck ; and then 
 all on board must perish, or at best take refuge in a 
 small boat, exposed to the dreary tempests. I shall 
 never forget my feelings as I looked over the side of 
 the vessel that night, on the dark ocean, and fancied 
 ourselves with our poor sick and almost dying chil- 
 
136 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 dren launched on its stormy waves. The captain 
 tacked as soon as possible, and the tide rising at the 
 time, we were providentially delivered from our ex- 
 treme peril." 
 
 Her biographer further states : 
 
 " On reaching their destination, it was thought ad- 
 visable to take a house at Serampore, in preference to 
 Calcutta ; but even here, she says, ' The weather was 
 very unfavorable. At one time it was so oppressively 
 hot that we could scarcely breathe, and the next hour 
 the cold, bleak winds would come whistling in at the 
 high windows, completely chilling the poor little in- 
 valids.' These circumstances were certainly far from 
 favorable to recovery, and medical advisers urged the 
 necessity of putting to sea again. Inquiries were ac- 
 cordingly made concerning vessels bound for the Isle 
 of France, but they were at first very unsatisfactory. 
 Mrs. Judson continues her narrative : ' That same day 
 Captain Hamlin, of the ship Ramsay, called to see us. 
 He was a pious man whom we had before seen ; and 
 though he had not the slightest intimation of our wish 
 to go to Mauritius, he offered us a passage to that place, 
 and thence to Maulmain. His ship was to sail in ten 
 days.' 
 
 "The circumstances did not admit of unnecessary 
 delay. The ship was on the point of sailing, and Mrs. 
 Judson, with her first slight accession of strength, was 
 obliged to hasten to Calcutta to make some prepara- 
 tions which required her personal superintendence. 
 She continues : ' Accordingly on the morning of the 
 23d I went with the two older children, Abby and 
 Pwen, on board the boat. Henry w^as as well as he 
 
A MEMORIAL. 137 
 
 had been for weeks, and we had never thought him 
 dangerous. As for Ehiathan, we considered him al- 
 most well. While in Calcutta the two children with 
 me grew worse ; Pwen, in addition to his previous ill- 
 ness, being seized with a fever, which I feared would 
 prove fatal. I engaged a skillful surgeon and he soon 
 succeeded in reducing the fever, but he gave me little 
 encouragement in either of their cases. He said a sea 
 voyage was their only chance, and if we could manage 
 to keep Pwen from getting worse, until the ship should 
 sail, it was the utmost we could expect. 
 
 " * During these trials, I heard from Serampore 
 every day, and the accounts were for some time favor- 
 able. But on the morning of the 29th my husband's 
 note, dated the day before, said that Henry was not 
 so well, and that Elnathan was ill with fever, appar- 
 ently from having taken sudden cold. I determined 
 to leave at once for Serampore ; but, on inquir}', I as- 
 certained that the tide would not turn till six o'clock 
 in the evening. M3' friends begged me to wait till the 
 next morning, but I could not listen to their entreaties, 
 though I apprehended no real danger in the cases of 
 my absent little ones. At sunset I put Abby and 
 Pwen to bed inside the boat, and took my drear}- 
 watch outside. Oh, what a long and desolate night 
 that was to me ! It was at the neap tides ; and for the 
 last four or five miles the men were unable to row, but 
 pushed the boat up the stream with long bamboos. 
 The moon was setting, and I shall never forget the 
 melancholy feelings which crept over me, while I 
 watched the long shadows of the trees on the darken- 
 ing waters. My anxiety was heightened by hearing 
 
138 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 poor Pwen cough frequently, as though he had taken 
 cold. The fear that the children might be injured by 
 their exposure induced me to oppose every proposition 
 to anchor, and also to urge the boatmen onward by 
 every means in my power. At two o'clock we reached 
 home. My dear husband met me at the door, and as 
 he embraced me said : ' Oh, my love, you have come 
 to the house of death !' 
 
 " ' What !— oh, what is it ? 
 
 " ' Dear little Henry is dying.' " 
 
 He died the following night, aged eighteen months, 
 and was buried in the mission burying ground. 
 
 This health-seeking vo3^age was mostly at the ex- 
 pense of the noble Captain Hamlin, who is brought 
 forward conspicuously in the various accounts of it. 
 It w^as fraught with great interest, for the period in 
 which it occurred, on account of the dangers made 
 imminent by the imperfect shipping and the oppor- 
 tunities of doing good that were furnished to the mis- 
 sionaries, not less than for its importance to the pres- 
 ervation of the missionary family. 
 
 The following letter and sketch from the first of- 
 ficer of the Ramsay (" Ancient Mariner") will be read 
 with interest, especially in view of the circumstances 
 in which the acquaintance was made. The writer, now 
 "in the sere and yellow leaf" of life, deems himself 
 happy in being able to record before his death, his 
 impressions of one whose appearance and character 
 remain with him as a pleasant reality and a blessed 
 influence. She was a gleam to the mariner in the 
 Orient that he would not willingly lose from his mem- 
 ory. His name will be found in Wayland's Memoir 
 
A MEMORIAL. I39 
 
 of Judson, volume II, page 186, among those sub- 
 scribed to the covenant to serve the Lord, entered in 
 the ship's great Bible. He was the author of the ac- 
 count of the Ramsay's voyage from Calcutta, written 
 at the request of Rev. John Simpson, compiler of 
 the pamphlet in which it first appeared : 
 
 Thorntown. Ind., Dec. 26, 1888. 
 Rev. W. N. Wveth, D. D. 
 
 My Dear Sir: — Leisure is afforded me to-day to comph^ 
 with the request in your esteemed favor of the 8th inst. As 
 you will observe, on perusal of the memoranda, what I have 
 to communicate is but little, though Mrs. Sarah B. Judson was 
 a shipmate in a passage from Calcutta to Port Louis, Isle of 
 France, and from thence to Maulmain. As you will be aware, 
 when she and her husband embarked with us in Calcutta they 
 were both deeply stricken by the loss of their youngest boy ; 
 and two of the other three, with their mother, were laboring 
 under that fell disease, dysentery. It was a dernier ressort, 
 and you can well imagine that an introduction to them was 
 simply perfunctory on the captain's part. Then it was the 
 commencement of the stormy monsoon which, together with 
 the fearful and disastrous passage that ensued, made my op- 
 portunities limited. 
 
 I received the Memorial of Ann H., and was much pleased 
 with its perusal ; and, albeit, the prominent features in her 
 life's history were familiar to me, I read it earnestly, and can 
 not help thinking that in this form and price it will be read 
 by thousands of Christians who would not take the time to 
 read through a large tome. If my recital should be consid- 
 ered tedious, your simply gleaning out the facts will not be 
 disapproved by Yours in the blessed hope, 
 
 John Xiven. 
 
 By a reference to one of my old log-books, kept b}' me 
 whilst chief officer of ship Ramsay, lying in the river 
 Hoogl}', off Calcutta, I find the following entry : " Aug. 
 
140 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 15th, 1841 : Dr. Jiidson, wife and three children, came on 
 board as passengers with ns to ^Mauritius, and from thence 
 to Maulmain in British Biirmah." I had never met them 
 in person before this time, but from their historj^ as relat- 
 ed to me by my commander some da5'S previous, I was 
 prepared to render all the service in my power to make 
 their sojourn wnth us pleasant. When they came aboard, 
 Dr. and Mrs. Judson were sad and jaded ; the two younger 
 ones still laboring under the same disease which took away 
 their brother. Under the circumstances their minds were 
 in no humor for parade, consequentl}^ my introduction to 
 them was strictly formal. Having consigned them to the 
 care of the steward, I resumed attention to the man}' duties 
 pertaining to a .ship getting ready for sea, and that, too, at 
 a time of j-ear when continued gales and heav\' seas were 
 the rule in the Bay of Bengal during the south-west mon- 
 soon. 
 
 Detained bj^ adverse winds it was a week ere we sailed 
 from Saugur Island into the bay, and then everj^ mile we 
 made was beating against head winds and terrific seas. 
 Until we came near the equator we had a succession of 
 gales, so much so that one afternoon our topmasts and 
 sails dissolved their continuity and left us sans cercmouie. 
 As a natural consequence we saw little of the Judsons, 
 save occasional visits from the Doctor on deck, and these 
 were limited in duration as, in the absence of a nurse, the 
 whole care of the sick family devolved on the stricken pa- 
 rents. But with the advent of more favorable winds and 
 smoother water, Tvlrs. Judson and the two eldest, when the 
 sun was three hours from the meridian, would come onto 
 the quarterdeck. During one of the morning visits, having 
 taken .sights for longitude, I was lingering near the chil- 
 dren, and taking a quiet view of Mrs. Judson, of whom I 
 had heard so much, regarding her heroism and Christian 
 fortitude, when, as the widow of the devoted George Dana 
 
A MEMORIAL. 141 
 
 Boardman, she liad essayed to continue liis work amongst 
 the Burmans. No, it was no idle curiosity that led me to 
 linger near her. I quickly perceived that her load of sor- 
 row had attenuated a frame that was beautifully formed ; 
 the wan countenance and, I had almost said, the expres- 
 sionless though mild blue eyes, conveyed to me a world of 
 meaning. Eventually she commenced to address me in 
 the usual passenger style, of our passage so far as it had 
 gone, as to whether the advent of this weather was likely 
 to be continuous ; and, with a feeble attempt at a smile, 
 asked me, was it the wont for .sailors to become unusually 
 happ3^ and manifest it by hilarious singing when suffering 
 disaster? At once perceiving she alluded to the merry 
 songs of the men whilst heaving at the capstan when w^e 
 were dismasted, I replied that the singing on the occasion 
 was not the result of any particular happiness, but was one 
 of the modes invented by early navigators to keep the men's 
 minds diverted and occupied, as do the Canadian boatmen, 
 and producing a concert of action as well as melody. She 
 quietly observed that while sailors seem to lead a precari- 
 ous life, they alwa3^s seemed happy, and thus ended our 
 first colloquy. 
 
 The weather from this time up to our arrival at Port 
 L,ouis was fine, and the water as smooth as an inland lake, 
 consequently every forenoon this devoted woman would 
 bring her children on deck for a sun bath, as she termed it, 
 and I gladlj- thought that we could land them all in a state 
 of convalescence. One forenoon, not being on dut3^ I 
 went on the quarterdeck ostensibh' to air ni}- charts, and 
 found the most favorable localit}' close to ]Mrs. Judson and 
 her children. At one time as I came near her, apparently 
 in deep thought, endeavoring to enlist a conversation, I re- 
 marked that it seemed providential that we were experi- 
 encing such a happy change in the weather. Remaining 
 silent, as if abstracted in some mental problem, I sought 
 
142 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 to break the silence by remarking that we sailors suffered 
 in like manner with the missionaries in this particular: 
 that our vocation took us from friends and home, with 
 all its amenities. Apparently assenting, she replied in 
 a mild tone : " We have had trials, sorrows, bereave- 
 ments and incertitude even in excess of those pertaining 
 to a missionar}' life, still the sublime thought of winning 
 and saving souls more than compensates for its privations 
 and separation from all that we have loved." Suddenly it 
 seemed as if a halo surrounded the expression of the now 
 lustrous e3'es when she impressively said : " Oh ! if I only 
 could know that my son, absent in America, had become 
 converted to the truth, ni}- happiness would be complete." 
 
 Whilst I looked upon her earnest face and rapidh^ 
 thought of the child left in the silent tomb on the banks 
 of the Ganges, with her two youngest children battling 
 against insidious disease, I could not help soliloquizing, as 
 I retired to my cabin : " w^hat a beautiful mind, approaching 
 the angelic, she must have! " For the nonce, seemingly 
 considering her present and known afflictions as light, if 
 by any means her absent boy should be converted ! And 
 here, by the way, I must digress. Forty 3'ears after this 
 conversation, the writer, at his home in Indiana, was be- 
 guiling the tedium oi a winter evening by reading " Stud- 
 ies in the Mountain Instruction." As I read and retro- 
 spected into this episode in my life's hivStory, nn- e5'es 
 became dim as I thought how this sainted mother's 
 prayers and aspirations had been answered, and the world 
 had been benefited by the speech and pen of her absent 
 boy, the gifted author. Dr. George D. Boardman, whom I 
 have never seen, but whom I love. 
 
 Frequently after this, and up to the time of their de- 
 barkation in October, 1841, at the Mauritius, we had con- 
 versations ; and it is a permanent fact on my mind that in 
 all these talks Christ was the prominent feature ; nor can 
 
A MEMORIAL. 143 
 
 I recall, in all oiir colloquies during the two passages, an 
 irrelevant word or an idle one. 
 
 While our ship remained at the Isle of France, she, with 
 her husband and famil}-, boarded with a pious family in 
 the city ; and had it not been for the advent of mission- 
 aries, driven from Madagascar by the reigning sovereign, 
 I should have recorded that piety was an unknown quan- 
 tity, almost, amongst the citizens. 
 
 We remained at Port Louis until November i, 1841, 
 when, having finished our lading and re-embarked the 
 Judsons, w^e sailed for INIaulmain. As the weather was 
 fine, as a rule, and the sea quiet, we enjoyed the commun- 
 ion of Mrs. Judson more frequentl}', as the children were 
 better and she herself was stronger. Dr. Judson obser\-ed 
 evening worship, and on Lord's Days, with a marked and 
 happy effect upon the captain and crew. W'hilst we re- 
 mained in the harbor of INIaulmain the captain, myself 
 and the second ofiicer were baptized by him (December 12, 
 1841) at the tank in the Missionary Compound. 
 
 I visited the missionary family every evening, and, now 
 approaching half a century since, I look upon those visits 
 as delightful oases in my life. There I met and communed 
 with a noble band of brethren and sisters, only two of 
 whom I have met since — Brother Osgood, at Lafayette, 
 and Brother Hasw^ell at sea. However, I know that they 
 will all eventuall}' go home. 
 
 Little more I can add, only that coming into Saint Hel- 
 ena in a vessel I commanded, in the month of October, 
 1845, I learned from my friend, the American consul, that 
 about a month previous he w^as present at the funeral of 
 Mrs. Sarah B. Judson, and together we made a pilgrimage 
 to the tomb, situated in a sheltered nook in the cemetery 
 in St. James' Valley, something more than a mile from the 
 landing place. It seemed a loneU* spot, and the mount- 
 ains inland and parallel to it gave the place a weird and 
 
144 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 solemn look. And I could not help reflecting that this 
 brave woman's fxtful fever was over, getting sepulture on 
 the grand highway to India, almost midway between Africa 
 and America, whilst towering above her lonely bed were 
 mountains rugged and grand, serving also as a landmark 
 to the toilers of the sea visiting Saint Helena. 
 
 And here my labor of love terminates, with this apos- 
 trophe : In a pilgrimage which has extended over the 
 three score and tenth j^ear, never have I known any one 
 who could so fascinate and interest a stranger, and that, 
 too, without a seeming effort, as could Sarah B. Judson, 
 the only one of the trinity bearing that revered name 
 that I knew. 
 
 J.N. 
 
A MEMORIAL. 145 
 
 XIV. 
 
 ^lln&XVe ^op^^ — HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 And many an Elim rears its palm, 
 
 With wayside spring and cheer of psalm — 
 
 Foretokens of the final calm. 
 
 Yea, all the way by Love cast up 
 
 Through light and dark, through vale and slope, 
 
 Has rests of peace and joy and hope. 
 
 E. L. E. — ''Stepping Heavenward^ 
 
 THERE was now another short period of cahii. 
 Sickness had abated, leaving the number of the 
 family smaller by one, and life in the mission had re- 
 sumed its wonted course. An absence of nearly five 
 months retarded the work, Avhile the distressing vicis- 
 situdes through which the workers had passed were 
 traceable in their effects upon their minds and hearts 
 as reall}' as upon their faces. Still, ''the voyage, bois- 
 terous as it was, proved beneficial, and was seconded 
 by the bland airs of the Isle of France." 
 
 The following extended quotation reveals the 
 woman and her work as they were at this time : 
 
 "After these severe trials Mrs. Judson returned 
 to her accustomed labors, walking in the same toil- 
 some, unostentatious path as before — writing, translat- 
 ing, teaching, advising, reproving, encouraging, and 
 praying. Thus 3'ears passed by scarce noted, except 
 upon the page of the Recording Angel. Some of the 
 
146 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 literary performances of this closing part of her life 
 are thus briefly mentioned by her husband : Her 
 translation of the Pilgrim's Progress, Part L, into 
 Burmese, is one of the best pieces of composition 
 which we have yet published. Her translation of 
 Mr. Boardman's * Dying Father's Advice ' has be- 
 come one of our standard tracts; and her hymns in 
 Burmese, about twenty in number, are probably the 
 best ill our Chapel Hymn Book — a work w^hich she 
 was appointed by the Mission to edit. Beside these 
 works she published four volumes of Scripture 
 Questions, which are in constant use in our Sab- 
 bath schools. 
 
 "It has been remarked that the translation of the 
 Pilgrim's Progress into an Eastern tongue is a w^ork 
 worth living for, if it were one's only performance. 
 It was indeed a laborious work — under the circum- 
 stances exceedingly laborious, and was performed as 
 only one who knew and loved the language as she 
 did, assisted by her native genius, could perform it. 
 She also contributed some valuable articles to the 
 Burmese newspaper ; and in the absence of Mr. Ste- 
 vens, its able conductor, she was two or three times 
 called upon to take the editorial charge of it. Her 
 Sabbath Cards, with the breathings of her devotional 
 and poetic spirit yet warm upon their surface, (her 
 last dying gift to the Burman church,) circulated 
 from hand to hand ; her Scripture Questions furnish 
 hundreds of bewildered minds with a clue to many 
 a fountain bubbling over wdth the fresh waters of 
 truth and wasdom ; and her sweet hymns are heard 
 wherever the living God is worshiped throughout 
 
A MEMORIAL. I47 
 
 this heathen land. The care of a very young and in- 
 creasing family, where only the most inefficient serv- 
 ice can be procured, would seem quite enough to oc- 
 cupy all of a mother's attention ; but, how or when 
 none knew, she managed to find many a moment 
 which future time will multiply to years of usefulness. 
 " The inordinate desire for posthumous fame, 
 which is made so poetical by those who wear out 
 their lives in efforts to win it, is really scarce less 
 contemptible than any other utterly selfish passion — 
 vanity, or even avarice. But it is a glorious thought 
 to the Christian that he may still guide the falter- 
 ing footsteps of a brother and add jewels to his Mas- 
 ter's crown, when his voice is hushed in the grave, 
 and his mouldering hand lies as powerless as the 
 dust with which it mingles. And doubly sweet 
 must be the consolations of the d3'ing bed, when 
 the glad prospect has not been purchased at the 
 expense of lowlier daily duties. Such duties we 
 have seen that Mrs. Judson never neglected, and even 
 in life she reaped the sweet fruit of her toils. 
 
 ' None knew her but to love her. 
 None named her but to praise,' 
 
 is perhaps the shortest mode of expressing the senti- 
 ments that are heard in various forms from many a 
 lip ; and this estimate is by no means confined to her 
 own countrywomen. She avoided society because it 
 interfered with important pursuits, and not from any 
 approach to asceticism ; but she still had warm friends 
 beyond the pleasant missionary circle. This apprecia- 
 tion and love, however, was not her sweetest reward. 
 "In April, 1844, she thus writes: 'The state of re- 
 
148 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 ligion is now very interesting in the Burman church. 
 It wonld do your heart good to look in upon our little 
 circle of praying Burman females. So humble, so de- 
 vout, so willing to confCvSS their faults before God and 
 before one another, that I sometimes think Christians 
 in a Christian land might well copy after them. I 
 think they do strive to walk in the footsteps of our 
 blessed Savior. The study of the Scriptures and 
 social prayer seem to be greatly blessed to their 
 souls. Some of them have formed themselves into 
 a Bible Class, and meet with me once a week for 
 the purpose of vStudying the Scriptures. They are 
 now examining the ' Life of Christ' with ' Questions' 
 which I prepared on the work some years ago. I 
 think it does my own soul good thus to ponder over 
 the life of our blessed Lord. This Bible Class has in- 
 creased from about five to upward of fifteen within 
 the last few months, and I see no signs of the num- 
 ber diminishing. Some of them are quite elderly 
 women with gray hairs. You would be pleased to 
 see them with their spectacles on, sitting in a circle, 
 reading the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and con- 
 versing with each other respecting their duty. One 
 of them, upwards of seventy years old, amused me 
 a few days ago by saying that she was the same age 
 of my little daughter Abby Ann. I asked her what 
 she meant by that. She replied that she was con- 
 verted the year that Abby Ann was born, and it was 
 not till then that she began to live.' 
 
 " In the last of her letters that I have in my posses- 
 sion she says : ' It is nineteen 3^ears last month since 
 I parted with you, and bade adieu to my native land ; 
 
A MEMORIAL 149 
 
 and I can say, with unfeigned gratitude to God, that 
 amid all the vicissitudes through which I have been 
 called to pass, I have never for one moment regret- 
 ted that I had entered the missionar}- field. We are 
 not weary of our work — it is in our hearts to live and 
 die among these people. I feel conscious of being a 
 most unworthy and unprofitable servant; and I often 
 wonder that my life has been spared while so many, 
 to human view, so much more competent than my- 
 self have been cut down, ' Even so, Father, for so 
 it seemeth good in Thy sight.' 
 
 " These nineteen years had of necessity wrought 
 many changes ; but they were like the changes which 
 autumn perfects in the fruit-buds of spring. The eye 
 was not so full of vivacity as formerly ; and there was 
 at times a pensive drooping of the lid, which spoke 
 of familiarity with tears ; but they were not tears to 
 dim the centred light of a quiet, serene — I had almost 
 said Jioly — happiness. The cheek had lost some of its 
 roundness and the skin its fairness ; but the beauty of 
 the ripening spirit had gradually stolen out upon the 
 face, and none could regret the exchange. The step 
 was not quite so elastic as in former days, but it had 
 gained in freedom and stateliness; and though the 
 figure exhibited none of the fragility sometimes mis- 
 taken for grace of outline and proportion, there was 
 more than enough to compensate in the full, health- 
 ful development, seen much oftener in the women of 
 England than those of America. The fresh-hearted 
 maiden was transformed into the wife and mother — 
 the teacher of little bright-cheeked New England 
 girls was the guide of gray-haired heathen women, 
 
150 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 blinded b}^ idolatry ; but she was fresh-hearted still. 
 Disappointment had passed over her, but it had left 
 no blight; sorrow had wrung tears from her eyes, 
 but the}^ had fallen back upon her spirit a fertilizing 
 dew ; trials had risen in her path like flames to scorch 
 and wither, but she meekly bowed her heart to the 
 Hand that sent them, and so they consumed only the 
 alloy and passed away, leaving the gold purified and 
 burnished; and the death of beloved ones had only 
 served to unlock a door between her soul and heaven. 
 Since the time of her first child's death her course had 
 been gradually upward. Her life had increased in ho- 
 liness and her spirit in meekness ; for she had grown 
 familiar with the one spot where the unquiet human 
 soul may find rest — deep in the shadow of the Cross. 
 The first impulse of life in the vSpirit of the 3'oung 
 Christian was as the quick, joyous up-shooting of the 
 green blade in spring. Next, her course through the 
 world was shaped — the ear of corn was fashioned and 
 stood in the field, light, graceful and frerh in summer 
 verdure. But at length it began to bow beneath the 
 weight of its own wealth ; the green sheath gradually 
 swelled with the increasing richness of its treasure ; 
 then the grain grew golden with ripeness ; and angel- 
 reapers stood ready to dissever the drooping stem, and 
 bear home the perfected fruit to the harvest of glory." 
 Some ten years as wife of Dr. Judson had now 
 been passed, and the course of her life seemed well 
 determined. The claims of her familj^ the demands 
 of the mission, extra literary labors, and a broken con- 
 stitution — these were to constitute her experience and 
 draw upon her vitality for the rest of the way, and to 
 
A MEMORIAL. I51 
 
 all she meekly submitted. The sacred ambition to 
 make the most of life continued in all its ardor, 
 when, under corresponding circumstances, most per- 
 sons would have succumbed. She acquiesced in the 
 divine disposing, and yet held up and on, as one de- 
 termined to "finish" her course, not merely to end it. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1845 Mrs. Judson 
 gave symptoms of unusual prostration. The disease 
 that attacked her soon after her arrival in the country 
 had persistently dogged her steps, and now it seemed 
 to have made a new and successful assault. Some- 
 thing must be done for her, and very soon. In a land 
 where, and at a time when expedients were few, there 
 appeared to be nothing untried to which resort might 
 be made. Medical skill was faithfully applied and 
 proved unavailing, but a short sea voyage sometimes 
 had been beneficial. 
 
 She accepts an invitation from the Commissioner 
 of Maulmain to accompany his family on an excur- 
 sion down the coast to Tavoy and Mergui. She was 
 absent about six weeks, but without any apparent im- 
 provement of health; in fact. Dr. Judson stated that 
 she returned weaker and nearer the grave than when 
 she set out. And as this mode of health-seeking was 
 the last resort, it was decided that the test be more 
 thoroughly made ; that a vo3'age be taken beyond the 
 tropics. Such was her tenacit}' to life, it was felt 
 that this course would in all probability insure her 
 recovery. 
 
 And now there came the thought of friends and 
 native land. To the complete change of climate that 
 a journey home would furnish there would be an 
 
152 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 equally radical change of scene. Some loved ones 
 would, indeed, be exchanged for other loved ones 
 simply, yet friends, connexions, happy country, are to 
 one of the number who has been absent for twenty 
 years a source of joy and buoyancy that has not its 
 equal in anything else. It would seem that the mere 
 prospect of returning home would have so sustained 
 the soul of Mrs. Judson as to have saved her from 
 sinking. Still, nothing except considerations of health 
 could have induced her to leave her circle of dear na- 
 tive Christians and the loved employ of leading others 
 about them to Christ. 
 
 And now another necessity appears. She must be 
 accompanied on her voyage, and by some one who can 
 enter sympathetically into her trials in order that ef- 
 forts for the removal of her physical ailment may be 
 rendered in the highest degree beneficial. And who 
 should it be if not her husband ? He felt that the ne- 
 cessity admitted of no alternative. She w^as very weak, 
 almost helpless ; and she w^as his wife, and the mother 
 of his children. The loss of his time in the mission 
 was to him a great trial, but the loss of his helpmeet, 
 one who, as he testified, spoke and wrote the Burmese 
 tongue more acceptably than any other foreigner of 
 lier time, would, in an economic point of view, be still 
 greater. He must try to save her life, submitting to 
 every consideration conducing to this end. 
 
 The children now numbered six. The older ones 
 required a change to a northern latitude, ICvSt the imbe- 
 cility so probable to those of American parentage, born 
 here, come upon them. But a division of the family — 
 the leaving of some — how could this be borne ! The 
 
A MEMORIAL. 153 
 
 decision was made, and promptly; the three oldest 
 were taken, the three youngest left. The embarkation 
 on the ship Paragon, for England, took place April 26, 
 1845. Mrs. Judson was borne to the vessel, while 
 "both fair and dusky faces circled round; and long 
 did the sound of those loved, farewell voices, half- 
 smothered in grief and choked with tears, dwell upon 
 her ear and heart." 
 
 It was doubtless some relief to the mind of Mrs. 
 Judson that her husband's time was to be economized 
 by means of two competent native assistants, who had 
 been induced to accompany them on the passage for 
 this purpose. His Burmese dictionary was not in a 
 state of forwardness that would admit of a suspension 
 of labor upon it without jeopardizing the entire results 
 of the work of years. Hence, it was his purpose to 
 devote to it some hours each day, whether on sea or 
 on land, with their aid. 
 
 The first part of the voyage was very rough, and 
 the family suffered much from seasickness; and Dr. 
 Judson was much occupied in caring for Mrs. Judson. 
 During the second month her health began to improve, 
 and the most sanguine hopes of her recovery began to 
 be entertained. On arriving at Port Louis, Isle of 
 France, the indications of returning health were still 
 better, and a complete change of plans was contem- 
 plated. Dr. Judson, veteran and valorous as he was, 
 again turned his face from the land of his birth, the 
 civilized West, to the land of his adoption, the pagan 
 East. The proof of loyalty to the cause he espoused 
 in his youth was now clearer, if possible, than ever 
 it had been. And it was not to be imagined that his 
 
154 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 noble wife, characterized by the finest sensibilities, 
 could be insensible to this new evidence of his great- 
 ness. 
 
 They were detained on the island about three 
 weeks, during which time hope and despair alternated 
 in sad succession. Calculations were made for the 
 return of Dr. Judson to Maulmain — the plan being en- 
 couraged by the early departure of a ship for that port 
 — and for the continuance of Mrs. Judson and the chil- 
 dren on the voyage to America by another and better 
 vessel that would hasten their arrival. The separation 
 now at hand was not altogether without its alleviating 
 features. The family would be evenly divided; the 
 father with three children and the mother with three, 
 with attendant benefits to all. But the sadness of the 
 necessary division still remained, while the trial was 
 somewhat sharpened by the fact that an ocean must 
 roll between the parents for a considerable period, and 
 perhaps forever. 
 
 It was at this juncture, and while improved health 
 was imparting to her mind renewed vivacity, that 
 Mrs. Judson wrote the most remarkable poem of her 
 lifetime. Her heart sought an utterance without a 
 thought of the great world. She wished to inspire 
 a single soul, weighed down by cares and longing for 
 the regeneration of a nation, with such a holy cheer 
 that he could sacrifice " the music of his only daugh- 
 ter's voice," '' the merry shout of his elder boys," and 
 the presence of his lyove for many a year, if necessar5^ 
 that the great and glorious end of his existence might 
 be achieved. 
 
 Her verses were intended for immediate effect, not 
 
A MEMORIAL. irr 
 
 for posthumous fame. But the world will not permit 
 them to die. " Penciled on a scrap of broken paper," 
 and the last words ever traced by her fingers, the}- re- 
 curred to her husband with wonderful power, and^ are 
 read with tearful interest by the Christian world : 
 
 "We part on this green islet, Love— 
 Thou for the Eastern main, 
 I for the setting sun, Lov*^ 
 Oh, when to meet again 
 
 ** My heart is sad for thee. Love, 
 For lone thy way will be ; 
 And oft thy tears will fall. Love, 
 For thy children and for me. 
 
 " The music of thy daughter's voice 
 Thou'lt miss for many a year ; 
 And the merry shout of thine elder boys 
 Thou'lt list in vain to hear. 
 
 "When we knelt to see our Henry die. 
 And heard his last faint moan, 
 Kach wiped the tear from other's eye- 
 Now each must weep alone. 
 
 " My tears fall fast for thee, Love- 
 How can I say farewell ? 
 But go ;— thy God be with thee, Love, 
 Thy heart's deep grief to quell ! 
 
 " Yet my spirit clings to thine, Love, 
 Thy soul remains with me, 
 And oft we'll hold communion sweet, 
 O'er the dark and distant sea. 
 
 "And who can paint our mutual joy, 
 When, all our wanderings o'er, 
 We both shall clasp our infants three, 
 At home on Burmah's shore. 
 
156 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 " But higher shall our raptures glow, 
 
 On yon celestial plain, 
 When the loved and parted here below 
 
 Meet, ne'er to part again. 
 
 "Then gird thine armor on, Love, 
 Nor faint thou by the way 
 Till Boodli shall fall, and Burmah's sons 
 Shall own Messiah's sway." 
 
 These lines, however, proved to be but as a special, 
 a parting ray from a star soon to pass forever to an- 
 other sphere. The beautiful spirit was to enjoy the 
 restoration of her original brilliancy long enough to 
 enable her to bestow a benediction on the object of 
 her admiration, then she was to sleep, and to awake 
 in a still higher likeness. She was to part with her 
 " lyove," that she might rest from her labors. 
 
 Before the time set for departure from the island 
 Mrs. Judson experienced an alarming relapse, which 
 frustrated all the new and now cherished purposes. 
 She was reduced lower than ever she had been, and 
 Dr. Judson soon saw that he could not leave her. 
 Nothing but the prosecution of the voyage as origi- 
 nally arranged could be contemplated; except that a 
 change of vessels, from the Paragon, which was unsea- 
 worthy, to the Sophia Walker, bound to the United 
 States, w^as found to be important and was made. The 
 Burmese assistants returned, and the afflicted family* 
 re-embarked for " the setting sun," sailing from Port 
 Louis on the 25th of July. 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 157 
 
 XV. 
 
 ^^Cttlf ^^XVC^X—THE BURIAL. 
 
 "Ah! through how many clifTerent graves 
 God's children go to Him ! " 
 
 Heaven must be sweet after all these things. 
 
 A. JUDSON. 
 
 AFTER being on the deep for a time, Mrs. Judson 
 - again gave signs of convalescence, especially dur- 
 ing the cool weather enjoyed off Cape of Good Hope. 
 But appearances again proved delusive. The recent 
 prostration left effects from which she could not fully 
 recover. Though sometimes a little better, she mani- 
 fested a gradual decline ; and as the ship neared the 
 island of St. Helena it became apparent that the goal 
 of her life was also ver}^ near. 
 
 The vessel entered St. James' Ba}-, and there, in the 
 stillness of its anchorage, protracted for some days, 
 Mrs. Judson was permitted to breathe out her life qui- 
 etly, and enter the haven of Eternal Rest. She ob- 
 tained her release before the time for weighing anchor, 
 and so found a firm and recognizable resting place in 
 the " Rock of the Sea," with honorable obsequies. • 
 
 As the hour of death drew near, and she became 
 fully conscious of its nearness, she began to feel the 
 disappointment of not reaching her old home, after 
 twenty years' exile, and after journeying so far toward 
 
158 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 it. Still her sufferings were so protracted, and the Sav- 
 ior and His future presence so precious to her view, 
 she felt that she was really in a strait betwixt two, and 
 could only say, " let the will of God be done." She 
 thought of her children continually, and spent much 
 time in praying for their early conversion. On her 
 last evening the three that were present took leave of 
 their mother and retired, while Dr. Judson sat by the 
 dying embers, ministering to the remaining spark 
 until it fell away and expired. At two o'clock in the 
 morning the adieu was taken, the token of recognition 
 exchanged, and at three o'clock she was not, for God 
 had taken her. The event occurred September i, 1845. 
 
 Dr. Judson prepared the corpse for burial, then, 
 exhausted by ceaseless watching, threw himself down 
 and slept. On awaking, he first saw the children 
 standing about the body of their mother, weeping. It 
 was the last of earth — they were motherless. 
 
 Rev. Jas. McGregor Bertram, an independent Prot- 
 estant missionary of the island, had but just begun 
 his work; and in the flush of his ardent "protest" 
 against the barren clericalism of the Established 
 Church, he zealously and lovingly sympathized with 
 all. To him Dr. Judson sent his Christian regards, 
 through the American Consul, with a request that he 
 would come aboard the vessel, as he was very desirous 
 to see him. Mr. Bertram, of course, had long since 
 heard of Dr. Judson, and had come to regard him very 
 highly as a hero in missions, and he hastened to him 
 " with a heart full of painful sympathy." As he neared 
 the ship he perceived several of the crew approaching 
 the gang-way, with sorrow depicted on their counte- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 159 
 
 nances. The captain gave him welcome, and after a 
 few touching hints conducted him to the cabin where 
 he was for the first time introduced to the missionary. 
 Dr. Judson held out his hand, but for a moment his 
 heart was too deeply affected for speech. He looked 
 pale and careworn. The bitter tears flowed down his 
 cheeks as the deep anguish of his soul was felt afresh. 
 
 Such a touching scene has seldom been witnessed 
 in this world. With him stood his three small chil- 
 dren, weeping and refusing to be comforted because 
 she whom they loved awakened not at their call. It 
 was death! — perhaps their first vivid realization of 
 the doing of the last enemy. On their account, espe- 
 cially, he found it difficult to recover self-control, and 
 when regained he first spoke to them " in the sweetest 
 manner, and in the most consoling language a Chris- 
 tian father's lips could utter." Then turning to Mr. 
 Bertram he said : 
 
 " O, sir, she died in the Lord — so peacefully. I 
 asked her, but a little before she died, if she loved the 
 Savior, and could trust her soul into his hands. She 
 answered, ' Yes, O, yes.' Come, Mr. Bertram, will you 
 look at my love ? She is just like herself, lovely even 
 in death." 
 
 He then led him into the stateroom, where la}^ her 
 cold remains. A sweet smile of love seemed to rest 
 on her countenance, as if heavenly grace had stamped 
 it there. Mr. Judson stood at her head, and the chil- 
 dren around her, weeping and sobbing. He kissed 
 her cold forehead again and again, bedewing it with 
 tears. After a few moments he said that she suffered 
 much, but never murmured ; adding, " I did all for her 
 
l6o SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 myself; dressed and laid her out myself. This was her 
 own request. To me it was a painful duty, but God 
 sustained me." 
 
 He informed Mr. Bertram that arrangements had 
 been made for the funeral to take place at four o'clock 
 in the afternoon, and requested him to attend and con- 
 duct the services on board the vessel. Mr. B. went on 
 shore and summoned all the Christians in the vicinity 
 to assemble at the wharf at 3 : 30 p. m., and then re- 
 turning to the ship remained with the sorrowing until 
 afternoon. At the hour for the funeral to occur, the 
 captain called together all the friends who were on 
 board, and all the hands of the ship who could be 
 spared from duty. After the customary exercises the 
 stateroom was again visited and a last look of the de- 
 ceased was taken. The bereaved husband and weep- 
 ing children fastened their eyes upon the loved remains 
 as if they could have looked forever. Weeping, kiss 
 after kiss was imprinted on the cold forehead; and 
 when it became necessary to withdraw, the coffin was 
 closed and the body removed to the boat which was to 
 convey i^ to the shore. 
 
 A flotilla was formed between the ship and the 
 shore, making a strangely sad spectacle — three going 
 in front, towing the one that contained the corpse, and 
 another following in which were the family, the cap- 
 tain and Mr. Bertram as chief mourners. In the hush 
 of human voices the plying oars rendered the requiem. 
 On the shore a number of Christians, men and women, 
 with Mr. Carrol, the American Consul, and his family 
 and friends, awaited to join the procession. 
 
 The body, having been transferred from the boat to 
 
A MEMORIAL. l6l 
 
 the bier, was borne forward by a number of seamen, 
 while four '* chief women" of the island, all Chris- 
 tians, and all but one waves of officers, served as pall- 
 bearers. The procession having been organized in the 
 usual wa}', and numbering about one hundred, took up 
 its circuitous march through the defile in which the 
 town of St. James is located, to the burying-ground 
 half a mile or more from the landing. The inhabit- 
 ants paid their respects by closing their shops. The 
 street was considerably lined wdth spectators, who 
 must have knowm the mournful details, and not have 
 been excited merely by the rarity of the occasion. 
 
 At the grave the burial service of the Church of 
 England was read, the body lowered and a solemn 
 hymn sung. Dr. Judson, supported by Mr. Bertram, 
 seemed at times quite evercome and ready to give 
 way ; yet, lifting his heart to God for strength, he 
 was enabled to pass through the trial. And after the 
 friends had withdrawn, he with the children lingered 
 about the " narrow house" as if reluctant to leave the 
 beloved wife and mother to such a cheerless abode. 
 The grave, however, is in one of the choicest spots of 
 the cemetery — a banj-an tree spreading its branches 
 over it as if to guard the precious treasure that lies be- 
 neath. And at its side is the grave of Mrs. Chater, mis- 
 sionary from Ceylon, who died in similar circumstances. 
 
 This recital recalls the tender, appreciative lines of 
 H. S. Washburn, written at about the time of the 
 melancholy event : 
 
 " Mournfully, tenderly, 
 Bear onward the dead ; 
 Where the warrior has lain, 
 Let the Christiar. l)e laid; 
 
1 62 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 No place more befitting, 
 Oh, rock of the sea ! 
 Never such treasure 
 Was hidden in thee ! 
 
 " Mournfully, tenderly, 
 Solemn and slow — 
 Tears are bedewing 
 The path as ye go; 
 Kindred and strangers 
 Are mourners to-day; — 
 Gently — so gently — 
 Oh, bear her away, 
 
 " Mournfully, tenderly, 
 Gaze on that brow ; 
 Beautiful is it 
 In quietude now ! 
 One look — and then settle 
 The loved to her rest, 
 The ocean beneath her, 
 The turf on her breast. 
 
 " So have ye buried her — 
 Up ! — and depart 
 To life and to duty, 
 With undismayed heart ! 
 Fear not ; for the love 
 Of the stranger will keep 
 The casket that lies 
 In the Rock of the deep. 
 
 Peace, peace to thy bosom. 
 Thou servant of God ! 
 The vale thou art treading 
 Thou hast before trod ; 
 Precious dust thou hast laid 
 By the Hopia tree, 
 And treasure as precious 
 In the Rock of the sea." 
 
A MEMORIAL. 163 
 
 On retiring from the grave the afflicted family- 
 was conducted to a home near by, where rehgious 
 converse and prayer, followed with tea, engaged the 
 attention of all to the time of the call for embarka- 
 tion. Dr. Judson, as at the close of the funeral of 
 little Maria, at Amherst, rose above his distresses, and 
 finally stood and addressed the company concerning 
 the goodness of God in alleviating the circumstances 
 under which he had buried his dead, as compared with 
 what he had anticipated. Thanking all for their S3'm- 
 pathy'and requesting prayers for himself and family, he 
 entrusted the grave to the care of the consul and the 
 missionary, desiring Mr. Bertram often to look upon 
 it as he himself would do. Then being conducted to 
 the ship he sailed in the evening, bearing away a most 
 tender and tearful remembrance of his experience at 
 St. Helena. Next morning he turned his eyes toward 
 the lone rocky isle, but it could not be seen. Only in 
 memory was he thereafter to visit the sacred place 
 where the missionary of the Cross, one of the first of 
 w^omen and best of wives, had found such honorable 
 sepulture at the hands of strangers. 
 
[64 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 31 ^onXXiX^X— MISSIONARY— EMPEROR. 
 
 And yet remember 
 That God and our good cause fight upon one side. 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 " O germ, O fount, O word of Love ! 
 O thought at random cast. 
 Ye were but little at the first, 
 But mighty at the last." 
 
 Stilled and astir, and checked and never ceasing, 
 Spreadeth the great wave of the grace of God. 
 
 F. Myers—" St. Pauir 
 
 ABOUT five years previous to Mrs. Judson's burial 
 - the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte were re- 
 moved from St. Helena to France. Now a soldier in a 
 different cause is providentially laid in this " Rock of 
 the Deep." His place of sepulture was selected by 
 himself, hers by the followers of Jesus; his about 
 three and a half miles from the sea, hers but a short 
 distance in the same course. He in death, as in life, 
 appears "in the solitude of his own originality; " she 
 in the silent company of the blest, wnth the affections 
 of the Christian world resting upon her. His empty 
 tomb and the plucked willow tree by it are but the 
 emblems of a vacant throne and despoiled plumes, 
 stripped to decorate unfriendly homes ; while hers, un- 
 der heavenly guard, and shaded by the affluent banyan, 
 awaits the rising call of the King of Kings, to whom 
 
A MEMORIAL. 165 
 
 it will give up the treasure in its keeping. The future 
 of Napoleon — ah, let no one seek to penetrate the veil ! 
 But with unwavering hope may we await the appear- 
 ance of the Bridegroom, who shall come out of his 
 chamber to receive the faithful missionary as his own, 
 that she may walk with him in white. 
 
 The following verses from an unknown author, 
 treasured up these many years by her sister, Mrs. 
 Edwards, and kindly furnished for this volume, will 
 at least stimulate to profitable reflection : 
 
 ST. HELENA. 
 
 LINES WRITTEN AFTER READING THE MEMOIRS OF THE 
 SECOND MRS. JUDSON. 
 
 'Tis holy ground, that rocky isle 
 
 In the lone, blue eastern main, 
 Where they laid this loved one down to sleep, 
 
 Never to wake again. 
 
 'Tis holy ground — the Dove of Peace 
 Is brooding in the shade ; 
 
 Is hovering now with folded wings 
 Where she is lowly laid. 
 
 Blow softly, gales ! for he no more, 
 
 St. Helen, rests in thee ; 
 He whose dominion shook the earth 
 
 And stopped but with the sea. 
 
 But they have given her a place. 
 
 The lov'd, the good, the fair ; 
 Blow softly, softly, gentle gales ! 
 
 A saint is sleeping there. 
 
 O, traveler, as you pass that way. 
 
 And gaze upon that shore, 
 Think not of him whose conquering sword 
 
 Is sheathed for evermore. 
 
l66 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 Think not upon his iron heart 
 
 And on his warrior form ; 
 Think not of earth's distracted throes 
 
 Of battle and of storm ; 
 
 But think of her, whose holy dust 
 
 Is mingled with the sod ; 
 Of her, whose fearless hand upheld 
 
 The banner of our God ; 
 
 Of her, who went in faith to show, 
 
 To blinded pagan eyes, 
 The " Star of Bethlehem" shining high 
 
 O'er Burmah's darkened skies. 
 
 A rallying point in years to come 
 
 Shall that lone island be 
 For all that bear the Word of Life 
 
 Across the trackless sea. 
 
 There shall they rouse these many hearts, 
 
 Disconsolate awhile : 
 " Cheer, comrades, cheer ! we're passing now 
 
 St. Helen's sacred isle. 
 
 " Cheer, comrades, cheer ! The beacon light 
 
 Still glows above her tomb. 
 On, then, to trim the lamp she lit 
 
 In yonder land of gloom," 
 
 No more Napoleon's wondrous might 
 
 Alone shall fill the breast ; 
 But mem'ries of her deeds of love 
 
 Shall make that island blest. 
 
 They'll think of him as of a storm 
 
 That swept in terror by ; 
 But she shall be the arch of Hope, 
 
 Serenely glittering high. 
 
A MEMORIAL. 167 
 
 And yet that tender, fragile frame, 
 
 That woman's gentle heart, 
 Braved more than that proud warrior braved, 
 
 To act her holy part. 
 
 He went where'er Ambition called. 
 
 And pointed out the track. 
 And culled the laurels for his brow 
 
 To bring in triumph back. 
 
 She humbly bowed and offered up, 
 
 E'er yet the deck she trod, 
 Her home, her friends, her hopes, her all, 
 
 Upon the shrine of God. 
 
 She bade farewell, a last farewell, 
 
 To Home's receding shore ; 
 Left th' warm breast where she was rocked. 
 
 To press it nevermore. 
 
 His battles were with warlike men, 
 
 Drawn out in proud array. 
 Where host met host, and strife and death 
 
 Still marked the bloody day. 
 
 Her foes were all the hideous train 
 
 Of heathen pomp and pride ; 
 But there the woman fearless fought, 
 
 And there the martyr died. 
 
 He made a ruin where he stalked. 
 
 And all his trodden path 
 Is darkened by the thunder-cloud 
 
 Of agony and wrath. 
 
 She shed a light around her way, 
 
 And with the steps of prayer 
 Raised up a ladder to the skies 
 
 Which brought down angels there. 
 
1 68 SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 O, rocky, wave-girt sepulchre, 
 
 A blessing rest on thee ! 
 Guard well the holy dust she gave, 
 
 Ivone island of the sea! 
 
 Gretta. 
 
 Napoleon was imprisoned here for the five and a 
 half years just preceding his death, at a cost to the 
 British Crown of more than one million dollars per 
 annum. When dead, it did not occur, as it seems, to 
 any kingdom under the sun that it would be a priv- 
 ilege to inscribe something upon his tomb, although 
 his remains lay upon the island for nearly twenty 
 years. Mrs. ly. H. Sigourney, in fine poetic fervor, in- 
 dulges the pleasant conceit of a challenge to the 
 nations of the earth to step forward and give an 
 inscription : 
 
 " But there was silence. Not a sceptred hand 
 Received the challenge. 
 
 And lone St. Helena, h^art-sick and gray 
 'Neath rude Atlantic's scourging, bade the moon, 
 With silent finger, point the traveler's gaze 
 To an unhonored tomb." 
 
 Some tourists had made the following record, upon 
 which her lines were suggested : " The moon of St. 
 Helena shone out, and there we saw the face of 
 Napoleon's sepulchre, characterless, U7iinscribedr 
 
 This cannot be said of the grave of her who first 
 sat at Je.sus' feet and learned of Him to bear the Cross, 
 and then bestowed the plenitude of her love and the 
 fruits of her culture upon the cause of human salva- 
 tion which He loved even unto the death. It was fur- 
 
A MEMORIAL. 169 
 
 nished at once, without respect to the removal of the 
 remains, with suitable stones and a full inscription, that 
 the tourist need not be ignorant of the holiness of the 
 ground on which he might tread, and that the loving 
 might be able to identify the spot. The bright tropical 
 moon performs for her not a poetic but a practical of- 
 fice, enabling any one to read what the hand of love 
 has traced. Her husband framed the inscription, viz. : 
 
 Sacred to the Memory of 
 
 SARAH B. JUDSON, 
 
 Member of the American Baptist Mission 
 to burmah, 
 Formerly wife of the Rev. George D. Boardman, of 
 Tavoy, and lately wife of the Rev. Adoniram 
 Judson, of Maulmain ; who died in this port 
 Sept. I, 1845, on her passage to the United States, 
 in the 42d \'ear of her age, and the 21st of her 
 missionary' life. 
 
 She sleeps sweetly here on this rock of the ocean, 
 
 Away from the home of her youth, 
 And far from the laud where with heartfelt devotion 
 
 She scattered the bright beams of truth. 
 
 In midsummer of the following year Dr. Judson re- 
 turned from the United States to Burmah with a third, 
 a highly accomplished wife. She, in whom he found 
 the truest sympathy, had, from early days, entertained 
 a deep interest in missions and followed the pioneers 
 in thought and prayer. The following, found among 
 her writings, is one of the many graceful productions 
 of her poetic genius. As the vessel came into the 
 latitude of St. Helena, and no doubt within view of 
 its rocky eminences, her heart was touched by the 
 sacred associations of the island, in which she now 
 claimed a part. It is here given, not merely because 
 of its literary merit, but also on account of the deli- 
 
lyo SARAH B. JUDSON. 
 
 cate appreciation of the subject of this memorial and 
 of her own honorable succession to her name and 
 place, evinced by the author : 
 
 A TRIBUTE. 
 
 OFF ST. HELENA, AUGUST, 1846. 
 
 Blow softly, gales ! a tender sigh 
 
 Is flung upon your wing ; 
 Lose not the treasure, as ye fly, 
 Bear it where love and beauty lie, 
 
 Silent and withering. 
 
 Flow gently, waves ! a tear is laid 
 
 Upon your heaving breast ; 
 Leave it within yon dark rock's shade, 
 Or weave it in an iris braid. 
 
 To crown the Christian's rest. 
 
 Bloom, ocean-isle ! lone ocean-isle ! 
 
 Thou keep'st a jewel rare ; 
 Let rugged rock and dark defile 
 Above the slumbering stranger smile, 
 
 And deck her couch with care. 
 
 Weep, ye bereaved ! a dearer head 
 
 Ne'er left the pillowing breast ; 
 The good, the pure, the lovely fled, 
 When mingling with the shadowy dead 
 
 She meekly went to rest. 
 
 Mourn, Burmah, mourn ! a bow which spanned 
 
 Thy cloud has passed away ; 
 A flower has withered on thy 'sand, 
 A pitying spirit left thy strand ; 
 
 A saint has ceased to pray. 
 
 Angels, rejoice ! another string 
 
 Has caught the strains above ; 
 Rejoice, rejoice! a new-fledged wing 
 Around the Throne is hovering, 
 
 In sweet, glad, wondering love. 
 
A MEMORIAI,. 171 
 
 Blow, blow, ye gales ! wild billows roll ! 
 
 Unfurl the canvass wide ' 
 On ! where she labored lies our goal ; — 
 Weak, timid, frail, yet would my soul 
 
 Fain be to hers allied. 
 
? '/i! 
 
 m 
 
 PC '',1 
 
 m 
 
 'W 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SARAH BOARDMAN JUDSON, born at Alstead, N. H., 
 
 Nov. 4, 1803; died in the port of St. Helena, Sept. i, 1845. 
 Sarah Ann Boardman, born at Calcutta, Oct. 30, 1826; died 
 
 at Tavoy, July 8, 1829. 
 George D. Boardman, D. D., born at Tavoy, Aug. 18, 1828. 
 
 Resides in Philadelphia, Pa. 
 JUDSON Wade Boardman, born at Tavoy; died at Maulmain, 
 
 Sept. 8, 1830, aged eight months. 
 
 Abby Ann Judson, born at Maulmain, Oct. 31, T835. Resides 
 
 in Minneapolis, Minn.; teacher. 
 Adoniram Brown Judson, born at Maulmain, April 7, 1837. 
 
 Resides in New York, N. Y. ; physician. 
 ElnaThan Judson, born at Maulmain, July 15, 1838. Resides 
 
 in Massachusetts. 
 Henry Judson, born at Maulmain, Dec. 11, 1839; died at 
 
 Serampore, July 30, 1841. 
 Henry Hali^ Judson, born at Maulmain, July 8, 1842. Resides 
 
 in Illinois. 
 Charles Judson, born at Maulmain, Dec. 18, 1843; ^^^^ same 
 
 place, Aug. 5, 1845, while the parents were voyaging to the 
 
 United States. 
 Edward Judson, D. D.. born at Maulmain, Dec. 27, 1844. Re- 
 sides in New York, N. Y. 
 
 Emily Frances, the only other surviving child of Dr. Judson, 
 and the only sur\nving one of Emily Chubbuck Judson, 
 was born at Maulmain, Dec. 24, 1847. She is the wife of 
 Rev. T. A. T. Hanna, Falls of Schuylkill, Pa., and mother 
 of a family of lovely children. 
 
 173 
 
174 APPENDIX. 
 
 SEVERAL productions of Mrs. Judson's poetic tal- 
 ent remain besides those already introduced; the 
 most of them written in her youth-time. The follow- 
 ing, furnished for this memorial by her sister, Mrs. 
 Edwards, w^as written years before she expected to go 
 to Burmah. It is the natural expression of youthful pie- 
 t}^ and evinces a lively interest in missions, as well as 
 the tender, loving spirit that characterized her. Catha- 
 rine Brown was of the tribe of Cherokees, for whose 
 evangelization she felt such a deep concern : 
 
 Ah, Cherokee ! where is the daughter of Brown ? 
 
 She is resting beneath the tall tree ; 
 But her spirit, so spotless, has silently flown 
 
 Far away to Cullulla Tahahee. * 
 Death marked her his prey in the blossom of youth ; 
 
 From his grasp no kind angel could save ; 
 And innocence, meekness, religion and truth. 
 
 All slumber in Catharine's grave. 
 
 The heralds of grace drop affectionate tears. 
 
 The maids of the forest all mourn ; 
 E'en the heart of the warrior is sad, when he hears 
 
 That the flower of the valley is gone. 
 Thou foet of the Indians who love the true God, 
 
 Who hast come from the far western wave 
 To stain thy sharp arrow in Cherokee blood, 
 
 Step softly o'er Catharine's grave. 
 
 - Cherokee name of the true God. t The Osages. 
 
APPENDIX. 175 
 
 Ah, who is this youth, in whose bosom the fire 
 
 Of charity rises so high. 
 Who ardently pants, in the land of his sire. 
 
 To labor for Jesus and die ? 
 This youth is the brother belov'd of the maid 
 
 Who sleeps in the dark narrow cave ; 
 He hastes to the wood, where in childhood he played, 
 
 To preach beside Catharine's grave. 
 
 Ye daughters who dwell in the pleasant green shade, 
 
 Whom Catharine tenderly loved, 
 She bade you repent, for your pardon she prayed, 
 
 And wept when she saw you unmoved. 
 No more will she point you to Calvary's scenes, 
 
 Or tell you that Jesus will save. 
 Come, chant your soft dirges in sorrowful strains. 
 
 As ye stand around Catharine's grave. 
 
 Though cold be her pillow, and dark her abode. 
 
 As the shades which at eventide play. 
 Invisible spirits encircle the sod. 
 
 And watch her slow mouldering clay. 
 How great is the joy of that heavenly choir. 
 
 Each silent and beautiful eve, 
 When to Jesus' praise they awake the sweet lyre, 
 
 As they bend over Catharine's grave ! 
 
 Their notes softly sound through the silence of night — 
 
 "Dear Savior, all praise shall be Thine." 
 Ere long, in bright glory, the Gospel's pure light 
 
 On each Cherokee dwelling shall shine ; 
 And when at the voice of Cullulla Tahahee 
 
 The dead their lone mansions shall leave, 
 A form wrapp'd in garments of light we shall see 
 
 Arising from Catharine's grave. 
 
 S. B. H. 
 
176 APPENDIX. 
 
 WRITTEN BY SARAH HALL, AND READ IN THE PRESENCE OF ANN H. JUDSON, 
 
 AT SALEM, MASS. THE OCCASION IS FULLY MENTIONED IN THE 
 
 LATTER PART OF THE THIRD CHAPTER OF THIS WORK. 
 
 'Tis the voice of deep sorrow from India's shore, 
 
 The flower of our churches is withered, is dead ; 
 The gem that shone brightly will sparkle no more, 
 And the tears of the Christian profusely are shed. 
 Two youths of Columbia, with hearts glowing w^arni, 
 
 Embarked on the billows far distant to rove. 
 To bear to the nations, all wrapped in thick gloom, 
 
 The lamp of the gospel — the message of love. 
 But Wheelock now slumbers beneath the cold wave, 
 And Colman lies low in the dark, cheerless grave. 
 Mourn, daughters of Arracan, mourn ! 
 The rays of that star, clear and bright, 
 That so sweetly on Chittagong shone, 
 Are shrouded in black clouds of night, 
 For Colman is gone ! 
 
 At that sorrowful hour, that moment of woe, 
 
 When his cheek, lately glowing with health, was all pale; 
 And his lone wife, disconsolate, feeble and low. 
 Was sad, and no Christian replied to her wail ; 
 Did not angels in sympathy shed the soft tear, 
 
 As they gazed from their thrones far beyond the blue sky? 
 Oh, no ; for the seraph of mercy was near, 
 
 To bid /itjn rejoice, wipe the tear from /ler eye. 
 They saw, and with rapture continued their lays, 
 How great is Jehovah! how deep are His ways! 
 The spirit of love from on high 
 The hearts of the righteous hath fired ; 
 Lo! they come, and with transport they cry. 
 We will go where our brother expired, 
 And labor and die. 
 
APPENDIX. 177 
 
 Oh, Colnian! thy father weeps not on thy grave, 
 
 Thy heart-riven mother ne'er sighs o'er thy dust; 
 But the long Indian grass there most sweetly shall wave. 
 
 And the drops of the evening descend on the just. 
 Cold, silent, and dark is the narrow abode, 
 
 But not long wilt thou sleep in that dwelling of gloom, 
 For soon shall be heard the great trump of our God, 
 
 To summon all nations to hear their last doom ; 
 A garland of amaranth then shall be thine. 
 And thy name on the martyrs' bright register shine. 
 Oh, what glory will burst on thy view, 
 When are placed by the Judge of the earth 
 The flowers that in India grew 
 By thy care, on the never-pale wreath 
 Encircling thy brow ! 
 
178 APPENDIX. 
 
 A MOST inspiring history of the Karen Mission, by 
 Rev. E. F. Merriam, of the Mission Rooms, Bos- 
 ton, closes with the following paragraphs : 
 
 "In 1878, fifty years from the baptism of the first 
 Karen convert, Ko Thah-byu, the number of members 
 in the Karen Baptist Churches in Burmah w^as 20,007. 
 This jubilee of the Karen Mission was celebrated at 
 Bassein, May i6th (the fiftieth anniversary of Ko Thah- 
 byu's baptism), by the dedication of the Ko Thah-byu 
 Memorial Hall, for the use of the Bassein Sgau Ka- 
 ren Normal and Industrial Institute, and accommo- 
 dating three hundred boarding pupils. This, with 
 other auxiliary buildings, was built entirely at the 
 cost of the Bassein Karens, and on the day of dedi- 
 cation the building fund had reached the sum of 
 Rs. 42,342-3 or about $22,000, and all debts were 
 paid. During that year the contributions of the Bas- 
 sein Sgau Karens, for all religious and educational 
 purposes, amounted to more than Rs. 50,000. In 
 addition to their usual annual contributions, they 
 have since raised an endowment fund for the In- 
 stitute, which is invested in the United States, and 
 in 1884 amounted to $13,669.50. The total contri- 
 butions to their building fund made by this people 
 was $30,479.78. 
 
 " From the time of the formation of the Burmah 
 Baptist Convention in 1865, repeated attempts had 
 been made toward the evangelization of the Karens 
 
APPENDIX. 179 
 
 in Siam, by American and native missionaries, but 
 nothing of a permanent character was effected until 
 1 88 1, when an expedition under Rev. David Webster 
 and Rev. Walter Bushell, with several native preach- 
 ers, penetrated into the Laos country of Northern 
 Siam, beyond Chiengmai (Zimmai), and found con- 
 siderable communities of Karens in the Lakon dis- 
 trict ready to receive the Gospel. They baptized 
 seventy, and formed three churches. The mission- 
 aries soon returned to Burmah, leaving several na- 
 tive preachers to carry on the work, several of whom 
 had their families with them ; but within a year or 
 more all the preachers except one returned to Bur- 
 mah, and the life of the new interest was endangered. 
 In 1884 Mr. and Mrs. Webster returned to Chiengmai, 
 and have been designated to the work among the Ka- 
 rens of Northern Siam. In 1883 the completed trans- 
 lation of the Bible into Pwo Karen, the work of Rev. 
 D. L. Brayton, assisted by his daughter, Mrs. A. T. 
 Rose, w^as issued from the mission press at Rangoon, 
 and put into general circulation, thus giving the en- 
 tire Word of God to all the Karens in Burmah. 
 
 "The Karen Mission presents one of the most 
 remarkable exhibitions of the power of the Gospel 
 which the world has ever seen, and the work is still 
 proceeding with always encouraging prospects. The 
 Christian Karens are raised above their heathen neigh- 
 bors in industry and order, and have gained the ap- 
 proval of the government. The Administration Re- 
 port of 1880-81 says: 'The Karen race and British 
 government owe a great debt to the American mis- 
 sionaries who have, under Providence, wrought this 
 change among the Karens of Burmah.' " 
 
ological Seminary-Speer 
 
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