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YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

*

THE DAY MISSIONS LIBRARY

OUR GOLD-MINE.

THE STORY OF

AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONS IN INDIA.

MRS. ADA C. CHAPLIN,
author of "Christ's cadets," "charity hurlburt," etc.

"There is a gold-mine in India; but it seems almost as
deep as the centre of the earth. Who will venture to ex
plore it ? " — Andrew Fuller.
" I will go down ; but remember that you must hold the
ropes." — William Carey.

MISSION ROOMS, BOSTON:
W. G. CORTHELL, PUBLISHER.
.1877.

Q.3fe^0"

Copyright, 1877,
By W. G. CORTHELL.

Stereotyped and PrhOed *r
Rand, Avery, and Company,
117 Franklin Street,
Boston.

PREFACE.

To the Members of my own Bible-Class and of
other Bible-Classes : —
I have written this book for you ; not for those who
have lived through, and helped make, the history it
records, for they do not need it ; not for those who
^ feel no interest in the work it describes, for they will
>^not read it ; but for you, all of whom, I think, feel
S^some interest in the great conflict waging between the
^kingdoms of good and evil for the possession of our
world.
v> If it shall make more real to any one of you that
Qpart of the battle-ground which lies beyond our imme-
j , ate vision, if it shall awaken in any heart a thought of
* earnest sympathy for our brethren of other races, if it
"^"shall make any faltering step steady and true for the
Master, I shall not regret having written it.
/^Should this little work be read by any already at all

4 PREFACE.
familiar with its subject, I know it will be with a sense
of disappointment at the slight notice given to many
names familiar and dear to them, and to departments
of the work in which they are especially interested.
In view of the small compass of the book, the neces
sity for explaining many, things to those unfamiliar
with its subject, and its aim to be a record of the
work rather than a biography of workers, this disap
pointment was inevitable. It is fully shared by the
author. If, in becoming more intimately acquainted with
them than in any other way would have been possible,
I was at first startled by the discovery that missiona
ries, heathen, and ourselves were made of the same
original material, I can nevertheless say, that day by
day, as I have studied the lives of those who are doing
our work in foreign lands, my reverence for them has
increased, and for none more than for those whose
names are hardly mentioned in these pages, but whose
work, though. more hidden from our sight than that of
others, fills not less space in the record-book of
heaven.
A. C. C.

CONTENTS.

chapter^ pagb
I. The Darkness before the Dawn . . 7
II. Brahmanism and its Adversaries . . 30
III. The First Missionaries  43
IV. Judson and Burmah  63
V. The First Burman Christians . . .81
VI. In Prison  106
VII. The Wild Men  122
VIII. Jungle and City  138
IX. Shadow and Sunlight  177
X. New Fields. — Toungoo, Shwaygyeen, Hen-
thada  J95
XI. Renewed Fields.— Rangoon, Bassein, Prome, 226
XII. Tavoy, Maulmain, and the Shans . . 259
XIII. Assam. — Brahmanism again . ¦ • -293
XIV. The Telugus  337
XV. To-day  37z
5

OUR GOLD-MINE.

CHAPTER I.

THE DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN.

WISH I was in China ! "
"So do I!"
The door closed with a slam after the
last speaker, a boy of fourteen, and then opened
again of its own accord, as doors are wont to do
when school-boys close them.
"Then you'd be a mithunary, Katie," lisped a
little four-year-old, who sat on the floor, drawing
all sorts of ungeometrical figures with a bit of
charcoal carelessly dropped there.
'' I think I could be thankful that I'm not one
of the ' poor heathen,' in that case," responded
Walter Bancroft, closing the door again, and this
time firmly.

8 • OUR GOLD-MINE.
Katie's cheeks flushed. She wiped the .last
plate vigorously, and put it with its fellows on
the table. Then she let the wiping-cloth hang
loosely on her arm, and turned toward the win
dow, looking not through it, but out of another
window, that opened into her own future ; and
there she saw only a long vista of unwashed
plates, pots and kettles, unswept floors, and
ragged garments, all looking to her to be put
in order. She had taken this same view often ;
but that did not make it more pleasant. Life
looked very long to Katie at fifteen.
"This is too bad, Katie, standing by the
window with your dish-pan not -washed, your
dishes not set away, and little Minnie covering
herself with charcoal." The words were spoken
in a low, gentle voice, by a very sweet-looking
young lady ; but they brought to Katie Marsh-
field's cheeks the same hot flush that had died
away with Walter's last retreating footstep.
Katie bit her lips, washed the pan, set away
the dishes rapidly, then leaned her head upon
the table, and burst into tears.
Katie Marshfield was a minister's daughter.
She understood a little music, a little drawing,
a little mathematics, a good deal of embroidery

OUR GOLD-MINE. 9
and crochet-work (of all of which she -was fond),
and a little housework (of which she was decid
edly not fond). Shall we say, too, that she un
derstood a little of religion, or rather, that, with
a, heart warm with love for Christ, she failed to
see that this, as well as all our other mind and
soul treasures, was designed not merely for en
joyment, but for use? She had many dreams
of doing and suffering great things for Christ ;
but it had never come into her mind to do and
suffer little things for his sake. And so, while
her religion sustained her most beautifully in
the dark hour of her father's death, 'it seemed
not to help her greatby in washing dishes, and
sweeping floors, and taking care of little Minnie,
which was her main work in the family, where,
for the three weeks since the funeral, her lot
had been cast.
Ida Southworth, Mrs. Bancroft's sister, was so
very quiet, so verv practical, so abundant in
every virtue that Katie lacked, that she liked
her even less-than she did the impulsive Walter,
who was very much what Katie herself would
have been, if she had been a boy, and had not
been a (Christian, and who, for three weeks, had
been the chief torment of her life. Mrs. Ban-

10 OUR GOLD-MINE.
croft everybody loved. Walter's cousin Charles,
who professed to live in the next house, but
really took his meals there, and lived wherever
Walter was, was one of the boys who, taking
color readily from their surroundings, are rarely
found fault with. Little Minnie, and Edith,
three years older, were Katie's idols ; and these
few people were all of the great world with
which she had much to do, except in day
dreams. " Oh, I wish I was a missionary ! " she ex
claimed ; and her tears flowed afresh. It was
not the first time she had said this. The long
ing came to her often, and»always filled her with
contempt for the seemingly insignificant duties
¦that lay around her. She had no idea that the
larger part of the missionary's work lay also; in
little things. To her imagination it was some
thing wholly great and glorious. Now, as her
mind rested upon it, her tqars dried away ; so
that, when Mrs. Bancroft entered the room, she
was only thinking.
" What are you thinking of, Katie ? " The
words were in a tone" of inquiry, not of reproof,
though Minnie was still on the floor, uncon
sciously transferring to her dress the charcoal
diagrams she had been drawing.

OUR GOLD-MINE. II
" Of being a missionary some time," Katie
answered truthfully.
" If you would like to fit yourself for that
work, I will give you all the help I can ; but take
care of Minnie now."
Katie took off the soiled garments, washed
the. little black hands, thinking meanwhile of
other hands, many miles away, from which the
black could never wash off, and of souls darker
than the bodies that cover them, that might be
cleansed by the blood of Christ. " That would
be real work, something worth living for," she
thought, as she led the now presentable little
Minnie into the sitting-room.
" How would you like to take the missionaries
as the subject for our evenings this winter,
Katie ? " asked Mrs. Bancroft.
" I should like it above all things," Katie ex-
. claimed enthusiastically.
" It seems to meAtiat something a little more
practical would be better just now," said Ida as
Katie left the room. " That child has no idea
of the duties of her present situation ; and I
think there is real danger in talking with her
about these things, that will only encourage her
dreamy, unsettled disposition, and unfit her for
any real work in life."

12 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Perhaps so," answered Mrs. Bancroft, two
words which are usually effective in shutting
off further discussion ; and so the subject was
dropped till all were gathered around the even
ing lamp.
"Well, mother, what next? We've done up
the Romans and the Reformation," said Wal.ter,
alluding to previous evening talks.
"We are going to talk about the heathen
and the missionaries," said Katie a little tri
umphantly. " The heathen are well enough ; but I detest
the . missionaries," answered Walter, as usual
saying something a good deal worse than he
meant. " I don't." Kate would probably have an
swered any other remark of Walter's with " I
don't," she was so much in the habit of it ; but
she was in earnest this time.
"You wouldn't say that,^ you knew, Wal
ter," interposed Charlie. "Why, it's just like a
fairy-tale, some of it."
" Well, I hate fairytales."
"But how they get into tigers' dens, you
know, and how the alligators catch them, — I
say it's interesting.''

OUR GOLD-MINE.

*3

" But the alligators don't catch most of them,
unfortunately ; and those that are left are real
stupid." " How much do you know about them ? "
asked Mrs: Bancroft quietly.
" Nothing, except that they have dark com
plexions, and wear spectacles. I saw one of
them on a platform once, but did not stay to
hear him •speak."
Walter joined in the laugh that followed this
frank confession ; and Mrs. Bancroft began her
story, promising, however, that she would only
tell about the heathen this time, and the mis
sionaries should' wait till they were called for.
" More than three thousand years ago, while
Samson was catching foxes and telling riddles
in Palestine, or perhaps still farther back, while
.Moses was writingv his wonderful songs and
telling the story of the world's creation, there
were hymn-writers in India. Nothing is left of
them now but their names, their language, and
their hymns ; but from these we can learn a
great deal about the people themselves, and
something about their ancestors and ours a
great deal farther back."
"And ours, mother? " exclaimed Walter.

14 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Yes ; for their ancestors were ours too ; and
_ these people, whose story you shall hear, are our
distant cousins.
" In that very early time, when bears and
deer and squirrels ran at large in the forests
that grew where London and New York are
now, our Eastern cousins had ploughs and carts,
and oxen to draw them, and roads and inns for
travellers. They used gold money, and gambled
for it, and spent it in getting drunk, very much
like some of their distant relatives in the nine
teenth century. They had temperance writers
too, and men who abhorred gambling. Trade,
dress, jewels, and fast horses, had each their dev
otees among these far-away cousins, as among
us. They had figures too ; and no doubt their
merchants kept accounts." *
" Did they have slates and slate-pencils, and
go to school ? " asked Edith.
. "That is more than I can tell you. More
likely they ciphered on palm-leaves."
" But how do you know what you have told ?
I shouldn't think their hymns would be about
such things," asked.the incredulous Walter.
" Suppose, three thousand years from now,
every book in our language , were blotted out,

OUR GOLD-MINE.

*5

except our hymn-books. Suppose that then
some refined and educated Fijian or Esquinlau
should read such hymns as this : —
' Had I the tongues of Greeks and Jews,
And nobler speech than angels use,
If love be wanting, I am found,
Like tinkling brass, an empty sound.'
Or this : —
'The children are gathering from near and from far :
The trumpet is sounding the call td the war.'
From these two stanzas of two hymns, our
Esquimau investigator could learn that the.
Americans of the nineteenth century studied
foreign languages, knew something of ancient
history, of the use of metals, of war, and of
musical instruments. Even the ' golden here
after ' might be good for something then, in
showing him that we lived in frame-houses built
with ' rafters.' Now, if these few lines could
tell him so much, you will easily see, that, with
the whole hymn-book, he could learn how we
live, what we are, and what we do, pretty thor
oughly. In the same way, we learn what the
East-Indians of Samson's time did and thought
and were."

¦i6 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"But where were we then, — the English, I
mean ? " asked Charlie.
" I cannot tell ; living in caves, and roasting
each other for dinner in earth furnaces, perhaps,
if the stories of some of our modern geologists
are true."
" But what has made the difference ? " asked
Walter. " I cannot answer that question without tell
ing you something about the missionaries ; and
I promised not to do that to-night. I certainly
cannot say, that if Christ had not sent out
¦ twelve missionaries with the command, ' Teach
all nations,' I should to-night have been eating
you, instead of talking to you. Probably I
should not : for when Caesar invaded England,.
more than fifty years before- Christ was born,
its people reserved all that kind of diet for their
daintier gods ; and even they were treated to a
delicate young man or woman only on special
occasions, and were expected to give full har-*
vests, rain, or great victories, in return. Except
on the coast, the people wore little clothing, and
threw off that little when they went to battle,
showing to their Roman invaders their- naked
bodies, tattooed and painted in what was the

OUR GOLD-MINE.

l7

very height of London fashion "two thousand
years ago. The citizens qf the country that
now rules the wave paddled about in skin-boats ;
and, when our Eastern cousins had finished the
hynfns of the Vedas, the ancestors of Shak-
speare and Milton had not even a written lan
guage.. But it was not of English heathen that
I meant to tell you. Most- of the hymns of
these early Hindoos, like most of ours, were
,' prayers ; and here, I think, is what is best of all,
, *hat, in reading them, we cannot help feeling
that some ofytheiig^uthors worshipped' the same
God tha*^re do, though calling him, as we do,
by various names. Let me give you a speci
men of some of these best hymns : —
' I. Let me not yet, O Varuna ! enter into the house of
clay : have mercy, Almighty ; have mercy.
'2. If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by the
wind, have mercy, Almighty ; have mercy.
' 3. Through want of strength, thou strong and bright
God; have I gone wrong : have mercy, Almighty ; have
mercy. ' 4. Whenever we men, O Varuna ! commit an offence
before the heavenly host, whenever we break the law
through thoughtlessness, punish us not, O God ! for that
offence.' " In another, Varuna is described as —

18 OUR GOLD-MINE.
' He who knows the place of the birds that fly through
the sky, who on the waters knows the ships ;
' He who knows th? track of the wind, of the wide, the
bright, the mighty^and knows those who reside on high ;
' The God whom the scoffers do not provoke, nor the
tormentors of men, nor the plotters of mischief.'
" Again they say that he ' perceives all won
drous things, and sees what has been and what
will be done ; ' and one of these poets speaks
distinctly of the oneness of God. ' They call
him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni : that which is
One, the wise call him in diy^rs manners.'
" You must not think that most M£n of the
Rishis, these poets of whom I have been telling
you, were worshippers of the true God. . Among
their hymns there are prayers to the sun, the
dawn, the sky, the fire, and many others of the
things that lead our thoughts away beyond .
themselves to God. How many of them stopped
with the outward objects, how many looked
through them to Him who made them, how far
their immediate ancestors held a still purer
faith, no one can tell. As I said, I have given
you some of the best. Many of the hymns of
the Veda are weak and childish.
" A few centuries passed by. The old form of

OUR GOLD-MINE.

19

Sanscrit, in which, the Vedas were written, had
become as puzzling to the people of India as the
old English I showed you last week was to you.
Few could read, and fewer understand, the writ
ings of the Rishis. Then those who understood
them, or thought they did, wrote commentaries
upon them : these are the Brahmanas. In a
few centuries more, the Brahmanas had shared
the fate of the poems, and other commentaries
were written upon them : these are the Sutras.
These old hymns, with the commentaries upon
them, and the commentaries upon those com
mentaries, are called the Rig Veda; but properly
the name belongs only to the hymns. Besides
it, and in great part made from it, are three other
Vedas of far more modern date."
" And are these what they call the Shaster ? "
asked Walter.
" In part. But, besides, there are the Rama-
yana and the Mahabarata, ancient epic poems ;
the Upanishads, theological treatises ; the Laws
of Manu, treating of almost every thing ; the
Puranas, a huge compendium of modern Hindoo-
ism, which probably had not reached its growth
at the close of the sixteenth century " —
" That'll do, mother."

20 OUR GOLD-MINE.
„ " But, before nearly all these had been writ
ten, there, had been a great change among the
countrymen of the Rishis. I suppose, like
most great changes, it came so slowly, that no
body knew any thing was happening until the
work was done. That change was the introduc
tion of caste.
" If you were* to go to India to-day, you would
find soldiers who would throw away their din
ner if but the shadow of one of their highest
English officers fell upon it ; because they, the
soldiers, are of high caste, while the English
men are of no caste at all. You would find
mothers having no quarrel with any of their
neighbors, who yet, if a daughter should marry
one of them, would drive her out of the house
forever, because she had broken caste. You
would find men who would rather starve than
eat with our President or Queen Victoria ; and
all for caste."
" But how did this come about, mother ? "
" As it may yet come about in America.
Our Eastern cousins did not always live in
India, but moved down there, probably from
the North-west. I cannot tell when they came ;
but, before that, the land was filled with a race

OUR GOLD-MINE. 21
called the Dasyus, — dark-skinned, and not at all
¦ equal to our cousins the Aryans, who conquered
them, killed many of, them, and despised and
hated those they let live. Often when I see an
American boy pulling a young Chinaman's cue,
or hallooing ' Paddy ! ' or pelting a little negro,
I think, 'Just so, no doubt, the little Aryans
teased the young Dasyus more than three thou
sand years ago, and never dreamed they were
twining a rope around their country's neck that
should lay it helpless for centuries.' "
" But, sister, you don't really think we are
in danger of becoming Hindoos here in Ameri
ca ? " asked Ida.
" Nothing can help it, so far as caste is con
cerned, but the missionary spirit of Christianity,
teaching us to think souls as valuable in China,
or Africa, or Ireland, as in • America, now that
our country is filling up with foreigners, many
of them so unlike ourselves."
Walter gave a low, incredulous whistle ; and
Mrs. Bancroft continued: "There was another
source of caste. There were priests, farmers,
and soldiers among the people. The priests
claimed the highest place, and took it. The
soldiers came next; then the farmers. These

22 OUR GOLD-MINE.
formed three separate castes ; but all joined in
despising the poor Dasyus, now called Sudras;
' Do not speak to a Sudra,' says one of their
authors ; the gods do not : or, if you have
something to say to him, speak to some other
person standing by, and say, 'Tell this Sudra so.'
So you see by this time the people had gods
very unlike Him who ' dwelleth with him that is
of a humble arid contrite heart,' and who speaks
in every human soul. Nobody but the Brah-
mans read the Vedas now, and they pretended
that the Vedas, too, taught caste. Gods grew
plenty, and silly stories were told about them.
Hideous idols were made. Widows were for
bidden to marry, and were taught to burn them
selves with the dead bodies of their husbands.
Time divided itself into four yogas, each count
ing its years by hundreds of thousands, together
making up four million. The first was a golden
one ; but. ever since, so the people were told,
goodness had been dying out, until now, in the
Kali yoga, nothing could be - expected but a
steady growth of wickedness. Above all, the
people were taught to worship the Brahmans as
a part of God himself. There was but one
thing, so ' they thought, that common people

OUR GOLD-MINE. 23
needed to know ; and that was to obey the Brah-
mans. If they did this, they might hope, after
death, to be born into the world again human,
and in some higher caste ; failing, they must
take the form of some lower animal. Some of
these threatened transmigrations were ludi
crously appropriate : for example, we read in ,
the Laws of Manu, that, ' if a man steal grain,
he shall be born a rat ; if perfume, a muskrat ;
if flesh, a vulture ; and so on indefinitely.'
" No wonder that atheistic teachers arose, and
sceptics multiplied.
" Then came* " BUDDHA.
" His real name was Siddhartha, or perhaps
Sakyamuni. He assumed the name of Gau
tama ; and for his wisdom he was called ' The
Buddha,' which means 'The Enlightened.' He
was the son of a king, but left his native coun
try and his kingdom, that he might seek for
truth, or happiness, or something ; for I doubt
whether even he knew what he wanted. His
soul was hungry, no doubt, as all souls are
sometimes. He saw sickness, old age, and
death around him ; and his question was, ' How,
since evil is everywhere, can we escape from

24 OUR GOLD-MINE.
evil?' The rabble of Brahman gods he de
spised and neglected : so some called him an
atheist. He fasted, slept on rough beds, treated
himself more severely than any Brahman : so
his disciples called him a saint ; but he himself
claimed to be neither, for some time. If only
then he had raised his soul to God, I doubt not
that He, who perhaps at that very hour was
speaking to Ezekiel or Daniel, would in. some
way have spoken to him ; but he seems to have
neither believed in God, nor disbelieved in him.
Instead of looking to him for light, he looked to
himself ; and there he thought he found an
answer to his question. It was this : All exist
ence is evil, because changeable. If we believe
rightly and do rightly, we shall at last enter
¦Nirvana, and change no more.' In his five
commandments he forbade lying, stealing, mur
der, drunkenness, and adultery. He rejected
the Vedas and idol worship, and paid no atten
tion to caste. What would he have said if he
could have seen the time when three hundred
and sixty-five millions of his followers should be
bowing down to a hideous, long-eared, half-
dressed image, and calling it Buddha, after
himself, and when his own short creed and

OUR GOLD-MINE. 25
simple history should be stretched through more
pages than are found in the Vedas and Puranas
together !
" With this short creed he set out to convert
India. Disciples flocked to him. He taught
them to be kind to all human things : and he
looked upon spiders and mosquitoes, and all liv
ing creatures, as human ; for, like the Brahmans,
he held that souls at death pass into other
bodies ; that the puppy of to-day may have been
a gentleman yesterday, and may be a babe in
our arms to-morrow. He taught them his five
commandments, taught them to reverence him
self, and, like him, to seek Nirvana. He grew
old, and died. His disciples burned his body,
fought for his bones, fcuilt eight temples to hold
them, and called him God. If Buddha told the
truth, he had entered Nirvana, and no longer
knew, or felt, or cared for, any thing below. He
did not wish praise or gifts ; nor could he help
his friends : but his disciples worshipped him,
and made costly offerings to him, very much as
if they did not believe a word he had said."
"But what is Nirvana ? " asked Kate.
" Any thing you please, almost. To Buddha
himself it meant, perhaps, not quite annihilation,

26 OUR GOLD-MINE.
but something so much like it, that our best
scholars are puzzled to define the difference.
In Buddha's own words, ' It is neither being,
nor nothing.' It has the same meaning to
many of the most intelligent Buddhists of to
day. Others speak of it as the incomprehensi
ble, — the thing which is, but is not anywhere,
which no one can understand. To others it
means rest, freedom from thought, care, pain,
and trouble. Meanwhile, many of the lower
classes, looking through Nirvana's gates ajar,
see there every thing they want to eat and
drink, and to make them, in a coarse, gross
way, happy." *
" And did Buddhism grow after Buddha
died ? " •
" Yes, very rapidly ; and, in a few centuries,
caste was little thought of. Brahmanism was
scarcely visible ; and all over India arose splen
did temples to Buddha, the ruins of which still
remain. There are curious carved images in
them, and mounds of solid masonry ; in one case,
one hundred and six feet in diameter, and forty-
two in height. In most of them are boxes of
treasures and relics. Mr. Cunningham explored
these topes some years ago, and opened the

OUR GOLD-MINE.

27

boxes. In many of them he found pearls,
beads, wheat, barley, rice, and in one of them
a live spider, probably a squatter on his own
hook ; though, if Buddha's doctrine be true,
he was certainly the most valuable treasure
in the box, since he alone contained a human
soul. " For nearly a thousand years, Buddha ruled
India. Then the Brahmans again gained power.
How they first gained it history does not tell us ;
but, when once it was theirs, they used it in
driving the Buddhists into Ceylon, Nepal,
Thibet, and China : and now in all Hindostan
.there are no Buddhists, and the ruins of these
temples are the only witness left of one of the
grandest failures of history.
" In the downfall of Buddhism, India learned,
what our own country may yet have to be
taught, that the soul can never find rest in a
god who neither knows nor feels nor cares for
us ; that no talk about the ' divine possibilities
of humanity,' even though coupled with a
promise that every faithful soul shall at last be
come ' Buddha,' God, can atone for the loss of
the- right to say, ' Our Father who art in
heaven.'

28 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"I think it was the fact that the Brahman
gods did feel, though not always very amiably,
and did profess to take care, though certainly
not very good care, of their followers, that gave
them their second chance in Hindostan."
" I really think," said Ida, when she was left
alone with Mrs. Bancroft, " that, in return for
this gratification of Katie's missionary curiosi
ty, you would do well on other evenings to com
pel her to spend a part of her time in some
secular study. She is behind Walter now in
mathematics, and doesn't know enough of geog
raphy or grammar to pass examination for the
high school."
" I will think of it," said Mrs. Bancroft.
" And insist upon it, please ; for, now her
mind is turning so much to missionary studies,
it will be harder than ever to persuade her to
*
attend to these things, that have nothing to do
with missions."
'" I would like to see a study that had nothing
to do wjth missions," replied Mrs. Bancroft. "I
believe God made the world, knowing that
it would be the field of missions ; and that
every object of nature, . every science, physi
cal and mental, and every art, t was designed

OUR GOLD-MINE.

29

to pour its treasures into the missionary
storehouse." Ida smiled at what seemed to her a piece
of enthusiastic extravagance not worth refut
ing.

CHAPTER II.
BRAHMANISM AND ITS ADVERSARIES.
HUNTIE," said Charlie in one of his
frequent vists to Mrs. Bancroft's sitting-
room, " Clarence Merriam is coming to
hear about the missionaries this evening."
" I don't want him ; he's too big," spoke
Edith. "And a goose besides," added Walter.
" He knows a great many things you don't,"
Charlie answered warmly. Charlie was one who
rather enjoyed being patronized by those who
had stepped a few months beyond the limits of
boyhood. Walter detested it. This was the
occasion of their difference of opinion about
Clarence. " All geese know things that I don't," Walter
retorted ; " but I don't care to live in a poultry-
yard for the sake of learning them."
3°

OUR GOLD-MINE. 31
"Clarence knows every thing already ;* that
is his worst fault," said Katie.
. " In that case he will not care to be with us
often; and, since he has proposed to come, of
course we must offer, him a chair," said Mrs.
Bancroft. Early in the evening the chair was filled.
" Don't you think those Brahman gods must
have had a jolly time, when they found them
selves worshipped again, after being kicked
around for half a dozen centuries or more?"
said Walter, as the family were seated around
the table, waiting for Mrs. Bancroft to come in
from little Minnie's room.
" It isn't right for you to talk so. You know
there are no real Brahman gods," said Kate.
" Besides, you ought to have more sympathy
for poor Buddha," suggested Charlie.
" Oh ! he had entered Nirvana, where he would
ra.ther enjoy being kicked round, or at least
wouldn't have the slightest wish for any thing
else. They have no desires of any sort in Nir
vana, you know."
" And I should have told you," Mrs. Bancroft
added as she sat down among them, "that,
though Buddha has now no worshippers in his

32 OUR GOLD-MINE.
own country of Hindostan, a large part of the
people of China, Nepal, Thibet, Siam, Burmah,
and Japan, call themselves Buddhists now. To
be worshipped by one-third of the people of
the world would satisfy any ordinary ambition,
one would think: but Buddhism in most of
those countries is a very different thing from
the doctrine that Buddha taught ; and, if he
were on earth to-day, I doubt if there is any
place in the world where he would feel quite so
much a stranger as in one of his own temples.
No kitten ever tangled a ball of yarn more com
pletely than Buddhism tangled the affairs of men
and gods in India. Only two of the original
castes could be found now, — the Brahmans and
the Sudras ; and a pure Sudra even was not
very common. Most of the people were of
mixed castes, each caste representing a different
occupation. These distinctions had been little
thought of while Buddhism ruled ; but, when
the Brahmans came back, they drew the lines
more closely than ever, multiplying the number
of castes to suit emergencies, until now it would
puzzle a foreigner to count them."
" And did they biting back all the old gods
too ? " asked Kate.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 33
" Yes, and more. If Hindoo gods were good.
for any thing, they would be the most profitable
crop one could raise ; for they multiply like this
tles : no sooner is one planted than a dozen oth
ers shoot out from him. In this way, Juggernaut
came from Krishna, and he from Vishnu, and all
originally from Brahme, or the Brahma, of whom
(or which), according to Hindoo theology, every
thing we say is false : so it may be as well to
say nothing.
"Among all their three hundred and thirty
millions of gods, there was not one who loved
them, not one whom they loved. Brahma, cold
and unfeeling, ruled over all, but had no temples.
Vishnu the preserver had a few ; Siva the de
stroyer, many : but most worshipped the swarm
of lower gods, who took care of harvests, health,
weather, war, and other of the affairs of this
life ; and the worst gods had* the most worship
pers. " And through all this great, wicked country
rolled the beautiful, terrible Ganges, — the sacred
Ganges, — rising far up among the Himalayas,
amid scenery so full of God's glory, that one
must be worse than a heathen who could visit it,
and hear no voice calling upon him to pray ;

34 OUR GOLD-MINE.
dashing fiercely at first over its- granite bed, then
rolling on, through precipices and over crum
bling rocks* unbridged through all its sixteen
hundred miles, gathering, as it rolled, offerings
of gold and silver and fruits, and animals, and
children even, thrown into it by its worshippers,
yes, and the lives of those worshippers, and
their bodies when dead, mixing them with
the filth of nine large cities, and uncounted
villages, — yet still so sacred, that crowds of pil
grims flocked there to bathe, to drink its waters,
to fill tneir dying mouths with its mud, or, it
may be, to atone for the sins of a lifetime by
dying beneath its waves. Near its source, in
a region that seems more like the ruins of an
other world than a part of the home of mortals,
are laid many of the scenes of the Shasters.* In
its lower course the Shasters find their true
fulfilment. The River Ganges is the best com
mentary on Brahmanism."
" But how could there be such change from
the original religion, when the people still had
the Vedas, and believed in them ? " asked Kate.
"The common people and the women were
not allowed to read the Vedas. If a Sudra
read them, he was to have his ears filled with

OUR GOLD-MINE.

35

melted lead. Few even of the Brahmans could
read and understand them : and though remem
bering them removed all' sin, and a Brahman
who should destroy three worlds, and eat food
from any quarter whatever, would be guiltless, if
he remembered the Vedas, few remembered any
parts but those used in sacrifice ; and they un-
understood little of the meaning even of those.
" Here and there a Brahman might be found
seeking absorption in Brahma; but since, in
doing it, he must not only fight against every
thing human within and around him, but
against a whole swarm of lower gods, jealous
lest he should just miss of absorption, enter
heaven, and become a rival of theirs, his chance
was not great. Too often he became contented
with the reward he was sure he could obtain, —
the praise, worship, and gifts of the people, — and,
reserving his austerities for exhibition before
the public, lived in private a life of luxury and
vice. It was an essential article of his creed
that every thing was unreal, and life an infinite
humbug: what- wonder that he often became a
humbug too ?
" The lower classes were hopeless. At the
best, they could only gain absorption by being

36 OUR GOLD-MINE.
born Brahmans. in some future transmigration.
If they tried for any thing in the next life, it
was only to have a tolerably comfortable body
to enter when they should leave this. With a
hundred thousand hells yawning to receive
them, the chance of that was not great. But
there was more hope of gaining it by making
gifts to the idols or the Brahmans, or by dig
ging pools, or making roads, or a thousand other
things, than by truth and honesty."
Clarence Merriam showed some uneasiness
during this description, and, when Mrs. Ban
croft paused, interposed at once : —
" All you say may be true ; but are there not
some# compensations in the heathen religions
which we ought not to overlook ? Do you not
think our cold Western religion suffers from the
lack of that feminine element which all other
forms of worship share ? Nowhere is the refin
ing influence of woman more needed than in
religion ; and I think the heathen in their god
desses, and the Catholic in his worship of the
Virgin, have something that our balder Protes
tant faith sadly lacks."
Charlie gazed at Clarence in profound rever
ence while he delivered this brisk little speech.

. . .OUR GOLD-MINE. 37
Walter drummed on the table. Mrs. Bancroft
listened as attentively and respectfully as if she
had not heard the same thing a great many
times before.
" As for the ' refining influence of woman,' "
she answered, " there is a good deal of nonsense
about it. Every thing depends upon who the
woman is. Yery possibly, . however, we may
learn something by paying a visit to Kali, wife
of Siva, and most popular of Hindoo goddesses,
in her home as it was when the deep quiet of
Brahmanism was first broken by the advent of
missionaries. " Three miles out from Calcutta, we enter a
low, filthy, ruinous archway. This leads us to a
miserable court-yard ; this, to another archway.
On our way we pass numbers of fakirs, saying
their prayers under the oshatto-tree, and look
ing wistfully to us for money as we go by.
Then we reach a building smaller than the
smallest English chapel, though larger than
most Hindoo temples, the famous Kali Ghat.
This is Kali's house. There she stands, a huge,
black stone, with four hands, a hideous face, red
eyes and nose, and a tongue projecting a foot
from her mouth. Here she eats, sleeps, and

38 OUR GOLD-MINE. ¦
receives the offerings of kids, buffaloes, rice,
sweetmeats, fruits, gold, and silver, which her
admirers bring her. Here, in 1802, the officers
of the English Government brought her a
thank-offering of five thousand rupees for their
successes in India. Near by is a large hall,
where attending Brahmans read the Shasters,
and her friends meet to worship .her. Now and
then a stray cow or bull takes its place among
them ; but no one takes offence at it. Why
should he ? The cow is scarcely less sacred
than the Brahmans, and much more so than
those who listen to them. ¦ Twice a day she eats
a meal of rice, sweetmeats, and fruit, so abun
dant, that she has to employ from thirty to a
hundred people to chew and digest it for her.
Every day she takes a nap. I am not aware
that she does any thing besides eat and sleep
now : but her pictures and images all over the
land bear witness to the deeds she. has done in
times past; for her waist is girdled with the
severed, bleeding hands of those she has slain ;
and on her breast rests a necklace of forty
skulls. I cannot ask you to go to one of her
feasts with me ; for she is ' worshipped with
songs so vile, that it would be a crime to listen

OUR GOLD-MINE.

39

to them : yet men, women, and children join
the worship. Her admirers are everywhere.
Thieves pray to her for success in thieving;
honest men, for , protection against thieves ;
merchants, for prosperity in business ; mothers,
for their children ; lost women, for the sharers
of their sin ; and all bring her offerings. Many
a rich man has made himself poor for her sake :
and if, by chance, a poor man in the country
villages offends the Brahmans, when he wakes
in the morning he may find an image of Kali
placed before his door ; and then woe to him if
he fail to beg, borrow, or steal money enough
to ' worship her ' by offerings of rice and sweet
meats and clothes, and brass vessels, to his
tormentors ! The Puranas say that the sacrifice
of a goat pleases her a hundred years ; of a man,
a thousand ; of three men, a hundred thousand :
and careful directions are given for human
sacrifices, with the promise, that, if the severed
head of a victim smiles, prosperity will follow ;
and, if it speaks, whatever it says will come to
pass. When Carey came, she had had no public
human sacrifices for years ; yet now and then,
in the morning, before her temple, might be
found cold, headless bodies. Whence they

40 OUR GOLD-MINE.
came no one told; but why they were there
every one knew ; and no one dared hint at the
arrest of the murderer, lest Kali be angry.
Long after Carey's time, Kali's pet children, the
Thugs, men wholly consecrated to her service,
roamed through India, clustering especially
about holy Benares, lying in wait at night, and
slipping the fatal noose over rich merchants, or
pilgrims, or strangers who had been heard to
speak a word against Kali, or any one who
passed ; passing their trade on from father to
son, gaining in it such horrible skill,' that no
sound ever escaped the strangling victim, nor
was his death known, till, in the morning, his
body was found with tongue thrust from his
mouth in hideous imitation of the goddess to
whom he was sacrificed.
" They claim, that, in earlier, times, Kali used
to follow their bands, and herself eat up their
victims : but one of their number, looking back,
saw her at her repast, which so disgusted her,
that she would act as sextoness no longer ; but
she gave them the hem of her garment for a
noose, and a tooth for a pickaxe; and with
terrible faithfulness has her hint been carried
out.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 41
" But is Kali pleased, after all ? That question
rests always like a nightmare upon her wor
shippers. Once a year most of the wealthier
families make an image of her from straw and
"Wood, and sacred Ganges clay ; and a feast is
spread ; and Brahmans dance, and perform cere
monies, and pray the goddess to enter the image.
At the close of the day they thank her for her
visit, and allow her to leave again.
" They might well be thankful, if, for even one
day, her spirit could be confined to clay images.
It is everywhere. It broods, a terrible presence,
over all India, always demanding gifts, always
threatening vengeance, always hungry for blood.
If a frien,d is sick or dying, if business fails, if
floods come, Kali is angry ; her temple is
deluged with the blood of animals, or her altars
covered with treasure ; and, if she is still unsat
isfied, the mother tears her infant from her, and
— tearless, for the goddess hates sentiment —
drowns it to appease her."
Mrs. Bancroft paused. There was a mo
ment's silence, in which everybody was expect
ing everybody else to speak. Then Walter
broke it : —

•42

OUR GOLD-MINE.

" Mother, haven't we had ' refining influence '
enough for the present." Suppose we try mis
sionaries next time ? "
^ "They are ready, if called for," said Mrs.
Bancroft.

CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST MISSIONARIES.
j|0 more heathen for the present, Kate ! "
exclaimed Walter the next morning.
" Why not ? "
"Grandpa Sears is coming."
" Who is grandpa Sears ? "
" Mother's grandfather, — the one that brought
her up when her father died."
" He must be good, then, or she wouldn't
have been so good."
"Don't know about that. I've an idea that
'wicked folks do quite as much towards manu
facturing saints as good ones. Expect I shall
have great credit for the aid I've been to you in
that direction, some time. Anyway, I can assure
you that boys won't be very plenty about this
house for a while to come."
To Kaiie the anticipation of the arrival meant
43

44 OUR GOLD-MINE.
exchanging crochet - needle and worsted for
dust-brush and broom ; for grandpa Sears must
have a room down stairs, and a bed in it, and an
open fire, and brown rolls for tea, and pies with
light crust, and all the other little alterations in
family arrangements which form the " rights "
of invalids and old people.
" How long is he going to stay ? " asked Kate,
before she had been at work half an hour.
" Always, if .he likes."
Katie's dust-brush did not move the faster for
this announcement. The prospect of giving up
her studies for a few weeks for the sake of an
old man whom she never saw, and who wouldn't
care a straw for her, or the heathen, or anybody
but himself, was bad enough ; but to have it
always — Katie was startled to notice how often
her mind turned to the thought that people do
not often live long after they are eighty-eight.
The children caught her spirit, and moved about •
gloomily, as if expecting every moment that the
next they would be packed into drawers and
band-boxes, to be " out of the way while grand
pa is here." Altogether, it was a dismal day;
and Katie lay down at night dissatisfied.
Grandpa had come ; but he had gone at once

OUR GOLD-MINE.

45

to his room. Katie had not seen him, and did
not wish to see him.
The next day she felt better, and went cheer
fully about her work, though the house did seem
wholly different from the one she worked in two
days before. Grandpa was weary with his jour
ney, and confined to his room. Mrs. Bancroft
confined herself with him, except when she left
to give some order for his comfort. Minnie and
Edith crept about like little mice. The boys
took lunch in a basket, and disappeared immedi
ately after breakfast.
The second day was a repetition of the first.
Even Walter gave a deliberate " Hurrah ! " when,
on the third, Ida told him the missionaries were
to be brought out again in the evening. He
took it as a sign that things were coming back
to their normal state.
" Of course something'll happen to prevent it,
though," he added. But nothing did happen ;
and early in the evening Mrs. Bancroft began : —
" Four centuries and a half of Mohammedan
rule, nearly two of real, and as many more of
mimic Mogul government, two centuries of
Catholic missionary labor and commercial inter
course with all the leading nations of the world,

46 OUR GOLD-MINE.
had made no real impression on either the
morals or the religion of the Hindoos ; when,
near the close of the last century, William
Carey ^ a young English shoemaker, and licensed
preacher, pasted up in his shop a map of the
world, entered on it all the information he could
gain as to the population, character, and religion
of its countries, and looked up from his last to
plan the beginnings of the work of modern
missions. " He spoke his thoughts to his father, and re
ceived for answer the question, ' William, are
you mad ? ' He presented it at a ministers'
meeting ; and the chairman, Mr. Ryland, sprang
frowning to his feet, and thundered out, ' Young
man, sit down ! When God means to convert
the heathen, he will do it without your aid or
mine.' He conversed, printed, and preached
upon the subject, introducing it with never-
failing patience wherever he had opportunity,
at the same time giving all his busy moments —
he had no leisure ones — to fitting himself for
the work before him ; and at last had the satis
faction of aiding in the organization of the
Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the
Gospel among the Heathen.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 47
" Soon another was found who wished to go
to India as a missionary, Rev. Mr. Thomas, who
had been acting as surgeon in Bengal. At the
meeting of the society Jan. 10, 1793, Mr. Carey
and Mr. Thomas saw each other for the first
time. "'From Mr. Thomas's account/ said Mr.
Fuller at that meeting, ' there is a- gold-mine in
India ; but it seems almost as deep as the centre
of the earth. Who will venture to explore it ? '
" ' I will go down,' said Mr. Carey ; ' but re
member that you must hold the ropes.'
"When we remember that Mr. Carey pledged
himself to these extensive mining operations at
a time when the entire capital of the society
was little over thirteen pounds, and that even
now it was not nearly sufficient to pay the pas
sage-money, we can hardly wonder that his
ministering brethren called him an enthusiast.
"At last, on the 10th of November, 1793, the
missionaries set foot on ' the land of tigers and
crocodiles.' "
" Did the tigers catch him ? " asked Edith,
who was growing restless for something more
exciting in the story.
" Not yet, Edie ; be patient," said Walter com
passionately.

48 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Tigers are not so fond of missionaries as
people are apt to think," said Mrs. Bancroft.
" Calcutta, where Mr. Thomas settled, and com
menced business as a surgeon, is a city of over
four hundred thousand inhabitants ; and tigers
are not quite as plenty there as in New York.
Mr. Carey fixed his home forty miles farther east,
and only quarter of a mile from the sunderbunds,
dense forests covering thousands of square
miles in the delta of the Ganges, filled with
tigers, jackals, leopards, and serpents ; but the
wild beasts feared his gun, and he had little
trouble. "Two hundred years earlier, Parliament had
incorporated a trading company to do business
in India. For nearly one hundred and fifty
years this company went on its way, trading '
with the natives ; employing weavers, and ship
ping the product of their looms to England ;
making fortunes for its stockholders and offi
cers, and starving its subordinates ; buying a
little land as it needed it ; and building petty
forts to defend its warehouses, but with no
more idea of ever governing India than the
Liquor Dealers' Association of New York has
of governing America, — perhaps with less.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

49

" Previous to and during this time, one after
another, Persia, Portugal, Holland, Denmark,
and France had each coveted a slice of India
and taken it, giving pay sometimes in money,
but oftener in bullets.
"The next twenty years brought great
changes ; and in Carey's time this band of
merchants, known as the East India Company,
was the chief governing power in India."
" That must have been a great help to Carey,"
interposed Walter.
" Instead, it was his greatest hinderance.
England had conquered India. Hindooism had
conquered the English. In Carey's time, the
morals of the English East-Indians were no
better than those of the heathen. The officers
of the East India Company kept sacred the
feast of Durga, but paid no regard to the
sabbath. They offered money to build an idol"
temple. They furnished Juggernaut with car
penters to repair his body, and servants to draw
his car. They made offerings to the Ganges.
Meanwhile Carey and Thomas were tolerated
only because they reported themselves as indigo
merchants, having accepted the offer of a Mr.
Udney to take charge of two of his factories.

50 OUR GOLD-MINE.
It was a common saying among the natives,
that all tribes had some god, or form of worship :
the English only were atheists. It was not a
great mistake, so far as the officers of the East
India Company were concerned. Their god
was gold. They "feared that education would
make the Hindoos less manageable ; they feared
that preaching Christianity would excite them to
riots. They had often run far greater risk of
riot for the sake of gold : but gold was worth
incurring risks for; and Christianity, to their
minds, was not.
" For six years Carey and Thomas struggled
with floods and drought and fever, native in
difference, and English opposition ; and then,
when in 1799 new missionaries had arrived,
they moved to Serampore, a Danish settlement
of twenty acres, bought for a factory and trad
ing-station two years before Clive began the
conquest of India for Britain. Here the East
India Company had no power, and could only
watch the missionaries with the tender interest
which a cat feels in a caged bird hung just be
yond her reach. Here, in December, 1800, the
first Hindoo convert was baptized, and, two
years later, ordained. Here, six weeks after the

OUR GOLD-MINE. 51
baptism, the first edition of the Bengali New
Testament was printed, followed within ten
years by the entire Bible in Bengali, and New-
Testament versions in seven other languages.
Here, with untiring industry, Carey made the
researches which led to the abolition of the
yearly sacrifice of children at Gunga Sagor.
Here he proved that he had talents of value
even according to East India Company stand
ards, and was called to be teacher of Sanscrit
and Bengali in Fort William College in Cal
cutta. Here, with his two associates Marsh-
man and Ward, he gathered a little native
church. Around them clustered a band of mis
sionaries ; and by voice and press the news of
the gospel went out for seventy miles around.
" Sometimes, for a little while, as Mr. Ward
expressed it, missionaries were " tolerated like
toads, instead of being hunted like wild beasts ; "
and then new stations were occupied, and con
verts gathered in them. Sometimes all public
preaching was forbidden outside of the twenty
acres of Danish territory.
" I wish I might tell you all the story of those
years; but it is that you might understand
another story, which is really not another, but a
sequel, that I ..have told you this.

52 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Now let us cross the ocean to America.
Here, in 1804, we find Adoniram Judson, a lad
of sixteen, just entering college. He is a uni
versal reader, a .quick mathematician, brilliant
in almost every department of study, and has
but one ambition, — ' to be a great man.'
" Four years later he graduated, receiving the
highest appointment. In the class above him
was a brilliant young deist named E — —.
Partly through his influence, young Judson, too,
became a deist, and remained so through his
college-course. " Some months after he graduated, while on a
tour through New York, he stopped over night
at a country inn. In the room next him, so the
landlord told him, lay a sick and dying young
man. Was he prepared ? It seemed an absurd
question for a deist to ask ; and yet Judson
asked it, or something asked it of him, all night
long. Deism could deny the Bible-view of the
future ; but it could not assure him that for a
change so great no preparation was needed.
And yet he blushed at his anxiety for the
stranger, and most of all at the thought, ' What
would E  say to all this ? ' It was a weary,
terrible night.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 53
"The next morning's sunshine brought a
more cheerful frame of mind.. He arose, and
inquired for his fellow-lodger.
"' He is dead,' was the answer.
" ' Dead ? '
" ' Yes, he is gone, poor fellow ! The doctor
said he could not survive the night.'
" ' Do you know who it was ? '
" ' Oh, yes ! It was a young man from Provi
dence College, a fine fellow. His name was
E  .'
" At first, Judson was stunned by the news.
Then he was aroused to a new earnestness.
He was a sceptic still, but from that day an
honest and thoughtful one. In October, 1808,
he entered Andover Theologipal Seminary, not
as a candidate for the ministry, but as an inquir
er for truth. Soon he was a believer in Christ.
In May, 1809, he united with the Third Con
gregational Church in Plymouth, of which his
father was pastor. Almost at . the same time
he pledged himself to the work of foreign mis
sions, never dreaming then that the voice that
called him had Spoken also to other ears.
" In the summer or fall of 1807, Samuel Mills,
a student at Andover, asked Gordon Hall and

54 OUR GOLD-MINE.
James Richards to take a walk with him ; and
there behind a haystack they spent a day in
fasting and prayer, and talking about missions.
That walk and talk resulted in a missionary
society, whose records were kept in cipher, and
whose members were pledged to secrecy, lest
their Christian friends should laugh at their
Quixotism. " The kindred spirits soon met. Newell and
Nott in Andover were, like Judson, interested in
the work. Soon several members of the Wil-
liamstown society, among them Luther Rice,
left Williamstown for Andover, and there the
society was removed. The result of their ear
nestness was the organization of the American
Board of- Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
which accepted the four students, Judson, Nott,
Mills, and Newhall, as its missionaries. Luther
Rice was afterwards added to the number, on
condition that he raise funds for his own out
fit and passage, which he did in six days. Jud
son, on the 5 th of February, 1812, was married
to Miss Ann Hasseltine. , On the 19th, with
Mr. and Mrs. Newell, they set sail for India, and
in four months landed at Calcutta.
" Their arrival found the East India Company

OUR QOLD-MINE. 55
in one of its worst and last spasms of missionary-
phobia. ** Before the other missionaries who had sailed
at nearly the same time with them had arrived,
almost before they themselves had time to look
around them, Judson and Newell were ordered
back to America. They asked leave to go to
some other part of India, but were refused. At
last they gained leave to go, instead, to the Isle
of France, hundreds • of miles away, - off the
coast of Africa. There was but one ship about
to sail for that port, and that had only room for
Mr. and Mrs. Newell. The Judsons waited for
another vessel, and for the arrival of ' The Har
mony,' with the rest of the missionaries.
"They were American citizens, destined for
Burmah. War had been declared between
England and America. There were grave mut-
terings between England arid Burmah. To be
on English soil at this time, under any circum
stances, was not pleasant : to be there in a
capacity which would render even an English
citizen liable to expulsion, was decidedly un
pleasant. It was in this hour of isolation that
they, with their own hand, cut the tie that
bound them to their only human source of
support, — the American Board,

56 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"While they were crossing the ocean, Mr.
Judson commenced studying the subject of bap
tism, partly that he might be ready to meet the
arguments of the Baptist missionaries whose
guest he expected to be at Serampore ; partly
that he might certainly know what to do with
the children and servants of the converts from
heathenism, whom his faith already saw as real
beings. " It was a needless labor so far as the Seram
pore missionaries were concerned, as no word
was said to him on the subject, until, as the
result of his investigations, he wrote a note
requesting baptism. Mr. and Mrs. Judson were
„ baptized by Mr. Ward, Sept. 6. Luther Rice
had pursued similar studies on board ' The Har
mony.' "
" I always said I had a hand in that business,"
interrupted grandpa Sears. Through the even
ing the old man had sat immovable, and the
young people supposed asleep. Had the old
mahogany sofa spoken, and declared that it had
a hand in the missionary work, they could hardly
have been more surprised.
"Tell us about it, grandfather," said Mrs.
Bancroft.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

57

"Baptists weren't very plenty in our region
then. I was one ; but I always went to church
with the standing order. Well, somehow I'd
got waked up about missions, like the Best of
them ; and, when Judson and Newell and those
went out, I felt just like doing something.
' But then,' said I (or maybe 'twas the Tempt
er speaking to me), 'I don't know. They
won't teach what you believe. Now, what's the
use of your paying money to send out mission
aries to teach things you don't believe ? ' I
waited, and thought about it : and by and by I
made up my mind that I couldn't help giving,
anyway ; so I just gave, and just asked the
Lord to see to it that somehow it all went to
building up his own truth."
"And so, when the news came that Judson
and Rice had turned Baptists, you thought your
prayer was answered," said Clarence with an
incredulous smile, which grandpa could not see.
" Yes, I did ; not but other folks had prayed
too, and not but 'twould have been answered
somehow if that hadn't happened. Anyway,
I was satisfied. And when I read in the next
Board Report, ' A new cloud has been cast upon
the affairs of the mission,' I thought, 'That

58 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Board'll see the silver lining of the cloud some
time ; ' and I guess it did. Twenty years after,
its secretary wrote to Dr. Judson, 'We rejoice
in the very great good that has grown out of
your change of relation. We would not have it
otherwise.' Nothing' in the world would have
waked up the Baptists as that did; and then,
when Luther Rice came over — But I mustn't
get ahead of our story. — Go on, mother."
" Before this ' The Harmony,' with the other
missionaries, had come. Luther Rice too, as
the result of his studies on the voyage, had
become a Baptist. This was a great encour
agement to Judson.
" But very soon there came an order that all
the missionaries must sail for England in a ship
then under way. Passage was engaged for
them in the gunner's mess. How their wives
were to be disposed of, they were not informed.
Messrs. Hall and Nott escaped the notice of
the police, and went to Bombay. Mr. and Mrs.
Judson already had leave to go to the Isle of
France, and applied for a pass. To their sur
prise, this was refused ; but a vessel was ready
to sail for that port, and, with Mr. Rice, they
asked of its commander leave to go on board.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 59
" ' I will be neutral. There is the ship : you
can do as you please,' was his reply.
" They went on board ; but, when only fifteen
rniles below Calcutta, the ship was stopped, and
forbidden to proceed with them. They landed,
and went down the river to a hotel at Fultah.
In vain they urged the captain of a vessel lying
there to take them to Ceylon. No captain
dared receive them. Yet to remain where they
were was dangerous, and to go back to Calcutta
even more so. Now, in the midst of their
greatest distress, came the asked-for but re
fused pass.
" The vessel on which they started had been
providentially detained some miles below. By
rowing a night and a day, they reached it just
as it was weighing anchor for the last time.
On the 17th of January, they joined Mr. Newell
at the Isle of France, — Mr. Newell only ; for
Mrs. Newell had died seven weeks before.
"A few months' stay convinced them that
their work could make no progress while they
remained there. It was decided that Mr. Rice
should go back to America to arouse an interest
in missions among the Baptists. He left on
the 15 th of March ; and on the 7th of May the

60 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Judsons embarked for Madras, entering again
the lion's jaws with only the hope that they
might have a chance to escape before he would
have time to close them together.
"Information of the dangerous arrival was
sent to the governor-general. How he would
reply, they well knew. Their only hope was to
be absent when his message came. The only
vessel ready to sail was a rickety affair, bound
for Rangoon in Burmah : on it they embarked.
The voyage across the Bay of Bengal was a
dreary one. Mrs. Judson was sick, so very sick,
that, at one time, her husband could only look
forward to being left wholly alone. Then they
were driven into a dangerous strait, whose black
rocks, half hidden "beneath the waves, plainly
told them they might have to choose between
drowning and being cast on shore and eaten by
savages. But the water of the strait was still,
and Mrs. Judson grew better. They passed the
rocks in safety, and favoring winds wafted them
to Rangoon."
Mrs. Bancroft's little congregation dispersed.
She was sitting alone for the evening, as she
supposed, when Katie's light step descended the
stairs, and she stood beside her.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 61
" Mother."
"Well, Katie."
" Do you suppose I could borrow a geography
and history? And could I use Walter's old
grammar and arithmetic and book-keeping ? "
" Why, Katie, what new spirit has possessed
you ? " asked Mrs. Bancroft, too much pleased
to even laugh at Katie's extended plans.
" Nothing new. But Carey couldn't have
learned languages so easily if he hadn't known
something about grammar ; and it was geogra
phy that made him a missionary partly, and —
Mother, I believe one needs to know every thing
to be a good missionary."
" You can have the, books, certainly ; but how
will you find time for all this, Katie ? "
Katie blushed ; for " I haven't time " had been
one of her stereotyped excuses.
"I read three novels, and crocheted a tidy,
last month. I can do my sewing while you are
talking in the evening ; and I can give up my
walks, if necessary."
" If you have really consecrated yourself —
your health, strength, and all — to God, you
must preserve them for his work : so I shall not
let you give up your walks. You shall have all

62

OUR GOLD-MINE.

the books you need, and all the help I can give
you."* The next morning, when the morning's work
was done, Ida was surprised to find a slate-pen
cil instead of a crochet-needle between Katie's
fingers.

CHAPTER IV.

JUDSON AND BURMAH.

|T is often easier to yield up our whole
future lives to God than to give him
the present moment. Many give up
every thing for Christ's cause in their prayers,
who hesitate when asked to give up some one
thing in their practice.
Katie knew something about this one morn
ing the next week, when, for the first time, she
had gathered all her books around her, arranged
her desk to suit her, and had 'nothing else to do
but to study. It was really as much a part of
Christ's work as if her grammar had been San
scrit, or the figures which looked up discoura-
gingly from her slate had been the inquiring faces
of Hindoos or Burmans. Indeed, these studies
were a part of the greater work she had planned
so often, or she would not have undertaken 63

64 OUR GOLD-MINE.
them ; but dreaming is easier than figuring, and
Katie had practised the former to perfection,
while she had quite neglected the latter.
She persevered patiently, until she came to
one of those sums which neither patience nor
perseverance can conquer, unless aided by nat
ural mathematical talent; and Katie had none
of this to aid her, — none in her own brain, at
least; and there was not much comfort in know
ing that there was plenty of it in a head just
visible in the next room, bending over a comic
almanac. The almanac was thrown aside in a few
minutes ; and Walter passed through the dining-
room, pausing at Katie's desk.
"What's up now?"
"Noth" — Katie did not finish the word.
Truthfulness (which was natural to her) and
humility (for which she had prayed) were strug
gling with pride.
It is a very easy thing, usually, to sacrifice
selfishness on the altar of pride. If Katie had
been asked to help Walter, she would have done
it, and enjoyed doing it, and perhaps congratu
lated herself on the Christian spirit this showed ;
but receiving a favor from him was another

OUR GOLD-MINE. 65
affajr. Yet she had prayed earnestly, the night
before, that her spirit might be made like that
humble, fervent spirit of which she had just
heard, and that she might bow all her own
private feelings to the work before her.
Truthfulness conquered in a moment.
" Here is a sum I can't do," she answered
just as Walter was turning away. " I don't see
how anybody can tell what was lost by the
wreck of a ship, without knowing how much
she was worth to begin with."
" I do," said Walter, glancing at the book,
seizing the slate, and moving the pencil rapidly
over it. In a few moments the work was done,
the slate left on her desk, and Walter was out
of the room.
" Yes, Walter could do it as easily as nothing,
and I could not do it at all ; and I suppose he
despises me for it," Katie said to herself, never
dreaming that Walter was at that moment
thinking, that, in receiving the favor from him,
Katie had done something he could not, and
that", on the whole, he admired her for it.
While Walter was figuring for Katie, Ida
passed through the room, looked toward them,
but said nothing.

66 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Katie is really growing more practical, in
spite of spending her evenings in India," she
remarked afterwards to her sister.
"Say, rather, because of it," Mrs. Bancroft
replied. And Ida gave no answer, but, when evening
came, herself called the children together to lis
ten while Mrs. Bancroft continued the story : —
"You remember, on the map of the Eastern
hemisphere, how the Bay of Bengal juts up
into the southern coast of Asia, making it look
as if it was bordered with badly made tape-
trimming. At the head of the bay is Bengal j
on its east coast, Orissa and Madras; on its
western side, Burmah.
" Beautiful with rocks and valleys and moun
tain-ranges, with flowers and palms and banyans,
rich in metals and gems and fruits and costly
woods, abounding still more in the treasures
sought by scientific students, in the raw material.
of geology, botany, and ethnology, Burmah has
seemed for centuries to offer a perpetual card
of invitation to the world ; yet- she has had
few visitors, and to-day has hardly an intimate
acquaintance. " In her temples, no Brahmans trample upon

OUR GOLD-MINE. 67 '
human souls. No caste, compelling even the
kind-hearted to be cruel, distorts her society.
Her sacred rivers roll innocently to the sea.
Her hills, glistening with white pagodas, bear
no blood-stains. A few plantain-leaves or a
little fruit may be offered to Gaudama ; but he
is better served by acts of kindness, and gifts to
the needy. In her cities, Chinese, Burmans,
Talings, and Malays dwell together as peaceably,
at least, as they would in America. No drunk
ards stagger in her streets. No oaths defile
her air."
" Pardon the interruption ; but it strikes me it
would hardly be amiss for her to send missiona
ries to America," suggested Clarence. "Bur
mah must be the paradise of the world."
" No doubt Dr. and Mrs. Judson were greatly
improved by the society they found there," said
Walter gravely.
" Negatives, however multiplied, cannot make
a paradise," replied Mrs. Bancroft. "The Bur-
mans are Buddhists. But, whatever we may
think of the Buddha who died in Hindostan
twenty-four centuries ago, we cannot afford to
spare much reverence for the Budda now wor
shipped under the name of Gaudama in Bur-

68 OUR GOLD-MINE.
mah, — a being innumerable leagues in height,
who, a moment after his birth, called out
with the voice of a lion, 'I am chief of the
world I ' who, at five months, sat on the air
without support, split a hair with his arrow
at the distance of ten miles, and, if it suited
him, tumbled mountains and islands around
promiscuously, and shooTc ten thousand worlds,
merely for the fun of the thing. He passed,
in all, through 25,600,000 transmigrations. It
is as certain that he was a fox as that he
was a man. The very place where he scratched
as a cock can be shown. In his last state
he remembered all that happened in the pre
vious ones. He has entered Nigban now,
where he is free alike from pain and pleasure,
where 'there is neither being nor nothing.'
But there is to be another Buddha : there may
be many others. And somewhere, in some
shape, all the Buddhas that are to be are in the
universe now ; no one can tell where : so all
life, whether of man, tiger, or mosquito, is
sacred. And there are priests who will not
sit down without first carefully brushing their
seat, lest they might accidentally crush some
insect ; for who could tell but the meanest

OUR GOLD-MINE. 69
worm might contain the soul of some future
Buddha ?
" The masses could not be expected to be as
careful, however ; and, since none of them could
reasonably expect to go through life without
being the means of some scores of murders,
many do not hesitate to add to the list. Fish
ermen, and even butchers, are found among
them. The superannuated horse was not often
killed ; but he was left to starve. The sacred
ox might be inhumanly beaten ; and men con
victed of theft of robbery, or even less crimes,
might lose hands or eyes or ears in the most
barbarous manner possible.
" Even the gifts to the. poor, and the deeds of
kindness, which make a part of their religion,
are done merely a.s acts of merit, and are usual
ly received without gratitude. Or perhaps the
recipient thinks he does his benefactor a favor
in allowing him thus to add to his treasures in
the next world. Robberies are common ; though
perhaps not more so than they would be here,
if our houses were equally easy of access. Di
vorces are obtained as easily as our most ad
vanced reformers would wish, and society suffers
accordingly. Gambling and lying are almost
universal.

70 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Schools are common : but you would laugh
if you could see one, or rather before you saw
it ; for, long before you reached the schoolhouse,
you might hear the yellow-robed priest calling
off letters or words from the blackboard, and
the whole school repeating Sfter him in concert.
In this way, it would take a child about three
years to learn to read. .Yet almost every one
learns : it would be hard to tell why ; for, when
the missionaries came, young Burmah had hard
ly any thing to read except public documents,
considerably less interesting to him than Acts
of Congress would be to young America.
" They have a Bible, the Tripitika " —
" Tell me about it, if you please, madam,"
interrupted Clarence. "I am about undertak
ing a course of reading ; and I thought I should
commence with the Bibles of the world, and
take the sacred books of the Buddhists first."
" Shall you read them ' on your bended knees,'
as Mr. Emerson directs ? " inquired Walter,
guessing where Clarence borrowed his idea of
a course of reading.
" You would bid fair to become as stiff as a
Hindoo saint, if you did," said Mrs. Bancroft.
" It is in several thousand volumes ; and few of

OUR GOLD-MINE.

7*

them have been translated. But I will read
you a specimen from one : —
" ' Om. Salutation to all Buddhas, Bodhisatt-
vas, Aryas, Sravakas, and Pratyeka Buddhas of
all times, past, present, and future, who are
adored throughout the farthest limits of the ten
quarters of the globe. Thus hath it been heard
by me, that once on a time Bhajavat sojourned
in the garden of Anathapindada, at Getavana in
"Sravasti, accompanied by a venerable body of
twelve thousand Bhikshukas. There likewise
accompanied him thirty-two thousand Bodhisatt-
vas, all linked together by unity of caste, and
perfect in the virtues of Paramita, who had
made their command over Bodhisattva knowl
edge a pastime, were illumined with the light of
Bodhisattva dharanis, and were masters of the
dharanis themselves ; who were profound in
their meditations, all submissive to the lord of
Bodhisattvas, and possessed absolute control
over samadhi, great in self-command, refulgent
in Bodhisattva forbearance, and replete with
the Bodhisattva element of perfection ' " —
" Couldn't you wait till to-morrow for the rest,
Clarence ? " asked Walter.
" But it isn't all like that, is it ? " said Kate.

72 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"A great part of it. Among the Buddha's
own words, however, are some things well
worth repeating"; for example : —
" ' He who should conquer in battle ten times
a hundred thousand were indeed a hero; but
truly a greater hero is he who has but once
conquered himself.'
" ' Hide your good deeds, and confess before
the world the sins you have committed.'
" ' Let a man overcome anger by love, evil by
good, the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth.'
"'Asa solid rock is not shaken by the wind,
wise people falter not amid blame and praise.'
" ' Let us live happily, not hating those who
hate us. Let us dwell free from hatred among
men who hate.'
"Gaudama admitted the existence of the
Brahman gods as spirits ; and now these spirits,
under the name of Nats, receive from the masses
a sort of lower worship. It is thought, too, that
men may at death become Nats.
" Theatres are common and greatly patronized
in Burmah ; and I have read translations of sev
eral plays acted there, in which the Nats figured
as largely, and were treated with as little rev
erence, as the gauze or mirrored ghosts in a
theatre in New York.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 73*
" After all, to most of the people, the Buddhist
worship is only a ceremony which they do not
understand, but vaguely hope will somehow do
them good, — a sacrifice less to Gaudama than
to the universal conscience.
" We left the Judsons just entering Burmah.
Luther Rice had returned to America, and was
going through the country, kindling a hitherto
unknown missionary zeal among its churches ;
but of this no tidings reached Rangoon.
" For three long years Mr. arid Mrs. Judson
labored alone. For months, except now and
then when a sea-captain called, they saw no
European face, and heard their own language
only from each other's lips. Together, alone,
they celebrated the Lord's Supper. Around
them tinkled the silvery bells of pagodas ;
before them passed the Buddhist monks, bear
ing their bowls for offerings. Now and then,
along their path, a funeral-procession wOund
its way, with sounds of gongs and trumpets.
Women came, and felt curiously of Mrs. Jud-
son's white hands, and handled her garments.
Men gazed at the ' new white foreigner ' as they
would at a new white elephant, only with much
less reverence. That was all. Day after day

74 OUR GOLD-MINE.
they worked at Burman crooks and circles
under a teacher who knew no English, and
could only tell them the Burman names of
objects as they pointed at them. At first, he
declined teaching Mrs. Judson ; it was beneath
his dignity to teach a. woman : but Mr. Judson's
wishes finally prevailed.
" As soon as the missionaries had learned the
use of their tongues in the new language, they
began to talk of Christ.
" ' Your religion is good for you, and ours for
us. You will be rewarded in your way, and we
in ours,' came the answer.
" Then Mrs. Judson was taken sick, and had to
go to Madras for three months to save her life.
In August, 1815, a little baby came; but, after
eight months, God took it again. Then, just as
Mr. Judson had nearly finished a Burman tract
and a grammar of the language, and had com
menced translating the Gospel of Matthew, he
was seized with severe pain in his head, and his
eyes became so weak that crooks and circles
melted together before him, and he could not
even read his English Bible."
" I should have given up," said Charlie.
" At that very time he wrote to Luther Rice,

OUR GOLD-MINE. 75
' If a ship were lying in the river, ready to carry
me to any part of the world I should choose,
and that with the entire approval of all my
Christian friends, I would prefer- dying to
embarking.' " And Mrs. Judson wrote, .' God grant that we
may live and die among the Burmans, though
we should never do any thing more than smooth
the way for others.'
"In 1 8 16 they received from Serampore a
present- of a printing-press, and from America
a man to use it. Mr. and Mrs. Hough were the
first missionaries sent out by the Baptist Mis
sionary Convention. A tract, a grammar, and
the first chapters of Matthew, had already been
translated : so press and man found immediate
employment, and soon the tracts were ready for
distribution. "One day in March, 1817, as Mr. Judson was
sitting with his teacher, there came up the steps
a respectable-looking Burman, followed by a
servant. " ' Where do you come from ? ' asked Mr.
Judson. " The man gave no .definite answer, but, be
fore long, surprised the missionary by the ques-

76 OUR GOLD-MINE.
tion, 'How long time will it take me to learn
the religion of Jesus ? '
" ' That question cannot be answered,' said Mr.
Judson. 'If God gives light and wisdom, the
religion of Jesus is soon learned ; but, without
God, a man might study his life long, and make
no proficiency. But how came you to know
any thing of Jesus ? Have you ever been here
before ? '
"'No.'
"'Have you seen any writing concerning
Jesus ? '
" ' I have seen two little books.'
"'Who is Jesus?'
" ' He is the Son of God, who, pitying crea
tures, came into this world, and suffered death
in their stead.'
•"Who is God?'
" He is a being without beginning or end,
who is not subject to old age and death, but
always is.'
"Mr. Judson handed him a tract and cate
chism. He recognized them both, and read
here and there in them, remarking to his fol
lower, ' This is the true God ; this is the right
way.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 77
" Mr. Judson . tried to talk with him ; but he
seemed only to care to get another book. Mr.
Judson told him he had no other, but was busy
translating one, which he should have before
long. " ' But have you not a little of that book done
which you will graciously give me now ? ' per
sisted the inquirer.
" So Judson folded and gave him the first five
chapters of Matthew ; and the man went away."
" Did he ever become a Christian ? " asked
Edith. " I do not know that he did. Three weeks
later, they heard that he read their books all
day, and showed them to all whb called on him.
A year later they met him. He had been made
ruler of a cluster of villages in Pegu. He still
read the books, recommended the tract to his
servants, and asked Mr. Judson to preach to his
people. Probably, fear of persecution kept him
back." " A rather discouraging sign for the, future,"
remarked Charlie.
" To one who knows he is doing God's wort
in God's way, all signs are signs of promise.
This first inquirer proved that, the Burman

78 OUR GOLD-MINE.
mind was not impenetrable, as it had seemed ;
and Mr. Judson saw in him a call for more
workers." "And we sent them two," interrupted grand
pa. " I only wish you could have seen Coleman
and Wheelock, — perfect gentlemen, and real
workers. They began with the sailors as soon
as they stepped on board ship ; and six or seven
were converted before they reached Calcutta.
But Wheelock lived only one year, and Coleman
two." " What a pity they started ! " said Clarence.
"I don't know. We're apt, when our friends
die, to be glad if we've let them have what they
wanted : and, if a man's hungry for missionary
work, I don't know why he shouldn't be grati
fied just as much as if he's hungry for oranges ;
and Coleman and Wheelock were just that.
They begged to be made missionaries as an
other man would beg to be made governor. ' I
had rather be a missionary of the cross than a
king on his throne,' Wheelock wrote ; and Cole
man, ' Never did a man famishing with hunger
partake of food with more satisfaction than we
beheld the shores of Burmah ; ' and Mrs. Whee
lock added, 'Nothing would be more dreadful

OUR GOLD-MINE.

79

than the thought of returning to my native
land.' "
"Well, tastes differ," said Clarence, taking
advantage of one of those safe refuges that are
open alike to all disputants.
" I was going to tell how Ward visited us,
and then Mrs. Judson, and how we sent out Dr.
Price ; but I guess it's mother's turn now."
" Dr. Price — was he a D.D. when he start
ed ? " asked Walter with suddenly awakened
interest. " No, a medical man : such can do some
things better than anybody else. Now, moth-
en" "The first thing to be done after Coleman
and Wheelock landed was to build a meeting
house, or, as they called it, a zayat. The first
public worship was held there on the 4th of
April, 1 8 19. On the 25 th, it was permanently
opened for public instruction in religion ; and for
a week inquirers came and went as plentifully
as> and with about the same spirit with which,
inquirers would visit a Buddhist priest, should
one set up .a similar edifice by the wayside in
New York or Philadelphia.
" It is late now. Next week we will spend a
while with Judson in his new quarters."

So

OUR GOLD-MINE.

"What's the matter with Walter?" said Katie
after the circle had broken up. " He has hardly
said a word all the evening."
"And what made him wake up so suddenly
when grandpa spoke of Dr. Price ? " asked
Edith. Because the mother's eye had caught some
thing which awakened hopes she dared not
express, she only gave the answer, — almost
always a safe one, — "I don't know."

CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST BURMAN CHRISTIANS.
OW, Miss Ida, if I had about three
yards of your strongest twine, I would
— J finish my derrick."
Ida did not doubt the truth of Walter's state
ment ; but, as she could not see that the world
would be any the better for the completion of a
five-foot derrick, she made no answer.
" Please ? " said Charlie inquiringly.
" It is up stairs ; and I am too busy to go for
it." " Let us go."
" You would disarrange things."
About two minutes' silence, and Charlie mut
tered, " Let's try Kate."
Kate sat with slate and pencil in hand. A
few mornings of earnest work had done wonders
in collecting and .arranging the ideas that had
81

82 OUR GOLD-MINE.
been promiscuously scattered into her brain
during her school-days ; and, for the sake of her
studies, she had very cheerfully accepted the
interruption of the missionary talks for a few
evenings. She was very busy when the boys
burst in upon her.
" How's Sir Isaac to-day ? " Sir Isaac was the
most recent of the thousand and one names by
which Walter designated Katie.
Katie's brow knit a little. She was afraid of
losing track of her work.
" Could he come down from his calculations
among the clouds to provide a forlorn derrick
with something stronger than a mathematical
line for a cord ? "
" O Walter ! I can't now " —
" Just imagine I'm a heathen, Kate ; and then
it'll come easy."
" I can easily imagine it," replied Kate ;
" but " —
" Then suppose you were a missionary, and
could accommodate the heathen that way."
Katie went up stairs without a word, and re
turned with the cord. The last two evenings
had convinced her that the missionary life was,
after all, only doing daily among the heathen

OUR GOLD-MINE. 83
the very best and kindest and most Christian
things one could. And why should she not do
them here ? If not, she could not there.
Walter entered the sitting-room, making a
long flourish over Ida's head with his cord.
" If I had nothing nearer than India to occu
py my mind, I could afford to be as obliging as
Katie," Ida replied a little tartly. " I hope to
make my life of some practical use."
" What have you got to do now ? " asked
Charlie. " What have you got to do ? " was a question
Ida was always ready to answer.
" First I must finish an apron for Mrs.
Keith's baby ; then I must make some broth for
Widow Lane ; then I told Mr. Parsons I would
make arrangements for the Sunday-school meet
ing (poor man, the people take hold so poorly,
he is almost discouraged) ; then I have two
flounces to bind, and a watch-case to finish ;
then Minnie must have her primer lesson " —
"Now, Ida, I'm going to give you a piece of
my mind," interrupted Walter. " Of course,
nobody but a heathen would hint that flounces
and watch-cases aren't practical ; but I do pro
test, that if it's sensible to make a bear of

84 OUR GOLD-MINE.
yourself for the sake of Sunday schools, and dis
couraged ministers, and primer lessons, here, it's
just as much so to do it for the same things in
India ; and that saving babies from the alliga
tors, and widows from the fire, is just as practi
cal business as making aprons and broth for
them." " They don't burn widows and kill babies
now," said Ida.
" Maybe not. They would, though; if every
body had always been as practical as you are."
The door closed.
Quarrelling is wicked ; but if people would
always go away after it, and think over what has
been said, it might be made quite useful. " Is
my life a practical one, after all ? " was the ques
tion which this quarrel forced upon Ida ; and
she thought about it at intervals, until in the
evening she joined the group gathered to listen
to the story : —
" On the ist of May, out of the crowd that
were flocking past to the great pagoda at the
end of the road, there came into the zayat a
young man called Moung Nau. He had come
the day before, but was too silent and reserved
to be counted as an inquirer. Inquirers, or

OUR GOLD-MINE. 85
rather questioners, were plenty that day ; for it
was Burman worship day, and some of them
excited strong hope. But on the next Sunday
only one of them all was found in the little
company of thirty that gathered to hear Mr.
Judson preach ; and that one was Moung Nau.
Most of the audience were restless and thought
less : he was quiet and attentive. Day after
day, he came steadily ; while others came, satis
fied their curiosity about the strange teacher,
and went away, not to return.
"At- last Mr. Judson began to hope that
Moung Nau was really a Christian. 'It seems
almost too much to believe that God has begun
to manifest his grace to the Burmans,' he. writes
in his journal of May 5 ; ' but this day I could
not resist the delightful conviction that this is
indeed the case. Praise and glory be to his
NAME iFOREVERMORE. AMEN.'
" On May 8 he writes, ' Burmari day of wor
ship. Thronged with visitors through the day.
Moung Nau was with me a great part of the
day, and assisted me much in explaining things
to new-comers.'
"May 9. — 'Only two or three of all I con
versed with yesterday came again. Had, how-

86 OUR GOLD-MINE.
ever, an assembly of thirty. In the course of
conversation, Moung Nau declared himself a dis
ciple of Christ in the presence of a considera
ble number.'
"May ii. — 'Heard much to-day of the dan
ger of introducing a new religion. Those who
seemed most favorably disposed whispered me
that I had better not stay in Rangoon and talk
to the common people, but' go directly to the
" Lord of life and death." If he approved of
the religion, it would spread rapidly ; but, in the
present state of things, nobody would dare to
prosecute inquiries.'
" May 15. — ' Moung Nau has been with me all
day, as well as yesterday. He is anxious to be
received into our company, and thinks it a great
privilege to be the first among the Burmans in
professing the religion of Christ.'
" On the 6th of June he sent to the mission
aries, of his own accord, a letter, telling of his
faith in Christ, giving a clear view of the Chris
tian religion, and asking baptism.
" Two weeks later, before the sleepy eyes of a
stone Gaudama who kept guard over the arti
ficial pond near by, the first Burman convert
was baptized.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 87
"Perhaps it was well for the early Burman
converts that the god they had worshipped had
always been entirely indifferent to the question
whether he was worshipped or not.
" But, though Gaudama would never trouble
himself about their defection, there stood always
before them the nearer terror, — the viceroy, the
woongyee, the emperor ; for this thing must
some time reach the golden ears ; and what
right had a subject, a slave, to think differently
from the ' Lord of heaven and earth ' ? Then
there were stories of a sect of Buddhists that
had been suppressed by the sword ; of a Catho
lic convert beaten till his body was one livid
wound : and filling the air around them were
the Nats, wild; roving spirits, true descendants
of the discrowned Brahman gods ; there was no
telling what uncanny things they might do. So
it was not a light thing for the poor young work
man, Moung Nau, to stand alone, a Christian in
a nation of Buddhists, following that other poor
young workman, who, eighteen hundred years
before, stood alone in Palestine.
" Meanwhile ' the immortal king, wearied with
the fatigues of royalty, had gone up to amuse
himself in the celestial regions,' or, in plain

88 OUR GOLD-MINE.
English (it would have been a crime to hint the
thing in Burman); had died. His body had
been burned on a pile of perfumed wood
anointed with ¦ costly oils ; his ashes collected
in an urn, and buried in the royal cemetery ; his
grandson seated on his throne ; his brother and
other troublesome relatives tucked into red
sacks, and respectfully drowned ; and the em
pire was running on as before.
" Inquirers came and went ; hopes rose and
fell. Sometimes the little zayat would be
crowded ; sometimes almost deserted. Often
Burmans would come for days in succession, and
appear fully convinced of the truth of Christianity,
when some rumor of probable persecution would
drive them away, not to return. Sometimes one
who appeared to be an inquirer would turn out
to be a Buddhist priest, or a bitter reviler of
religion. Often a listener, convinced, but not
converted, would turn away with the remark,
' Superior wisdom compels me to bow ; ' and
there his inquiries would end.
"But there were some who showed they had
begun to feel that hunger for which Buddhism
offers no food. Among these were Moung
Byaa, Moung Thalah, Moung Ing, and Moung

OUR GOLD-MINE 89
Shwa-gnong. Moung Thalah was an interest
ing young man, a quick thinker, and ready-
talker. Moung Byaa was a mernber of Mrs.
Judson's school. These two were soon received
into the church ; and Mr. Judson writes : —
"Nov. 14. — 'Lord's Day. Have been much
gratified to find that this evening the three con
verts repaired to the zayat, and held a prayer-
meeting of their own accord.'
" Buddhism was not all that Judson had to con
tend with. Atheism, like pauperism and idiocy,
is found everywhere. Types of religion, like
forms of wealth and learning, vary, and make
men vary ; but the absolutely lacking are essen
tially the same in Burmah and in Boston. Why
this fact should furnish ground of boasting, I
am unable to see ; but in Burmah, at least, there
is no prouder set of men than those who have
abjured the gods their neighbors worship, and
taken nothing in their place. Judson found no
bitterer opponents. Having no lines of belief
to defend, they had the same advantage in dis
cussion that the guerilla has over the ordinary
soldier in warfare. All the arguments directed
against idolatry were powerless against them.
The Buddha was to them only a man ; Buddh-

90 OUR GOLD-MINE.
ism, a useful lie. They believed in the eternity
of wisdom, but not in a being eternally wise.
Beyond this, they believed nothing ; and gener
ally their belief in the eternal wisdom did not
prevent their following the dictates of temporal
wisdom, so far as to bow before pagodas, and
make offerings to Gaudama.
" A leader and teacher in one of these sects
was Moung Shwa-gnong. He first came to the
zayat Aug. 26, 18 19. Tall, strong mentally and
physically, a man of commanding influence, and
a frequent visitor, I suspect his image haunted
Mr. Judson's dreams by night, and his thoughts
by day, for some time afterward. ' Oh that he
may be brought in ! ' Mr. Judson writes Sept.
19, 'if it be not too great a favor for this infant
mission to receive.'
" At first he seemed to argue rather with the
idea of silencing or converting Mr. Judson than
of being converted by him ; but in time he. grew
more seriously interested. Finally he admitted
the existence of an eternal God.
"Then there spread through the Buddhist
ranks, and reached those ears that were hearing-
trumpets for the golden ears, a whisper that
Moung Shwa-gnong was going over to the

O.UR GOLD-MINE. 91
foreign religion. ' Inquire further,' said the
viceroy ; and the words sent terror to the hearts
of Christians and inquirers, and especially of
Moung Shwa-gnong. He went to the Mangen
teacher who had accused him, and apologized
and explained and flattered, and somehow satis
fied him.
"Meanwhile a poor fisherman, Moung Ing,
joined the circle of. inquirers, and before long
professed himself a believer. 'Thus,' writes
Mr. Judson, 'the poor fisherman Moung Ing is
taken, and the learned teacher Moung Shwa-
gnong left.'
" Moung Shwa-gnong called soon after ; but
his call was short and formal. The rest deserted
the zayat entirely. Mr. Judson sat there for days
together without a single visitor. Curiosity-
hunters no longer wished to come ; inquirers
dared not. One morning, as Mr. Judson took
his usual ride through the grounds of the great
pagoda, he was met by the Mangen teacher,
with an order from the viceroy that he must
ride there no more under pain of being beaten,
— a circumstance trifling in itself, but important
as a straw showing the state of the wind.
" Aside from the abandonment of the work

92 OUR GOLD-MINE.
(which they did not even think of), but one
course seemed to open before the missionaries,
— they must go themselves to the capital, and
present their cause to the emperor.
" Before they left, they received another visit
from Moung Shwa-gnong. Hours passed in dis
cussing his deistical cavils ; but finally he owned
that he did not believe any thing he had said,
but had been merely trying the strength of Mr.
Judson and his religion.
" Later in the day, when he and the missionary
were alone, he said, ' This day is different from
all the days on which I have visited you. I see
now my error in trusting in my own reason. I
now believe in the crucifixion of Christ (a point
concerning which he had been especially incred
ulous), because it is contained in the Scripture.'
" Some time after, he said, ' I think I should
not be lost, though I should die suddenly.'
" ' Why not ? ' asked Mr. Judson.
" ' Because I love Christ.'
" ' Do you really love him ? '
" ' No one that knows him can help loving
him.' " And so he departed.
" They saw little more of him till just as they

OUR GOLD-MINE. 93
were pushing off from Rangoon, when they
caught a glimpse of his tall form standing on
the wharf, waving them adieu with his hand.
" Up the Irrawadi, for a full month, the mis
sionaries sailed, with the hope, that if they could
reach Ava, present themselves at the golden
feet, and gain audience of the golden ears, they
could secure religious toleration. They saw the
king ; but their hopes were wholly disappointed.
God did not mean that his infant cause in Bur
mah should be rocked by royal fingers. '
" ' In regard to the objects of your petition,
his Majesty gives no order ; in regard to your
sacred books, his Majesty has no use for them ;
take them away,' was their final answer ; and
they went out of the palace with much less hin-
derance than they had entered it.
" They were far worse off than if they had not
come. Their defeat would be known • at Ran
goon ; and, if people had feared to inquire when
royal protection was merely doubtful, what could
be expected now that it was definitely withheld ?
" At Pyee, two hundred and thirty miles from
the capital, they met Moung Shwa-gnong, on a
visit to an old acquaintance dangerously ill.
Mr. Judson told him every thing, — the repulse

94 OUR GOLD-MINE.
at court, the entire failure of the expedition, the
certainty that persecution lay before them ; and
closed with the story of the Catholic convert,
years before, beaten almost to death with the
iron mall.
" Moung Shwa-gnong was not frightened :
on the contrary, he' expressed himself rather
too bravely for the circumstances.
" ' It is not for you that we are concerned,'
said Mr. Judson, ' but for those who have pro
fessed Christ. When they are accused, they
cannot worship at the pagodas, nor recant before
the Mangen teacher.'
" Moung Shwa-gnong felt the force of this
reflection, and tried to explain.
" ' Say nothing,' said Mr. Judson. ' One thing
you know, that, when formerly accused, if you
had not in some way or other satisfied the mind
of the Mangen teacher, your life would not now
be remaining in your body.'
" ' Then,' said he, ' if I must die, I shall die in
a good cause. I know it is the cause of truth.
I believe,' he added emphatically, ' in the eternal
God, in his Son Jesus Christ, in the atonement
which Christ has made, and in the writings of
the apostles as the true arid only word of God.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 95
Perhaps you may not remember, that, during my
last visits, you told me I was trusting in my own
reason rather than in the word of God. Since
then I have seen my error, and endeavored to
renounce it. . You explained to me, also, the evil
of worshipping at pagodas, though I told you
my heart did not partake in the worship. Since
you left Rangoon, I have not lifted up my folded
hands before a pagoda. , Now you say that I am
not a disciple. What lack I yet ? '
" ' Teacher,' replied Mr. Judson, ' you may be a
disciple at heart ; but you are not a full disciple.
You have not faith and resolution enough to
keep all the co'mmands of Christ, particularly
that which requires you to be baptized, though in
the face of persecution and death.'
" Moung Shwa-gnong heard this in silence.
He evidently had something to think about.
Soon after, Mr. Judson hinted that the missiona
ries might be obliged to leave Rangoon.
" This roused him. ' Say not so,' he said.
' There are some who will investigate, notwith
standing ; and, rather than have you quit Ran
goon, I will go myself to the Mangen teacher^
and have a public dispute with him. I know
the truth is on my side.'

96 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"'Ah!' said Mr. Judson, 'you may have a
tongue to silence him ; but he has a pair of
fetters and an iron mall to tame you. Remem
ber that.'
" Mr. Judson belonged to that small number
of men to whom telling the exact truth' is a ne
cessity. This made him seem sometimes harsh,
even severe ; but perhaps this very severity,
which so often marks his dealings with inquirers,
saved the early Burman church from those dis
tressing cases of discipline which are the saddest
and most frequent trial alike of missionaries
and pastors.
"A wakeful night followed this talk with
Moung Shwa-gnong. Could they leave to eter
nal darkness souls already asking for light ? On
the other hand, could they stand by and en
courage their disciples in the face of infernal tor
tures, and even of death ? Might not their own
flesh fail when their turn came to endure them ?
And could they hope, that, when the result of
the visit to the palace was known, even one of
the 'three baptized would remain firm ? About
these subjects they talked till midnight, and
thought till nearly morning.
"They reached Rangoon on Friday. On Sun-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 97
day they called the three disciples together, and
gave them a full account of the affair. To the
joy of the missionaries, instead of being intimi
dated, they vied with each other in expressing
their love to Christ, and devotion to his cause.
" ' But whither are the teachers going ? ' they
asked, when Mr. Judson spoke of leaving Ran
goon. " Mr. Judson told them of Chittagong, where
the death of an English missionary had left a
band of -native Christians as sheep without a
shepherd. It was there that the teachers meant
to go.
" ' And what will you do ? ' they asked the
disciples. "Moung Nau had already said he should fol
low them to any part of the world.
" ' As for me, I go where preaching is to be
had,' said Moung Thahla.
" Moung Byaa was silent. He was married ;
and no Burman woman could be allowed to leave
the country.
'"But if I must be left here alone,' he said at
last, ' I shall remain performing the duties of
Jesus Christ's religion. No other shall I think
of.'

98 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" A few days later he came with his brother-in-
low, Moung Myatyah, an inquirer.
" ' Teacher,' said Moung Byaa, ' my mind is
distressed. I can neither eat nor sleep since I
find you are going- away. I have been around
among those who live near us ; and I find some
who' are even now examining the new religion.
Do stay with us a few months. Stay till there
are eight or ten disciples ; then appoint one to
be the teacher of the rest. I shall not be con
cerned about the event. The religion will spread
of itself. The emperor cannot stop it.'
" In the same way spoke the rest. Soon fresh
inquirers made the path of duty plain. Yet
Chittagong ought not to be neglected : so Mr.
and Mrs. Coleman went there, while the Judsons
remained at Rangoon.
"And now Moung Shwa-gnong commenced
the sober business of undoing the work of his
past life. ' I know nothing,' he would say to
those who had looked up to him as infallible.
' If you want true wisdom, go to the foreign
teacher, and you will find it.'
" He gave this advice to Mah Menla, a woman,
who, in mind, was among Burman women what
Moung Shwa-gnong himself was among men.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

99

Two years before, she had met with a tract
which gave her some idea of an eternal God.
Before long she joyfully received Christ. 'I am
surprised,' she said, 'to find this religion has
such an effect upon my mind as to make me
love Christ more than my dearest natural rela
tives.'' "Before July 17, five more had been baptized,
among them Moung Shwa-ba, who soon felt
called to preach ; but Moung Shwa-gnong and
Mah Menla were not among them, and Moung
Shwa-gnong had for some time been missing
from the zayat.
" And now Mrs. Judson's illness compelled a
voyage to Calcutta. Just before they started,
the teacher made his appearance. Mr. Judson
received him with some reserve, but soon found
he had staid away from illness, not from choice.
Before evening,- others came in; and, as if to
bring things to a crisis, Moung Shwa-gnong
said, ' My lord teacher, there are now several of
us present who have long considered this re
ligion. I hope that we are all disciples of
Christ' " ' I am afraid to say that,' replied Mr. Jud
son : ' however, it is easily ascertained ; and let

ioo OUR GOLD-MINE.
me begin with you, teacher. I have heretofore
thought that you fully believed in the eternal
God ; but I have had some doubt whether you
fully believed in the Son of God and the atone-'
ment which he has made.'
" ¦ I assure you,' Moung Shwa-gnong replied,
' that I am as fully persuaded of the latter as of
the former.'
" ' Do you believe, then, that none but the
disciples of Christ will be saved from sin and
hell ? '
" ' None but his disciples.'
" ' How, then, can you remain without taking
the oath of allegiance to Jesus Christ, and be
coming his full disciple in body and soul ? '
" ' It is my earnest desire to do so by receiv
ing baptism ; and for the very purpose of ex
pressing that desire I have ceme here to-day.'
" ' You say you are desirous of receiving bap
tism : may I ask when you desire to receive
it?' '"At any time you will please to give it.
Now, this moment, if you please.'
" ' Do you wish to receive baptism in public,
or in private ? '
" ' I will receive it at any time, and under any
circumstances you may please to direct.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. . 101
" ' Teacher,' said Mr. Judson, ' I am satisfied,
from your conversation this forenoon, that you
are a true disciple ; and I reply, therefore, that
I am as desirous of giving you baptism as you
are of receiving it.'
" Mr. Judson then questioned Moung Thahla.
'"If the teacher, Moung Shwa-gnong, con
sents,' he said, ' why should I hesitate ? '
" ' And, if he does not consent, what then ? '
" ' I must wait a little longer.'
" ' Stand by,' said Mr. Judson. ' You trust in
Moung Shwa-gnong rather than in Jesus Christ.
You are not worthy of being baptized.'
, " The other men were still farther from com
mitting themselves. Mah Menla said with
some hesitation, that she desired baptism, if Mr.
Judson thought it suitable. But Mr. Judson
replied that he could not baptize any one who
could possibly remain easy without.
" Moung Shwa-gnong was joyfully received
by the church ; and a day later, just at night, he
was baptized.
" ' Ah ! he has gone to obey the command of
Christ, while I remain without obeying. I shall
not be able to sleep to-night. I must go home
and consult my husband, and return."

io2 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"About nine o'clock' she returned, and re
quested baptism. Late at night, by lantern-
light, Mr. Judson led her out to a pond near the
house, and baptized her.
"The next day the Judsons embarked for
Calcutta. On their return, more than five
months later, they found every convert firm, and
rejoicing to see them.
" Moung Shwa-gnong was not disappointed in
his expectation of persecution. Up to the time
of his baptism, his acquaintances had not
thought it a possible thing that the great teach
er would allow himself to be put under water by
a foreigner. When the fact was known, all the
priests and officers of the village where he lived
entered into a conspiracy to destroy him. They
held daily consultations! At length one of
them sounded the viceroy with the complaint,
'Moung Shwa-gnong is doing every thing in
his power to turn the priests' rice-pot bottom
upwards.' " ' What consequence ? ' answered the vice
roy. ' Let the priests turn it back again ; ' and
the hopes of the conspiracy were blasted.
" Soon the fisherman Moung Ing, the second
convert, and Mah Myatlah, were added to the
church.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 103
"On the 2 1 st of August, Mrs. Judson was
compelled, by rapidly decliriing health, to leave
Burmah for England and America. In Decem
ber, Dr. Price arrived from America. Very soon
the fame of his skill reached Ava, now the capi
tal. All articles of especial value discovered in
the Burman Empire are at once appropriated by
the king. Dr. Price was sent for. There were
now eighteen converts at Rangoon, all active
workers. Mr. and Mrs. Hough could take care
of the mission there till more help should arrive.
Mr. Judson decided to accompany Dr. Price to
Ava, and, if the apparent opening proved a real
one, remain with him.
" It was not until the fourth day from their
arrival, after he had had several conversations
with Dr. Price, that his Majesty noticed Mr.
Judson. " ' And you in black, what are you ? A medi
cal man, too ? ' he asked.-
" ' Not a medical man, but a teacher of reli
gion, your Majesty.' The king made a few in
quiries about the religion; and then asked the
alarming question, ' Have any embraced it ? "
" ' Not here.'
"'Are there any at Rangoon ? '

104 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"'There are a few.'
" ' Are they foreigners ? '
" I- think, from a passage in his journal, that,
even to Mr. Judson's mind, there occurred the
possibility of evading this question; but the
temptation, if it came, left unharbored.
" ' There are some foreigners and some Bur
mans,' he replied.
" The king was at first silent, but evidently
not displeased ; for he soon began again to ask
questions on religion, geography, and astronomy.
" For three months Mr. Judson remained at
Ava, now discussing natural sciences with the
royal family, now laboring with court officials to
gain permission to occupy a piece of land with
a mission-hOuse, but pressing the claims of
God and religion upon his noble listeners as
earnestly and fearlessly as he had pressed them
upon the fishermen and lumberers of Rangoon.
" In January, 1823, he gained the desired per
mission, and sailed for Rangoon. In August
he completed the translation of the New Testa
ment, in the version of which he had been aided
by Moung Shwa-gnong. In December he wel
comed back Mrs. Judson.
"Mr. and Mrs. Wade sailed with her. -A

OUR GOLD-MINE. 105
week after they reached Rangoon, Mrs. Judson
was packed with her husband and all her goods
into a little boat, and sailing for Ava.
" On their way they met the Burman general,
Bandula, with a fleet of war-boats ready to in
vade the British province of Chittagong, bear
ing with him, it was said, golden fetters with
which to bind Lord Amherst, and orders, after
taking Calcutta, to march on and capture Lon
don. This was only one of many affronts that
' the lord of land and water ' had offered to the in
significant little island of Great Britain ; and the
insults had been received in a manner which
the Burman king could explain in but one way,
— the English were afraid of him. He was
satisfied that it would not be a difficult thing for
his invincible army to conquer British India, or
even England itself.
" When the Judsons reached Ava, they found
all interest concentrating Upon the approaching
war, Dr. Price no longer in favor, and a shadow
of suspicion resting upon all foreign residents."

CHAPTER VI.
in prison.
jECOND childhood is often as beautiful
as first. When the world is thoroughly
civilized and Christianized, I think we
shall hear of the adoption of homeless old men
into families as grandfathers, as we now hear of
the adoption of infants as children and grand
children ; and people will watch the man who is
ripening into an angel with the same interest
and tenderness they now give the child who is
ripening into a man.
Every thing has to make way for an old man
as for a baby ; but, in a well-regulated household,
things are much more flexible than they are
generally supposed to be. Grandpa Sears had
not been in the house two weeks, before it was
as natural to Katie to place his chair by the fire,
and shake up his cushion, and comb his thick
106

OUR GOLD-MINE. 107
*
white hair, and dust his room, and in a thousand
ways keep a half-motherly, half-daughterly watch
over him, as to carry on her studies.
And in many ways grandpa Sears helped.
The frequent spectacle and hat-and-cane hunts
were excellent discipline for the children. The
many ways in which even little Minnie had to
yield her way to grandpa were teaching her
unselfishness, very much as a new baby would
have done ; only there was no one to incur the
risk the last baby always runs of being spoiled
itself while endeavoring to educate other people.
And then grandpa had lived when missions be
gan ; and the early missionary histories, which,
in Katie's mind, had ranked with those of the
crusades or the Reformation, grew real and
present as she talked with him, and her mis
sionary zeal kindled more than ever.
But missionary zeal was no longer a thing to
be laid on the shelf for future use. " To do the
best and kindest things I can to everybody here,
or in India, or anywhere else," was a definition
of the missionary work that was rapidly working
its way into Katie's daily life. And it was sur
prising how much .more interesting every thing
around her became in consequence, — her Sun-

108 OUR GOLD-MINE.
day-school class, her neighbors, Ida's pet widows
and babies and sick people, the children of the
family, everybody.
And, while Katie was learning that there were
souls to save here as well as in India, Ida was
beginning to see, that, as God looked at things,
the importance of any particular field of labor
did not depend upon the fact that she was in it,
and that a work that would be practical where
she lived might not be wholly visionary ten
thousand miles away. She said little ; but that
little signified so much, that it was no surprise,
when on the next missionary evening, which
came this time after three weeks' delay, she
herself placed the chairs, and called the group
together to listen to Mrs. Bancroft's story.
" We left Bandula on his way to Chittagohg.
The British soon heard of their approaching
guest, and resolved to return the call before it
was made. Suddenly a British fleet appeared
before Rangoon. Orders were given by the
Burman officers for;the arrest, and, in case of
firing, the immediate execution, of every man in
Rangoon wearing a hat. Messrs. Hough and
Wade were thrust, with others, into prison,
where they waited the firing of the gun that

OUR GOLD-MINE. 109
should be their death-signal. The sand was
spread that should drink their blood, and the
guard were sharpening with bricks their weap
ons of death, when the attack began, and the
first ball came flying directly over their heads.
Others followed. Panic-struck, -the guard fled,
.too anxious for their own lives to take those of
their prisoners. Soon came a pause in the fir
ing, and a moment of hope for the missionaries.
Then fifty Burmans rushed in, seized the prison
ers, bound them tightly with cords, drove them
at the point of their spears to the place of execu
tion, bent forward their bodies ; and the spotted-
faced executioner stood ready, waiting the word
to strike. The command was given. Mr. Hough
alone knew enough of the language to understarid
it. He turned, and begged the Yawoon to let
him go to the British fleet and try to persuade
them to stop firing. Then there came another
shower of shot and she'll, and the crowd, Yawoon
and all, fled, driving the prisoners, still tightly
chained, before them for a mile and a half. Their
wives had passed a sleepless night at the mis
sion-house, cheered only by the presence and
prayers of Moung Shwa-ba, who remained with
them. In the morning they went out ; and now,

no OUR GOLD-MINE.
disguised by blackened faces and Burman dress,
they stobd by the wayside, and saw their hus
bands driven past to die. When the fugitives
halted, Mr. Hough renewed his petition. It was
granted, but with the threat, that, if he failed to
stop the firing,»all the prisoners would be in
stantly killed. He went ; but the firing did not ,
cease. Through the night Mr. Wade lay on the
ground, in a dungeon near the great pagoda,
without food or drink, almost without clothing,
his ankles galled with unwieldy iron chains,
waiting hour by hour the summons to death.
With the morning came the British troops.
Rangoon was captured, and the prisoners re
leased. Soon fever took up the work in which
the Burmans had failed. Thousands of British
soldiers fell victims. Mr. and Mrs. Wade were
among the sufferers. As soon as they could
endure the journey, they went with Mr. and Mrs.
Hough to Bengal, where they remained till the
close of the war."
" And where were the Judsons ? " asked Edith.
" With Dr. Price at Ava. The news of the
capture reached the capital in about two weeks.
Suspicion at once fell upon all foreign residents.
The missionaries were arrested with others as

OUR GOLD-MINE. in
spies ; and, within three months from their arri
val, the men who had come to Ava by the royal
invitation, were, by the royal command, strung
upon a bamboo pole, manacled each with three
pair of fetters, and thrust with seventy others
into the darkest and filthiest of Burman prisons."
"But you can't think how often we asked,
' Where are the Judsons ? ' " interrupted grand
father. " How we watched and waited and waited,
and almost fought for the first look at the maga
zine, and then dropped it, half uncut, when we
found there was no news all those months after
Mr. Hough wrote about the attack on Rangoon.
You can't know any thing about it unless " —
the old man looked at Mrs. Bancroft, and his
voice grew softer — " you have watched for 'let
ters from some one in the army or on the sea
that never came back. It was most like that."
" Now," resumed Mrs. Bancroft, " for twenty-
one months we find Mr. Judson and Dr. Price
prisoners of the Burmans ; for seven months in
the Ava death-prison, a part of the time crowded
with more than a hundred others — English,
Portuguese, and Burmans, political enemies of
the king, state officers in disgrace, thieves, cut
throats, deserters, English soldiers, innocent

112 OUR GOLD-MINE.
victims, villains of every dye — into a single
un ventilated room, under the care of a jailer
called by the Burmans 'the tiger-cat,' and bear
ing the brand of loothat (murderer) upon his
breast, to whose mind human torture furnished
the most enjoyable of pastimes; then driven six
miles in shackles over burning sands, where
every step left blood-tracks; then for seven
months at Oung-pen-la, at first in a roofless
shanty, whose condition testified to the truth of
the report, that they were sent there to be burned
as a sacrifice.
" Once at riightfall, while they were in the
death-prison, there spread among the prisoners a
rumor, that, at three in the morning, they were
all to be executed. The hour drew near. Mr.
Judson prayed audibly for them all ; then each
prayed silently. Still there was no stir. The
hour passed. It must have passed, they felt,
though they had no means of knowing the time.
Soon their comic jailer opened the door, and
showed them what they already suspected, — it
was morning. They spoke to him of the rumor.
" ' Oh, no ! I .could not spare my dear children
yet, just after having taken so much care to pro
vide them with fitting ornaments ; ' and, as he

OUR GOLD-MINE. .113
spoke, he kicked the bamboo pole to which they
were fastened, till the five pair of fetters of each
clanked together, grinding the cfinging flesh
between them.
" Nearly every day for the first five months,
Mrs. Judson might be seen, dressed in saffron
vest and rich silken skirt (for she had adopted
the Burman dress to please the natives), walking
the two miles from her house to the prison, bear
ing food or clothing for the prisoners. Nearly
every day she visited the palace, and talked with
members of the royal family, hoping through
them to influence the king. But day after day
brought news of English success ; and, while
that continued, whoever spoke a kind word for a
prisoner to his Majesty must do it at the peril
of his life. Sometimes she was forbidden to
see her husband : then they corresponded by
means of tiles, on which the1 writing was invisi
ble when wet, but became legible again after
drying ; or by slips of paper inserted in the long
nose of the pot in which she sent his tea. Some
times she could see him only in the evening;
then she walked the long two miles back to her
house alone, after dark.
" At one time she heard that her house was

114 OUR GOLD-MINE.
to be searched,: She decided to secrete her sil
ver and various other little articles, — a desper
ate expedient; for their discovery 'might mean
death. But to be without these things must
mean starvation : so she carried out her plan,
though with much trembling. The still more
precious manuscript of the Burman New Testa
ment, completed just before they left Rangoon,
she had already sewed up in a pillow so hard
that even a Burman could not covet it, and com
mitted it to Mr. Judson's keeping.
" The officers saw her agitation, and apologized
for the work they were about to do.
" ' Where are your silver, gold, and jewels ? '
asked the royal treasurer.
" ' I have no gold or jewels,' Mrs. Judson an
swered : ' but here is the key of the trunk which
contains the silver ; do with it as you please.'
"The trunk was produced, and the silver
weighed. "'This money,' said Mrs. Judson, 'was col
lected in America from the disciples of Christ,
and sent here for the purpose of building a
kyoung, and for our support while teaching the
religion of Christ. Is it suitable that you should
take it?'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 115
" ' We will state this circumstance to the king,
and perhaps he will restore it,' said one of them.
' But is this all the silver you have ? '
" She could not tell a lie. ' The house is in
your possession; search for yourselves,' she
answered. " ' Have you not deposited silver with some
person of your acquaintance ? '
" ' My acquaintances are all in prison. With
whom should I deposit silver ? '
" Trunks and drawers were examined, and
various articles taken from them ; but the things
Mrs. Judson had secreted were not discovered.
These served as a source Of supply for the con
stant demands of hunger, pity, and Burman
officials, during the long months that followed;
Her clothing she saved by representing that it
would be a disgrace to present articles partly
worn before the king.
"After five months Mrs. Judson was allowed
to build a little bamboo room within the prison
enclosure, and sometimes to spend two or three
hours there with her husband. Then for a time
she ceased to come entirely ; and, when next the
chained prisoner crawled forward to meet her,
he found with her a little wailing, blue-eyed
. babe, born twenty days before.

1 1 6 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Mrs. Judson reached Oung-pen-la a few hours
after the arrival of the prisoners, having followed
with her babe on a Burmese cart, — a vehicle
which would be counted among instruments of
torture, if it were not a common mode of con
veyance. " The next morning, Moung Ing, walking past
the prison, saw on the ground a hard roll of cot
ton, picked it up, and carried it home as a relic
of the missionaries. It was the inside of Dr.
Judson's pillow, which his keepers had restored
to him in exchange for a better one after its first
capture, and had robbed of its covering, and
thrown away when he was driven from the prison
the day before. In it, months later, was found
the Burmese New Testament, unharmed.
" Before this, Bandula had been called back to
Burmah, had been placed in charge of the main
army, had fought, been defeated, and finally
died. The Pakanwoon, who had been disgraced
and imprisoned, offered to take his place, and
conquer the English. His offer was accepted ;
and one of his first orders was for the removal
and death of the prisoners ; but, before it could
¦ be fully obeyed, he was himself arrested for
treason, and,'as a punishment, trodden to death
by elephants.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

117

"Repeated English victories at last led the
Burman king to employ the missionaries in nego
tiating terms of peace. When finally the Eng
lish terms were accepted, we find Mr. and Mrs.
"Judson, still weak from fever, sailing down the
Irrawadi to the English camp.
" The English officers received them with the
greatest honor. Every ' possible attention was
shown Mrs. Judson, much to the surprise and
alarm of the Burmans. Dr. Judson tells of one
time particularly, when a grand dinner was
given in the British camp, at which the Burman
commissioners were guests. Mrs. Judson came
in, leaning upon Gen. Campbell's" arm. The
Burman officers turned pale with chagrin and
fear. "'Those seem to be old acquaintances of
yours,' remarked the general ; ' and, from their
appearance, I judge you must have used them
very badly. Who is yonder owner ' of the
pointed beard ? '
" Then Mrs. Judson told how — when she had
walked miles to his house to ask a favor, which
he roughly refused her, and was obliged to walk
back again under a burning sun — he took from
her her only umbrella, a silk one, and made

118 OUR GOLD-MINE.
sport of her request for its return, or at least a
paper one in exchange.
"The Burman officer knew not a word of Eng
lish ; but conscience and memory were active
interpreters. In vain Mrs. Judson told him
softly in Burman that he had nothing to fear.
The best efforts of the conquerors to put him
and his companions at their ease utterly failed
for that day. Mr. Judson said afterwards, ' I
never thought I was over and above vindictive ;
but really it was one of the richest scenes I ever
saw.' "
" It seems to me," remarked Walter, " that if
the members* of the council that refused admit
tance to Marshman and Ward in 1799, and ex
pelled Judson and Newell in 181 2, could have
been there, it would have been rather a rich
scene to them too."
" They would hardly have enjoyed seeing the
missionaries made the especial favorites of
the East India Company's officers, more than
the Burmans did. But times had changed. Dr.
Judson had done very much for both Burmah
and England in those last weeks of the war,
and his services were appreciated. Both govern
ments wished to avail themselves of them for

OUR GOLD-MINE.

119

the future. The offer of the Burmans he de
clined ; but he consented to accompany Dr.
Crawford in an expedition to Ava, hoping there
by to gain religious toleration in Burmah.
*,' He was gone nearly seven months ; and,
when he returned, she whose almost super
human labors had saved his life through the
years of his imprisonment was at rest beneath
the hopia-tree in Amherst. In a few weeks his
babe was buried by her side."
" May I inquire what- became of the eighteen
converted at Rangoon ? " said Clarence. " It
seems the mission there was not continued."
" No ; for Rangoon had been given back to
Burmah, and there was no assurance of tolera
tion there. As every field could not be cultivat
ed, it seemed best to choose the most hopeful.
" Of the eighteen baptized, Mah Myatlah and
Moung Thahlah had died before the war.
Moung Shwa-gnong had died of cholera just
after its close, and before he could join the mis
sionaries. Of his record during those two years
they learned nothing ; but seven years later, as
the Rangoon assistants passed up the river, they
found at his home ten interesting inquirers, who
had gained their knowledge of Christianity

120 OUR GOLD-MINE.
wholly from Moung Shwa-gnong, who, they
said, ' preached and exhorted a great deal, and at
one time spent a whole day and night talking
on the subject with his neighbors,' Moung
Shwa-ba had remained at the Rangoon mission-
house through the war, and with Moung Ing,
Mah Menla, and Mah Doke, joined the mission
aries at Amherst. Three others would have
been glad to do the same, but were prevented
by the. Burman Government from leaving Ran
goon. The rest had died during the war, or
been scattered into various parts of the coun
try." " Where was Dr. Price ? " asked Walter.
"At Ava. He accepted an offer from the
Burman king, and entered his service as a phy
sician : there for a year he practised medicine,
and lectured on astronomy, bending his knowl
edge of both always to the use of religion ; and
then, early in 1828, when he seemed most use
ful, died of pulmonary consumption."
" And the other missionaries ? " asked Kate.
" Mr. and Mrs. Wade reached Amherst in
November, 1826, a month after Mrs. Judson's
death. Mr. and Mrs. Boardman, who had
reachej. Calcutta in December, 1825, and re-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 12 1
mained there during the last part of the war,
followed, but soon left for Maulmain.
"Before long it was decided that Maulmain,
and not Amherst, should be the seat of govern
ment. The population of Amherst immediately
declined, while Maulmain, two years before a
wild jungle, had more than sixteen thousand in
habitants. Here, in the last months of 1827,
Dr. Judson and the Wades, with some of the
Rangoon converts, joined Mr. and Mrs. Board-
man."

CHAPTER VII.
THE WILD MEN.
jjY story to-night* begins with what has
been called ' the romance of missions,' "
said Mrs. Bancroft, " and I must intro
duce you to a" new branch of our Eastern cous
ins ; but you will hardly see either romance or
cousins in them at first.
"Among the crowds that flocked past Dr.
Judson's zayat at Rangoon, and, later, his way
side shed at Maulmain, might sometimes be
seen a class of men lighter in color than the
'Burmans, and unlike them in feature arid dress.
They talked Burman with the Burmese, but
among themselves spoke a strange language,
that neither Burmans nor missionaries could
understand. They came into the towns on
business, talked on little except business, and
left usually before nightfall. They looked with

OUR GOLD-MINE. 123
indifferent eyes upon gilded pagodas, stone
Gaudamas, and yellow-robed priests and gods.
Priests and Burmans looked with equal indiffer
ence upon them.
" ' Who are they ? ' Dr. Judson as ked the
Burman disciples.
" ' Only wild jungle people,' was the answer,
as if wild jungle people were hardly people at
all. " If you had followed these^men out 0f the
town, you would have seen them going away
to the mountains and plains, entering little
villages, or clusters of long bamboo houses,
built high from the ground for fear of wild
beasts, and with all manner of filth and vermin
beneath them, climbing each to his own apart
ment ; and here at night you may find them,
dirty, often drunken, sometimes fighting, yet
generally truthful and honest. They scratch the
surface of the ground, and raise grain enough-
for their own eating, perhaps a little more, to
pay for taxes, or exchange for tools ; if not, they
borrow of the Burmans, and become their debt
ors, or, what in Burmah is about the same
thing, their slaves.
" Their houses have no niches or shrines for

124 OUR GOLD-MINE.
miniature Buddhas; but the ' spirits' that haunt
all heathen and some Christian lands flock here
in crowds. They have no priests ; but there are
clairvoyants or prophets among them, who are
held in highest reverence, because they can see
the (to all others invisible) spirits. True mon-
archs of the land are these spirits. If sickness
comes, the spirit whose seat is in the back of the
neck has left, and*must be made to return, or
the sufferer wi]^ become the victim of seven
other spirits always waiting to devour, and die.
If the paddy does not prosper, the spirits are to
blame. Tigers, lions, alligators, are incarnate
spirits. If cholera prevails, chickens, or perhaps
a hog, must be sacrificed to the spirits. If a
rooster crows in time of pestilence, his head
comes off, lest he guide the malignant spirits to
the house.
" That the spirits they worship, or the medi
ums through whom they consult them, are good,
they do not pretend ; nor will they deny that they
may be closely connected with Satan. But they
have lost the knowledge of God, and they evi
dently have not lost the knowledge of the Devil :
so, like St. Christopher in the legend, they serve
the stronger."

OUR GOLD-MINE. 125
"But who are these people? and where did
they come from ? " asked Charlie.
"They are the Karens. Ask them their
history, and they will tell you, that, long ago,
their ancestors were expelled from the north
country; that, *led by an inspired guide, they
crossed the river of sand ; that then they had
books of skin, containing the knowledge of
God, but they lost them ; that their fathers had
taught them that some time the white foreigners
would come and bring back again the book of
God. * What a ' book of skin ' is they have not
the slightest idea. Their only books now are
those the missionaries have given them ; but
they will sing you songs like these, which their .
fathers have sung to them for generations
back : —
" ' God is eternal ; his life is long.
God is immortal ; his life is long.
One kalpa, he dies not ;
Two kalpas, he dies not.
He is perfect in meritorious attributes ;
Kalpas on kalpas he dies not.' '
"Or,
" ' In ancient times God created the world :
All things were minutely ordered by him.

126 OUR GOLD-MINE.
He appointed the fruit of trial ;
He gave minute orders.
Satan deceived two persons :
He caused them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial.
When they ate the fruit of trial
They became subject to sickness, old age, and death.'
" Or perhaps you will hear words like these : —
" ' God is not far off. He is among us. He has only
separated himself from us by a single thickness of white
cloth. Children, it is because -men are not upright that
they do not see God.' "
" Very much like the Bible," suggested Clar
ence. " Yes ; and they have traditions of the crea
tion, the fall, the dispersion, so very much like
the Bible, that no one can doubt that some time,
somewhere, the two currents of story must have
come from the same fountain."
" But where did they separate ? " asked Katie.
"at the beginning, or in the days of the Jews,
or since Christ's time ? "
" That is one of God's secrets, and probably
will always be so. All we know is, that, for gene
rations, the Karens have been a nation in the
midst of idols, hating idolatry, surrounded and
conquered by Buddhists, yet believing in an eter
nal God.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 127
" Before the war, the Karens were at the mercy
of the Burmans. If a Burman wanted money
or rice or work, or any thing else that a Karen
had, he usually got it; and for this reason,
among others, the Karens chose their homes in
mountains and glens away from the city. In
one of these out-of-the-way nooks, about the
time that young Carey began to plead . the cause
of the heathen in England, there was born a
Karen boy, Moung Thah-byu. He made a world
of trouble for his parents and everybody that
knew him till he was fifteen, when he left home
to become a robber and murderer. How many
he had killed, or helped others kill, he could
not tell, when, at the close of the war, he en
tered Mr. Hough's service at Rangoon ; but it
was certainly not less than thirty.
" After a while, Moung Shwaba paid a debt for
him, and so gained a right to his services. He
had only ordinary talent, a diabolical temper,
and no disposition to learn. Moung Shwaba
gave him up in despair, and was about sending
him away, when Dr. Judson paid the debt-money,
and took the half-savage into the mission fam-
ily. " Slowly this man waked up to the horror of

I2» OUR GOLD-MINE.
his murderous life, became deeply penitent, and
asked admission to the little Burman church. It
was refused. The disciples saw that still his
temper often gained the victory over him, and
could not see, as Dr. Judson could, how ear
nestly he struggled with it. But, in a few
months more, the change became plain to all ;
and he was received by a unanimous vote.
"The missionaries had already seen, that,
with thousands of miles of unbroken heathenism
around them, they could not afford to concen
trate all their force at Maulmain. In the spring
of 1828 Mr. Boardman went to Tavoy. Moung,
now Ko Thah-byu, — for he was no longer
strictly a young man, — went with him, and was
baptized there.
" And now, through jungles, over mountains,
across streams, wading often in water up to the
armpits, braving the fiercest opposition of the
elements and of human hearts, Ko Thah-byu
went, preaching among the Karen villages.
Some laughed ; some said, ' We will hear you
when the busy season is over ; ' but some be
lieved ; and then from lip to lip, and town to
town, through Tavoy, Mergui, and Tenasserim,
went the message, ' The white foreigners have
come, and brought the book of God.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 129
" Ko Thah-byu's first visit was to a village
whose men were busy planting on the hillside.
One who had remained behind brought the mes
sage to the others, 'A man has come who
wants to tell his genealogy to us.' The villagers
came together; and Ko Thah-byu preached
Christ. One, the brother of the chief of the
village, believed at once. In time he aided in
leading nearly his whole village to Christ.
" Three times he went out, spending days or
weeks alone in the wilderness. Then Mr.
Boardman went with him. It was not easy
work to travel through almost impassable ra
vines, among tiger-haunted forests, up rugged
mountains, under a burning sun ; lying at night,
it might be, on the ground, in a drenching
rain ; weary, sometimes half famished. I hardly
think any physician would recommend scenes
like these to a young man already strongly in
clined to consumption. But when the villagers
brought out their offerings of fowls and plan
tains, and he heard the words, ' Ah ! you have
come at last ; we have been longing to see you,'"
he felt well paid for all.
" Numbers of the Karens applied for baptism.
Thirty- two were at different times accepted and

130 OUR GOLD-MINE.
baptized. Others Mr. Boardman promised to
see again, and examine ; but, in the midst of the
work, his strength failed.
" Mr. Mason reached Tavoy in January, 1831 ;
and, accompanied by him and Mrs. Boardman,
Mr. Boardman was carried on a cot into the
jungle to fulfil his promise.
" ' The cause of God is of more importance
thanrny health,' he said, when his wife saw how
fast he was failing, and urged his returning before
the baptism. ' Ministers often wish to die in the
pulpit ; but to die in the pulpit would be nothing
to dying here in the midst of the Lord's work.'
" So, a little before sunset, he lay on his cot by
the water-side, and watched the entrance into
the visible church of thirty-four previously
examined by himself, and now baptized by Mr.
Mason. Two days later, while on his way home,
he entered the church triumphant in heaven.
" And now for a year, while the Masoris. were
learning the language, upon Mrs. Boardman and
Ko Thah-byu rested the care of the Karen mis
sion. Mrs. Boardman received visits, and directed
inquirers, at the town : Ko Thah-byu made visits,
and awakened inquirers, in the jungle.
" Mr. Wade had reduced the Karen language

OUR GOLD-MINE.

r3i

3 I

a fcrVgr
B KB1

3 1
'1

si

vP!w-'Sfc^«

132

OUR GOLD-MINE.

to writing; and early in 1830 Mr. Bennett, a mis
sionary printer, arrived with his wife. With him
came a printing-press. Nothing could have de
lighted the Karens more than the idea of again
having books in their own language. Every
where Ko Thah-byu went he scattered tracts, and
parts of the Bible ; and, far into the regions un-
visited, the tracts seemed to scatter themselves.
The young Karens were eager to learn. Ko
Thah-byu, too, learned to read ; but what was
easy for them was hard for him, and soon many
of the young disciples were in advance of him
in learning. He was called to be a pioneer, and
he saw it. Leaving Tavoy, he preached to the
Karens about Maulmain, and, later, around Ran
goon. From here Mr. Bennett writes in 1833, —
" ' Ko Thah-byu complains that the Karens
throng his house so that it is breaking down.
Crowds have all day long been coming and
going ; and he has been busy preaching from
morning till night. They are very urgent from
Bassein and Mergui on the south and west,
from Maubee and vicinity on the north, that Ko
Thah-byu or some Karen teacher should come
and teach them to read, and preach to them the
gospel. They offer of their own accord to build
zayats and schoolhouses.' "

OUR GOLD-MINE. 133
" If only a hundred missionaries could have
gone out among them then ! " said Kate.
" If only a hundred could go out now ! " said
Mrs. Bancroft.
" Where was Dr. Judson ? " asked Charlie.
" Doing a work that no other man could do,
— translating the Bible into Burman ; preaching
meanwhile, as he had opportunity, from a little
shed projected into one of the dirtiest, noisiest
streets in Maulmain.
" About this time, in a note signed simply ' A
Missionary,' he gave to the Board six thousand
dollars, his entire patrimony."
"Too much of a sacrifice, I think," said
Charles. " Not more than God required of him," said
Katie. "And of us ? " asked. Walter.
" I doubt if it was any sacrifice at all," said
Mrs. Bancroft. " Where God's cause is wholly
our cause, there is no such thing as sacrificing
for it.
"In 1830 Dr. Judson went to Rangoon.
Here for months Ko Thaha had struggled to
keep together the little Burman church. In
January, 1829, he was ordained their pastor.

134 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Not long after, Moung Ing was associated with
him. In this region the Burmans were not, as
at Maulmain and Tavoy, held under the paw of
the British "lion; and it was a dangerous thing to
inquire : still there were inquirers. ' I asked
Pastor Thaha to go with me,' Dr. Judson writes
when about starting up the Irrawadi for Prome :
' but he thinks it quite impossible, on account of
having so many irons in the fire, — that is, hope
ful inquirers that he must stay to bring forward
and baptize; and he is as solicitous and- busy as
a hen pressing about her chickens. It is quite
refreshing to hear him talk on the subject, and
to see what a nice, careful old shepherd he
makes.' "After returning to Maulmain, Dr. Judson
made three long tours into the jungle, encour
aging the Karen disciples, and preaching, some
times to an assembly ' of earnest listeners,
sometimes in a concert of crying children,
barking dogs, and railing sceptics, to the Karen
heathen; and almost everywhere there was
some fruit.
" Then for two years he shut himself up, so
far as he could, to his translation ; and at the
end of that time, on the last day of January,

OUR GOLD-MINE.

135

1834, he was able to write, 'Thanks be to God,
I can now say I have attained. I have knelt
down before him with the last leaf in my hand,
and implored his forgiveness for all the sins
that have polluted my labors in this department,
and his aid in future efforts to remove the
errors and imperfections which necessarily
cleave to the work. I have commended it to
his mercy and grace. I have dedicated it to
his glory. May he make his own inspired Word,
now complete in the Burman tongue, the grand
instrument of filling all Burmah with songs of
praise to our great God and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen.' "
" But you mustn't think we were not doing
any thing in America all this time," interrupted
grandpa. "We sent out Mr. Jones and his
wife, and the Kincaids, and the Cutters, and
Browns, and Miss Harrington in 1830, and the
Hancocks in 1831, and in 1832 Mr. Simons and
the Webbs, and Vintons, and Howards, and
Comstocks, and Osgoods, and Miss Cummings.
You see, the Karens were Christianizing us
quite as fast as we were Christianizing them."
Katie was often the last to leave the room.
Walter had never before been the last but one ;

136

OUR GOLD-MINE.

Judson with the last leaf of the Burman Bible.

OUR GOLD-MINE. [37
but this time he lingered till all the rest had
gone. Then he turned abruptly to Katie : —
" It's too mean," he said, " that I should be
here making work, when there is so much work
to be done, and men are giving their lives to do
it. I sometimes feel like killing myself, so
there'll be one less sinner to convert."
" Walter, that is dreadful."
" I know it; but I can't help it."
" But are you sure you will not ' make work '
for anybody even then ? "
" I don't know any thing at all about it."
" Neither do I ; but I do know that God ex
pects something more of us than merely not to
make work. He expects us to be workers."
" That is easier said than done."
• " I know it ; but we have to say it, and the
doing of it belongs to God : so I sometimes
think the saying it is the hardest part, after all."
" You haven't been much of a worker always,
Kate." " I know it : I am sorry."
Ten minutes of silence, and the two parted,
understandirig each other better than they ever
had before.

CHAPTER VIII.

JUNGLE AND CITY.

LEASE read Minnie's letter."
Minnie stood by Walter's chair with
a folded paper in her hand. All bits of
paper were " letters " to her.
Walter looked up from the newspaper which
he was not reading, unfolded the letter, glanced
at it, and gave it back.
" Ida, read Minnie's letter."
Ida took the paper from Minnie's hand, and
opened it, not expecting to find writing in it.
But she did find it, and in Katie's hand; and this
is what she read: —

" A missionary must be, —
" i. Patient, not easily discouraged or vexed. — Carey.
" 2. Enthusiastic, but with an enthusiasm that will
hold out when it has nothing external to support it. —
Judson. '38

OUR GOLD-MINE.

139

" 3. Quick to see opportunities of usefulness, and
ready to seize them, without asking questions or making
excuses. — Boardman.m
" 4. Prudent and daring ; braving every thing that
need be braved for Christ's sake, and nothing that need
not be. — Mrs. Judson.
" 5. Unselfish, wholly consecrated to the cause. AH
the rqally successful missionaries are examples.
" 6. Ready in acquiring languages. — Carey, Wade.
" 7. Skilful in domestic matters, versatile, quick to
devise expedients. — Mrs. Judson.
" 8. Able to maintain a Christian life without the help
of Christian society.
" All this I am not. Some part of it, by God's grace,
I may yet become. Still I do not believe God has called
me to the work of a foreign missionary ; but he does call
all who love him to the missionary work somewhere. My
work, I think, is here."
After Ida had read the paper through, it
occurred to her that she had really no right to
read it at all. She replaced it upon Katie's
desk. " Well, Ida ? " said Walter.
"Well."
" When are you going to start ? "
" Start ? Where ? "
" For India. I believe Minnie's letter is a
pretty, fair description of your* character, as

140 OUR GOLD-MINE.
you've usually proclaimed it to us. I ' should
think you would see a very clear call."
" Nonsense ! "
When Katie returned to the room, a glance
at the open paper on her desk, and an exchange
of glances with Ida, told her what . had hap
pened. .
" How much Katie is changed ! " thought Ida.
" She would have been terribly angry if I had
read any such thing of hers, once."
" How much Ida is changed ! " thought Katie.
" She would have given me a long cOngratulo-
triumphant lecture, if she had discovered any
thing of that sort, once."
Both thoughts occurred to Walter, and he
whistled a commentary upon them ; but, unfor
tunately, there has never been written a diction
ary for the interpretation of whistling.
Walter's remark was not entirely nonsense :
if it had been, it would not have intruded itself
upon Ida's mind a dozen times in the course of
the day, haunting her even after Mrs. Bancroft
had begun her story in the evening.
" If you had traversed the jungles about Ta
voy in the dry season of 1831, you might very*
possibly have 1net, emerging from some ruinous

OUR GOLD-MINE. 141
zayat, or coming up dripping from the fording of
a stream,' or perhaps, weary with travel over
untrodden roads and bridgeless rivers, stopping
with her company of Karen followers to dine in
some wayside shed, a lady as refined and deli
cate as any who to-day are reclining on Ameri
can sofas, consecrating their lives to headaches
and dyspepsia. It was Mrs. Boardman. In this
way she kept up her acquaintance with the
Karens of the wilderness. Frequently she led
the worship in their assemblies.
" During the rainy season she was not less
busy in the city, instructing the women, direct
ing the assistants, and superintending schools.
A few months later, you might have found Mr.
Mason in the same city, preaching Christ to the
priests and worshippers of its thousand pagodas,
and, after the rains, crossing and recrossing the
same jungles. Let us follow, and see him at his
work. " Here, under a shed, bowing with clasped
hands before a gilded Gaudama, and praying,
' O Lord, preserve us ! ' are some Burmans.
" ' What is the use of talking to that image,
whose ears cannot hear ? ' he asks. v
'"We pray, sir, to Gaudama, who has gone to
Nigban,' is the answer.

142 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' Has he a body there ? '
" ' No.'
" ' Has he a mind ? '
"'No.'" ' And what can a person know without mind
or body ? '
" A hearty laugh, the usual Burman covering
for defeat, is the only reply.
" Here are some women, cooking under the
trees. " ' Where do you expect to go after death ? '
he asks one of them.
" ' Oh ! I shall be put into the ground yonder.'
" ' Where will your soul go ? '
" ' I am a woman, and know nothing about
that.' " He reaches Thabu village : there are three
houses of Christians here, and eight or nine
apply for baptism.
" ' What sins have you committed ? ' he asks
of one.
" ' I have worshipped the earth, fire, demons,
pagodas, images, and have sinned with every
member of my body.'
" ' That's enough,' interrupts Ko Thah-byu.
"The examination goes on. This woman

OUR GOLD-MINE.

J43

and five others are accepted and baptized : two
or three are rejected. The Lord's Supper is cel
ebrated, a marriage solemnized; and the mis

sionary passes on to That Creek, a village mainly
Christian. An old woman totters out to meet
him. She is one of those whom he baptized by
the bedside of the dying Boardman.

144 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' I think of God continually,' she says, ' and
of dwelling in his presence forever.'
" ' Do you have no quarrelling or scolding
among you now ? ' he asks.
"'No.' "'No, sir,' answers the headman, a notorious
drunkard. ' There is no trouble with those who
have been baptized.'
"And now he comes to Mata, the City of
Love. Here are two hundred Christians gath
ered into a village of their own. They hold
meetings, and every convert is ready to speak
or pray. They send out missionary companies
into the jungle, and give their money to print
tracts. The women spin and weave, and wash
the garments which were never washed before.
The men have goats and cattle, ploughs and oil-
mills. The children are trained to be Chris
tians ; those whose parents were drunkards
growing up without even knowing the sight
of liquor. The ground under their houses is
swept : the vermin that once burrowed there,
and the Nats that filled the spiritual atmos
phere, have fled together. Instead of sacrifices
to demons, from almost every house ascend
prayer and praise to God. Daily at sunrise the

OUR GOLD-MINE. 145
people meet at the zayat for worship. 'The
town of Mata, amid the solitudes of the great
mountains of Tavoy,' writes Dr. Malcom, 'ex
hibits facts, which, if they were all the effects
our mission could boast, are sufficient to assure
the most incredulous of the blessedness of our
enterprise. The only punishment I would in
flict on the enemies of missions would be a pil
grimage to these villages.'
" In 1834 Mrs. Boardman left Tavoy for
Maulmain, the wife of Dr. Judson. In the same
year, Miss Cummings, who, before she knew the
language, had gone to Chummerah alone with
the Burman, teachers, and there, with the native
assistants, had carried on the station for two
years, left it, sick with the jungle-fever, to find
a grave in Maulmain.
"In the first days of 1835 the Masons wel
comed the Wades back to share their labors ;
and here, after a dozen years of monotonous
variety, we find them still. Let us glance at
them a few times during those twelve years.
" It is evening; They have travelled all day
through jungles wr?ich no horse could pene
trate, sometimes climbing steep cliffs, some
times walking on the very edge of precipices

146 OUR GOLD-MINE.
two or three hundred feet high, till, thoroughly
tired, they reach the Christian village of Quag-
thah. The disciples fiock out,, and offer their
houses. But the night is damp, the houses
crowded ; and the missionaries will not allow
them to endanger their women and little ones.
They spread comforters, and lie upon the
ground; but the Christian Karens come out
and lie down around them, that, ' should the
tigers come in the night, they may take them,
and not the missionaries.'
" They reach Mata ; and Mrs. Wade remains
there, while the men go on a long journey into
the jungle. Saturday comes, and the disciples
cluster around her.
'"Will not the mamma preach to us to
morrow ? '
" ' God has not appointed women to preach,'
she answers ; ' but we will sit down together as
brothers and sisters, and I will read and explain
some of the words of our Saviour.'
" She ' read and explained ' to a congregation
of one hundred and fifty. Through the week
she ministered to a score* of sick and dying,
singing as she went, —
' Oh that the Lord would count me meet
To wash his dear disciples' feet ! '

OUR GOLD-MINE.

147

. " It was well she appreciated the privilege :
for the feet of Christian Karens even are not
always clean ; and, if they were, it was not
pleasant, in visiting some sick disciple, to find
his friend's in the room broiling a snake, or
cooking a dish of black ants for dinner.
, "The next Sunday there were one hundred
and sixty at worship. Many were inquirers,
some recent converts ; and when, at the end of
sjx weeks, Mr. Wade again joined her, twenty-
five were ready for baptism.
, "Later, we find Mr. Wade and Mr. Mason
with their followers at Tamler. Several of the
people had died of dysentery ; and the rest, for
miles around, were panic-stricken, and deter*
mined to run away. In one house lay a man
and child sick 'with the disease, a wife with a
little babe, and a child dead, and none to bury
it. , " * Can you not go and bury it ? ' Mr. Mason
asked the Christian Karens.
" They hesitated. ' We are afraid. The dis
ease is certainly infectious,' they answered.
" ' Then I will go,' said .Mr. Mason.
" Their courage quickened by this, the dis
ciples went with him ; and together, after fight-

148 OUR GOLD-MINE.
ing their way through the bushes in the dark
for two or three miles over ground where a
man had been devoured by a tiger in broad day
light not long before, they reached the- place,
dug a grave, and gave the child Christian burial.
Deeply moved by such strange kindness, the
parents promised' to become Christians. The
next year Mr. Mason found, to his surprise, that
the promise had been kept.
"Time brought new work and new workers.
San Quala, the second Karen convert, led to
Christ by Ko Thah-byu's first sermon, is now
an active evangelist, accompanying Mr. Mason
on his long tours, and giving sermons that
would do honor to many an American preacher ;
while by carefully watching the modes of labor,
the examination of candidates, and the discipline
of transgressors, he is fitting himself for a far
greater work hereafter. Mata has nearly doubled
in size ; and in scores of places the jungle is
lighted by the tiny tapers of Christian churches.
Every time the missionaries go -out among the
churches, there are candidates for discipline as
well as for baptism. Here are some that have
fallen into intemperance ; others that have wor
shipped the Nats ; another that has ' used curs-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 149
ing language to her dog ; ' another who said to
her child, ' May the tigers eat you ! ' Twenty
have been absent from sabbath worship ; some
only for one sabbath, however. One has been
guilty of foolish talking; three, of calumny.
So read the records of the Mata church, as kept
by the Karen clerk, and reported to the mis
sionaries. One cannot help thinking how some
American church-records would read, if kept as
carefully. " All these cases the missionary must attend
to. Then sickness visits the flock; and his
wife is nurse, physician, every thing. With her
own hands she washes the leprous sores, or pre
pares cooling draughts for the husband, while
his wife stands speechless and trembling. With
her own hands she takes the fevered child from
its helpless mother, and nurses it alone ; for the
Karens know nothing of medicine or nursing,
except through charms. The fever heightens ;
and then comes the agonizing question, —
"'May I not make one offering to the Nats ? '
" ' No.' It is a hard word even for the teach
er to speak, with those pitiful eyes looking into
her own, pleading for leave to do the one only
thing the mother knows how to do to save her
child.

ISO OUR GOLD-MINE.
"The hours pass by, — hours in which the
missionary struggles hand to hand with death,
and the mother with all the powers of tempta
tion. The child grows worse.
"'Only once\ Would it be wrong?' pleads
the mother.
" ' The Nats cannot help you, but God can,'
answers the missionary.
"The mother cannot disbelieve in the Nats.
Has she not seen them, heard them, made offer
ings to them, and been helped by them ? Have
not her neighbors talked with them ? Are they
not even now tormenting her child? The .Nats
may be wicked : but surely there are Nats ; and
not to offer to them is to sacrifice her child.
Will God require it ? But the mother obeys.
A few more busy, anxious hours, and morning
shows the fever gone from the child, and, bet
ter still, the terror of the Nats gone from the
mother's heart forever ; for her God has shown
himself stronger than they. But many another
Karen mother, who has bravely stood all other
tests, facing alone this terrible temptation, has
fallen before it
" While so much of the strength of the mis
sion was diverted to the jungle, the great cities
were not forgotten.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 151
"While learning the language, Mr. Kincaid
took charge of a little European church started
among the soldiers at Maulmain, and ninety-five
were added to its numbers. In 1833 he sailed
up the Irrawadi to Ava. Almost everywhere he
found sorhe who were willing to listen."
"Was it thanks to Bibles or British pow
der?" asked Clarence.
" To the British powder, no doubt, that he
could preach unmolested in all the three hun
dred villages between Rangoon and Ava; but
it was not British powder that had scattered
tracts and whispered fragments of the gospel
message in advance of him in regions no mis
sionary had ever trodden, or that kindled a long
ing for it in scores of hearts of those who heard
now for the first time.
" Once, as he was busy giving tracts to the
crowd that lined the shore, a young man came
with the request, ' Will you please give me St.
John's history of Christ and the Acts of the
Apostles ? '
" The books were given, with four tracts, and
the young man -disappeared; but at' dark he
came again.
" 'There is a man besides me in the city who

152 OUR GOLD-MINE.
believes in Jesus Christ, and he wants to see the
teacher and get books ; but he thinks the boat is
away, and has sent me to search.'
" Following him, Mr. Kincaid found a venera
ble man, who, with only St. John and the Acts
to teach him, had for two years been leading a
Christian life. The young man had heard Dr.
Judson preach in Prome, and received from him
the books Which he had read to his friend. Now
both were open disciples. Mr. Kincaid spent
with them an evening never to be forgotten.
" When settled in Ava, he found a congrega
tion of seven Or eight, hundred frequently clus
tering about the zayat where he preached, while
visitors crowded his veranda.
" One day he sent out Ko Shun and Ko San
Lone to occupy a large zayat in another part
of the city. Arrived there, they found Moung
Kay, a popular young Buddhist preacher, dis
cussing and explaining his sacred books to the
people. They listened respectfully till he paused.
" ' Have you heard that there is a God eternal,
who is not, and never was, subject to any of the
infirmities of men ? ' they asked him.
"'No.'" ' There is such a God, and his sacred Word
is in Burmah.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 153

The Lord's Prayer in Burmese.
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•yoaecoSaaos §gco gcoGoSSSs ^cnceGoooii §ScGoo5cog5
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ooS8cgo5\flo*j5a3G(moS80DOD^oo^o8Gco5adlii 113300811
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy king
dom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give ns
this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil : for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for
ever.. Amen. Tile Lord's Prayer ill Karen.
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COGCO'ili

154 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" They read to him the catechism and part of
the ' View.'
" ' Will you give me a book ? '
" The book was given. He read incessantly
till he had finished the New Testament and all
the tracts. On the fifth day he threw away his
beads, and forsook the pagodas. Soon he be
came a frequent visitor at the veranda.
" ' How shall I know that I have a new heart ? '
he asked at one time.
" ' When you love Christ, his word, and his
people, when you love holiness, and hate idola
try and all sin, you may know that you have a
new heart.'
" There was a long pause ; and then the young
preacher said, ' I think I have a new heart. I
see every thing differently from what I formerly
did. Every thing is so new, that I can hardly
eat or sleep.'
" A few days .later he asked to be baptized,
but in the night.
" ' Are you afraid to advocate the cause of
Christ?' " ' No ; but my family are afraid.'
" So the first to be baptized was a woman,
Mah May Oo.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 155
" ' I know it is the true religion,' she said,
' because it. takes away my pride, and makes me
feel like a little child.'
" But, the next Lord's Day, Moung Kay fol
lowed ; and in the course of time a church of
twenty-one was gathered. Still every convert
was snatched like a bone from between the
tiger's jaws. The Burman officers coaxed,
warned, and threatened violence. Mr. Kincaid
was compelled to live out of the city limits, and
to stop giving tracts against Buddhism ; but as
long as he was not absolutely forbidden by the
king to preach, and give Testaments, he would
not leave the capital.
" But a few months later, on returning from a
perilous trip of three hundred and fifty miles to
the foot of the Himalayas, he found a new king
on the throne, all teaching of the Christian reli
gion absolutely forbidden, and grave mutterings
of war with England.. He left his band of
twenty-one disciples, and went to Rangoon, and
soon after to Maulmain.
" Now let us look at Rangoon. I think Dr.
Judson must have appreciated the place as a
training - school for missionaries ; for nearly
every new one was for a longer or shorter time

156 OUR GOLD-MINE.
stationed there. It was the hardest of fields.
' To get a new convert,' Dr. Judson writes in
1 83 1, ' is like pulling the eye-teeth out of a live
tiger.' Yet, when Mr.. Webb came in 1834, he
baptized thirty-one Karens, and there were many
more applicants.
"In 1835 there came- a general persecution.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard were the only missiona
ries there, and almost wholly ignorant of the
language; when one morning Ko San-Lone, one
of the native pastors, came in with the news
that a petty officer had sent for him.
"'What shall I do?'
" ' You had better go with him, and Moung
Shway Thah shall go with you.'
" Soon Moung Shway Thah came back with
the news that Ko San-Lone was confined for
examination. In the afternoon Mr. Howard
went himself to the Woongyee with an English
interpreter. " ' Ah ! this is the American teacher. What
does he want ? '
" ' One of the rulers has confined one of my
men, and I have come to see about it.'
" ' What has he shut him up for ? '
" ' I do not know.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 157
" ' I think he gives writings the ruler does
not like,' said the Woongyee; and, turning to
the interpreter, ' Tell him to let him go.'
"When the mob heard the message, they
rushed in a mass to the Woongyee's house, and
brought all manner of false charges against Ko
San-Lone, until at last he was given over to
their mercies. For weeks he lay in prison,
loaded with torturing chains, often beaten, and
threatened with death if he continued his re
fusal to worship Gaudama. Daily, as the native
Christians walked the streets, they heard the
question, 'When is that Christian going to be
executed ? ' But he remained firm and happy
in his faith ; and at last, by the payment of all
he had and sixty rupees from the missionaries,
he was released. ' Through all this,' Mr. Webb
says, ' not a word escaped his lips which savored
of irritation. Indeed, in looking over all I have
ever seen of him or heard, I do not remember a
single word or act which I could wish altered.
He was at all times the humble, spiritual Chris
tian* A few months after his release he died.'
" Through all the region the Christian Karens
were fined, often to an amount far more than
all they had. None dared come to the mission-

158 OUR GOLD-MINE.
house. Mr. Howard could not even employ a
teacher. Yet persecution bore its fruit; and
when, soon after, Messrs. Vinton, Abbott, and
Howard went up the Irrawadi to Maubee, they
baptized one hundred and seventy-three. Ko
Thah-byu had been preaching there, and these
were mainly the result of his labors. Later,
Mr. Abbott baptized thirty-seven in the same
neighborhood. " ' These public baptisms may bring on perse
cution,' he suggested.
" ' If they persecute, let them persecute,' was
the answer.
"At first the persecutions were slight, with
long intervals of quiet. At one time, the* mis
sionaries who had left Rangoon were even invit
ed back by the viceroy, that, seeing them at
work, the people might feel sure there was no
prospect of war. But the mild viceroy was soon
deposed ; a sterner took his place ; and the Karen
Christians were hunted as their fellow-citizens,
the tigers, had never been. They were fined,
imprisoned, beaten, killed. Many fled across
the mountain to Arracan, where Mr. Abbott
was now stationed ; many perished on the way
there. All communication with the foreigners

OUR GOLD-MINE. 159
was forbidden, so that a missionary to the Bur
mans might as well be in Boston as in Rangoon ;
andxso, very reluctantly, the mission was given
up to the native assistants.
" For several years, a great part of Dr. Jud
son's time was occupied by the revision of the
Bible. His voice had failed now, so that his
preaching could not often be distinctly heard.
Thus Providence seemed to join in the call the
Board had for some time been making upon
him, to prepare a dictionary for the. use of future
missionaries ; and he commenced the work.
" In 1845, as the only chance of saving Mrs.
Judson's life, he left with her for America. She
lived only to reach the Island of St Helena.
There she was buried. In October, Dr. Judson,
with his three children, arrived in Boston.
" It was thirty-three years since the first mis
sionaries left America. Its old men were all
dead, its middle-aged men old, its children
middle-aged men. The children of 1845 knew
Judson's name as they knew the names of Lu
ther and Knox and Whitefield. To have a
man step out from .the pages of history into
their streets and churches was a new experience.
America was a still stranger sight to Judson.,

160 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Except the changes that he and his brethren
and the war of 1825 had brought, the Burmah
of 1845 was the Burmah of 18 12. There had
been a few revolutions, to be sure ; but, in the
East, revolutions belong to the ordinary course
of events, and their absence would mark a far
greater change than their presence. But the
America he found was less like the America he
left than the men now in its pulpits were like
the infants then in its cradles. The nation had
grown from boyhood to manhood in thirty-three
years. "As the ship came to land, Dr. Judson was
considerably troubled lest he should not know
where to look for lodgings; never dreaming that
a hundred houses would be proud to claim him
as their guest, and crowds everywhere be eager
to hear the few low words that his voice had
strength to utter. Why should they ? He had
only done very imperfectly his duty. Many of
them had done more, he hoped. Was it a so
much greater thing to do one's duty in Burmah
than in America, that people must flock to see
him for that ?
" He spoke briefly a few times in public, —
never of himself, rarely of his mission, but always

O URT GOLD-MINE. 1 6 1
of Christ. An audience that gathered to hear
descriptions of Burman customs, or of thrilling
adventures, was sure to be disappointed.
" An intimate friend mentioned this disap
pointment to him at one time. .
" ' Why, what did they want ? ' he inquired. ' I
¦presented the most interesting subject in the
world to the best of my ability.'
" ' But they wanted something different, — a
story.' " ' Well, I am sure I gave them a story the
most thrilling that can be conceived of.'
" ' But they had heard it before. They wanted
something new from a man that had just come
from the antipodes.'
" ' Then I am glad they have it to say, that a
man coming from the antipodes had nothing
better to tell them than the wondrous story of
Jesus' dying love.'
" Amid applause that would have more than
satisfied most men, Dr. Judson was homesick
for Burmah. The last days of November, 1846,
found him again within sight of its shores. With
him sailed Mrs. Emily C. Judson (whom he had
married just before leaving America), Messrs.
Harris and Beecher with their wives, and Miss
Lillybridge.

162 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Nor was it enough to be on heathen soil.
He hungered for the land of prisons and perse
cutions (Burmah Proper), and was not satisfied
till he was settled in Rangoon, in the upper story
of a brick den, almost windowless, gloomy as a
prison, and already occupied by innumerable
bats, which flared up through the night with a
sound reminding him of Niagara. He was pas
tor of a church of twelve re-organized from the
old Rangoon church, and preached to a congre
gation of twenty, who came on Sunday morning,
one or two at a time, bringing parcels, or dishes
of fruit, or wearing their clothes tucked up like
coolies to avoid suspicion, and in the afternoon
left as gradually."
" It takes a deal to satisfy some men," re
marked Walter. "It is well all D.D.'s are not
so ambitious."
" I confess, I am glad I am more easily con
tented," said Clarence.
" I doubt if he was £ully contented until the
6th of June, when he had the privilege of lead
ing down a young convert to the tank, where,
twenty-eight years before, he insulted the stone
Gaudama by the baptism of Moung Nau. This
was the second baptism since he came to Ran
goon.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 163
" The next day the young man's father, an
old disciple, was arrested, and brought to the
governor's court. Dr. Judson was told of it, and
for two hours sat expecting the worsfc
" ' What have you brought the man before me
for ? ' asked the officer of the accusers.
" ' To be examined on the charge of heresy,
and of frequenting the house of Jesus Christ's
teacher,' said the leader.
" ' On what authority ? '
" ' Here is your written order.'
" ' What ? Who ? I have given no order. It
must be one of my petty clerks. It's all a mis
take. Go about your business.'
'"I thought it strange,' rallied the prisoner,
' that you should summon me on the charge of
heresy, since it is well known that I worship the
true God.'
" ' God ! ' exclaimed the officer, a little nettled.
' Worship any God you like.'
" ' Or the Devil,' added a virago at his side.
' If you villagers pay your taxes, what more do
we want ? '
" Yet the officer had given the order. But
probably, after his servants had been sent to
execute it, he had shown it to the governor ; and

164 OUR GOLD-MINE.
the old man, remembering a pledge he had made
to Dr. Judson, quashed the proceeding.
" At any rate, the jaws of death were closed
that time without taking in the disciple ; . but
Dr. Judson's house was watched, and no one
dared come near it on Sunday."
" Wasn't it a little strange," said Charlie as
Mrs. Bancroft closed, " that, at the very time the
Karens were counting converts by the hundreds
in spite of persecution, Maulmain, with its dozen
missionaries, could only boast one hundred and
fifty converted Burmans ? "
" Not very," replied Clarence. " Christianity
does not seem adapted to the wants of scholarly
races like the Hindoos and Burmans so well as
to more barbarous people like the Karens. Its
successes are always among tribes not capable
of great intellectual development."
" The English and Americans, for example,"
remarked Walter gravely.
Mrs. Bancroft smiled. " The best answer I
can give to Charlie's question," she said, " is an
illustration Dr. Judson used in a sermon about
this time. There is used in the East a kind of
earth-oil, so vile in smell, that no dish once used
for it can be fit for any thing else. The illustra-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 165
tion ran about like this : There are two jars, one
empty, the other full of earth-oil. A man goes
to the owner of the empty jar, and asks if he
may fill it with pure water. ' Oh, yes ! I shall
consider it a favor,' is the answer. "So the Ka
rens receive the gospel. Then he goes to the
owner of the jar of earth-oil. First he must
empty it. This the owner considers robbery.
' You are taking away my property,' he says : ' I
will apply to the king and priests to uphold me
in clinging to my property.' After long persua
sion, the man consents to give up his oil. Then
comes dipping out , and washing and rubbing,
the man all the while begging him not to take it
all away. At last the water is poured in: but;
after all, so much of the. old oil clings to the
dish, that the bystanders say, 'We do not perr
ceive that the water is sweeter than the oil ; ' and
perhaps, after a while, the man himself joins in,
says the smell is as bad as before, and upsets
the jar. So it is in religion. The Karens, who
have little to give up, receive Christ gladly : the
Burmans, who have much, are slow to part with
it ; and, when they do, the old religion too often
makes its mark* upon the new.
"In 1840 Mr. Abbott and Mr. Kincaid joined

166 OUR GOLD-MINE.
the mission in Arracan. Here for five years the
Comstocks had been laboring. Two years later
Mr. and Mrs. Hall joined them, but died before
their work began. Mr. and Mrs. Stilson came
in 1839, and were now stationed at Ramree.
Mr. Kincaid went to Akyab. Mr. Abbott lo
cated himself at Sandoway, that he might look
after the Karens ; but for some days no Karens
were visible. As they seemed not likely to
come to him, he went out to one of their villages.
He talked : they would not listen. He asked
to enter their houses : they refused. To save
himself from the scorching sun, he entered one
uninvited, but'was not allowed a seat. These
were the people for whom he was perilling his
life. The prospect was gloomy as it could well
be. "Yet even then, across the mountains, and
far into Burmah Proper, the news had flown, that
the teacher was once more within reach ; and
soon, in companies of five, ten, and twenty, they
were flocking to see him. Some came to hear
the gospel, some to remain and study, some for
baptism. Burmah had been shut to the mission
aries ; but no emperor's edict could shut out the
Holy Spirit. Some of the books scattered by

OUR GOLD-MINE. 167
the Rangoon missionaries had crossed to the
border of the empire, and were in the hands
of Karen Christians. One had given a rupee for
a New Testament, another a day's work for a
tract. One of the Burmans baptized by M%.
Kincaid at Ava had been made a ruler in Bas-
sein, and not only refused to imprison Christians,
but himself kept the sabbath, and prayed to the
eternal God.
" One of the disciples, Bleh Poh, soon after
his conversion, had a child fall dangerously sick.
" ' You are the cause ; you have forsaken the
religion of your fathers, and the child's demon*
is angry with you,' said his friends : and they
begged him to ' eat the Devil ; ' in other words,
to offer a sacrifice to him.
" ' I trust in the everlasting God, and have re
nounced the worship of devils,' said Bleh Poh.
" The child died. Bleh Poh was brought be
fore the court.
" ' He has a foreigner's book, and has em
braced the foreigners' religion,' was the chief
charge against him.
" ' What is in the book ?•' asked the judge.
" Bleh Poh answered by giving in his own
words an abstract of the Bible, closing with a
kind but earnest sermon on idolatry.

168 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"'What you say is all very good,' said the
officer; 'but, if I do not take notice of this case,
it will come to the ears of the king, and I shall
lose my life.'
" ' Don't fear. Send me up to the king, and let
me answer for myself, or suffer.'
" Commonly, Karens thus arrested were fined,
beaten, or imprisoned ; but Bleh Poh's sermon
had made such an impression, that he was re
leased without either.
" He returned to his family, only to meet
insults and curses from them.
"'You have murdered your child. We will
kill you.'
" ' If you do not kill me, I shall die, myself
soon,' he answered meekly.
"Soon his wife and several others of his rela
tions became converts, while the Burman officer
from that time favored the Christians.
" ' The Karen Christians are a quiet, peaceable
race, and pay their taxes,' he said, when told by
a higher officer to put three or four of them to
death as an example : ' if they wish to worship
their God, let them.'
" The chance to testify for Christ before Bur
man officers came often ; and so fearless and

OUR GOLD-MINE. 169
gentle was Bleh Poh, that he always made his
judges either friends or harmless enemies. He
was one of the first baptized by Mr. Abbott at
Sandoway. At home he was humble, faithful,
prayerful, generous, the arbiter- of disputes, the
adviser in difficulties ; abroad he was a most
earnest, self-sacrificing preacher. He died in
the last days of 1843, at the age of thirty.
" Ko Tha-byu came with Mr. Abbott to Sando
way. He had been the first to preach Christ to
the Karens of Tavoy, of Maulmain, and of Ran
goon, and now was ready to aid in opening the
work in Arracan. But, at the beginning of his
work, God took him. He died willingly and
fearlessly a few months after *his arrival. In
reply to all questions as to the future, his answer
was, ' Teacher, the Lord will preserve me.'
"In 1 841 Bleh Poh's brother appeared, with
eight others, as an applicant for baptism.
" ' Can you bear persecution and death for
Christ ? ' asked Mr. Abbott, ' or will you deny
your Lord ? '
" He hesitated : he thought he should not ' do
as Peter did.'
" ' Dare you testify before God and this con
gregation that you will endure unto death ? '

170 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' I am afraid, teacher. I dare not.'
" Mr. Abbott repeated the question. A large
congregation waited in breathless silence and
anxious expectation.
" He bowed his face to the floor, and wept.
They needed no such proof of his sincerity;
yet, having asked the question, Mr. Abbott
dared not let it pass unanswered. The assem
bly was still as the grave
"At last he raised his head. Great tears
rolled down his cheeks.
" ' I think — teacher — I shall not — deny the
Lord — if he gives me grace. I can say no
more.' " His request for baptism was joyfully granted.
" Others of Bleh Poh's relatives were dread
fully beaten, bound with fetters, and imprisoned.
" ' Do you worship the eternal God ? ' asked
an officer of one of them.
" ' Yes.'
" ' Well, you must worship no more.'
" ' I shall worship, though you kill me.'
" ' These Karen Christians are a very hard
case,' said the officer.
" Of such the teachers had no fears ; but all
were not such. And now the clouds thickened ;

OUR GOLD-MINE. 171
the persecution became fierce. The times of
baptism were times of deepest solemnity ; for to
many of them the rite shadowed forth more
than figurative death and burial. Some aposta
tized : it could hardly be otherwise among so
many thousands. Many were faithful to death.
Hundreds fled across the mountains to Arracan,
and, with Mr. Abbott's help, found there food
and shelter and religious liberty. They had just
laid out a new village, when with summer came
cholera, and very many of them in the strange
climate fell victims to it, or were driven back
panic-stricken to the jungle, to die there.
" ' My hands are full of labor, and my heart full
of care, sometimes of anguish! Mr. Abbott wrote
in May, 1844, — ' nearly a thousand baptized con
verts, many of them suffering under the iron
arm of a ruthless despotism ; two hundred fami
lies of emigrants, who have fled from persecu
tion, leaving all their worldly stores, and look
ing to me for food till they can reap a har
vest ; thirty native preachers to teach and guide
and govern ; two ordained pastors to watch and
tremble over ; elementary books to write and
translate : add to this a sick family, and not a
good night's rest for many months.'

172 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Around Akyab there were everywhere those
hesitating between the two religions.
" From the Kemmees there came one day a
mountain chief, Chetza, with some of his follow
ers. Mr. Kincaid talked with him. He listened
with the usual native indifference ; but a few
weeks later there came a letter, signed by him
and thirteen minor chiefs, begging for a mis
sionary, offering to build dwellings and school-
houses at his own expense, giving the names
of two hundred and seventy-three who would be
scholars. When the missionaries visited him,
and promised to try to grant his request, he was
delighted. " 'Your decision gives me more joy than hun
dreds of gold and silver,' he said : ' they would
soon be expended ; but, if we have the knowl
edge of God, I shall die in peace.' "
" Who went ? " asked Charlie.
"Nobody. The missionaries already there
had their hands full, and there were no new
ones. There are no Words to express the feel
ings of those on the ground as they saw the
tens of thousands that might so easily be
reached, with Buddhism, Popery, and infidelity
stretching out eager hands to grasp them, and
among them all only three Christian preachers.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

*73

" ' Must this promising harvest be forever
lost f ' wrote Mr. Stilson. ' Can not and will
not the many Baptist Christians in America
spare the crumbs which fall from their tables
for the famishing, dying thousands of Arracan ? '
wrote Mr. Comstock.
"In 1843 Mrs. Kincaid's health obliged Mr.
•Kincaid to leave with her for America. He
took with him two of Mrs. Comstock's children.
" ' This I do for my Saviour,' she said, as she
looked upon them for the last time, and placed
them in his hands. m
" ' Remember, brother, six men for Arracan,'
was Mr. Comstock's parting message.
" Before it reached America, Mrs. Comstock
was called to the work above ; and a year later
the death of Mr. Comstock left Mr. and Mrs.
Stilson again alone in Arracan."
" Were the Board asleep ? What were they
thinking about, that they didn't send the men
there ? " asked Katie.
" In the first number of the ' Magazine ' for
1846 there is an article, made up mainly of fig
ures and statistics, over which I shed more
tears than I ever gave to a novel. In it the
committee of the Board stand, like Mr. Dustin

174 OUR GOLD-MINE.
in our New-England histories, when, with the
Indians behind and his children before, he had
to decide which of the eight little ones he could
save, and which must be given up to the enemy.
You remember, Edith."
"' Now from those dear ones make thy choice.'
The group he wildly eyed ;
When ' Father ! ' burst from every voice,
And ' Child ! ' his heart replied.
There's one that now can share his toil,
And one he meant for fame,
•And one that wears her mother's smile,
And one that bears her name.
And one will prattle on his knee,
Or slumber on his breast ;
And one whose joys of infancy
Are still by smiles expressed."
Edith repeated the lines slowly : she had
learned them to recite at school.
"So," said Mrs. Bancroft, "the committee
compared the missions, counting the cosj:, the
results, the prospects, of each, to decide which
should be abandoned. This one was abundant
in conversions, that in inquirers ; another was
less fruitful. But could they, in the face of the

• OUR GOLD-MINE. 175
prayers of those who had died for it, abandon it ?
Besides, it had been established less years than
passed in Burmah before the first conversion ;
and the cost of abandoning the Burman and
Karen missions they dared not compute. To
another their faith had been pledged; others
were the only hope of Christianity in wide fields.
But, while they could not choose between the
hungry souls crying for help from across the
water, close behind them pressed the enemy, —
a growing debt. The expenditures of the society
had exceeded its receipts by forty thousand
dollars." " And American church-members called them
selves Christians, and allowed that ? " said Katie,
her cheeks flushing with indignation.
" What would you have given if you had been
there ? " asked Walter.
"Every thing. Thousands, if I had had it.
How could any Christian help it ? "
Walter smiled.
"What do you mean ? "
"From what I hear, I think the Board is in
about the same fix to-day ; and I suppose there
are Khyens and Arracanese still living. I be-.
lieve I'll write to Boston to know whether there

176

OUR GOLD-MINE.

isn't some vacancy in the treasury that ten dol
lars would just fill."
" You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Wal
ter ! " exclaimed Charlie. " Katie's been saving
up that ten dollars for a year to buy a pair of
chromos for her room, and you know it."
"Do the heathen have chromos in their
rooms, mother ? " asked Edith.
" Thank you, Walter," Kate whispered as she
passed him and went up stairs.

CHAPTER IX.

SHADOW AND SUNLIGHT.

HEN Katie went up stairs, and the bare
walls of her room faced her, and the
Karens that had seemed so near an
hour before glided back to their homes in Bur
man jungles, it was not so easy to give up the
chromos, and send the carefully saved ten dollars
to the heathen, as she thought it when she
thanked Walter for the suggestion. Still she
was glad she had thanked him, and so com
mitted herself.
On Sunday morning she opened her desk to
take the money. She knew just where to lay
her hand on it. It was in an old purse, — just
ten dollars, and no more ; and yet, opening the
porte-monnaie, a three instead of a ten dollar bill
came out first. But there was the ten too.
What did it. mean? She had kept her desk

178 OUR GOLD-MINE.
locked, and given the key to no one, except — ;
Of course, there must be an exception ; and now
she remembered letting Walter have it the even
ing before " to borrow an envelope." She knew
where the money came from now. The bill
was marked simply, " For the heathen ; " but it
was not for the heathen that tears of joy came
to her eyes as she guessed its history.
" Kate, you and Walter are a pair of geese,"
said Charlie the next evening.
"Why?" " Why, here you've put all you had into the
collection, and Walter half he had ; and it's a
fact, that, with all the rich men in our church,
there wasn't another bill larger than a five in
the box. And now. I suppose you won't have a
cent to lend a fellow for the next six months. I
declare, it makes me hate the very name of
missions." " Perhaps, so ; and yet if it were an Ameri
can mother to be saved from the funeral-pile, —
your own, for instance, — or Minnie from the
alligators' jaws, you would not hate the name."
"Those alligators did service for missions
in our hymns and picture-books twenty years
after they had digested their last baby; but

OUR GOLD-MINE.

179

they are played out now. I suppose the funeral-
fires must be used to kindle missionary zeal a
while longer ; but they haven't kindled any
thing else for the past thirty years. And,, now
there's no such great work to be done, it seems
to me folks might keep their money at home. I
think the churches are beginning to look at it
in that light."
" It were better the mothers had been left to
throw them to the Ganges, than that, grown to
be men, they should be offered by American
Christians on the altar of the demon" of covet-
eousness." " Such things never were done among the
Buddhists, where your money has gone," said
Charlie. " So much the more chance for the money to
do good, then," Katie answered.
" You have invested wisely," said Mrs. Ban
croft. " I confess the story has a new interest
to me, now we have reached the time when I be
gan to* give, and so to read missionary magazines
as I would the reports of dividends from a bank
where I was stockholder.
"The mission to Burmah had passed its
infancy ; a fact that involved several other

180 OUR GOLD-MINE.
serious facts, among them this, — that it is not
an easy thing to cut the clothing of the growing
youth from the same pattern that fitted his
babyhood. When Judson was reading Pali,
translating Matthew, and gathering, one by
one, his eighteen converts at Rangoon, there
were no native churches in the neighborhood
clamoring for pastors ; no schools looking to
him for teachers ; no Karen catechisms, geogra
phies, histories, and trigonometries to be made ;
no tracts and Bibles begging to be printed ; no
untrained assistants, scattered far over the
country, demanding all the time of an itinerat
ing missionary to supplement their labors, and
correct their blunders ; no theological seminary,
preparing teachers for those whom the schools
were preparing to be hearers. His work,
though hard, was simple. All this was changed
now. Mr. Vinton had charge of a parish three
or four times as large as all New England, with
no railroads to take him from station to sta
tion ; while a region of heathen Karens, three or
four times larger, beyond, was begging him to
come and bring them 'the white books.' Mr.
Binney was professor of every thing in a semi
nary of theological students, — not the angels

OUR GOLD-MINE. 181
we often expect to find in converted heathen,
but very imperfect saints, who growled about
rations and accommodations, and taxed his
patience by occasional frivolity, very much after
the manner of some American students. Both
these needed help, and so did many another.
But the problem was, how to retain what help
they had. To do this, the Maulmain Karen
mission must have 6,041 rupees. It was allowed
4,146. No more could be expected from any
quarter. All saw that something must be done ;
but no one dared to do it.
" At last Mr. Binney spoke : ' I move that the
Sgau Karen boarding-school be dismissed, and
the pupils be assisted, as far as may be, to re
turn to Burmah Proper.'
"Dead silence followed. No one seconded
the motion, and it was lost.
" He spoke again : ' I move that one-third of
all the assistants in Burmah Proper, and one-
fourth of all the other Karen assistants con
nected with this station, be dismissed from and
after the first day of July next.'
" Another dead silence.
- " He made a third motion, ' That the amount
allowed to the theological seminary be reduced

182 OUR GOLD-MINE.
to five hundred rupees for the year 1848, and
that the number of pupils and the period of
study be adjusted to that amount.'
" Again* no one spoke. The council of doc
tors, though convinced they could not take, care
of the whole of their patient, were -unable to
decide whether head, heart, or lungs, could best
be dispensed with. At last they resolved to go
on as they were, assuming the responsibility for
the deficiency themselves, and appealing to the
Board for help. Partial relief came, but not till
after months of anxiety ; and Maulmain was but
a type of the rest.
" Time brought other than financial changes..
In the earliest days of the mission the Karens
were divided into two classes, — those who had.
decided to embrace Christianity, and those who
had not. Now there were added two others, —
those who had decided not to embrace it, and
those who, having embraced it, had turned
against it. Both these were usually either obsti
nately indifferent, or bitter opposers. A similar
though less marked change was visible among
the Burmans. ' I have heard your religion
from the time of its first arrival in Maulmain*
and I do not like it,' said one of them to Mr.

OUR GOLp-MINE. 183
Mason. ' I have heard teacher Vinton talk a
great deal, and I do not believe a word he says,'
said a Karen to Mr. Moore. 'We have heard a
great while, and do not want to hear any more,'
said a company in another place to Mr. Brayton.
The time when curiosity could be relied upon as
an aid to Christianity was plainly past.
"And there were obstacles in the disc'iples
themselves. In founding the mission, Judson
did not have to meet the argument from the
faults of professors ; for there were none. Now
it assailed the missionaries everywhere.
" There were church^members who were not
converts : the converts were only converted sin
ners, and the most sincere of them were often
ignorant. " The Karens were a migratory people. Often
a chapel would be built, and within two years
left wholly alone ; while those who worshipped
in it were scattered far over the country. There
the missionaries would sometimes find them, per
haps lights in the wilderness, guiding others
to Christ; perhaps themselves led away into
arrack-drinking and sabbath-breaking.. Then
they would repent and. confess, break their
arrack-bottles, and beg with tears to be taken

184 OUR GOLD-MINE.
back into the church, till the missionaries could
hardly find heart to refuse ; yet they always did
refuse till the transgressors had proved their
sincerity by their lives.
" New missionaries came, — in 1847 Mr. and
Mrs. William Moore; a year later Mr. Benja
min, Mr. C. C. Moore, Mr. Van Meter, and their
wives; in 1849 Messrs. Knapp and Campbell,
with their wives, and Miss Wright ; and in 18-51
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas."
" It seems to me, that with sabbath-breaking,
drunken disciples, obstinate heathen, cholera,
small-pox, and short funds, the new missiona
ries had rather an uninviting prospect," said
Katie. " Fortunately for missions, they could not see
what they were going to," remarked Clarence.
" If a telescope could be invented, like the
Yankee's gun with a bent barrel, made to shoot
round corners, and the missionaries could see
over or around the world's curve, into Burmah,
before embarking, our story would probably be
very much shortened."
"That's so," said Charlie. "But the disap
pointment must have been all the greater when
they arrived."

OUR GOLD-MINE.. 185
" Yes," said Mrs. Bancroft. " When Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas, after spending seven months in
the city of Tavoy, went out into the jungle, they
were disappointed indeed. Christian villages
entertained them ; they worshipped in Christian
churches ; they knelt in prayer in Christian
families ; they attended the meeting of an asso
ciation where letters from seventeen churches
were read, and native Christians framed and
passed resolutions, and discussed questions of
policy as appropriately as could many an associa
tion in America.
" ' What has been accomplished,' Mrs. Thomas
wrote, 'is far more important and extensive than
I imagined in America. Truly the Lord has
wrought, wonders in this land. Many times,
when I look at these assemblies of converted
heathen, I think that all the sacrifices missiona
ries ever made are amply repaid.'
" Notwithstanding the grave faults of the con
verts, Mr. Moore, almost on his first arrival,
could write, 'The line of distinction between
church-members and the world is more plainly
marked than at home. We seldom have to ask
an individual whether he is a disciple : there is
something in their countenance and deportment
that distinguishes them.'

186 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" The truth is, it will not do to judge the sun
by its spots, especially as they would not seem
dark but for the sunlight around them. And
the Burman mission had its bright surface. A
year made a great change in the Theological
School : the frivolity and selfishness that had
marked too many of its pupils were gone.
Often, as they talked together of the sufferings
of Christ, their faces would be averted to wipe
away the tears ; and questions would remain for
minutes unanswered, because no one was willing
to break the solemn silence of the room. Such
a school could not help sending forth better
pastors, and such pastors could not but train
better churches.
" When Mr. Abbott went to America, he left
in the regipn about Sandoway two ordained
ministers and twenty native assistants, — most
of them in Burmah Proper. The ordained pas
tors were Myat Kyau and Tway Poh, both rare
men in zeal and in good judgment. Of the
latter, Mr. Beecher wrote as follows a few years
later : —
" ' No native preacher has a greater" or better
influence abroad, and none is more beloved and
respected at home. As we passed by or entered

OUR GOLD-MINE. 187
"J
his room from day to day, and saw Tway Poh —
the Rev. Tway Poh, we should say ; for no min
ister was ever more worthy of the title than he
— sitting by his table, reading and studying, or
conversing with those who sought his advice,
#jve often wished that our brethren and sisters
who feel such an interest in this people could
experience the delight that we did as the ex
pression came involuntarily to our lips, "How
much like a pastor in his study at home ! " '
"Under such care the work went on. The
pastors baptized more than a thousand in Mr.
Abbott's absence ; and, when he returned to the
field in 1849, he could report an association of
thirty-six churches with forty-five hundred mem
bers, as many as five thousand unbaptized Chris
tians, and all supplied with the means of grace,
and the churches so trained to self-support, that
the whole cost the Union but little over three
hundred dollars.
"The Christian village, Ougkyong, was re
built, in part, on a more healthy site ; and Mr.
Beecher, visiting it in 1 851, reports an interest
ing covenant-meeting, six baptisms, and no
cases needing discipline. ' Some of the mem
bers,' he says, 'had suffered annoyance by the

188 OUR GOLD-MINE.
neglect of others to watch their buffaloes, but
had shown such Christian forbearance, that no
difficulty arose.' Substitute hens or sheep for
buffaloes, and suppose the church an-American
one, and you will see that this indicated no
mean degree of growth in grace.
" But of the state of the mass of the Bassein
converts through those years, tidings came only
at rare intervals.
"On the 12th of April, 18^0, Dr. Judson died
on his way from Maulmain to the Isle of France.
Thus ended , thirty-seven years of labor for
Christ. Going back to that country inn, where,
all night, the powers of light and darkness
struggled for the direction of his soul, then
looking at Burmah to-day, with its translated
Bible, its more than three hundred churches, its
twenty thousand Christians, its ripened fruit
gathered into the heavenly garner, and then
thinking what would have been the result of
that life if the decision of that night had been
for infidelity, we tremble, and thank God.
" In 1 85 1 Mr. Kincaid came back from Amer
ica with Mr. Dawson, a physician. They went
at once to Rangoon, but found themselves in the
midst of a storm of opposition. Disciples had

OUR GOLD-MINE. 189
been fined and imprisoned ; the natives were
afraid, at any price, to rent houses to missiona
ries. The governor placed a spy over Mr. Kin
caid, and forbade his entering a single house
without this attendant. It was rumored that he
was to be put in irons. His best friends dared
not recognize him ; and even the coolies in the
street took pains to jostle him rudely. With
much help from grace, and perhaps a little
from nature, he was able to resist the tempest
till the governor had time to write to Ava.
Then there came an order from ' his Majesty,
whose glory is like the rising sun, whose
chiefs walk under golden umbrellas, the King
of elephants, and Lord of many white ele
phants,' that 'the American teachers should
be allowed, if they wished, and at any time
they might choose, to come up to the golden
feet ; or, if they, preferred to remain at Ran
goon, they were not to be molested.'
"The change was instantaneous. Insolence
gave place to profound respect. Visitors
crowded the house. Mr. Kincaid preached to
them openly and fearlessly, as if in America:
and soon the people had a chance to stare at
the golden umbrellas, that mark a priest of high-

190 OUR GOLD-MINE.
est rank, going to and from the house of the
missionaries ; for the king's alchemist and astrol
oger from Ava had taken up his quarters with
him, saying he 'could not feel easy anywhere
else.'. Even the governor was civil ; and once,
when passing through his audience-room, Mr.
Kincaid was asked the question, ' Are you one
of Jesus Christ's men ? ' He answered, ' Yes,
and I will give you the reason ; ' and for nearly
half an hour preached, unmolested, to the com
pany of thirty gathered there.
" Of the eighteen "baptized by Mr. Judson
during his first stay in Rangoon, two lived to
welcome the new missionaries, — Mah Mee and
the old pastor Ko Thah-a. Both were over
eighty. When, in 1832, Moung Thah-a knelt
before Mr. Judson, and, with folded hands, rev
erently begged for baptism, neither of them
dreamed that he was to be for«thirty years, and
through fiery trials, the shepherd and strength
of the hunted Rangoon flock.
"'The teachers have come and gone,' he
said. ' I have always remained here. When the
teachers left Rangoon, the rulers seized me.
They commanded me not to preach. They said,
" Do you intend to preach Jesus Christ ? " I

OUR GOLD-MINE.

191

said to the rulers, " I shall preach : Jesus Christ
is the true God." '
. " He had been imprisoned, fined, put in
stocks, and swung up by the feet, for preach
ing Christ, and was well prepared to welcome
new laborers into the field he was now too
infirm to till. Soon the Karens of the towns
around caught the news, and came in to see if
the teacher had indeed come. This was not
approved. In fact, in one case the governor
told Mr. Kincaid, as coolly as he would have
spoken of eating his dinner, that, if it contin
ued, he should be under the necessity of shoot
ing every Karen that came to his house, except
the lame, the sick, and the blind. These he
dared not prohibit ; for Dr. Dawson's medical
services had already proved too valuable to be
interfered with. Still inquirers multiplied, and
converts from both Karens and Burmans were
added. -
" One morning, about six month's from the time
Mr. Kincaid reached Rangoon, there appeared
at the mouth of the river a fifty-gun ship and
two armed steamers, — not a very alarming sight
in itself to the governor, one would think. But
the ghosts of murdered British subjects haunted

192 OUR GOLD-MINE.
him, and for a few days he was almost insane
with terror. Perhaps, too, he was dimly con
scious, that, for many months, the prayers of
thousands of Christian Karens had been raising
a battery against him, or had heard their words,
'We know that the day of deliverance is at
hand ; ' for one of his first threats, when he had
recovered from his fright, was, that, if the Eng
lish attacked Rangoon, the Christian Karens
should be placed in the front of the battle.
"Of course, the one ship and two steamers
were not sent to fight the Burmans. Their ob
ject was to ask redress for outrages upon two
British captains. Nevertheless, the long-looked-
for deliverance had come. The redress was not
given. Many other outrages became known to
the commodore ; and, in six weeks, war became
almost a certainty. With great difficulty the
missionaries succeeded in leaving with the Brit
ish fleet. To have staid would have been cer
tain death.
" Three months later, another fleet was thun
dering at the gates of the Burman Empire.
Martaban fell on the 5 th of April ; Rangoon, on
the 14th. Mr. Kincaid had arrived the day
before. Mr. Dawson came on the 18th ; and in

OUR GOLD-MINE. 193
a few days they had cleared an old building
of its idols and cobwebs, and were again receiv
ing disciples, inquirers, and patients. On the
20th December, 1852, Pegu was declared a part
of the domain of Great Britain.
" Long after Rangoon was as safe a residence
as London, the interior was a scene of terror.
Bands from the disorganized Burman army
were prowling, burning, and shooting, as they
went over the country. The Karens organized
to defend their homes. Almost daily, news of
battle between them was brought to the mis
sionaries at Sandoway. To the Burmans, all
Christians were counted British sympathizers.
Many were pierced with swords, beaten, or hung
till almost dead, for being readers ' of the ' white
book.' One aged pastor was crucified. Sixty
of his flock were rescued by the British while
digging their own graves.
"The Karens gave full proof of bravery, often
driving back forces much larger than their own.
* I hear but one account of them,' wrote the
commissioner of Pegu, ' that on all occasions
their information has been the best, and their
assistance the most hearty. We must not for
get such good-will as has been shown us.' "

194 OUR GOLD-MINE. *
"But you haven't told a word about Miss
Macomber," said grandpa Sears, " how she went
out alone among those drunken Pwo Karens of
Douggahn, and sometimes there wasn't a house
for miles that would let her in ; and they set fire
over and over to the house she lived in. And
she staid there three years, till there were
twenty-six Christians, and then died. And
how Knapp tried to live among the Nagas ; and
how we sent out the Haswells and Ingalls
and Braytons and Bullards and Ranneys and
Crosses." '
„ " I wish I had time to tell it all" said Mrs.
Bancroft. "You certainly must not judge the
comparative importance of the work done by
the amount of time I give to the separate work
ers ; for there are many whose record is bright
on the book above, but whose own labors, with
their results, can hardly be separated from those
of their brethren. But you shall hear from
some of those grandpa has mentioned before
long."

CHAPTER X.
NEW FIELDS.  TOUNGOO, SHWAYGYEEN, HEN-
THADA.

HEN the thought of becoming a mis
sionary first presented itself to Ida, it
received very decided treatment as an
intruder. The idea of becoming a cannibal
"would hardly "have seemed more unnatural. But
thoughts, like young robins, do not often make
their appearance, except where*nests have been
made ready for them ; and this thought, when
it had forced its way into her mind and olaimed
a right there, found that through the months,
undreamed by her, a nest had been preparing
for it so exactly fitted to it, that, in less than
two days, it was entirely at home.
Yet it did not seem to Ida that she had
changed so much, but rather that this was the
work for which she had been made, only she
195

196 OUR GOLD-MINE.
m
had failed, until lately, to understand herself.
With this self-revelation came a consciousness
that something more than natural fitness for the
work was needed, a something that she had not;
and so, through weeks of silent, anxious conflict,
her purpose lay, as she supposed, hid in her
own breast. At last she was able to write in
her journal, " I do desire earnestly to do God's
work, where he pleases, when he pleases, as he
pleases." That evening she announced her plan to the
family. " I think I shall offer myself as a missionary."
" I supposed so," said Walter.
" You have not written yet, then ? " asked
Mrs. Bancroft.
A moment's pause; and Katie added, "To
What place ? "
What did it mean ? It had cost her months
of preparation, and weeks of conflict, to be able
to speak those words ; and the family received
them as they would an announcement that she
was going to a tea-party. If she had felt any
desire to make a sensation, she would have been
indignant. As it was, she was relieved, but. a
little disappointed.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 197
"Mother bought an extra piece of cloth for
you last week, so she could be making it up for
you, because you were going," said Edith.
" But I did not know I was going myself till
yesterday, if I am," said Ida.
" I supposed not ; but mother did : she knows
the most always."
" I have felt sure of it for a long time, Ida,"
said Mrs. Bancroft. " But I could not be thank
ful for it at first : I am now."
Tears filled Ida's eyes. They did not misun
derstand her, then, but had known her better
than she knew herself instead:
" We are ready for the story, mother," said
Walter. " Ida is impatient to hear about her
future neighbors."
" The Burman emperor was lord of land and
water no longer : his last .inch of sea-coast had
been taken. Rangoon, witness to the torture
of so many British subjects, was itself British
territory. Bassein — the home of Karen heroes
and martyrs, into which Abbott had cast so
many longing glances, and from which he had
received so many hundreds to study, to be bap
tized, often to die — now lay open to the reapers ;
and farther north lay other legions, which

198 OUR GOLD-MINE.
,might be inhabited by owls or Nats, for aught
any white man could tell.
"From the borders of one of these darker
regions a voice had come three years before the
war. Sau Dumoo, a Karen living in Toungoo,
had wandered down to Tavoy. There he be
came converted, entered the Theological School,
and now was eager to go back and teach his
countrymen. " ' There are many more Karens there than
here,' he said, 'and they do not wander about as
they do here. A man will build his house ; and,
when his daughter marries, she takes her hus
band to her father's house, or rather adds a little
to the old house. This continues many years,
till.a few of these houses make a large commu
nity.' " Sau Quala was intensely interested, and
eager to go with Sau Dumoo to explore these
unknown regions. At the meeting of the asso- '
ciation in 1852, they together presented a re
quest for leave to go as missionaries to Toungoo.
There was a difficulty. The churches about
Mergui looked upon Sau Quala as a father, and
claimed the rights of children. They had heard
of his intention, and sent to the association a

OUR GOLD-MINE.

199

protest, signed by every one of the assistants
south of Tavoy, and by their churches. What
was to be done ? No other was so well fitted
for Toungoo, or so .much needed at hftne, as
Sau Quala. 'We looked at the subjectHare-
fully,' writes Mr. Thomas ; ' we spoke ; we wept ;
we prayed; and all — the very men who had
signed the adverse memorial — arose with tears,
and voted to approve his going!
" Sickness and war, still raging in Toungoo,
delayed his going for a year. In September,
1853, Dr. and Mrs. Mason went there.
"' I. consider it a fixed fact that you cannot go
to Toungoo ; no amount of preparation would
take you there alive,' were the encouraging
words of a letter received by Dr. Mason the day
of his appointment to that field. The war was
over ; but bands of dacoits — a class of robbers
who are by turns petted, tolerated, or cut in
pieces, according to the interest of the Burman
king — infested river and country.
" Nineteen days' travel through regions bris
tling with reports of men murdered, and villages
robbed, brought the Masons within the walls of
Toungoo city. It was mainly Burman ; but.
around it were Khyens and Shans, and Karenj^

200 OUR GOLD-MINE.
of every sort. Here were Sgaus, like their kins
men in Tavoy, repeating traditions of God's
book, and waiting the coming of the white for-
eigner#; Pwos, more reserved and more Buddh
istic^ Karenhees, or Red Karens, named from
the color of their garments, — a new tribe, wholly
distinct from both Sgaus and Pwos ; the pant-
wearing Bghais, from whom even Burman
avarice had never collected taxes, for the reason
that no Burman entering their villages ever
came out alive, and to whom kidnapping and
murder were lawful avocations ; the Taubya, or
dog-eating Karens, named from their diet, dimin
utive in size and mind ; the gentler frock-wear
ing Bghais ; the Pakus ; and, closely allied to or
included in these, innumerable smaller clans,
some of them almost own cousins, and separated
not half a day's journey from each other, yet
wholly unable to understand each other, so
rapidly does language run wild when not. tram
melled by books.
"Dr. Mason had already been ordered to
America by his physician when he started for
Toungoo. He could delay no longer. In
December, Sau Quala came ; in January, 1854,
Dr. and Mrs. Mason left.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 201
" And now Sau Quala was left, aided only by
a handful of unordained assistants, to plant and
cultivate the Toungoo mission. Almost imme
diately many of the Karens were clamorous for
teachers. He stationed Shapau at Hteedu, a
Bghai village.
" ' Let us have a teacher,' said the people of
Theghadeu as they came with presents of salt
and eggs to Sau Quala.
" ' But I have but one, and I wish to leave
him at Hteedu. Send some from your village
to study here ; and, when they can read, you may
teach each other,' said Sau Quala.
" ' But let him come to us. We will become
Christians, and we will support him better than
the people of Hteedu.'
" So they argued for a whole day and night ;
till Sau Quala said, ' I will leave teacher Shapau
to stay one month at Hteedu, and then another
month at Theghadeu, and so on each alternate
month.' This satisfied them.
" Some of the Pakus were less cordial.
' " ' Let one of the teachers come up here,' said
the chief of one of their villages, ' and we will
make two or three holes through him with our
spears ; and, if he does not die, we will believe
him, and worship his God.'

2Q2 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" On hearing this, an assistant set out at once
for their village.
" ' I heard you were going to pierce me with
your spears,' he said. ' I am here now : if you
wish to pierce, pierce. I trust in God, and have
come to preach his words.' They were dumb ;
listened attentively ; and he left unharmed.
Soon two teachers were sent them.
" Sau Quala labored incessantly. He made
long tours among the mountains, often prostrat
ed by fever, sometimes poisoned by insects or
strange plants, threatened by death in almost
every form, but having no thought of rest while
he had strength to work, or of discouragement
when there was work to be done. His wife and
child were sick, and he longed to see them.
His father-in-law died ; but he could not afford
a visit home. The British commissioner offered
him thirty rupees per month to act as overseer
among the Bghais, Pakus, and wild Karens.
" ' I cannot do that,' he replied ; ' I cannot do
that at all. I have no use whatever for the
money. There are others to do this thing :
employ them. As for me, I will continue in
the work in which I am engaged.'
" ' How do you get your support ? Why do

OUR GOLD-MINE. 203
you not want money ? ' asked the commissioner.
' We will give you money, and you can still be
a teacher. Will not this be easy for you ? '
" ' No, my lord,' answered Sau Quala : ' I eat
my food with poor people, and am content. I
did not leave my beloved wife and child, and
come to this distant place, to get money and eat
delicious food : I came to preach the gospel to
the poor, that they may be saved. If I perform
the duties of a n'kati (superintendent), these
wild Karens will become my enemies.'
"'Think upon the subject two or three days
before you decide finally,' said the commissioner.
" Sau Quala thought ; found two Christian
headmen to take the place ; and, greatly relieved,
went on with his unpaid work as before.
" Within twenty-one months from that time he
baptized one thousand eight hundred and sixty
persons ; yet his journal shows even greater
caution in examining candidates than was com
mon among white missionaries. Here there
are ' several applicants ; ' but none are received,
because they 'are recent converts.' There, out
of a large number, two are admitted; in the
next place nineteen ; in the next none ; for they
' had changed their teacher, so there were no

o

I

blkthplace of quala, who baptized i860 converts, and organized 28 churches, in 18 months.
In the Tavoy District.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 205
satisfactory means of knowing the state of their
minds ; ' and some of the women, finding their
fowls killed by children, ' had been so provoked
as to sin with their lips.' And in the next, again,
none ; for their old feuds were not wholly given
up. In the next, twenty-four out of eighty were
received ; the rest postponed ' on account of
ignorance.' None were admitted to baptism
without several distinct examinations at distant
times. "When Dr. Mason returned in 1857, he
found, in the region which he had left utterly
dark, two associations of churches, ninety-five
preaching-stations, and twenty-six hundred bap
tized Christians, besides many more unbaptized.
Among the Bghais, feuds which had separated
their villages farther from- each other than from
America, making it death for a resident of one
to enter another, melted away into friendship.
Footpaths were made between them. The
thirst for arrack gave place to the thirst for
books. They built their own chapels, supported
their own schools, and gave liberally to the work
beyond. Their young men went everywhere,
preaching, — for, among the Karens, a man no
more requires a license to preach than to pray,

206 OUR GOLD-MINE.
— living upon the poorest fare ; sometimes work
ing as coolies a part of the time, that they
might have funds to preach the remainder.
Nothing surprised Dr. Mason more than the
number, talent, and familiarity with Scripture,
of these suddenly raised-up native preachers.
" ' When I stand on these mountain-tops,' he
writes, ' and see now two, anon three, and then
five clusters of Christian habitations, I feel, like
the Queen of Sheba, "the half was not told." -I
could not convey to a congregation in America
an adequate conception, that would be credited,
of the magnitude of the work effected. Were
the Union to become bankrupt, " and all the
missionaries to return home, it would go on
without our aid as certainly as the dawn •
increases to the perfect day.'
" On one occasion, a company of young Brit
ish officers rambled out into the Toungoo jungle
for pleasure, and returned, pronouncing the Ka
ren Christians ' hypocrites.' They had reached
one of their villages on Sunday, and found it
impossible by any effort to hire a boat till the
next morning.
" ' Is that all ? ' asked a pious officer. • ' Was
there nothing else wrong in their conduct,

OUR GOLD-MINE.

207

except that they refused to let their boat on
Sunday ? '
" ' Why, no,' was the constrained admission.
Both boat and men were ready to serve them on
Monday morning.
" ' Then they were only consistent,' said the
brigadier. " Indeed, none appreciated the wonderful
change more than the government-officers, and
through them liberal aid was obtained for the
schools. " ' The commissioner seems about as great an
enthusiast as you deem me,' writes Dr. Mason
after a visit from Major Phayre. ' He remarked
at parting, " I can assure you I came with high
anticipations ; but I have been truly surprised at
what I have seen." '
" Mr. Whitaker came from Maulmain a few
months before Dr. Mason arrived ; labored in
Toungoo,* surrounded sometimes by hundreds of
eager listeners, for two years ; and then died,
rejoicing that God had brought him to Burmah
to see what he had seen.
"Among the Bghais, 'wildest of the wild,'
there were, at the close of 1861, nearly two
thousand members. Mr. Cross, who had joined

208 OUR GOLD-MINE.
the mission nearly two years before, writes of
attending an association among them, more
quiet and orderly than any three or four days'
camp-meeting in America ; and well asks, ' Why
were these thousand or more of wild Bghais
now so sober, so orderly, so intent on hearing
rebukes of sin, and exhortations to honesty,
justice, and holiness ? ' The whole number of
church-members in Toungoo was at that time
four thousand seven hundred and thirty-three ;
but they represented a Christian*population of
twenty thousand.
" But now a dark cloud came over Toungoo.
The Christian Karens found themselves sudden
ly in the midst of a war between the British
government and a heathen chief. Their villages
were burned, their women and children carried
into slavery, their schools broken up, their fields
abandoned for the camp.
" The contest was short ; but, before its smoke
had cleared away, the infant churches were called
to a far more perilous spiritual conflict. Mrs.
Mason, partially deranged in mind, imagined
that there had been revealed to her a new lan
guage, written in the figure of the carpet, in the
lines of the human face, in the symbols of the

OUR GOLD-MINE. 209
Buddhist religion, and in almost every object^ in
nature, — a .language which men needed only to
learn in order to become Christians ; which the
heathen needed only to learn, to see that they
were already worshipping the true God. By it
she could, read the doctrine of the Trinity in the
form of the Buddhist pagoda, and the New Tes
tament in Karen dresses and sacks. To teach
it to the world she now considered her great
mission. "The Karens knew nothing of the refined
forms of monomania peculiar to civilized coun
tries. To them, one who was not crazy was
sane. In Toungoo, as in America, there are
two classes of church-members, — those who
study the Bible for •themselves, and those who
accept the interpretation of it given them by
their teachers. To many of the latter class the
new 'God language' seemed a revelation fresh
from heaven. I sometimes wonder what the
Galatian church would have done if the terrible
hypothesis of the apostle — 'If I, or an angel
from heaven, teach any other gospel ' — had be
come a reality ; how many of them, when called
to choose between Christ and him who had
taught them Christ, would have chosen rightly.

2IO OUR GOLD-MINE.
It seems less strange, that, in a like trial, many
of the Karens failed, than that a majority of
them still held the old faith ; but it was only a
majority. " Directed by Mrs. Mason, the accepters of
the God language refused Sau Quala, and the
other preachers who rejected it, admission to
their pulpits.or even to their houses. Churches
were divided ; schools were given up ; and hea
then villages on the point of turning to Chris
tianity looked at this new development, paused,
and turned back. At last an entire separation
was thought, necessary. A new association was
formed among the Pakus, and another among
the Bghais. In 1865 the connection of Dr. and
.Mrs. Mason with the Missionary Union closed.
" It is easier to break than to mend is more
terribly true among spiritual things than among
temporal. In the years that followed, through
the efforts of the missionaries, now and then an
individual, a pastor, sometimes a- church, saw its
error, and repented ; and the faithful native pas
tors gathered fresh energy from the trial, and
went out as in the early times when the contest
was only with heathenism. The Karens who
held to the old faith realized as never before the

OUR GOLD-MINE. 21 1
necessity of Bible study ; and Sunday schools
were everywhere organized. In 1867 we begin
to hear again, now of one hundred, and eighteen
baptized by one preacher on a tour, and, soon
after, one hundred and twenty-six by another ;
then of a teacher going alone to a village that"
seemed a mere nest of writhing vipers, and
work*ing till they were ' among the kindest-
acting and most pleasant-looking people in the
mountains.' But these cases were exceptions.
Division of feeling and interest among believers
would not bear a different fruit in Toungoo
from that which comes from the same tree when
planted in America ; and for some years revivals
hardly kept pace with declensions ; the interest
in the jungle schools slackened ; many of the
native preachers lost their early zeal, and disci
pline was neglected.
"In 1869 there came the first convert from
the Red Karens. For months he had believed,
but feared to profess it, lest, going back among
his countrymen, he should yield to temptation,
and dishonor Christ.
" ' Teacher,' he said with tears in his eyes the
evening before his baptism, ,' I have asked bap
tism : I want you all to pray for me.'

212 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" And then, as one after another, visitors from
his own people, came in, he told them his story,
and met only laughter.
" ' Oh, how dark my people are ! ' he said :
'they know nothing but darkness.'
" But, just before his baptism, there came a
letter from his wife : ' Study hard, and do not
fear for me. If you can, come home in the dry
season, and help me get my rice ; but do not
come until you have learned all. I, too, am
resolved to leave off evil, and do right.'
" Soon we find him laboring earnestly among
his people. Eleven of them have since been
baptized ; and S'au, their pioneer missionary, has
within the past year (1876) been ordained.
"In 1871, Dr. Mason, who for manjj months
had been laboring to restore harmony to the
churches, became again a missionary of the-
Union. " ' If there is to be peace, we will repair our
chapel, and again support our teacher,' was the
comment of more than one wounded and wither
ing church.
" In January, 1 872, came the brightest day
Toungoo had known for years. The two Bghai
associations came joyfully, cordially, and thor-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 213
oughly together ; and I think among the angels
was as glad a song of triumph that day as
when, seventeen years before, they greeted the
entrance of the first Toungoo converts into
the heavenly kingdom.
" The work of re-union proceeded more gradu
ally among the Pakus ; but by February, 1873,
Mr. Cross was able to write, —
" ' There are now but few churches that follow
Mrs. Mason ; and it is safe to say, that all that do
follow her do so as a mark of their apostasy, or
return to heathenism.'
"In 1874 Dr. Mason finished his work on
earth, but not till he had seen, as the result of
the union of his own labors with those of Dr.
Cross and Mr. Bunker, fifteen new preachers
located, a dozen chapels built or rebuilt, a spirit
of work unknown for years stirring among the
disciples, and a spirit of inquiry (also long
unknown) enkindled among the heathen.
" During that year and the next, the whole field
suffered greatly from famine. Vast armies of
rats swept, three or four times in succession,
over fields that had supported twenty thousand
Karens, often destroying a whole field in a
night. Among the heathen, hundreds died of

214 OUR GOLD-MINE.
starvation; and the Christians suffered much,
and were greatly scattered.
"Mr. and Mrs. Crumb joined the mission
early in 1877. Mr. Bunker has just completed a
thorough re-organization of the Bghai churches.
They now number 2,068 members, and the Pakus
1,843. " Sau Dumoo, who first interested Sau Quala
in Toungoo, was sowing and reaping at once in
a neighboring field. At
SHWAYGYEEN
Mr. Harris commenced a mission to the Ka
rens in 1853. In the first year of the mission
five hundred and seventy-seven were baptized,
five hundred of them by Sau Dumoo ; and by
i860 the Shwaygyeen Association numbered
more than twelve hundred members. But the
station proved sickly. Mrs. Harris died very
soon after reaching it. In 1856 Mr. Harris's
health failed ; Mrs. Miranda Vinton Harris, his
second wife, and one of the most successful
missionaries, died ; and he left 'the mission, and
in 1858 closed his connection with the Union.
Mr. Watrous's health soon failed, and for six
years Shwaygyeen was left without .a. mission-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 215
ary. The state of the sheep thus left in the
wilderness is best described by one of their own
pastors, writing in 1865 : —
"Beloved Brethren of Other Countries and
Cities, in Every Place, — I desire to write you a few
words about the disciples of Christ in Shwaygyeen. To
every one who may see this letter we would say, Bear
with us, and pray to God, our Lord, for us ; for we here
in Shwaygyeen have no missionary teacher to instruct,
encourage, or help us, as they have in other places.
" We are like orphans, — bereft of father and mother ;
left desolate, sleepy, and hungry : in other words, we are
like the wounded and fallen, without a physician. The
reason of sorrow is this. During the year some have
apostatized from the living God, and returned to the
customs of their forefathers ; some have become unstable,
and are wavering and restless, like the waves of the sea :
therefore, beloved brethren in every place, bear with us,
and help us by your prayers. Teacher Cross of Toun
goo does all he can for us ; and through him we receive
New Testaments and hymn-books.
" During the year 1865 we have been consulting how
to get back our beloved teacher Harris from America.
We, the disciples of Shwaygyeen, have collected two
hundred rupees toward paying the passage of teacher
Harris. Therefore, dear brethren and sisters in every
place, great and small, male and female, have pity upon
us, pray for us, and assist us to get back our teacher.
"(Signed) "Teacher Pah Moo."

216 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Of course Mr. Harris was re-appointed, and
went ; and, though Shwaygyeen had shared
largely the sufferings of her twin-sister in the
north, when he arrived there (in 1866) he found
its churches all 'righted. up once more, and tak
ing the Bible only as their guide.'
" Mr. Harris worked on, with no white assist
ant except his wife, for eight years. In 1870
Sau Dumoo, his closest companion, died. The
next year the failure of Mrs. Harris's health
compelled her to leave, and he was for a time
quite alone. But the pastors proved true assist
ants, and of their own accord proposed raising
a fund, above all ordinary contributions, which
should make them independent of foreign aid,
except specific donations. In 1872 Kah Cher, a
young Karen who had just graduated at Madi
son University, joined the .mission ; and, at the
close of 1874, Mr. and Mrs. Hale arrived as
missionaries to the Burmans of Shwaygyeen.
There are now eight hundred and sixteen Ka
ren church-members. HENTHADA.
" Henthada, a hundred and twenty miles
above Rangoon, was not unlike Toungoo. Here,

OUR GOLD-MINE. <2\>i
in 1854, Mr. Thomas looked over an apparently
unbroken waste of heathenism, asking, ' Can
any thing turn this mass of mind to the truth ? '
" Very soon visitors flocked in, inquiring for
the • ' lost books.' A few weeks later, Mr.
Thomas found three who were already Chris
tians. They had been baptized ten years before
by Aupaw, a teacher sent out by Mr. Abbott.
They took Mr. Thomas to their house, showed
him their little library, — a catechism, an old
worn hymn-book, and a few New-Testament
leaves, — and then brought to him two other
families, eight in all, whom they had led to
Christ. These eight were baptized. There was
no house large enough to hold even that little
church : so they celebrated their first commun
ion under a buffalo-shed. Mr. Thomas prayed.
earnestly that 'the little one might become a
thousand.' At the close of 1856 his prayer was
half answered : it had become five hundred.
The ingathering had not been rapid as in Toun
goo ; but the foundations had been strongly laid.
"Then, again, the cry for retrenchment
echoed through all the outposts in Burmah.
Funds from America had failed. There was no
money to build the house which Mr. Thomas

218 OUR GOLD-MINE.
must have" in order to live in Henthada. It was
intimated that he might be obliged to return to
Maulmain. " ' Tell the disciples of Jesus,' Mr. Thomas
replied, ' if they cannot afford me five hurfdred
dollars to build me a house, I must, nevertheless,
remain here, though it cost me my life. Yes, I
would rather occupy a Karen house than leave
my field of labor. I came to preach the gospel
to the heathen, and my brethren at home prom
ised to support me here. I spend my life as I
agreed to do, with or without their support.'
" The work grew more rapidly now : the de
mand for teachers and preachers was constant.
Mr. Thomas could no longer wait to have them.
educated, but sent them out almost as soon as
they could say, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved ; ' and the gospel
news found new channels for itself daily.
" Once, as Mr. Thomas was sailing up the
Irrawadi toward the place where he planted the
first little church, he heard strains of music. It
was the tune of ' Happy Land,' and the words
were ' Yay Shu quai plah pa Shu dai boh.'
(' Jesus pardons all our sins.')

OUR GOLD-MINE. 219
Strange words for so wild a place. He turned
in the direction of the music. A young Karen
mother .was singing the hymn as a lullaby.
Yes ; and all through Henthada he knew there
were Christian mothers singing their children
to sleep with gospel hymns. It was no time to
leave. On another tour within the limits of
Bassein he found an aged saint, ' unusually
cleanly in appearance, and heavenly-minded,'
the wife of the first convert and apostle among
the Karens, — Ko Thah-byu. Mergui, Tavoy,
Maulmain, Rangoon, and Arracan, all spoke to
him through her, and forbade his abandoning
Henthada. "And there was no retrenchment, nor need
of any, though the regular supplies almost
failed ; for God sent especial help. One hun
dred rupees came from England ; eleven hun
dred from cities in Bengal, whose streets were
yet red with the blood of the Sepoy war. Funds
came from unknown friends in America, and
from British officers in Burmah, and from the
heathen even, and liberal offerings from the
native Christians.
"In i860 Mr. Thomas received a communi
cation from the British deputy commissioner of

220 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Henthada, always kind and liberal, in regard to
a petition he had received, asking exemption
from taxation for thirty-four men claiming to be
Christian teachers in Henthada. It • greatly
puzzled him ; for he could not imagine there
was really any such number of bona fide teach
ers in -a mission ' that had sprung up under his
own eyes. How many hours per day did these
men teach ? what else did they do ? who sup
ported them ? Mr. Thomas assured him that
there were more than thirty-four Christian
teachers in Henthada ; that these had no other
employment ; that they were supported mainly
by Christian Karens in the district, but partly
by friends in America, and British residents in
Burmah, among whom the deputy commissioner
of Henthada stood the most prominent.
"Three years later he could report seventy-
five preachers, and a membership of eighteen
hundred, supporting their own schools, and
nearly all their own preachers; and 1866
brought news of deeper interest, and marked
revivals in many of the churches.
"Early in 1866 Mr. Thomas left Henthada
for America. On reaching Rangoon, he learned
that the departure of Mr. Beecher — who had

OUR GOLD-MINE. 221
been laboring there, not in connection with the
Union — had left the Sgau Karens of Bassein
without a missionary. The call was loud for
some one. Mr. Thomas, knowing that he
perilled his life by the delay, but hoping even so
slight a change might restore health, accepted it,
but was obliged to leave after one year, and
reached America only to die there.
" Mr. D. A. W. Smith succeeded him in
Henthada. His first work was a tour among
the churches. At Kyantmau, as he was walk
ing in tjie gray twilight, he was startled by a
shrill exclamation : 'So you have not deserted
us, teacher, though God has.' It came from an
old woman approaching.
" ' Oh ! do not say so, aunt. What do you
mean ? '
" ' During the rains one died, and another, and
then another, and now my neighbor's grown-up
daughter. If God loved us, he would not afflict
us so.'
" The whole village had been troubled by the
thought ; and a whisper had spread among them,
that, for such as died suddenly, there was no
hope. Trembling, they asked, ' Is this true ? '
" It was worth a long journey to see the light

222 OUR GOLD-MINE.
that spread from face to face as one after an
other caught from the missionary the thought
that trials are a proof of love, — God's costliest
gifts. " Farther on, a mother lay dying. Her son,
Shway Lay, was at the seminary in Rangoon.
" ' Do not let him know of my illness ; it
would intefere with his studies,' she said.
" So, heroically, she passed away without the
sight of her son.
" So weakness and strength alternate among
the Karen Christians.
" A little later, Mr. Smith met Shway Lay at
the association. It was now vacation.
" ' Do you wish to go to your village to spend
two or three months there ? ' asked Mr. Smith.
" ' I would rather be sent to preach among
the heathen.'
" Others expressed the same wish.
" ' Look here, brother,' said the missionary to
a native pastor : ' see what spirit is fostered at
the seminary. These young men have been
absent nine months ; yet none of them wish to
go home, except for a visit of a day or two, but
choose rather to be sent here and there preach
ing to the heathen. What shall we do with
them ? '

OUR GOLD-MINE. 223
"'Why, we must send them, of course, and
raise the money at once.'
" ' The six hundred rupees just given in by
the churches might do.'
" ' That indeed ; but I want to do something
special in answer to this special call.'
" By this time a group had gathered.
" ' I will put down my name for five rupees,'
said one.
" ' And I three.'
" ' And I two.'
" In a few minutes sixty-five rupees had been
raised. " ' Can we not have a weekly contribution of a
pice each from the church-members ? A pice
is so small, that they could do that without giv
ing the less in the regular contributions,' pro
posed one of the disciples a year or two later.
"That year, their regular contributions for
schools, chapels, and kindred objects, had been
4,981 rupees. The next year, the pice system
alone brought in five hundred rupees.
"Mrs, Thomas returned in 1874, and has ever
since been engaged with intense earnestness in
rekindling the missionary spirit of the Henthada
Karen churches, and arousing their pastors to
direct evangelistic work among the heathen.

224 0UR GOLD-MINE.
" Meanwhile Mr. Crawley, and, after him, Mr.
Douglass, had been doing the slower work of a
Burman missionary, talking daily to companies
of men, — who would gather, and listen all day
to religious discussions as to a theatrical exhibi
tion, — and gathering converts one by one.
" In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. George arrived from
America. This, when they had learned the
language, left Mr. Crawley free for work in the
jungle. "Repeated tours were made. Every village
where there was a Christian was visited, besides
many where there were none ; and in 1 872
the result appeared in forty-one baptisms from
among the Burmans, — a larger number than
had ever been received in one year before.
"In 1875, though both missionaries were laid
aside a great part of the time by sickness, there
came a revival such as the Burman mission of
Henthada had never known.
" In a region scarcely visited by the mission
ary, Mr. George found himself surrounded by
loving converts, who insisted upon dismissing
the hired coolies, and themselves transporting
the baggage to its destination. Here, with
insatiable eagerness, they busied themselves

OUR GOLD-MINE. 225
from morning till night in studying the Bible,
and learning to sing Christian hymns. Few of
them had ever heard a sermon ; but they had
read tracts ; and several of them had witnessed
a baptism, and dated their serious impressions
from that. Within a year, more than one hun
dred were baptized. The interest continues;
and Mr. and Mrs. George have changed their
home, that they might be nearer this great
work, thus starting the new station of Zeegong.
"Mr. Crawley died near the close of 1876: so
that the Burman work at the original station of
Henthada is wholly in the care of Mrs. Bailey
and Miss Payne, missionaries of the Woman's
Missionary Society."

CHAPTER XI.

RENEWED FIELDS.  RANGOON, BASSEIN, PROME.

HE next month was too busy to allow
a single " missionary evening;" though,
in one sense, all evenings were mission
ary evenings now. Ida's ideas in regard to her
qualifications were far more humble than those
of her friends. It sometimes seemed that it
would take one lifetime to fit her to even begin
the work of a missionary. Studies that she had
rejected or neglected as useless now seemed
important. Every thing seemed important, in
deed. She was thankful that she was young
yet ; that life, for the most part, lay before her.
One year she resolved to give to study ; and, in
order to do this, she must leave home at once.
So, for four weeks, Mrs Bancroft and Ida, and
the sewing-machine, held long councils. Katie
was as enthusiastic as if she had been going
226

OUR GOLD-MINE.

227

herself, and counted it a special privilege, when,
in the intervals of work for the children and
grandpa Sears and the family, she could gain
an hour to sew for Ida. Walter never joined
these family councils ; he was not often in the
sewing-room : but somehow, if there was a
trunk-lock to be repaired, or the sewing-ma
chine was refractory, or purchases were to be
made a mile down town, he was always on hand.
Grandpa Sears was interested in every thing,
even to ruffles and tatting; yet the children
sometimes found him looking down into the
depths of the unpacked trunk in a silent,
meditative way, perhaps thinking of threescore
others who had as hopefully prepared for the
mission-work since his remembrance, and had
been called up higher.
Charlie spent his daytimes at school, and his
evenings with Clarence. He "hated packing
and getting ready to go off always ; but this
was the pokiest packing he ever knew."
But all was done at last. They had gathered
at the depot, watched the last steam-puff of the
cars that carried Ida away float off among the
hills, and realized, that, except for two short
vacations, they could claim her no 'longer.

228 OUR GOLD-MINE,
Then, when night gathered around them, they
were glad to meet again in the sitting-room, and
listen to Mrs. Bancroft. " RANGOON,
the oldest mission-station, might be called a
'new field ' almost as truly as Toungoo or Hen
thada. The city was rebuilt as if by magic,
and within two months counted a population of
thirty thousand. Mr. Vinton soon joined Mr.
Kincaid. Native assistants were sent out into
the neighboring towns ; and within six months
that wilderness blossomed, and bore the fruit
of seventy-five converted Burmans and Karens,
while every sabbath witnessed baptisms.
"But pestilence and famine followed in the
track of war. All through the country, the poor
little Karen shanties, that never held provisions
for many days in advance, stretched their roofs
over starving, dying inmates. But one day,
among some of these perishing ones, there
spread a rumor that there was rice at Teacher
Vinton's. He had bought it at his own risk,
and was selling it to Karens on credit, without.
security. It seemed too good to be believed.
But any thing was better than lying still and

* OUR GOLD-MINE. 229
dying : so, in companies and singly, they flocked
in, till Teacher Vinton's seemed more like a
commissariat than a mission-house. At first he
sold to Christian Karens only ; but, as the suf
fering grew greater, he asked no questions, and
kept no account.
" ' You are ruining yourself. These promises
to pay will amount to nothing,' predicted his
merchant - friends. They might well say so.
He had spent nearly two thousand dollars ; and
the wildest American speculator would hardly
have offered him as many cerits for his invest-
'ment. Yet, in time, every cent was paid, though
not fully till years afterward. Long before that,
Mr. Vinton had gained a better reward.
' " ' This teacher saved our lives ; his religion
must be worth having,' was the comment of
the heathen. And so, wherever he went, they
flocked around him, sometimes trying to worship
him, always pointing him out to their childrerT
as their deliverer. In one year, more than
seven hundred were baptized.
" At the same time, at the zayats in. the city,
companies of eagerly-listening Burmans gath
ered around Mr. Ingalls and Mr. Stevens, who
preached incessantly ; and every week there
were baptisms.

230 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"More were added in this one revival than
had ever before, in the same length of time,
been added to a Burman church.
"A year later, Mr. Ingalls found his health
failing, and was warned to go to America.
" ' I cannot leave,' was the answer, ' until
some brother is ready to come and care for these
souls as I have done.'
"Another year, and the sacrifice was com
plete. Mr. Ingalls died on March 14, 1856.
" Two weeks later,-the old pastor, Ko-Thah-a,
had joined him in heaven.
" Two years later, the disciples and missiona
ries gathered around the dying-bed of Mr. Vin
ton. Never before had the blows fallen so
rapidly and heavily.
" A few months later, with Ko En and some
other native assistants, Mrs. Ingalls was mak
ing a twenty-three-days' tour through the jun
gle, doing, in every thing except preaching, the
work that her husband had left unfinished. And
through the years that followed we find her, now
visiting districts where no white woman had
ever been seen, and talking to groups who
crowded around her so closely she could hardly
breathe ; then sitting in the zayat of a Burman

OUR GOLD-MINE.

231

priest to encourage her assistants, who dis
cussed with and silenced him ; • again visiting
feeble churches, and directing inquirers, rejoi
cing in conversions, or mourning over apostates ;
then, for a while, making her home alone with
the natives in one of those out-stations ; and a
few years later, when the 'church had grown to
forty-five members, locating herself in a little
shanty, a nest of snakes, scorpions, and many
smaller creatures, and superintending the build
ing of a chapel.
" Once she went as far as Bassein. On her
way there, calling at a small village, she left
her Burman girls to cook, and Mr. Crawley to
preach to the priests, while she went into -an
idol temple to give books to the workmen, who
were replastering some idols. A company col
lected. '"I am the only one to testify for Christ,'
Mrs. Ingalls thought ; but from- out the crowd
there came a middle-aged man, who joined -her
in giving, with surprising accuracy, an account
of the creation.
" ' Who told you all this ? ' she asked.
" ' Oh ! I heard it many years ago from Teacher
Ingalls. He told me all about the Lord Jesus

232 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Christ, who came down to die for us ; and I shall
never forget it*
" ' Do you not know me ? '
• "'No.' " ' I am Mamma Ingalls.'
" Instantly the man clasped his hands, bowed
low at her feet, and told her, that for years he
had not worshipped idols ; that he believed in the
Eternal God, and wished to be his disciple.
" On one of her journeys by boat, just at mid
night she reached a little Burman hamlet. The
current was rapid ; but they had 'promised to
stop for an inquirer. Their call was answered.
Torches were brought, and a group of listeners
gathered about the canoe. Among them stood
a. noble-looking aged couple, the father and
mother of the inquirer. Already they believed
in the Eternal God, and Mrs. Ingalls talked to
them of Christ.
" A few more visits, and the couple appeared
with a band of candidates for baptism.
" ' Where did you first learn about the Eternal
God ? ' was asked.
" ' In the golden city of Burmah's king, and
from the white teacheress, whose husband was
cast into the death-prison of Oung-pen-la. My

OUR GOLD-MINE. 233
husband took two books, and I carried rice and
eggs to the beautiful white lady.'
" Did God have the conversion of those two
in view when he sent Judson to Ava ? And
did sower and reaper — the ' white teacheress '
of Ava and the white teacheress of Thongzai —
rejoice together as the old lady, rising to receive
the hand of fellowship, exclaimed, ' This is the
happiest hour of my life ; for I have found rest
in a Saviour ' ? God knows.
" In 1863, on a jungle-trip from Thongzai,
where she had* removed, she met with a man
who declared himself an opposer. In conver
sation with him, she chanced to mention the
name of her preacher, — Moung Thah Dongnee,
a native of the region.
" The opposer's countenance changed. ' Has
that man embraced these as truths ? ' he asked.
" ' Yes, and is now a teacher of them.'
" ' You may talk to the rest : I shall come
and hear from the lips of my friend.'
" The next day he came, and met Moung
Thah Dongnee.
" ' Do you know me? ' he asked.*
"'.No.'" But in a moment more tears started to the

234 OUR GOLD-MINE.
preacher's eyes, and they were clasped in each
other's arms.
"Then followed questions, and the story of
their years of separation.
" ' And now,' said Thah Dongnee, ' I must tell
you the joyful news of salvation.'
" He began ; and so deeply were they absorbed,
that for a long time they puffed on with tireless
cigars, much to the amusement of Mrs. Ingalls's
other visitors. All night, till daybreak, Mrs.
Ingalls could hear them talking and reading.
" ' I think I believe,' was the morning saluta
tion of the man, who, two days before, had been
a bitter opposer.
"Almost immediately after Mrs. Ingalls re
moved to Thongzai, forty miles from Rangoon,
a remarkable revival commenced, in which the
native preachers — aided by Mr. Stevens of Ran
goon and Mr. Crawley of Henthada — gathered a
large number into the church. The same year a
little church was organized at Letpadan, a day's
journey distant. The gain was steady until
1864, when the beautiful chapel at Thongzai
was burned to the ground. The church then
numbered eighty-eight ; but the heathen from
the community, if heathen they could be called,

OUR GOLD-MINE. 235
gathered around the ruins, and mingled their
tears with those of the Christians.
" ' If you could wear yellow garments like
mine, I could give you a hundred changes ; and,
if you could eat rice and our food, I could bring
you loads of it before night,' said an old Buddh
ist priest as he gaye Mrs. Ingalls a bowl, a mat,
and some native cloth. And afterwards heathen
vied with Christians in bringing dishes and cloth,
and posts for the new chapel ; and soon the work
was going on as prosperously as ever.
" Miss Adams joined the Thongzai mission in
1868, but after two years removed to Henthada.
Her place was filled early in 1872 by Miss
Evans, the first missionary sent out by the
Woman's Missionary Society. The organiza
tion was not a year old then : now it has under
its care twenty-one missionaries, twenty-five
Bible-women, and eighteen hundred and seven
teen pupils in schools, distributed over nearly
all parts of the foreign field.
".Let us look in for an hour, just now, upon
these women at their work. Here, in the house
of a Buddhist priest, seated, contrary to all rule,
on a seat a little higher than his own, is a deli
cate young lady repairing a clock. She can talk

236 OUR GOLD-MINE.
little to him yet ; but her work may prepare the
way for a time when she can. Meanwhile she
hands him her watch. It will preach to him
maybe ; for its hands will do what those of his
idols cannot, — move.
"And now into Mrs. Ingalls's room came a
company of heathen Burmans from a distance.
' Our idols are gods ' is their steady reply to all
her arguments.
" She quotes Scripture.
"'The teachers made the Scripture as they
pleased,' is the answer.
" She takes out a German doll, and presses it.
Of course, it adds the strength of its voice to
the argument.
" ' Your idols cannot even make a noise when
pressed.' " They look, then shake their heads. ' Our
idols are gods,' they say, and withdraw to an
other room.
" Presently a Madras man comes in. He can
speak only a few words of Burman. She knows
nothing of his language. Perhaps, if she tries
to amuse him, he will think more kindly of mis
sionaries, and, when he goes home, listen more
readily to those there ; but is this all ? Can there

OUR GOLD-MINE.

237

be no preaching without words ? She takes a
little idol, and places it before a paper of needles.
Of course, nothing happens..
" She puts a magnet in its place. The man
screams with wonder as he sees the needles
shooting forward to meet it. He seizes it, ex
amines it, and satisfies himself there is no trick.
" ' English god ! ' he exclaims ; and then,
catching up needles, magnet, and idol, rushes
into the room where the Burmans are now sit
ting. The idol, is set before the needles.
" ' Lphgeh ! ' (' Come ! ') says the Madras man ;
but the needles fail to obey.
" He tries the magnet. ' Lohgeh ! ' and in
stantly the needles are joined to it. ' No god,
no god ! ' he says, throwing the idol contemptu
ously back. ' Little god, but no god, no god,'
he adds, placing the magnet before the Bur
mans. " ' It has more power than our idols ; perhaps
it is an. English god,' suggests one of them.
" ' No,' says another : ' the English God lives
up in the heavens. Perhaps he made this
strange iron.'
" And now they are willing listeners, while
Mrs. Ingalls talks till late into the night of the
true God.

238 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"'I mean to read this book you have given
me ; I will see if these things are false,' says one
in leaving.
" Will he ? Certainly never again will either
idols, or the English God, be to any of that
company what they have been.
" But Dea Thahlay is here now : let us listen
while he tells his experience.
" ' When I was a heathen, I bought a large
idol made of light stuff, and very gaudy. One
day I found- some large holes in it. I performed
my devotions, then pounded on it, and, behold !
two or three large rats ran out. Then I was
very angry, and said, " What ! you a god, and
not able to defend yourself from rats ? Do I
worship a god that cannot defend himself from
rats ? " I seized a club, laid him prostrate, and
pounded him in pieces. The old priest came
out, and exclaimed in horror, " Young man !
what are you doing ? " — "I am knocking to
pieces my god, who cannot defend himself from
rats," said I. I never bought another idol ; and,
when I heard the gospel, I rejoiced in it.'
" If all rats made equally good missionaries,
probably American Christians could exercise
self-denial enough to export a number sufficient
to meet all demands.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

239

" But to the true missionary, if only Christ be
preached, it matters 'little whether the preacher
be Bible, or clock, or doll, or magnet, or rats, or
medicine-chest. " Sometimes the stoniest ground bore choicest
fruit. " Once, late at night, Mr. Crawley, Mrs.
Ingalls, and the native assistants, were passing
though the village of Thay Bao. The Word had
often been preached there, but with no visible
result. "The travellers were faint from their long
walk, had lunched on dry salt fish, and were in
need of water. They were refused.
" ' What is the reason ? ' asked Mrs. Ingalls.
" ' We have talked of your religion,' answered
one of the women ; ' and, as you say there is no
merit from wells and water, I have told them to
refuse water to Christians. We will feed dogs
and crows, .but not you.'
" ' Will you lend us a rope and bucket ? '
"'No.'
" At last one woman was persuaded to sell a
small jar of water, and the missionaries passed
on. "Months passed by. The village — known

240 OUR GOLD-MINE.
rather as ' the village that refused water to the
mamma ' than by its real name — was visited by
cattle-plague and fire, and became the subject
of earnest prayer among the Thongzai Chris
tians. "In 1872 one man from the place was con
verted ; six months later there came a call for
a visit, and native preachers were sent ; and
when, in 1873, Mrs. Ingalls visited them with
her company, she was wekomed by a band of
praying converts to the shelter of hospitable
homes, and brought through the forest with
songs of rejoicing.
"Before another year had passed, the once
closed water-tanks had beea given to the teach
ers, the monastery was converted into a chapel
and schoolroom, and the Buddhist priest had
become a Christian preacher.
" ' This is not the work for two women, but
for an army of strong men,' says' Mrs. Ingalls
as she sees, one after another, the Buddhist
leaders joining the ranks of the secretly con
vinced, but shrinking from the next step which
would place them among the open believers.
But two women ' with God are a majority ; ' and
in all the Burman mission there is no brighter
spot than Thongzai.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 241
"A like, yet very different work was Mrs.
Vinton's. ' Will the mamma leave us ? ' was the
first question of the Karen converts when Mr.
Vinton died ; and from outside the city disciples
flocked in, begging her to stay, and pledging her
their support.
"Two years before his death, Mr. Vinton,
differing with the Board in regard to the extent
of his control in the management of the mission,
and believing that this difference affected inter
ests vital to the success of his work, closed his
connection with the Missionary Union. For
similar reasons, Mr. Harris, Mr. Beecher, and
Mr. Brayton, withdrew, and connected them
selves with the Free Mission Society. Mr.
Vinton relied for his support upon the Karens
and the voluntary contributions of friends. Thus
at his death Mrs. Vinton was left alone in charge
of an independent mission of fifty churches,
three thousand church-members, and numerous
schools. " ' I well remember,' writes her daughter, ' that,
at the semi-annual meetings of the Karen Home
Mission Society, the native pastors and trustees
used to come to her for advice in all matters
connected with the mission, just as they used to

242 OUR GOLD-MINE.
come to my father ; and they seemed to look up
to her with the same reverence. and love they had
for him. Many times, as she sat in the centre
of a group of pastors and teachers, have I heard
them say, " When our father, Teacher Vinton,
died, we felt like orphans : but this our mother
did not forsake us ; and had it not been for her,
to go before us, and lead us on as Joshua did the
Israelites after the death of Moses, surely we
would not have been able to go forward." '
"When taunted by the heathen with having
a woman for their head, they replied, ' She is
our mother, and better to us, her poor children,
than any two men ; but by and by the son of
his father is coming to us, and then you shall
see.' The reference was to J. B. Vinton, then
a student in America.
" During all this time she kept up a school of
one hundred pupils, with a reputation such that
a student had only to bring a certificate from
her that he had been educated there, was a
competent surveyor, and was trustworthy to be
admitted to a situation in the survey under the
British Government ; and, at the close of the
survey, the students would often bring in from
two hundred to five hundred dollars each of

OUR GOLD-MINE.

243

their salaries to aid in carrying on the school,
besides gifts to Mrs. Vinton and her daughter
who assisted her. '
"In 1 86 1 'the son of his father' arrived, and
was welcomed by the Karens as if he were their
old teacher come to life again. In 1862 Mrs.
Vinton and her daughter were compelled by ill
health to leave for America. The close of six
months of hard work, in which she travelled
incessantly, frequently addressing large congre
gations, found her apparently much better ; but
the change was only in appearance. In 1864 she
reached Rangoon, accompanied by her daughter
and son-in-law (Mr. Luther), but came there only
to die.
" Brainard Vinton did not disappoint his wild
brethren. For six months of every year he
made his home in the jungle, travelling almost
constantly. " ' Where does Teacher Vinton live ? ' was
sometimes asked of a Karen disciple.
" ' There! would be the answer, pointing , to
the elephant he rode.
" Mounted thus, and accompanied by his native
preachers and some part of his brass band of
seventeen trained musicians, he passed from

244 OUR GOLD-MINE.
village to village, systematically deploying bis
preachers right and left, expecting them not
only to preach, but to make, each year, accurate
observations that should serve as the basis of
the next year's work. In this way the whole
field was canvassed.
" All the confidence the Karens had given
the father was transferred to the son. If a na
tive was bitten by a poisonous serpent, Teacher
Vinton must kill or capture the snake, and pro
vide the remedy ; if a man-eating tiger was
about, Teacher Vinton must be. sent for to de
stroy it. In fact, Teacher Vinton was the spe
cific for all troubles, natural or spiritual. But
through their confidence in him he trained them
rapidly to self-dependence.
" Once he found a large congregation wor
shipping in a small, broken-down chapel. He
preached a sermon on the text, ' Ye are not your
own,' and closed by asking them to raise one
•hundred dollars for a new chapel.
."They were frightened. All saw the neces
sity for the chapel ; but to raise the money
themselves seemed quite impossible. They
met again the second day. The third, as they
were still deliberating, a sound was heard out-

OUR GOLD-MINE.

245

side. In rushed a naked herd-boy with the cry,
' I've found an elk! ' Instantly church and mis
sionary were off on the chase. The missiona
ry's shot brought down the elk. Strange to
say, not a Karen had.his knife with him.
" ' Let us all take hold together, and we can
carry him to the village as he is,' said Mr. Vin
ton, suiting action to word.
" They tried again and again, but in vaki.
" ' Then some of you boys go to the village.
and get knives.'
" It was done ; and soon the elk was cut up,
and each man carried his own part easily.
" ' Hold there ! ' said one of the deacons : ' this
elk has preached me a sermon. Do you remem
ber how we lifted and tugged, and couldn't stir
it, when we tried to lift it altogether ? But, now
it is cut up, we can carry it easily enough. Let
us try that hundred dollars in the same way.
What is my share, teacher ? '
" Instantly Mr. Vinton made a mental assess
ment. " ' About ten dollars."
" ' But / can't do as much as that,' said a poor
disciple. " ' No : your share would be one rupee.'

246 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Before they parted, the whole sum was
pledged. " The next year, meeting them in their pleas
ant new chapel, he asked who of them had suf
fered from their liberality.
"Not one could say that he had had any
thing the less to eat.. They agreed that the
Lord had more than paid them.
" A .paper had been prepared, asking how
much it would cost to give the chapel a
shingled roof.
"'Hold on!' said the deacon: 'I'll give hoof
and horns of that elk.'
"There was a laugh; but soon seven hundred
dollars were raised for the shingling.
"That church gives seven hundred dollars
annually now for religious purposes.
"In 1 87 1 Mr. Vinton brought his band of
twenty-five hundred well-trained Karens again
into line with the forces of the Missionary
Union. Since then, their number has increased
to 3,311. They entirely support their own
churches and schools, raising annually sixteen
thousand rupees for that purpose.
" The school of barelegged theologians is a
seminary now; but Dr. Binney is no longer

OUR GOLD-MINE. 247
professor of every thing. His cares are shared
by D. A. W. Smith ; and had we visited it at
any time during 1876, while both these mis
sionaries were in America, we should have
found it still going on prosperously under the
direction of the modest and indefatigable Sau
Tay, whose sermons missionaries as well as
heathen find profitable, and who is able, aided
only by native assistants, to carry forward all
branches of study pursued there.
" Not far away is the Rangoon College, under
the care of Prof. Packer, founded in 1872, and
now numbering more than one hundred stu
dents. PROME,
about one hundred and seventy miles above
Rangoon, was founded two or three centuries
before the Christian era. The darkness of
twenty centuries was first broken when the
only white missionaries in Burmah were in the
death-prison of Ava, the eighteen obscure dis
ciples dispersed to meet no more on earth ;
and Moung Shway-Gnong alone, in Yatoung
village, taught his neighbors the new truth he
had found. Three years later, at the base of
the towering gilded pagoda, Judson preached to

248

OUR GOLD-MINE.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

249

listening crowds, stirring the whole city for
three months, till, at a whisper from, the golden
lips, congregations and inquirers became invisi
ble together. Here, three years later still, Kin
caid scattered tracts among eager hands, and
rejoiced to find four who had ' believed ever
since Teacher JudsOn was there.'
" It was one of the first stations occupied
after the war. Coming here early in 1 854, Mr.
Kincaid and Mr. Simons found a native al
ready on the ground, and active in preaching.
Within 'two years, one hundred and fifty were
baptized, principally Burmans : not all recent
converts^ however; for many seeds scattered in
past years had grown up wholly untended, and
were bearing fruit.
" There were fewer converts in the years that
followed, hut perhaps nowhere else so many
from the qlasses usually called the hardest to
reach. Here a Buddhist priest, who had fitted
himself for his office by eight years of study,
and would not even listen to the zayat preach
ing, was visited day by day by an earnest con
vert of eighty-four years,, who came, leaning on
his staff, to the kyoung, and preached Christ,
until the priest, too, was a disciple. There a

250 OUR GOLD-MINE.
wealthy timber-merchant, a fine business-man,
owning one of the best houses in Prome, after
remaining for years an inquirer, surprised all by
making an open profession ; while in after-years
Mr. Simons mentions receiving letters from
early conyerts, whom for years he had wholly
lost sight of, showing an earnest, mature piety.
" Mr. E. O. Stevens (son of Dr. Stevens of
Rangoon) and his wife joined the mission in
1866. Soon after, a new church was organized
at Enma. Five days later, while he was visiting
a few scattered disciples at Poungdai, twelve
miles distant, there came to him an inquirer.
He had met him before, and had high hopes of
him : now they were disappointed. He had
decided that he could not give up all, and ask
for baptism. The missionary led a little prayer-
meeting, and then, sad and weary, lay down to
rest. At sunrise we find him and • his party
wending their way — Indian file — through a
narrow footpath out of the village. They have
passed but a few rods, when a voice is heard
out of the jungle-grass behind them. They
halt,., and the inquirer of the last evening stands
before them. He is the picture of unrest, — not
enough a Christian to apply for baptism, and
too much one to be happy without.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 251
" ' Can you not wait one day longer, and so
preach in town ? '
" It is impossible. Mr. Stevens proposes
prayer. They ascend the ladder of the chapel
near by, and one after another prays for the
hesitating disciple. His whole frame trembles,
and the tears flow fast.
" ' I have wholly renounced idolatry,' he says,
'and believe in the Eternal God, and' the Sav
iour Jesus Christ ; but I cannot bear to think
of my wife leaving me, and taking our only
child.' " ' The sun will soon be hot,' says the mission
ary, taking his hat and umbrella : ' we must
leave at once. But remember, if you defer obe
dience thirty days, as you propose, you may find
it thirty times more difficult'
" ' If that is the case, let it be done at once,'
is the decided answer. From that, moment,
perfect peace seemed to hold possession of his
soul. That evening he was baptized, and be
came a member of the Enma church; but,
before a year had passed, Poungdai had a church
of its own, with twenty members. The Prome
mission now numbers two hundred and twenty-
five. The death of Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Rose,

252 OUR GOLD-MINE.
and Mr. Knapp, and, three years later, of Mr.
and Mrs. Satterlee, the removal through sickness
of Mr. and Mrs. Moore, and the withdrawal of
Mr. Rose, had left Akyab and Rarnree destitute.
In 1857 the Arracan mission closed. For its
fruit we must turn to BASSEIN.
" Here Mr. Van Meter came as soon as the
field was open after the war. Left to them
selves as they had been so much, and founded
in part by men who had their instructions only
at second or third hand from the missionaries,
the theology of the Bassein churches was not
the most systematic : still the missionary found
much more to rejoice over than to mourn.
They had an active Home Mission Society ; and
in 1855 Mr. Van Meter reports their contribu
tions for the extension of Christianity as more
than five thousand rupees.
"When the society met in 1858, its members
found themselves in possession of an article
common enough in Western Christian experi
ence, but new to them, — a debt. Six new
preachers were asking to be sent out.. At first,
there was a slight feeling of despondency. For-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 253
tunately, there were no more enlightened Chris
tians present to suggest retrenchment ; none to
say, ' Appoint no new missionaries till the ex
penses are brought within your means.' They
supposed it was their duty to honor whatever
drafts the Lord might be pleased to make upon
them. A brief conference, and then a vote was
taken to appoint the whole six applicants.
Another conference, and it was suggested that
a subscription be made on the spot. All ap
proved, and in a few minutes three hundred
and forty-seven rupees were raised, — enough
to pay the debt, and support the entire six mis
sionaries three months.
"All joined in a season of thanksgiving and
prayer. " Mr. J. L. Douglass, the first missionary to
the Burmans of Bassein, arrived in 1854. He
had hardly learned the language, when there
came to him, from three hundred miles away in
Arracan, a Bufman, who had ' heard there was
a Burman. missionary in Bassein.'
" ' I heard Teacher Comstock preach in Arra
can,' he said, ' but did not believe what I heard ;
but, after he died, I received tracts he wrote, and
read them, and then remembered what I had

254 OUR GOLD-MINE.
heard. I prayed God to help me understand,
and to forgive my sins ; and I believe he has
given me a new heart. Now I have come to
learn more, and be baptized.'
"Within three weeks Mr. Douglass baptized
him. Soon he began to talk about preaching.
The missionary had been praying for an assist
ant every day for a year ; but he dared not see
in the new-comer an answer to his prayers, till
he had sent him to Mr. Ingalls in Rangoon for
examination. "'lam much pleased with him, and think he
would be of service to the cause,' was the word
that came back.
" So Mr. Douglass engaged him, with no
salary except his rice and clothing; and he
proved to be ' a man of prayer, apt to teach, and
well acquainted with the Bible.'
" Soon a small Burman church was gathered,
which, after fifteen years of the slow, steady
growth common to Burman churches, has now
become five, with one hundred members.
" But the most marked work was among the
Pwo Karens, usually far harder to reach than
the Sgaus. In 1859 Mr. Douglass reports the
turning of a village composed entirely of Pwos

OUR GOLD-MINE. 255
to Christianity, and the formation of a Pwo
church of thirty-five. Three years later, Mr.
Van Meter found in one place three entire fami
lies of Pwos, who had ' thrown away the bottle '
(Karen idiom for becoming Christians) ; in an
other place he found nineteen, who, within a
week, had decided for Christianity; and that
year the majority of conversions from heathen
ism were among the Pwos.
" In 1 867 the Bassein Christians celebrated
their first Christmas, wondering much that they
had never heard of the day before. The same
year a temperance pledge was generally circu
lated ; and, wholly of their own accord, the
Karens extended it to cock-fighting, horse-
racing, opium-eating, and all heathen practices. .
Singing in parts was introduced, and the art
spread like wildfire. In 1868, at the Sgau
Association, there was an ordination, with pro
gramme prepared, and exercises conducted
throughout, by Karens, except that Mr. Van
Meter was moderator of the council of examina
tion. Both at this association and at the Pwo,
more than a thousand were present, testing, but
not overtaxing, the hospitality of the little vil
lages where they met. The Sgau pastor alone

256 OUR GOLD-MINE.
accommodated eighty ; and the Pwo deacon took
two hundred and seventeen, and some others in
proportion. Probably they were not all provided
with French bedsteads and silver forks. In
1869 some of the churches kept, for the first
time, the week of prayer; and fifty were baptized
during the meetings. There was renewed inter
est in education. When Mr. Thomas went
there, there were but fifty newspapers taken.
A year later, there were three hundred. In 1865
there were not three thousand Karens in
Bassein who could read. In 1868 there were
eight thousand; and, though very poor, they
supported wholly their schools and pastors.
"Mr. Carpenter came in November of that
year. His first work was to draught 'plans for a
new set of dormitory buildings, to take the place
of the frail and now fast-decaying old ones.
At the pastor's meeting in December, the plans
were explained. They seemed very large.
." ' Too grand and expensive for poor Karens,'
they said.
" ' But I only ask a contribution of one rupee
from each member during the next three years,
to be paid in instalments of four, six, or eight
annas, as they may be able.'

OUR GOLD-MINE.

257

"This looked more reasonable. At last they
gave unanimous consent to the work.
" With them to pledge was to perform. Ka
rens chose the choicest trees from the mountains ;
Karen elephants dragged them to the streams.
They were cut and sawed on the mission com
pound ; and within eighteen months three thou
sand rupees of Karen money were transformed
into seven cottages, built all of the very best
material, attractive to any eyes, but especially
to those of the contributors. Within two years
more the number had doubled.
" Thus the Bassein churches are steadily step
ping forward to independence. Still we must
not think our work done there. Independence
is not the only necessary virtue. There are few,
probably, who have not some time been startled
by the immediate juxtaposition in the Epistles
of texts such as, ' Lie not one to another, breth
ren,' 'Let him that stole steal no more,' 'Be
sober,' with such as . ' Meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light,' ' Fellow-
citizens of the saints and of the household of
God,' or 'Concerning brotherly love it is not
necessary that I write, unto you.' We see the
same contrast still There is hardly a chapter in

258

OUR GOLD-MINE.

any of Paul's epistles — from those glowing with
joy at the triumphs of grace to those written
' even weeping ' — that might not be addressed,
almost verbatim, to some one of the Bassein
churches to-day.
" Mr. Van Meter died in 1870, and Mrs. Van
Meter a year later ; leaving Mr. and Mrs. Goodell,
recently arrived, alone among the Pwos."

CHAPTER XII.
TAVOY, MAULMAIN, AND THE SHANS.
AVE you noticed any change in Walter
lately ? " Mrs. Bancroft asked Charlie.
"Nothing: only he's given up wheels
and levers, and taken to chemicals. That's be
cause he's going to be a doctor, I suppose.
Clarence thinks he has some talent that way."
From the bay-window, whose curtain con
cealed her, Kate listened earnestly to the conver
sation. A look of disappointment was Mrs. Bancroft's
only answer.
" Oh, in his talk, you mean ! " Charlie added,
seeing it. " I've noticed how he stands up for the
missionaries, of course. That's because Clarence
don't. I've heard Walter defend rattlesnakes
when Clarenpe said he hated them."
Charlie walked away whistling, knowing he
259

260 OUR GOLD-MINE.
had not been quite truthful, Mrs. Bancroft think
ing she had been mistaken.
Katie only read in the words of both the
very thing she had been longing to hear. Wal
ter was different, then. Her impressions were
not a mere reflection of her hopes, or of that
one evening, weeks before, when he had honestly
showed her himself. Mrs. Bancroft had noticed
a difference ; and she knew in spite of his denials,
or rather from them, that Charlie had. What
this difference was she hardly thought then.
" Have you selected your field yet, Dr. Wal
ter ? " asked Clarence that evening.
"I — what?"
For the first time, Clarence saw Walter a little
embarrassed ; and he enjoyed it, though he could
not guess the cause.
" Your field as a physician, he means," said
Charlie. " Oh ! I guess we are ready for the story,
mother." " Perhaps one of the fields I shall describe
to-night will suit you," said Mrs. Bancroft.
" I do not know that there is any thing that
can be increased in breadth without diminishing
its thickness ; that is, if no additions are made to

OUR GOLD-MINE. 261
it from without : and, during the years when the
Union was winning its great victories in Toun
goo and Henthada, there was no real increase in
the working-force. Tavoy felt this most severe
ly. Mr. Thomas, Mr. Cross, Mr. Allen, Mr. Col-
burn, labored here in turn. Often there was but
one missionary ; for the years from i860 to 1864,
not one ; and all that time worms and weather
were busy among the mission-buildings, and
Satan and speculators, among the converts."
"But I should think that in thirty years, if
ever, Tavoy might have raised up native, preach
ers that could look after things," said Katie.
" It had," Mrs: Bancroft answered. " Educat
ed Tavoyans filled many a pulpit in Toungoo
and Henthada. They had given their best as
missionaries." " They had better have looked after their own
region first," said Charlie.
" Just as Massachusetts young men ought to
stay in Massachusetts, instead of going out West
and leaving the Bay State to foreigners. I agree
with you," remarked Walter.
As Charlie had that forenoon vehemently
expressed his determination never to settle in
the East, and had held a sharp debate with Wal-

262 OUR GOLD-MINE.
ter about it, the indorsement was unwelcome. ,
" But these were converted heathen," he said :
" that made it different."
" I've noticed that converted heathen are
wonderfully like converted other folks," replied
Walter. .
" The preachers were needed where they
went," said Mrs. Bancroft, " and could well have
been spared from Tavoy, if the missionary force
from abroad had been sustained. But in Decem
ber, i853i Mr. Thomas writes, 'In one of the
late " Macedonians," mention is made of Mr.
Thomas's parish ; but, if I have a parish, I am
at a loss to know where it is. Whether it lies
up the Tavoy, and onward to the Ya River, one
hundred miles north, or in Mata and the region
adjoining, some seventy-five miles east ; whether
it be fifty miles south-east, in the Toungbyouk
region, or in the Mergui province, extending to
Kabin ; or still farther up the Tenasserim River
to a distance of one hundred and twenty miles
from Tavoy, — I am unable to tell. But this is
a fact : in all those places there are disciples and
churches of Christ, and no missionary to guide
them but myself.'
" No wonder that in many places piety waned,

OUR GOLD-MINE. 263
prayer-meetings faded out, schools dwindled, and
the craving for books that had marked the early
converts gave place to the dull content of in
cipient starvation, or to the more easily gratified
craving for strong drink."
" And the new missions were doing well all
this time?" said Katie.
" Rather discouraging in regard to having any
'older missions.' Wouldn't it be well for the
Missionary Union to imitate the early Hindoo
mothers, and strangle or drown its children at
the age of three years or earlier ? " suggested
Clarence. " Not while they can show as good a record
even as Tavoy in her darkest days. The Catho
lic priests came in, professing to be 'like the
teachers, only better, because more lenient to
the disciples' faults,' and tried their best to make
proselytes, but soon found out that the Karens
knew something of church history, and wearied
of their fruitless work. The pastors were self-
denying and earnest.
" ' .How much money- have you ? ' asked Mr.
Cross of a pastor who had just handed in his
church's contribution of twenty-one rupees.
" ' Fourteen rupees,' was the answer.

264 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' I will make it up to twenty-one,' said Mr.
Cross. ' We can no longer give the four rupees
a month which have come in past years from
America, and there is no appropriation for a
school in Tavoy this year.'
" The pastor took the money reluctantly, and
walked away, looking sad, and, Mr. Cross thought,
dissatisfied with the smallness of the sum.
" Two hours later the missionary was unde
ceived. The pastor came back, bringing six of
the seven rupees, with the request that they be
used 'to have a school in Tavoy.'
" Others showed a like spirit, and there were
laymen scarcely less earnest.
" ' Would to God that I had done as much as
this man for Christ ! ' said Commissioner Haugh-
ton as he saw at the Tavoy Association a feeble
cripple, who had gone alone into a heathen neigh
borhood, gathered a school, and one by one led
his neighbors to his Saviour.
" Many of the churches wholly sustained their
pastors ; and in 1 862, hearing of the war and
financial embarrassment in America, the Ka
rens of Tavoy sent one hundred and ten rupees
to the Missionary Union.
" When Mr. Colburn went there in 1864, he

OUR GOLD-MINE. 265
found the orphan churches strict in discipline,
and, though complaining much of coldness, as
spiritual as most churches in America.
"From that time the Tavoy churches have
been thrown almost entirely upon their own
resources, scarcely ever having more than one
missionary family, rarely the full services of
one, and much of the time being left wholly
alone. As a result, the number of church-mem
bers has decreased to eight hundred and sixty-
five. At their earnest request, -Mr. and Mrs..
Morrow were sent to them in the autumn of
1 876 ; and at present the Christians seem encour
aged, and in several places there are marked
signs of awakening among the heathen.
"Ten years had passed without a single con
version from heathenism among the Burmans of
Maulmain. Only strangers came to the zayats.
The missionaries met few in the streets to whom
the gospel was news,, and all others seemed han-
dened against it. Still the church of one hundred
and thirty-eight held well on its way, supporting
itself and a native evangelist besides, and gather
ing in converts from the school and the children
of Christian families.
" Among the Karen churches of the district-

266 OUR GOLD-MINE.
there was rarely growth, sometimes loss. Con
tact with foreigners had given the Karens new
ideas of the importance of money. There were
speculators — English, Irish, German, Burman,.
and half-caste — ready to give them good wages
as lumber-men. Those who accepted were obliged
to work Sundays, expose themselves constantly
to disease and accident, and trust to luck or
their own wits for justice when the work was
done. Of many a place it might be written, as
Mr. Hibbard writes of Kyong, ' It has suffered
severely from the lumbering mania: they- have
lost many hundred rupees, besides several souls
and some bodies.' Among the oldest of the
Karen churches, they were far less ready to
support themselves than those of Toungoo and
Henthada. "When Mr. Bixby joined the Maulmain Bur
man mission, in 1853, he chose as his teacher Ko
Boke, partly for his superior talent, partly that
he might have a heathen constantly under his
influence. "At first, Ko Boke was wholly wedded to
idolatry ; but gradually the chains loosened.
" ' This is a wise book,' he said one day as
they read the Bible together : ' English books
are full of wisdom.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 267
" ' Not because it is an English book, but be
cause it is God's book,' said Mr. Bixby.
"At another time, when Ko Boke seemed
more than usually-inclined to defend the reli
gion of his fathers, Mr. Bixby took him to an
idol-house. " ' I have come here,' he said, ' to preach to
these gods,' and at once began an animated
sermon. " ' Why, teacher ! ' interrupted Ko Boke : ' they
cannot understand you.'
" ' If they understand you when you pray to
them,' said Mr. Bixby, ' they understand me when
I preach to them.'
" Ko Boke appeared extremely mortified.
'They are nothing but earth and water,' he
said : ' I will not worship them any more.'
" He afterwards told Mrs; Bixby that he was
never in his life so ashamed as when the teacher
took him to hear him preach to the gods.
" Weeks passed ; and one day, after reading
the fifty-fourth of Isaiah, he said, ' I can not and
will not believe in Gaudama and Nigban. For
merly this religion was all dark to me : now it is
a little light, and Gaudama' s all dark.'
" One day in February, 1854, they started on

268 , OUR GOLD-MINE.
an "excursion of twenty miles on the Gyne to
Terraneh. About seven, o'clock they found
themselves fast on a sand-bank.
" ' How shall we push off*? ' asked the mis
sionary. "The night was fearfully dark. 'The alliga
tors are plenty, and several men have been killed
here ; let us wait till morning,' said the boatman.
" But Mr. Bixby dreaded the sun more than
the darkness.
" ' I am not afraid,' said Ko Oung Moo, the
native assistant. ' The eternal God is here. He
can shut the mouths of the alligators; as he did
the mouths of the lions.'
" Jumping into the stream, he pushed off the
boat, and they were soon on their way. With
out knowing it, Ko Oung Moo had preached one
of his best sermons.
" ' May I preach at Terraneh ? ' asked Ko
Boke presently as the boat glided smoothly on.
" ' You ma?y talk about Jesus all you can,' said
Mrs. Bixby ; ' but we want most that you should
repent of your sins, and become a disciple.'
" ' I am almost convinced ; but it is very diffi
cult.' *
" But the next day he was a constant help in

OUR GOLD-MINE. 269
interpreting and illustrating the arguments of
the missionary, and the next he for the first time
prayed audibly to the eternal God.
" Months passed, and Mr. Bixby could hardly
doubt Ko Boke's conversion, but was greatly
troubled by his dread of baptism.
" ' I believe, and ought to be baptized,' he said ;
'but I am ashamed to profess Christ.'
" Then his children and brothers would beg
him not to forsake them.
" ' Don't be so anxious about me, teacher,' he
said at another time : ' God will give me strength
to do this duty by and by.'
" ' I fear your deceitful heart will mislead you ;
and, the longer you delay known duty, the more
difficult it will be.'
" ' But, teacher, you remember, that, before we
went to the jungle, I was ashamed to go from
house to house with you. I would not so much
as sing a hymn with you ; but now I love to go
with you, and read and talk and sing about the
true God and Jesus Christ. This is because God
has given me great grace and strength ; and will
he not give me strength to endure baptism ? '
" His words proved true. In October, 1855, .
he was baptized.

270 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"' We have reason to rejoice and take cour
age,' said Ko Oung Moo, 'especially as he cannot
see a man without desiring to preach to him.'
" From the schools, the jungle-trips of Mr.
Bixby, and the brief, tour of Mr. Brayton among
the Pwos of the newly-conquered regions just
north of Maulmain, might be gathered any num
ber of incidents.
" ' Where is your God ? ' asked a heathen father
of his little son, a mission schoolboy.
" ' Where is my father's god ? ' asked the boy.
" ' There,' said the father, pointing to a pagoda
and images.
" ' Our God we cannot see ; but he sees us :
my father can see his god ; but his god cannot
see him,' replied the child.
" The home-thrust was too much for the father,
and he chastised the child ; but that did not pre
vent his continuing to attend the school and to
pray to the ' unseen God.'
"'Are you Jesus Christ's man?' asked a
listener in one of the jungle villages.
" ' Yes.'
" ' Well, I heard one of those men preach about
ten years ago ; and he told me many strange
things, and gave me a very strange book ; and
since then I do not worship Gaudama any more.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 271
" 'Ah ! whom do you worship ? '
" '.The living God,' he answered, pointing up
ward. 'During these ten years I have been
trying to find one of Jesus Christ's men, who
could tell me more ; but I could not find
one.' " There was a shade of sadness with the mis
sionary's joy as he thought, ' This man may be
but one of a thousand who are longing to find a
Jesus Christ's man, and cannot.'
" ' Come to my village,' urged the man, who
proved to be a Peguan and a doctor. ' I have
read the book to my neighbors, and some are
pleased, and others displeased, with it. Come to
my village.'
" The missionary promised.
" When, days afterward, the man caught sight
of him coming up the river to fulfil the promise,
he fairly danced for joy, exclaiming, ' Now we
shall get the light ; now we shall get the light ! '
" And, until eleven at night, Mr. Bixby preached
Christ to 'the listening company the old doctor
had gathered together from his neighbors.
"Mr. Brayton, on his tour, entered a village
where no white missionary had ever been seen ;
yet here was a band of four baptized by a native

272 OUR GOLD-MINE.
evangelist, and ten or fifteen others stigmatized
by their neighbors as r disciples of Christ.' •
" In spite of Burman vigilance, some of them
had learned to read. It was curious to hear
them tell how they had secured their books from
the enemy.
" ' I put them in a chatty ' (earthen box), said
one, ' and tied them up in the top of a tree.
The wind blew the chatty down, and smashed
it : then I put them in a covered basket, and hid
them in the jungle ; but the rats gnawed a hole
in the basket, and ruined many of the books :
yet I have preserved from every foe a New
Testament, hymn-book, and spelling-book.'
" No wonder they were overjoyed that a ' white
foreign £eacher,' with a fresh supply of books,
had at last found them.
" After two years, Ko Boke was encouraged
by the conversion of a doctor in the city. Other
heathen grew more willing to listen. Baptisms
became a little more frequent, and in 1869 we
read of increasing interest in the city ; while
at Kimahwet, an outstation of- Maulmain, four
persons over fifty years old were baptized, five
others were new converts, and many inquirers.
"The mission gained very slowly for the next

OUR GOLD-MINE. 273
seven years. In 1876, after a missionary service
of more than forty years, Dr. Haswell passed to
the rest of heaven. In* a few months his son, J.
R. Haswell, followed him ; but from the almost
disorganized mission there comes a report of
eighty-thif e baptisms, — a larger number than
for many years before. At present the Burman
Church numbers two hundred and seven, and
those of the Karens nine hundred and thirty-
eight. " At all the stations, but especially .at that
Babel of all tongues, Rangoon, might often be
found representatives .of a race wholly unlike
both Burmans and Karens, called Shans. Usual
ly they had come for trading, or on pilgrimage
to some holy place ; for, like the Burmans and
the Siamese, — the race to which they really be
long, — they were Buddhists. Mrs.Tngalls men
tions one time, when, on one of her tours with a
native assistant, as he was trying to preach upon
a foggy subject amid crying children and barking
dogs, a hundred and fifty Shans came into the
zayat, and immediately turned their corner of it
into a cooking-place.
"At another time she speaks of meeting a
company of them on a pilgrimage to the Rangoon
pagoda.

274 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"'Why have you come to the country?'
they asked ; and she told them.
" ' Good,' was their answer. ' When shall you
come into the Shan country ? '
"Mrs. Ingalls had heard that question often,
always with pain, and a silent prayer. ' God send
some one to the Shans.'
" In December, i860, Mr. Bixby, who had been
four years in America, went out as their mis
sionary. It is not often that the mountain comes
to Mohammed : it did in this case, however, but
not till Mohammed had started for the mountain.
Mr. Bixby had but just reached Burmah, when
he heard that a tribe of Shans, numbering several
thousand, had taken refuge from oppressive Bur
man taxation in the British territory near Toun
goo. Clearly Providence had brought his field
half way to meet him : 1861 found him in it.
" The Shans listened to him respectfully, but
timidly, doubting whether his coming really meant
good to them. The idea of unselfish labor for
others had never entered their minds, and they
could npt understand it. But the Burmans, who
till then had had no missionary in Toungoo,
showed unusual interest. Soon one, a woman,
was baptized. Then came a re-action. For a while

OUR GOLD-MTNE.

27S

the name of Christ was heard only with a sneer ;
scoffers followed the missionary from place to
place, ridiculing any who listened to him ; tracts
were rejected with insult.
" But one day, in the bazaar, Mr. Bixby was
accosted by a young man with the always-wel
come question, —
" ' Are you Jesus Christ's man ? '
" ' Yes.'
" ' I have been reading your books. Have you
not a tract called " The Tree of Life " ? '
"'Yes.'
" ' Well, it says so and so,' giving briefly the
substance of the tract. And then he asked for
another book that would give him greater light.
Mr. Bixby saw him often after that. He proved
to be a man of fine talent, a good English schol
ar, and one holding a high position under gov
ernment. For three years he had been a
believer, but ashamed to have it known.
" One morning he came to Mr. Bixby, and
asked for baptism.
" ' My shame is all gone,' he said, ' and I am
bold to speak for Christ. My sins are all forgiven
through Christ, and my heart is light and happy.'
"The value of such a gift to the mission could

276 OtfR GOLD-MINE.
hardly be estimated. At once he gave forty
rupees from his salary to aid the work of the mis
sion. Soon he was actively engaged in telling
the story of Christ. Four others followed : one
was banished by his wife and friends ; another was
dragged upon the ground; another, a woman,
was spit upon by the priest; and the Burman
vocabulary was emptied of insulting words for
use against them. But all stood.
"After about a year, the Shan chief gained
enough faith in Mr. Bixby to bring his son, a
young man of twenty-one, to him for education.
" ' But do not make a Christian of him,' he
stipulated. " ' God only can make Christians,' said Mr.
Bixby. ' But it is my duty to teach ; and, if I can
not do that, it is of no use to make him my
pupil. I shall not force him to worship, nor bap
tize him if he does not ask it, or is. not fit for it.'
" ' Well,' said the chief, ' take him, and be a
father to him.'
" Soon the young man showed a preference for
the Bible above all other studies.
" One morning a few weeks later, in talking
with Mr. Bixby, he said, ' Teacher, idols are not
God ; Gaudama is not God : the Eternal only is
God. What must I do to worship him ? '

OUR GOLD-MINE. 277
"With trembling joy Mr. Bixby directed him;
and a few weeks later he was baptized, the first
Shan convert.
" Others came ; one, Leingtaka, a doctor, the
best educated Shan in the community, and a most
stubborn Buddhist. For some time he had been
Mr. Bixby's teacher. The superiority* of Mr.
Bixby's medicines, and of the spirit with which
he gave them, first drew his attention. At last,
after long conflict, he came for baptism. With
him came a sprightly young Shan, his former
priest. " ' I have given him rice and many offerings,'
Leingtaka said playfully, ' and they have all gone
to Nigban. We want to be baptized, and hence
forth follow Christ.'
"Everywhere Leingtaka went, he told of
Christ. Very soon he had gathered five converts
in his own village.
" There was need of a zayat ; and the deputy
commissioner gave Mr. Bixby a plot of land, the
site of a ruinous old pagoda. Such were plenty
in the neighborhood, and no one thought of re
pairing them ; but the priests were indignant.
"'There is a great amount of silver at the
base of the pagoda,' they said.

278 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' Dig for it, and take it away, then ; I do not
want it,' replied the missionary.
" For several days they dug, but in vain.
" ' We want to rebuild the pagoda,' was the
next plea.
" Mr. Bixby knew this was false, and refused
to yield*.
".'It is an awful sin for you to build on so
sacred a spot,' said the priests.
"Even some of the converts feared no one
would go near the zayat, if built there. The
excitement was intense. ' Go on with the build
ing,' said Leingtaka, who knew the Poongyees
better. Then turning to them, and pointing to
the pagoda, he said, ' This little god has been so
neglected, that the trees and grass have grown
all over him ; and they had become so heavy,
that the god complained bitterly of weariness : so
Teacher Bixby has had compassion upon him, and
cut away the bushes. Furthermore, for a long
time, you have not visited him ; you have given
him no rice, no offerings, but have given all your
attention and offerings to the great Paya over
yonder (pointing to a great pagoda on the
hill) : therefore this little god has become jealous
of you, and has gone over to a better teacher.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

279

You thought it would be a great sin for Teacher
Bixby to build even by the side of this little god ;
but you could dig into his side and take out his
bowels, and carry them off, in your greed for
gold, and yet there would be no sin.' Then, be
coming serious and earnest, he told them of the
true God, closing an eloquent sermon with the
words, ' Brethren, grass does not grow on God.'
"By the close of March, 1863, Mr. Bixby had
a church of thirty warm-hearted brethren and
sisters gathered about him, of whom nineteen
were Shans. In the last days of the same year
•he started with Mrs. Bixby on a trip to Shan-
land, " The home of the Shans lies between Burmah
and Siam. It must be reached through unknown
and hostile regions. Before Mr. Bixby started,
the courage of most of his attendants failed ; but
he engaged others, . — Shans, Burmans, Karens,
and a Madras man, — and went on. Now up
almost insurmountable hills, then through almost
unfathomable mud, occasionally varying the scene
by a tumble from their ponies, they entered the
heart of the glorious mountain-region. No bird
flitted over their heads ; no squirrel ran across
their path ; no fly buzzed in the air. A mosquito

280 OUR GOLD-MINE.
would have been almost welcome in this utter
lifelessness ; but none came. Men there were,
and the few animals man brings with him and
plants abundantly ; but nothing between.
" At last they reached a Geckho village. Thus
far, no missionary had gone among the Geckhos ;
but they were well acquainted with each other
by reputation. Before Mr. Bixby started on his
journey, the intrepid Sau Quala had warned him,
' The Geckhos are cut-throats : do not go among
them ; they will kill you.'
"The impressions which the Geckhos had
received of the missionaries were scarcely more-
favorable. As the party approached, women,
children, and many of the men, fled. Others
crept around in the thickets, armed with spears,
poisoned arrows, and guns, which they levelled
at Mr. Bixby's attendants. But at last Mr.
Bixby partly re-assured them.
" ' When men come to fight, they do not bring
their wives along,' said the chief. ' Let them
come up.'
" They were received by a semicircle of armed
men, who retreated as they advanced. Once at
the village, Mr. Bixby tried to talk with them.
" The chief was shy and sullen. ' An armed

OUR GOLD-MINE. 281
force was sent here by the English Government,'
he said. ' They destroyed our property, cut our
men to death with dahs, seized and imprisoned
our chiefs, and all for no offence whatever.'
" Anger flashed from all the other faces as the
chief spoke.
" ' But I am no government-officer,' said Mr.
Bixby. ' I am a teacher of the religion of Christ.'
" The excitement grew stronger. '
" ' They were Christians that fought us,' they
exclaimed, ' and they were sent by the Toungoo
teachers.' " ' I will lay your case before government,' he
said, ' and they will do right. Probably they did
not know the facts of the case.'
" The chief's countenance changed. ' Then
this teacher is our friend,' he said.
" ' Yes,' answered the people : ' this teacher is
our friend.' m
" Next he proposed ' drinking truth ' with Mr..
Bixby. As ' drinking truth ' is only the Geckho
way of promising to keep, to a limited extent,
the Golden Rule, and Mr. Bixby intended to keep
it in any case, he agreed. A pig was killed, and
its vitals cooked with pepper and salt for the
covenant.

282 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" The people grew familiar, pulled open Mr.
Bixby's bags, tried on his riding-cap, and peered
into Mrs. Bixby's basket. At last they caught
a glimpse of his revolver, and reached out eager
hands for it.
" ' No : you must not even look at it in this
crowded house ; but come down stairs with me,
and you shall see how it is made.'
" Talking was useless. The crowd pressed
upon him on all sides. Accidentally a cartridge
was discharged, afid the ball lodged in the breast
of one of the young men. Preparations for drink
ing truth ceased instantly. Fierce, distrustful
eyes glared upon Mr. Bixby. Plainly, if the
wound proved fatal, more than one life would be
lost. Mr. Bixby took the boy to his room, and
nursed him more anxiously than if he had been
his own.
" It proved "to be only a flesh-wound. In the
evening they ' drank truth,' though a few refused
to unite in it ; among them the brother of the
young man.
• '"If he lives,' he said, still clinging to his
spear, ' it will be well.'
" On Sunday, Mr. Bixby preached to them ;
but every hour brought some fresh alarm. All

OUR GOLD-MINE. 283
night long, signal-fires were kept burning, ' that
the women might see to catch rats for breakfast,'
they said. Possibly, as he looked at them, Mr.
Bixby had something of a fellow-feeling with the
rats. By morning the wounded man was better,
and the people made their morning-calls on the
missionary without guns.
"Three days of rather monotonous travel
brought the party to Shan-land. Perhaps it
would have varied the monotony if they could
have heard a conversation among the Shans and
coolies on the second night. It was after this
sort : —
" ' The teachers have five hundred rupees in
silver, and two hundred in gold. . When we have
crossed the "border, and are in the jungle, it will
be a good time to kill them and . the assistants,
burn the tent and bodies, take the money and
provisions, and go where we please. No one
will ever know what has become of them.'
" ' Yes : then I could wear gold in my ears.'
" ' I was leader of a band of banditti in this
region. I know a hundred and fifty men of my
sort in these mountains. If we fail, we can de
liver them into their hands.'
" ' But we shall not fail. If we are prevented

284 OUR GOLD-MINE.
to-night, we can do it to-morrow. If any of the
coolies refuse to join, they can be given up to
the banditti, and killed.'
" Persuaded thus, the coolies all agreed to join.
¦The leader pierced a vein in his arm, mingled
the blood with kyong, and gave all to drink.
" ' I,' he said, ' will put a spear through Mr.
Bixby while he is asleep.'
" ' And I,' said the one who wanted ' gold in
his ears,' 'will kill Mrs. Bixby and the head
assistant.' " ' The rest,' they added, ' will be afraid, and
shiko to us ; and we can kill, them at- leisure.'
" But the plot was too horrible for three of
the coolies : before evening, they had betrayed
it to Mr. Bixby. Then Mr. Bixby remembered
that his Shan, attendants had insisted on his
buying an extra supply of arms ' to defend him
self and Mrs. Bixby.' Cautiously he revealed the
plot to his Burmans and Karens. Before nine,
the fires of the coolies, usually kept burning all
night, were put out.
" Mr. Bixby, not caring to have his movements
watched while his enemies were wrapped in dark-
' ness, put out his own fires too.
" Soon they heard a crashing in the bushes.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 285
" ' A wild elephant is coming ! — fire, teacher,
fire ! ' cried the Shans.
. " Mr. Bixby discharged one shot from his
double-barrelled gun.
" ' Eire again ! '
" ' No : if you want to keep the elephants away,
kindle your fires.'
" They kindled them a little, but soon put them
out again. Another wild elephant was heard. A
Shan jumped up, and started toward Mr. Bixby.
'"Don't you come here,' said Mr. Bixby.
" ' There's an elephant, teacher.'
" ' Go back, or I shall fire upon you. If you
are afraid of the elephant, kindle your fires.'
" The fires were again lighted. Every little
while the leader arose, looked around, came a
little toward Mr. Bixby's tent, went back, and
thrust his spear impatiently into the ground.
There was no sleep on either side that night.
" Morning came at last. Mr. Bixby revealed
the plot to his Geckho guides.
" ' We must go bac 'a immediately,' they said ;
and so said the Burmans. Only one, a Karen,
agreed to go on, if the teachers did.
" To go on into a hostile country, with murder
ers only, for attendants, was not to be thought

286 OUR GOLD-MINE.
of. To dismiss the murderers, and let them
loose where they could rally their hundred and
fifty friends, was not much better. To take them-
back with them was dangerous ; for the murder
ers were the stronger party. The only hope was
in dividing them.
" In the morning, Mr. Bixby armed his best
assistants, took a gun, and told the coolies that
he knew their plot.
" A deprecatory growl was the reply. They
suspected as much.
" ' Several have confessed,' Mr. Bixby added.
" ' Who have confessed ? who have told any
thing ? ' they demanded.
" ' I certainly shall not tell.'
" Then came a storm of vociferation, denials,
and questions.
"'Be silent, at the peril of your lives,' com
manded Mr. Bixby. ' It is useless to talk. I
know all your plans. Some have joined you
from fear : those I can forgive. If they will
take up their baskets, and go quietly back to
Toungoo, I shall make no more complaint
•against them. Others have plotted willingly,
because their hearts are bad, . and they want
money : they must go another way.' He then

OUR GOLD-MINE. 287
called the names of all but three, telling them,
if they had no heart in this plot, to show it by
coming and giving him their spears.
"All but one came. 'I have fault, and am
afraid,' he said ; but Mr. Bixby thought best to
take him with him.
"The other three were fearfully enraged.
Keeping them at bay with his gun, Mr. Bixby
demanded their spears and dahs. They refused
to give them up. Bringing his gun in range, he
ordered one of the men to go and take them. It
was done ; and with heavy hearts the mission
aries turned their faces homeward."
" It strikes me it would be rather a peculiar
picture for the magazine," remarked Charlie, —
" the missionary standing, with a company of
the ' poor heathen ' around him, levelling his
gun at them."
" I fear Mr. Bixby's face didn't wear the ex
pression of the ox between the altar and plough,
lowing out, ' Ready for either,' just then," said
Walter ; " but I've always thought I should like
that ox better if he'd been drawn shaking his
horns a little."
" I doubt if he ever came nearer to realizing
the spirit of those words than at that moment,"

288 OUR GOLD-MINE.
said Mrs. Bancroft ; " and he had ploughed a
furrow, though not permitted to sow the seed.
"When he returned, he found the wounded
Geckho boy still doing well.
"'Why go to them? why not send teach
ers to us, who want to learn ? ' asked a Geckho
chief. " Mr. Bixby laid before government the case
of the attacked Geckho village. A commission
sent to examine found their complaint just. A
few years before, some Christian villages had
been attacked by Geckhos. The Karen police
corps — a body perhaps as ' Christian ' as most
similar organizations in this country — sent by
the deputy commissioner to arrest the attack
ing chiefs had mistaken the aggressors, and vis
ited the wrong village. One of the arrested
chiefs died in jail : the other was discharged
through the intercession of Dr. Mason. Now, the
wounded feelings of the villagers were soothed
by a present of five keezees, — Shan bells,
worth several hundred rupees, and greatly prized
by them ; and very soon half a dozen Geckho
villages were clamoring for teachers. A year
later, the Geckho chief proposed buying two
ponies ; not a very marked advance toward re-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 289
ligion, if he had been an American : but Geckho
superstition forbade ponies ; and the native
preacher rejoiced more at this victory over it
than at the fact that one of the ponies was to be
for his own use. The way to Shan-land no
longer lay through a hostile country.
" Converts multiplied among the other moun
taineers. At one time (in 1864) Mr. Bixby had
accepted for baptism a company of fifty-five, —
Geckhos, Bghais, Saukoos, and Padongs.1 A
part of them came from villages clinging to the
hills on either side of a deep gorge, where a
mountain-stream had chiselled out a beautiful
baptistery. " ' Meet me at the gorge on Sunday,' he said,
' and all can be baptized at the same time.'
" ' No, no, no ! ' came the answer : ' that will not
do. We cannot all be baptized in the same
water.' " ' But how is that ? ' asked Mr. Bixby.
" Then came the story of feuds, that had sepa
rated their villages far more widely than did the
gorge and the mountain-stream.
• 1 The general name Karen is applied by the Burmans to these,
in commpn with all mountain-tribes. There are, however, considera
ble differences between them.

290 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' What ! ' exclaimed Mr. Bixby, amused, but
still trusting his wild brethren : ' are not your
old hearts dead yet? Are you going to take
them with, you into the church? What have
you to do with dead hearts ? Why ! were you
not washed in the same blood ? Are you not
joined to one Spirit ? Are you not going to
the same heavenly home ? Who will put up a
partition between you there ? '
" ' Oh ! never mind, never mind, teacher. We
will be baptized in the same water.'
" ' How are you ? where are you at the date
of this letter ? I have been in prayer for you
now,' wrote a friend to Mr- Bixby on the 22d of
May. On the morning of that day, on the ring
ing of the gong, Mr. Bixby and the company
of converts from his side the river, dressed in
their best crimson silks, went down the steep
mountain into the gorge: Nothing was visible
of the party from the other side.
"A call from one of Mr. Bixby's party, an an
swering shout from across the stream, and then
Mr. Bixby's whole company shouted together.
The others responded ; the mountains caught up
the sound ; the opposite mountains re-echoed it ¦•
and soon the two parties were in sight of each

OUR GOLD-MINE. 291
other. A joyful greeting followed : they joined
with each other and the hills in a song of praise ;
and then the fifty-five happy converts were led
down into ' the same water.'
"Two years later, at Shwanaughyee, among
the villagers who had received him almost on
their spear-points, Mr. Bixby married a sister of
the chief to one of his preachers, and received
her with two others, for baptism. At the same
time, in Kyah Maing, another of the villages he
passed through on his Shan trip, he organized a
church of seventeen.
" Two years later, with Mr. Cushing, Mrs. Bix
by, and Miss Gage, he made another trip through
the country. Then every village was open to
welcome him. Heathenism and intemperance
had fled from Kyah Maing. Thirteen were
ready for baptism. At Shwanaughyee the
chief laughed heartily as Mr. Bixby playfully
alluded to- his first reception there. A Christian
chapel was building there now. He attended a
covenant-meeting, a*"d listened to their confes
sions. Their very sins marked the greatness of
the change : one had, when thirsty, eaten a
cucumber not his own ; another, in his anxiety
to reach his sick teacher, had travelled several

292 OUR GOLD-MINE.
miles on the sabbath : but all were penitent ;
and, after the meeting, six were received for bap
tism. " But from that trip Mr. Bixby was carried to
Toungoo, dangerously ill. In May, 1869, he
left for America.
"In 1870 Mr. Cushing took up his residence
in Toungoo. The Shans are always a trading
people, and so not often stationary. Left to
themselves for more than a year, the Shan Chris
tians had become much scattered. In 1871 an
intelligent young Shan was baptized, and at once
placed in charge of the school. Mr. Kelley, a
young man of great promise, went out the same
year, but after only eleven months in the field,
while on a tour in the Shan states, was drowned.
Six hundred miles from Toungop, outside of
British Burmah, under the protection only of the
Burman king, lies the city of Bahmo. In the*
fall of 1876, after careful inspection, Mr. Cush
ing became satisfied that this place was at pres
ent the true centre of the Shan mission ; and
removed there, where he still remains, the only
white missionary in Upper Burmah."

CHAPTER XIII.
ASSAM. — BRAHMANISM AGAIN.
IF one works in the same line week after
week, and there isn't the least bit of
change, but every thing stays exactly
as it was, what then ? " asked Katie.
" Give up, and try something else," said
Charlie. " Change your style of working," said Walter.
" Stop and think whether the work was worth
doing at all," said Clarence, guessing more nearly
than the others the real bearing of Katie's ques
tion. All these answers were thrown in while
grandpa Sears, to whom the question was
really addressed, was preparing to give his.
"A sensible person must have stopped and
thought before beginning the work," he said ;
" and if he has, and has taken what seemed to
293

294 ' OUR GOLD-MINE.
him the best way of working, and it seems so
still, he had better go on. The world we live in
didn't seem to amount to much for a good many
thousand years .after it was created; but God
didn't give it up and try another."
" But* I don't believe the world was useless all
that time," said Katie. " It was a lesson-book for
the angels, if nothing more."
" The birds and sea-monsters didn't know it,"
answered grandpa. i( Perhaps you, too, may be
serving as a lesson-book for somebody."
" The work of at least sixteen hundred years
seems to have been pretty thoroughly rubbed
out in the flood," said Clarence.
" No, young man," said grandpa earnestly (he
always spoke earnestly when addressing Clar
ence) : " the world after the flood was what it
was because there had been a world before the
flood. God never rubs out his work. You'll
know that some time, — before it is too late,
God grant. ' He fainteth not, neither is weary.' "
" But he knows how his work will turn out in
the end," said Katie. "If we did, we could tell
what to do."
" We do," said grandpa.
Katie's next question' was asked only by a
look.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

295

" ' We know that our labor is not in vain in
the Lord,' " he answered. "Katie, if you've un
dertaken something worth doing, and have gone
to work for it in the best way you knew, go
ahead. All fruit doesn't ripen on the outside
first. Some doesn't till it is just ready to drop.
Perhaps yours is that sort."
Walter never dreamed that this conversation
had to do. with him. Ever since that one night,
months before, Katie had watched anxiously for
the fulfilment of the hopes then awakened.
Even during these last busy weeks her thoughts
and prayers had gone out for him more than for
any or all of the many fields into which her labor
had been called. If a library-book was selected,
company invited, or a lecture attended, the upper
most thought was always, " Will it help, or hinder,
Walter ? " and all her words and actions were
carefully guarded, that she might not hinder the
work she dared not hope she could directly help.
But in all that time he had spoken no word to en
courage her. The appearance of anxious thought
that marked the weeks that followed had passed
away, and she feared no decision had been
reached. True, his gentleness and helpfulness,
his interest in missions, his readiness to defend

296 OUR GOLD-MINE.
religion, remained ; but she began to fear, that,
as Charlie said, this was " only to be on the oppo
site side from Clarence."
And the saddest thought of all was, that, had
she been a consistent Christian from the first,
she might by this time have been able to help
him. " I suspect mother has a story of discouraging
labor for you to-night," said grandpa.
" It will answer your question better than I
could, perhaps."
" It will show you how God has answered it,
which is better," said Mrs. Bancroft.
" To-night let us leave Burmah and our
Buddhist and Karen friends, and journey to the
north-east till we find ourselves among our old
acquaintances, the Brahmans, ip a land border
ing closely upon Bengal, where Carey first raised
the missionary standard • in 1 793. We are in
Assam, a country where almost every thing
might be done, and nothing is. Its forests offer
material for building any thing, from a basket
to a temple; its ground holds out perpetual
cards of invitation in the shape of petroleum,
coal, cotton, grain, spices, tea, and the fruits of
both torrid and temperate climates ; there are

OUR GOLD-MINE.

297

m-trees for silk-worms, and bargach-trees for
India-rubber, and trees bearing varnish and
gums, and dye-stuffs of many colors. No won
der the old Brahmans, when, centuries before,
they brought their gods here, fancied that the
country took its name from Asama, ' unrivalled.'
But when, in 1836, Mr. Brown and Mr. Cutter
came here, they found what Carey found when
he first set foot in Bengal, — a people poor and
ignorant, leaving all thejr thinking to be done
by the priests ; a priesthood busiest in reaching
out long arms to rake in rupees and annas, and
in inventing new falsehoods with which to repay
the trust of the people ; ' the whole country one
vast Sodom ; ' above it all, the swarm of gods
worshipped in costly temples by rites only less
vile than their own histories ; and around, and
binding all, the terrible chain of caste.
" And the same slow work was to be done
here that Carey did in his first years in Bengal,
with only this difference, — that the missionaries
had converted the East-India Company in those
forty years, and its officers were their warmest
friends. C. A. Bruce, an agent of -the company,
first suggested the mission ; and Capt. Francis
Jenkins aided it with money and advice as liber
ally as if he had been a member of the Board.

298 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" It was not to the Assamese that the mission
aries were first sent. Besides them, ther.e were
in Assam Ahoms, Khamtis, and other Shan
races, all closely allied to each other, and mem
bers of the Siamese family ; Bengalis, and the
usual host of ruder tribes, Mikirs, Nagas, Kakh-
yens, Garos, Kosaris, — wandering races, — most
plenty on the hills, kind to those they liked,
cruel to those they disliked, but arranging their
likes and dislikes upon principles so arbitrary,
that no man's fate among them could be predict
ed beforehand. Over most of them the Brahman
divinities held no sway. They believed vaguely
and theoretically" in a God, strongly and .practi
cally in devils or evil spirits, and charms. Be
sides this, each tribe held its own theory, or
none, of prayer and sacrifice, and an after-death
where there were boiling oceans, and fields of
'fire, and frail bridges over awful chasms, and
beyond -them thrones and pleasant fields, and
happiness, or at least laziness, for the good.
" The first aim of the missionaries was the
conversion of the Khamtis. Their first settle
ment was in Sadiya. Their first months were
given principally to the study of the language
and translations.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 299
" In October, 1836, Mr. Thomas and Mr.
Bronson, with their wives, sailed to join the
mission. After they had crossed the ocean, and
sailed for two months on the Brahmapootra, Mr.
Bronson was taken sick. Mr. Thomas hastened
on in a small boat to procure medicine. When
within three hours' sail of Sadiya, two loose trees
on the bank fell into the river, crushing the" boat,
and drowning Mr. Thomas almost instantly.
" Mr. Bronson removed in a few months to
Jaipur, south-west of Sadiya, attracted chiefly by
its situation in a desirable neighborhood."
" Of English officers ? " asked Charlie.
" No. Mr. Bruce lived there ; but the neigh
bors whose acquaintance Mr. Bronson especially
sought were the Nagas, who made their home in
the hills near by. They were one of the strong
est of the hill-tribes, and are best described by
their chief, from whom Mr. Bronson asked leave
to teach them.
'"The Nagas,' said he, 'are like birds and
monkeys, lighting on this mountain, and stop
ping on that ; and no white man can live among
them to teach them. As soon as the boys are
old enough, they put into their hands the hatchet
and spear, and teach them to fight and make salt.
Beyond that they know nothing.'

300 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Mr. Bronson did not enter their village
wholly without a welcome. A cook-house was
at once built for him, a spring of water given
up to his company, and eggs, milk, and potatoes
brought and set before them ; but, immediately
after, a long council was held concerning him
(followed in due time by six others). He read
the Ten Commandments to them. Some they
heard with a sneer ; but others, especially the
second and eighth, they approved ; for, though
they worshipped evil spirits, they were no idola
ters, and stealing was a capital offence among
them. Once Mr. Bronson attended one of their
funeral ceremonies.
" ' What divinity has taken away our friend ?
Who are you ? Where do you live ? — in heaven,
or on the earth, or under the earth ? Who are
you ? Show yourself. If we had known of your
coming, we would have speared you,' sang the
chorister. " ' Yes,' responded the people, brandishing
their dahs.
" ' We would have cut you in pieces, and eaten
your flesh.'
" ' Yes',' responded the people, waving their
glittering spears in defiance.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

301

" And these questions and threats might almost
be said to comprise the sum of Naga theology.
" An.armed attack'upon Sadiya by the Kham
tis, whom they had come to convert, was one of
several arguments which led the missionaries to
remove to Jaipur. The military followed ; then
the inhabitants ; and Sadiya was ' abandoned to
tigers and jackals.'
" Mr. Bronson was visiting his neighbors in
the Naga hills at the time of the attack. He
hastened to* Jaipur, fearing for his family, who
were there ; but the place was not attacked.
Here, in May, 1840, he met his sister (Miss Rhoda
Bronson) and Mr. and Mrs. Barker. His sister
went with him at once to the Naga hills, where
he had moved his family. Mr. and Mrs. Barker
remained about a year at Jaipur, and then moved
to Sibsagor. Mr. and Mrs. Brown soon followed.
"Miss Bronson's work was finished almost
before it was begun. Constant fever obliged her
and her brother to leave the hills. In Decem
ber, 1840, she died at Jaipur. In October, 1841,
Mr. Bronson moved to Nowgong. Chiefs and
people had learned to love him.
" Translation was Mr. Brown's principal work;
printing, Mr. Cutter's. In addition, Mr. Brown

302 OUR GOLD-MINE.
preached at Sibsagor and the surrounding
villages, and found time for frequent less regular
encounters with the Brahman gods. Sometimes,
taking a prism for a text, he would prove that the
rainbow was not Vishnu's bow, with which the
god shot the demons who were trying to drink
the rain ; or, with a triangle roughly marked on
a board, he showed that the height of trees and
buildings could be told without climbing them ;
and how the moon's distance had been measured,
and found not to be sixteen -hundred thousand
miles ; and that the sun was almost four hundred
times, instead of only half, as far off as the moon.
He told them he had come from a land beneath
their feet, and seen that there was no Mount
Meru eighty thousand miles thick, nor room for
one ; nor for the five elephants on whose heads,
each eight thousand miles thick, the earth stood ;
nor for the four oceans of rum and milk and
butter and sugar : and yet all these things were
in their Shasters. And- the people listened, won
dered, then perhaps turned to the priests with
the question, ' What have you to say ? ' And the
priests were sometimes silent, sometimes angry ;
but neither priests nor people could help seeing.
Discussions among themselves grew common.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

3°3

And there were other signs that showed very
slowly, but really, in the little circle around 'the
stations, that Brahmanism was fading out ; but
as yet, after five years of labor, there was not
one sign that Christianity would take the place
left vacant.
" ' I cannot alter my religion,' said" one of the
best informed. ' It would subject me to want ;
for, being a Brahman, I cannot work.'
" Probably he spoke what many thought ; and
the lower castes followed the Brahmans.
" One day in May, 1841, just before Mr. Brown
left for Sibsagor, there came to him Nidhiram,
one of the apprentices Ri the printing-office, ask
ing the longed-for question, ' What shall I do to
be saved ? ' It had been asked before, but only
as a man at home, and meaning to stay there,
might idly ask the nearest route to China. This
man was in earnest. The next day he came
again. Again Mr. Brown pointed him to Christ.
" ' I am willing to give myself into the hands
of God,' he said at last.
" In the afternoon he came, rejoicing in God.
Two weeks later he was baptized. He dropped
the name of the heathen god Ram, and took,
instead, that of Levi Farwell.

304 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Six months later another was baptized, awa
kened by reading a tract, 'The' True Refuge.'
In June, 1842, at Sibsagor, two others were awa
kened, — Semai and Kolibar. Both' left off opium,
and came regularly to pray with the missionaries.
But old habits were too strong. Soon Kolibar
went back to his opium. The next step was to
send word to the missionaries that he would pray
at his own house, instead of theirs ; and for a long
time little was heard from him.
" In the autumn of 1843 Mr. Cutter removed
with his press to Sibsagor.
"In February, 1845, the head printer, Batiram,
was taken sick, and sent* for Mr. Cutter.
" ' Can none of the Hindoo gods whom you
have worshipped save you ? ' asked Mr. Cutter.
" ' Oh, no ! my mirid is not in the least inclined
to think of them,' was the answer.
" ' Do you think Jesus Christ can pardon your
sins ? ' •
" ' Oh, yes ! and I have believed this truth for
the past two years, and I have prayed to him
night and morning for nearly that time, without
the knowledge of a single human being, except
the lad who lives with me."
" The next day he was better. ' Will you not

OUR GOLD-MINE. . 305
pray with me?' he asked as Mr. Cutter arose
to leave.
" 'For what shall I pray ? ' asked Mr. Cutter.
" ' That I may obtain a new heart, and have my
sins pardoned,' was the answer.
" Every day brought new evidence that Batiram
was converted. On the 24th he surprised Mr.
Cutter by asking to have all the men in the office
called together, that he might read and pray with
them. " There, before them all, he confessed his faith
in Christ, and his cowardice in not owning him
earlier. Two weeks later he was baptized. He
stood bravely a storm of ridicule from his rela
tives ; and in a few months his cousin, Ram Sing,
one of the bitterest of his opposers, joined him
as a Christian. A little earlier the old inquirer
Kolibar had forsaken his opium, and joined the
church. Soon Nidhi Levi and Batiram were en
gaged with Mr. Brown in preparing an Assamese
hymn-book. "In 1846 the annual missionary meeting was
held at Nowgong. Before it closed, seven from
the orphan institution were baptized. Others
not connected with the institution were convert
ed. The same year five were baptized at Sibsa
gor, and two by Mr. Barker at Gowahati.
V

306 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" In January, 1850, Mr. Barker died on his way
to America. A month later his place was filled
by Mr. Dauble, a German Lutheran missionary
in Assam, who for years had had doubts on the
subject of baptism, but repressed them because
of the contempt in which Baptists were held in
his own country. Coming to Assam, acquaint
ance with the missionaries altered his views of
their denomination ; and he commenced earnest
investigation. On the 24th of February he was
baptized. Three intensely earnest years, spent
in the school, the street, and the jungle, finished
his work. He died March 23, 1853.
"In November, 1847, Messrs. Danforth and
Stoddard, and in July, 1850, Messrs. Whiting
and Ward, with their wives, left America for
Assam. "Except an occasional visit from cholera,
small-pox, or a brother-missionary, for years life
went on monotonously enough at the three mis
sion stations. ' It is the trenches that try soldiers,
not the battle,' is a saying just half true, but as
true in the Christian warfare as in any. The
main work in Assam was digging and pounding,
undermining and battering walls that seemed
immovable. If an opening at any time was made

OUR GOLD-MINE. 307
in one wall, it was only to reveal another waiL
behind it.
",'You must think me a great fool, if you
suppose I would give up the merit gained by
seventy years' service of Ram for the little I
could gain by two or three years' service of
Christ,' said an old man to Mr. Whiting. With
the more thoughtless this was the most common
objection. Convince them of the worthlessness
of their ' merit,' and the next question would be,
' But, if I become a Christian, shall I not lose
caste ? ' and at the answer, ' Yes,' many a hope
ful inquirer turned away decidedly and forever.
If deep conviction overthrew this wall, it was
only to find a stronger one in the almost univer
sal habit of opium-eating.
" All owned their sinfulness. ' Light sins '
theirs were usually, — lying, stealing, and the
like.. They had never killed a cow, nor struck a
Brahman : still they owned that such sins as they
committed every day entitled them to almost
infinite punishment. But then there was another
side. The repetition, or even the hearing, of
the name of a god, brought almost infinite
merit: so the day would be given to vice or
dishonesty ; and at night, mumbling rapidly the

308 OUR GOLD-MINE.
name of Krishna or Ram, they would sink into
the deep sleep of the opium-eater, feeling that
their account was probably somewhere near
square ; or if not, and there was a balance of a
million years or so on the wrong side, they
could not alter what fate decreed.
" ' You want to' teach the people about Jesus
Christ ; but no one will listen to you, or receive
your words,' was almost the first salutation Mr.
Danforth met on entering one of their villages.
" '"Ninety-nine out of a hundred will reject the
gospel at first,' Jie answered ; ' but in the end it
Will triumph. The reason so many reject it is
they do not examine it. . I am like a man
coming among you bringing a hundred rupees in
a box, and offering it to whoever will take it.
Nine out often refuse to take the trouble. The
tenth says to himself, " Why, it is no great
trouble to open it ; and there may be something
in it." He reaches out for the box, opens it, and,
lo ! he is the possessor of a thousand rupees.'
"They saw the application, and seemed
ashamed of their objection. They listened with
surprise as he told them of the triumphs of
Christ in Burmah and Bengal, and of the con
verts in Assam. A gurn. and two Brahmans
came up, and the people dispersed.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 309
" But as he went through the village, and be
yond it, their first words seemed to him almost
like a prophecy.
" The only thing that always arrested attention
was the relation of Christian experience. Those
who are ignorant of both can match Shaster
against Bible, Krishna against Christ, as well in
Assam as in America ; and the Assamese knew
scarcely any thing of their own scriptures. But
for Christ in the soul they had no parallel. Hin-
dooism has no religious experiences, and they
knew it. Often as Mr. Ward touched this
theme, he was interrupted by the question, ' Can
J" obtain this inward witness ? Tell us how we
can obtain it.'
" In the beginning of the next year, two of the
oldest girls in Mrs. Brown's boarding-school at
Sibsagor were awakened and converted. Their
joy aroused the four next younger, and for a
while there was little study in the school ; for
Mrs. Brown found, if she left them, they would
separate, each to find some room where she
might pray alone.
" The next year brought more fruit ; among it
a Brahman girl and her mother. Ten years
later there was a revival at Sibsagor, in which

310 OUR GOLD-MINE.
ten were converted, several from the school ;
and, before Mrs. Brown died, she had the joy of
knowing that all who had been under her care
in the school had become Christians. There
were like scenes in the orphan institution at
Nowgong, under Mr. Branson's care, and in 1853
a revival in Mrs. Danforth's boarding-school at
Gowahati. " For some years Nidhi Levi and Batiram were
active, earnest preachers. One day in January,
in the midst of a tour with Mr. Whiting, as they
were talking of their delightful work, Batiram
said, ' Something whispers to me, " The time
is short."' Four months later he met the last
enemy as fearlessly and joyously as he had met
all others. His mother, a strong-minded, sensi
ble woman, had come with him to Sibsagor
about a year before. A rigid Hindoo, Christi
anity seemed to her some dreadful infection.
She loved her son as she would if he had taken
the small-pox, and shrank quite as much from
eating or living with him. A little shelter was
built for her, and there she cooked and ate her
solitary meals. But, when she saw her son car
ried through death as she had never seen human
being carried through it before, she believed

OUR GOLD-MINE. 311
in the God he worshipped, and was angry with
him, — angry that he had taken away the staff
of her old age. For weeks she remained incon
solable. "At last, one day she came to Mrs. Brown a
picture of distress, and told her grief.
" ' Do you ever pray ? ' asked Mrs. Brown.
" ' Pray ! What is there for me to pray for ?
I get nothing but trouble here. The Lord has
taken away my son ; and, if I pray at all, it is
that he would take me too.'
"But from that time she - begaii to "attend
prayer-meetings. " At last, in a female prayer-meeting, she knelt
and prayed, ' The Lord has taken away my dear
son as a punishment for my sins. The will of
the Lord be done. Have mercy upon me, a
poor sinner, and fit me to join him in heaven.
Have mercy upon my step-son and two daugh
ters, who are in total darkness, and bring them
to the light of this true religion.' Tears choked
her, and she could go no farther. There was
not a dry eye in the room. It was the turning-
point ; but more than a year passed' before she
wholly gave up caste and the charms she used
for her ailments. This delayed her baptism.

312 OUR GOLD-MINE.
But when, at last, she had forsaken all, and, after
a few months, was told that she might now be
baptized,, she wept for joy.
"In 1853 Mr. Cutter's connection with the
society closed ; and Mr. Brown added printing to
translating and preaching till 1855, when he left
to repair in America the wear of more than
twenty years' uninterrupted service. He had
now, besides translating the catechism and part
of Genesis into Shan, translated, and three
times revised, the New Testament in Assamese,
and translated most of Genesis, and the striking
portions of other books of the Old Testament.
These last were published as tracts, or in ' The
Orunodoi,' a weekly Assamese newspaper start
ed by the missionaries in 1846.
" Dark times followed. Opium-eating and in
temperance increased fearfully with the English
trade. Often, as the missionary passed from
village to village, the hopeful inquirer of the
year before would meet him with the stupid stare
that told always the same story of slow poison
ing for mind and body. Tea-planting brought
to Assam large numbers of the most dissolute
English, who enjoyed enticing converts into
their employ. Yet by the heathen all white

OUR GOLD-MINE.

313

men were taken as types of Christianity. A
few of the converts grew steadily stronger till
death ; more were at one time or another sus
pended or excluded ; but most of the entire
• number were what Mrs. Bronson calls ' anxious
comforts ; ' not wolves certainly, hardly sheep,
but very puny lambs, needing constant nursing.
" For the first years the converts, driven from
their former occupations by loss of caste, were
taken into the employ of, or placed on land be
longing to, the mission.; and when Mr. Whiting
found it necessary to break up this arrangement,
and throw them upon their own resources, he
says, ' I have been called by some of our native
Christians such names as the Assamese vocabu
lary abounds with, and which, if expressed in
English, would not be thought promotive of
edification.' "Then came the terrible years of 1857 and
1858, when the streets of Cawnpore and Delhi
ran blood, and the missionaries in Assam ex
pected daily to share the fate of their brethren
in Hindostan. For six months, Mr. Danforth
drilled daily, in soldier garb, in full view of a
large company of mutinous Sepoys, that he
might be prepared to defend his family and the

314 OUR GOLD-MINE.
mission property to the last. Then, sickness
drove one after another from the field, till, for a
year, Mr. Whiting was the only missionary in
Assam. Mr. Tolman came in 1859 : Dut almost
from the first his health failed ; and, in less than
two years, he returned to America ; not, how
ever, till he had welcomed Mr. Bronson and Mr.
Ward back to Assam.
"In February, 1861, just. before leaving for
America, Mr. Whiting baptized three at Sibsa
gor, — the first for six years. The next month,.
six more were baptized by Mr. Ward ; and the
revival continued nearly through the year. Mr.
Bronson took charge at Nowgong. The little
interest rallied, and soon six converts were bap
tized there.
" Among the first acquaintances the founders
of the Assam mission made were the Mikirs,
less savage than many other hill-tribes, gener
ally drunkards, about one-tenth part opium-eat
ers. " Their creed was simple, — ' God will reward
those who do right, and punish those who do
wrong.' • " ' What is it to do wrong ? ' asked the mission
ary.

OUR~ GOLD-MINE. 315
" ' Not to worship God, to steal, and to cut
each other in pieces, is wrong : the opposite is
right' " Mr. Tolman made a long tour among them
in 1859, talked with them in 'broken Assamese
seasoned with Mikir,' and received for answer,
' Your words are good and true ; but, if we
should receive them, the mountain-spirit would
kill us at once.'
" But fever, the ' real mountain spirit,' made
the missionary its prey almost before his work
was begun; and early in 1861 he was obliged to
leave the country, not to return.
"Still the Mikirs came often to the mission-
house at NoWgong ; and some learned to read.
" ' Monkeys ! ' said the Assamese. ' You have
no religion of your own, and so come to the
Padre Sahibs to learn one.'
" In . December, 1862, Mr. and Mrs. Scott
arrived as their missionaries.
" ' The Tolman white teacher attempted to live
among the hills, and teach the new religion, but
was quickly driven away by the deities : so the
same angry deities will send fever among the
new teachers if they attempt to visit them ; and
among the people will be a curse, — failure of

316 OUR GOLD-MINE.
crops, and sickness,' predicted the Mikir proph
ets. "Already the commissioner, Major Hartson,
had promised a monthly donation of fifty rupees
for a normal school among them ; and Rong
Bong, a Mikir chief, had started a new village,
and built a house and schoolhouse for the
teacher he believed would some time come. Mr.
Scott made a tour among his parishioners, and
then started a Mikir school at Nowgong, which
soon grew to twenty-five, most of them intelli
gent, active young men, whose time was valua
ble at home. *
" ' Here is my son, whom his father and moth
er love very much,' said a Mikir chief as he
brought Mr. Scott his little boy. ' Our people
are all ignorant, and we who are old must die so ;
but the children may learn wisdom. With "his
mother's consent, I have brought our son to give
him to you. We wish him to become a Chris
tian, and a wise and good man. ' Take him, and
be a father to him.' And, without waiting for a
reply, the chief turned away ; while the mission
ary prayed, ' Lord, give me such confidence
in thee.'
" A field was kept where they could work for

OUR GOLD-MINE. 317
their support. They were generally willing, ac
tive laborers ; but at one time Mr. Scott was
obliged to call to account three or four of them
for tardiness. Their hung their heads in silence,
and he was about to reprove them.
" ' Yes,' said one bolder than the rest, ' it is our
fault. We are ashamed ; but last night, as we
sat down to read God's word, and pray together,
before going to sleep, we found so many good
words, that we kept on reading and talking about
them till the morning light came. Then we lay
down, and overslept our time.'
" On inquiry, he found that they often so spent
half the nightv (
" In the last days of 1864 Mr. and Mrs. Scott
made an interesting visit to the Mikir hills. But
the words of their prophets were fulfilled to the
letter, and through 1865 missionary work was
done mainly in the sick-room. But this seemed
most effective of all. Several were converted.
One was impatient to carry the news to his na
tive hills.
" ' But the streams are swollen, and the poison
miasma fills the jungle,' said Mr. Scott.
" ' I know it well,' was the answer ; ' but what
are*such miasmas compared with the pains of a

318 OUR GOLD-MINE.
lost soul ? If I delay till the jungle is safe, my
father, brother, and sister may all die without a
Saviour.' " In 1866 Mr. and Mrs. Scott left for America.
The fulfilment of the predictions of their proph
ets led. to the withdrawal of a number of Mikir
youthirom the school. .Two prominent converts,
one the old Mikir chief Rong Bong, fell away ;
and such efforts were made to seduce the- rest,
that Mr. Scott, on his return in 1868, pronounced
' each day of faithful living, by one of these poor,
weak disciples, scarcely less a miracle of grace
than the first awakening to, new life.'
" The same year came one of the terrible
cholera, seasons common in the East. Mir. Scott
labored incessantly among the sick and dying
for six 'months, and then hintself - f ell a victim.
Mrs. Scott was at once invited to Sibsagor ; but
she could not leave her Mikirs. ' I gave myself
to the work of missions before ever I knew my*
precious. husband,' she said; and alone, with the
care of three children, she took charge ,of the
station. "And at last, at the close of 1869, the Mikir
missionwas able to report 'a year of steady prog
ress.' The work in the hills was well carded

OUR GOLD-MINE.

319

on by Habe and Mon, two former pupils ; several
were converted in the school ; wanderers re
turned ; while there seemed to be a gradual
waking-up among those outside.
" ' Yes, yes,' said old Rong Bong, ' I see it all.
I see how those young men are leading our peo
ple out of the wilderness ; and I, alas ! who should
have been an Omed, am an outcast from God,
reaping the bitter fruit of my sins.
" Who was Omed ? and what had he done ? "
asked Edith.
" To answer that question, I must tell you the
story of Gowahati and the Garo mission, and
give you the record of the most successful series
of failures in our missionary history.
"In 1843 Mr. Bronson started an orphan
institution at Nowgong. At first it promised
to be a true nursery for the church. Certainly
children brought under the eye, and almost into
the family, of the missionary, with caste already
broken, — its wall separating them from heathen
ism, instead of from Christianity,* — could be
'educated into Christian character,' if anybody
could. But the test of years proved that the
separation often made temptation more danger
ous when it came ; that to find honorable employ-

320 OUR GOLD-MINE.
ment for the orphans as they grew up was not
easy ; that with small-pox, fever, cholera, impa
tience, indolence, and total depravity, among the
pupils, the care of the institution demanded the
whole time of one missionary ; and often there
was but one at Nowgong. The heathen, instead
of being impressed by such an example of Chris
tian benevolence, said, ' You will break our caste,
unfit us to enter any one's house, and then cast
us off to starve ; ' a false charge, but not without
effect. In 1856 the orphan institution was given
up. Two years later, but five Christians could
be found in Nowgong.
" True, some promising ones had moved away,
and some had gone, happy and thankful, from
the asylum to a home in heaven. But promis
ing ones do not always perform, when scattered,
one in a place, among heathen neighborhoods ;
and the dead do not increase the annual tables
of statistics, — to some eyes the ultimate object
of all missions.
" Perhaps, if it could then have been known
that from the dispersed orphans ' more Christian
helpers would be raised up than from any other
one instrumentality,' the sending of an additional
missionary might have seemed a better solution

OUR GOLD-MINE.

321

,of the problem than the abandonment of the
enterprise ; but this was hidden in the future.
" In 1844 Mr. Barker moved to Gowahati.
Years passed by ; conversions were few ; mis
sionaries died, or left disabled. Dishonesty, in-
ftemperance, opium-eating, and other vices, among
the professed converts, and the certainty that at
least half of the few inquirers came from no good
motives, disheartened the always over-worked
laborers. They made earnest, tearful appeals ;
but the chief ground of these appeals was the
amount of seed already sown there, the mass
of unmoved heathenism around, and the graves
of missionaries. In fact, for years, the mission
sustained to the Baptist denomination the rela
tion of an unnecessary cat in a tender-hearted
family, — tolerated, because nobody has the heart
to kill it. In 1859 there was left there only a
pastorless' and almost invisible church, a tiny
flock of half-grown lambs, so feeble, that the
breath of life in them seemed hardly worth pre
serving, with only wolves to care for them, and
the nearest shepherd a hundred miles away.
" Mr. Bronson made them a flying visit now
and then from Nowgong, and wrote earnest
letters home, begging, entreating, threatening

322

OUR GOLD-MINE.

almost, at times, till the people were tired of
reading them ; and ' The Macedonian ' only no
ticed the receipt of ' one of Mr. Bronson's usual
appeals for Assam.'
" So Gowahati was counted a failure.
"In 1856, Mr. Bioh, an English Baptist mis-f
sionary in Dacca, made a tour to Assam, touched
at Gowalpara, preached, scattered tracts and
books, and returned, reporting ' a wide door
open for effort.' Nobody entered at the door :
the tracts and books, so far as heard from, were
torn in pieces, swept into the mud, or sold to
others for a pice or two each.
" Mr. Bion's Assam trip was a failure.
" Among the mountains of Assam, for centu
ries, past, have lived, fought, and died the Garos,
— a race more savage and bloodthirsty, and far
more truthful and honest, than any of the tribes
around. For more than fifty years they had
been a perplexing problem to their English
neighbors. They were no cowards : their fre
quent raids upon the Bengalis * at the foot of
their hills proved that. Indeed, a Bengali skull
was considered a necessary part of the furniture
of a stylish Garo. Not many other things were
necessary. A strip of cloth,- with the addition

OUR GOLD-MINE. 323
of a dozen heavy ear-rings for the ladies, served
for dress. For food they liked meat and ardent
spirits. At great entertainments, these, too,
must be served in a fresh human skull. On
such occasions a puppy is coaxed to eat all the
rice it will, and then thrown alive into the fire,
and roasted, making a most recherche" dish, —
not at all more disgusting to us than our habit
of drinking milk is to them.
"They have little in common with civilized
races, except, perhaps, slavery, cotton-planting,
and woman's rights : for among the Garos, while
either party can propose marriage to the other,
only the woman has liberty to reject a proposal ;
and, though man can divorce his wife* only .by
giving up to her his children and all his property,
a woman can divorce her husband at any time.
In agriculture they are in advance of most
mountain-tribes. " They have no temples nor images, but
worship by sacrificing white cocks, pigs, goats,
bullocks, young, dogs, liquor, rice, and flowers to
the spirits of. these hills. Many a rich Garo has
made himself poor by his fruitless efforts to
persuade these deities or demons to keep their
hands off.

324 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Such were the Garos in 1782, when Mr.
Elliot was sent to ' inquire into the disturbances '
among them ; and such essentially were they in
i860, when they made their last great raid upon
their Bengali neighbors.
" Under the eye of the British Government for
a century, entirely surrounded by British territory
for quarter, of a century, they were still, accord
ing to the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, ' the
most desperate and incorrigible tribe in all the
British dominions.'
" Judging it by the same test we apply to mis
sions, — the change wrought for the better, — the
British conquest of the Garo hills was a failure.
i' In 1 849 Mr. Stoddard baptized Kandura, a
boy of twelve years, from the orphan, institution
at Nowgong, then under his charge. The mis
sionaries had already learned that giving the,
names of Judson, Boardman, and Carey to their
orphans, was much easier than imparting charac
ters to correspond. Perhaps it was on that
account that to young Kandura was given the
surname ' Smith,' which it might reasonably be
hoped he would succeed in living up to. He
proved to be a good scholar and business-man,
and in time was appointed to an office under

OUR GOLD-MINE.

325

government, with a salary of forty rupees per
month, at Gowahati.
" ' Gowahati must have a pastor,' he said ; and
he spared neither pains nor money to obtain
one ; but all his efforts failed.
.*, "Already he had charge of all the business-
affairs of the church. At last he resigned his
office under government, and, with a salary of
fifteen rupees per month, took the pastorate of
the Gowahati church.
" ' Can you hold on till some one arrives ? '
asked Mr. Bronson.
" ' My wish is to hold on till death! was the
answer. "When Mr. Bion visited Gowalpara, there
were at the government school there ten Garos.
Some of them had learned to read Bengali.
One of them, Omed, bought for ' a pice or two '
one of the tracts Mr. Bion had distributed, and
the Psalms of David. After a while Omed en
listed as a sepoy, and was placed on guard
before one of the mission bungalows that had
been rented to a British officer. In cleaning
the house, some leaves of tracts were swept out.
One of them, 'Error Refuted,' he picked up,
and read. The conviction seized him that this

326 OUR GOLD-MINE.
was truth. He went to the native Christians
for more books. His comrades became alarmed.
"'Omed,' they said, .'what is this you are
doing ? Are you going to become a Kistan ? '
(a word of cutting contempt.)
" Still he persevered. He gave his books
and tracts to two others, Ramke and Rangku ;
and they, too, were awakened. Finally, he and
Ramke were both baptized by Mr. Bronson
into the church at Gowahati.
" ' Is there no missionary for my people ? .'
was Omed's first question ; but there was none.
" ' If there was a missionary here, or at Gow-
alpara,' they said, ' we would strike our names
from the list of sepoys, and go teach our
people ; but we have no one to teach us, and we
are too ignorant now to go forth. We often get
worldly and wicked during the week ; but when
we come on the sabbath, and hear brother Kan
dura explain the Bible, our hearts get happy and
fixed.' " Both of them had good government situa
tions ; but at last, after remaining a year or
more under Kandura's instruction, they re
signed, and went out as missionaries.
" ' I am sorry Omed wishes to leave the regi-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 327
ment,. wrote his colonel, ' as he is a very steady,
well-conducted sepoy ; quite an example to many
in the regiment.'
" ' I am glad to see any one who is willing to
attempt the reformation of those blood-thirsty
savages ; I hope you will -succeed,' said the
lieutenant-governor of Bengal to one of the mis
sionaries, in a tone indicating the profoundest
incredulity. "In 1866 the third Garo, Rangku, was bap
tized.. At the same time, there came,, from
eight Garos awakened by the preaching of
Omed and Ramke, an appeal for help. Success
awakened bitterest opposition. Thinking the
tigers of the jungle safer neighbors than the
human tigers of the hills, Omed removed to
the valley, built there a grass hut, and lived there
alone with his brave wife for a year, preaching
to the Garos that passed on their way to mar
ket, -and making, visits to his old neighbors of
the. hills. Other families joined him. Finally
a village was ,built there, — Rajamala, a city of
ref.uge for persecuted Christians. As no mis
sionary. had visited them, of course none were
baptized. . "In 1867 Mr. Bronson paid them a visit. At.

328 OUR GOLD-MINE.
Damra, Ramke had a school and public worship.
Till a late hour they talked, and sang Christian
hymns ; and then all together knelt in prayer.
" At Omed's village a crowd waited to receive
them. The village was clean ; its forty houses
new and orderly ; and the largest and best was
the place of worship, built wholly by the worship
pers. Mr. Bronson carried with him a tent, but
never pitched it ; for a clean house was at once
assigned him. He went to the chapel. It
was crowded with eager listeners. He spoke
in Assamese, and the assistants interpreted.
They listened with intensest interest ; but it was
plain that Omed had already made the story of
the cross familiar.
" At last Mr. Bronson asked, ' How many of
you love this Saviour, and, abandoning all
heathen practices, worship him alone ? '
" Twenty-six arose.
" He charged them to examine their motives,
and reminded them that their decision meant
ridicule, reproach, opposition, perhaps death.
" ' Yes,' was the answer : ' we have thought it
all over. We expect opposition. We have de
cided.'
- "The three native assistants — Rangku was

OUR GOLD-MINE.

329

one of them — now testified to their changed
conduct, and especially their abandonment of
all heathen rites and intoxicating drinks. The
last had cost some of them a severe struggle.
" All were accepted for baptism after careful
examination. "'lam Christ's disciple,' said a mountain Garo,
one of the first to leave off opposition and join
Omed, and his right-hand man ever since ; ' but
I cannot walk. How can I be baptized ? '
" For three months he had been disabled by a
diseased foot.
"'He can be brought to me in the water,'
said Mr. Bronson, seeing his eagerness.
" When told this, his delight was plainly visi
ble. "'My heart burns with desire to tell my people
on the mountains this religion,' he said. ' Only
let my foot get well, and I shall go.'
"The next Sunday they were baptized, and,
the same evening, organized into a church.
" ' And now,' said Mr. Bronson, ' whom of the
three assistants will you choose as your pastor,
to baptize, bury your dead, and perform your
marriages ? '
" Unanimously they chose Omed ; and then

3$o OUR GOLD-MINE.
and there 'Mr. Bronson ordained him, charging
him to ' range the hills, preach, baptize, do the
work of a Christian pastor, and be faithful unto
death.' " On Thursday, as he was leaving for Damra,
Omed told him that ten others wished baptism.
One of them was weeping.
"'You know that when my life was threatened
for cutting bamboos on the mountain where the
heathen sacrifice, and I had to flee to save it, I
did hot turn back,' he said to the native assist
ants. " The chut ch was called together, and the ten
were received ; Omed and Mr. Bronson baptizing
alternately. "Early in 1867 Kandura welcomed Mr.
Stoddard and Mr. Comfort to Gowahati. Mr.
Stoddard had been absent ten years. He went
at once to the Garos, making Gowalpara his
headquarters. " When Mr. Stoddard arrived, it was too early
to go among the hills ; but his people came to
him. So, very soon, he had the privilege of
attending a Garo prayer-meeting.
"•' O God,' prayed an old, blind, lame man,
'just like a decayed, rotten thing, so am I before
thee ! Save, Lord, or I perish.'

. OUR GOLD-MINE. 33!
"'Brothers,' says a young Christian, 'pray
for my parents. It is not two weeks since they
decided to be Christ's disciples. I am very
glad. How they opposed me a few weeks ago !
Now the whole village is angry with them, and
threatens to stone them from the place if they do
not go back to devil-worship.'
"Chejing then prays-: 'Pity me, O Lord!
If you don't save, no one can. I have one leg
• in hell now.' He is not a Christian, but wishes
to be.
"Another speaks in Garo. He has been a
bitter opposer, and this is his first confession :
' I have stopped my fight, and all the devil-wor
ship .with it. I will now serve and obey Christ'
" Before Mr. Stoddard can strike a tune, Ru-
dram is on his feet : ' I have not been baptized ;
but I love Christ. I am a Christian at all haz
ards. My parents are among tigers because
they haVe recently professed Christ.'
" And the best of it is, that the missionaries
know all this is sincere ; for the word, even of
heathen Garos, can be trusted.
" On his first tour, as, with Mr. Ward, Mr.
Stoddard entered Omed's village, he found young
and old, male, and female, drawn up as if in mili
tary array to receive them.

332 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' This is the Lord's army,' said Mr. Ward.
" Omed repeated the words.
" ' Yes, we are the Lord's sepoys,' came the
response from all along the line.
" Mr. Ward preached in Assamese, Omed and
Ramke interpreting- by turns. Once, as a line
of thought was touched on which he felt deeply,
Omed, forgetting the missionary, and every thing
else but the matter in hand, spoke on rapidly,
and with intense earnestness, for half an hour. .
Mr. Ward looked at his brother-missionary, and
smiled, quite willing to sit down.* It was clear,
from the absorbed attention of all, that Omed
was striking the right spot.
" There was no consciousness of official dig
nity about Omed. He was a gentle, sedate man
of thirty-five, heartily loved and revered by his
people. " Mr. Stoddard's journal for the next year,
during which he became acquainted with his
field, is the record of a succession of 'joyful
surprises.' The steadfastness of the disciples
under trial, their missionary zeal, the frankness
of the inquirers, the springing up of new inter
ests, were a perpetual delight to him.
" But even he could not feel the peculiar joy

OUR GOLD-MINE. 333
that filled Kandura's heart, as a little later, with
Mr. Comfort, he travelled and preached through
this region.
"After shaking hands with about one hun
dred and fifty Christians, he turned to Omed
and Ramke, and said, ' Brothers, where am I ?
Whom do I see and hear around me ? When
you two called on me at Gowahati, only a few
years since, to inquire about this Christian reli
gion, did I believe to. live to see so great a fire
of truth kindled in this dark land ? No, never !
But it is of God. On, my brothers, with the
torch of truth, and you shall see all Garo-land
ere long in a blaze.'
"By the close of 1870 there were two hun
dred and thirteen baptized believers among the
Garos, organized into five churches. Since then,
Mr. and Mrs. Keith, Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, Mr.
and- Mrs. Mason, and Miss Keeler, have joined
the mission ; Mr. Phillips has commenced a new
station at Tura, one hundred miles farther into
the hills than Gowalpara ; and connected with
the three stations there are nearly six hundred
Garo church-members, all of whom would prob
ably have been wild savages but for the orphan-
asylum at Nowgong, and the unsuccessful tour

334' OUR GOLD-MINE.
of Mr. Bion, and the resolution of Kandura to
' hold on till death ' at Gowahati.
" In 1 87 1 Mr. Clark persuaded Godhula, one of
his native assistants, to learn the Naga language,
and explore the Naga hills. At first, neither
man, woman, nor child, would speak to him. He
was taken for a government spy, and his life was
in danger. Gradually he convinced them as to
his real object, and received a cordial welcome to
hospitable homes, where a single room served
as cook-room, sleeping-room, fowl-house, store
house, and parlor, and to such delicacies as dried
rotten fish, charred buffalo-hides, and putrid car
casses of cows and buffaloes. For several years
he preached, and a number professed conversion.
Mr. Clark made them occasional visits, and bap
tized. Then came a year of conflict between the
Nagas and the British troops. Almost an en
tire exploring-party was massacred. (Among the
Nagas, no pne is thought very much of till he
has killed some one.) For some time, no white
man could be safe among the hills ; and there
were fears even for Godhula. Meanwhile there
came rumors of defection among the disciples.
At the first lifting of the cloud, Mr. Clark, accom
panied only by a boy-servant, started for Hai-

OUR GOLD-MINE.

335

mong, a village on a hill twenty-seven hundred
feet high, the home of most of the Naga disci
ples. No other native could be induced to go
with him ; for government could promise no pro
tection. For ten months he remained among
them without seeing a white face, sharing such
accommodations as he could find, obliged to do
his own cooking and mending ; but at the close
of 1876 he was permitted to rejoice in the found
ing of a new village without heathen ceremonies,
where the Christian element was the ruling one,
and to hear again the voices of inquirers and of
converts testifying, ' Much sweeter than arrack
and all pig-meat is the new doctrine.'
"From the Kohls and Chata Nagpore peo
ple — emigrants from Central India, of whom
there are thousands in the Assam tea-gardens —
nearly one hundred and fifty converts have been
gathered. " Among the Assamese themselves there has
been little visible progress. There may have
been real progress. Daily, from behind zenana
curtains, eager eyes watch the coming of the lady-
missionary ; and men who at any time before in
the past ten centuries would rather have opened
a grave for their wives than a book now consent

336 OUR GOLD-MINE.
to their studying even the hated Christian books,
if so they may learn to read.
"In 1873, Nidhi Levi, the first of Assamese
converts, the best of Assamese poets, and one,
at least, of the best Assamese preachers, passed
away. A few months later Dr. Ward died, and
still later Mrs. Bronson and Miss Bronson Cotes.
The deaths of these early laborers bring more
freshly than ever to our minds the marvel that
what has been accomplished even in Assam has
been within the active lifetime of a generation
not yet past."

CHAPTER XIV.
THE TELUGUS.
BELIEVE I'd like to give up, and
change places with Ida," said Katie.
Some weeks had passed since Ida left ;
but they had contained no missionary evening.
"'He that putteth his hand to the plough,'"
Walter" quoted : there was nothing in his face to
tell whether in jest or in earnest.
." But there isn't any thing against those that
take their hands off the plough, looking back,"
said Katie ; "and I almost think I've done that".
Ida's last word to Kate, whispered with the
good-by kiss at the depot, was, "Do my work,
Katie, and more ; " and the whistle cut short the
(explanation Ida meant, and Katie needed.
And Katie had tried. She had started a
missionary sewing and reading circle among
the girls before Ida left, and at first it succeeded 337

338 OUR GOLD-MINE.
famously : but now preparation for a church fair
called for all spare moments; and, that day, a
few of the leading girls had suggested that mis
sionary reading was " not so interesting, after
all," and, while they were engaged in fancy work,
they had better read some of the magazines that
would help them about it ; and Katie, who knew
the missionary reading was interesting, blamed
herself for not making better selections.
Then there were the old people, and the sick,
and the poor. She had finished four baby-aprons
that Ida left unfinished ; but two of them were
laid away in paper boxes, for the mothers had no
bureau-drawers, — laid away to be cried over
sometimes, but never to be worn any more ; and
the other two were already torn and drabbled in
the mud until they were of the same color with
it and with those they had supplanted. The two
most interesting old ladies had died too ; and
those who took their tenements could not speak
a word of English, nor understand Katie's des
perate attempts at German.
The whole work Ida had left her seemed lika
undertaking to train a flock of birds on the
wing ; for, in all the houses she visited, not a
tenant was expecting to stay long. And the

OUR GOLD-MINE.

339

children grew more profane, and the men more
red in the face, and silly in talk on Saturday
nights, and the women more worn, and less in
terested in any thing but their own complaints
and their neighbors' business. There were but
two women in the lot that even seemed to wish
for any thing better ; and one of those had just •
moved away.
The sabbath-school class of semi-civilized
vagabonds she had taken was full as when . Ida
left it, though half* those in it had moved away;
but the remaining half, on which she had
depended for the civilization of new-comers, had,
instead, been barbarized by them.
At last the one woman who seemed trying to
do better, and whose every separate child wore
some garment of Katie's making, came to her at
night to borrow money, and, .when Katie declined
lending, turned away with mournful eyes, mur
muring, " So I've received you kindly week after
week, and taken your tracts, and that's all I get
for it," and wended her way to the nearest grog-
£ery. And that, or rather all this, was why she
wished she could change places with Ida.
" One thing I am sure," she said : " the mis-

340 OUR GOLD-MINE.
sionaries don't have to spend their lives in drag
ging their work by a long zigzag way forward,
and then see things take a bee-line back where
they were before."
"The work is one, you will find," said Mrs.
Bancroft. "To-night, leaving Assam on the
north, and starting at the head of the Bay of
Bengal, we will sail south-west, past Calcutta and
Serampore, past Orissa, till we reach the point
where the coast runs almost due south. Land
ing here, we find ourselves among a people as
manly, independent, and truthful, at least, as any.
of the new acquaintances we have made, and so
energetic, persevering, and inquisitive, that they
have gained the name of 'the Yankees of India.'
Their country stretches seven hundred miles
along the coast, and forms a semicircle, which at
its widest point reaches three hundred and fifty
miles inward; but detached companies of them
may be found all over Southern India.
" In 1836 Mr. and Mrs. Day, the first mission
aries sent them by the Missionary Union,
arrived. Mr; Abbot sailed with them, destined
for the same field, but was turned aside by the
pressing claims of the Karens.
" In a healthful climate, with no opposition

OUR GOLD-MINE.

341

from government, a beautiful language before
them, sixteen million interesting heathen around
them, and the glorious news of God's beginnings
among the Karens reaching them by every mail,
no wonder they commenced the mission hope
fully. " After Vizagapatam, Cicacole, and Madras had
been tried, each for a short time, in 1840 we find
them at Nellore. But change of time and place
had had little effect on the Brahman gods. The-
congregations of from twenty-five to a hundred
that gathered in the streets of Nellore met Mr.
Day with the same objections, and dispersed to
listen to the same lies, that assailed Carey in
Bengal forty years before.
" ' This is the Kali Yoga ; we cannot be good in
it ; ' ' Your religion is good for you, and ours for
us ; ' ' We must live according to the rules of
our caste ; I am a Brahman, and cannot work ;
if I become a Christian, I shall starve ; ' ' When
all the Brahman and great caste people believe,
we will ; ' ' Show me your God, and I will
believe ; ' ' If this religion is true, why have we
never heard of it before ? ' — came from the people
in answer to his most earnest appeals.
" ' He will seize the lads sent to his school,

342 OUR GOLD-MINE.
bind them, cram some of his food down their
throats, and so break their caste ; ' ' He sprinkles
a kind of powder in people's eyes, that makes
them obey him ; ' ' He means to send the chil
dren to some foreign country,' — was the reward
fame gave to his most generous efforts. Often,
just as a congregation of eager, attentive listen
ers was gathered, some blustering Brahman
would come in, raise an excitement, and trans
form them into a reviling mob. Once, 'while
preaching at a festival, harder weapons than
words were used ; and Mr. Day was severely
beaten, .driven back through a narrow street, and
barely escaped being trampled to death. Of
course the assault was led by Brahmans.
" In March, 1840, Mr. and Mrs. Van Husen ar
rived. In July there came to Nellore a Telugu
from a distant part of the country, for three
years a believer : in September he was baptized.
Two Tamils and an Eurasian had been baptized
before. In October, 1 844, a church of eight mem
bers, four of them missionaries, was organized
at Nellore. Early the next year Mr. Van Husen,
and a year later Mr. Day, left for America. Mr.
Van Husen never returned.
"After ten years of hard work, the Telugu mis-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 343
sion, in 1847, consisted of two disabled mission
aries, with their wives in America, one Telugu
convert, and three or four Tamils and Eurasians
in India. Meanwhile Mr. Abbot, who was to
have been Mr. Day's companion, from Sandoway
was reaching out hands into regions where no
missionary foot might tread, drawing, in con
verts by the thousand, groaning over the harvest
ripening without harvesters, and at last, broken
down by the weight of the sheaves, had returned
to America, and was pleading for money and
men, not to sow barren soil, but to gather ripened
fruit. We can hardly wonder to find the aban
donment of the Telugu mission a subject of
earnest discussion.
" The committee discussed, and threw the
responsibility upon the Board ; the Board dis
cussed, and threw the responsibility upon the
people. The people never kill a mission by a
process more merciful than slow starvation : so
in 1848 we find Mr. and Mrs. Day returning, ac
companied by a new missionary, Mr. Jewett.
During the voyage, their labors led to the con
version of the captain and one sailor ; and, when
they reached shore, many others were thought
ful. ."•

344 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Two years passed, marked only by the slow
failure of Mr. Day's health and the frequent ill
ness of Mr. and Mrs. Jewett.
"But it could not be that the fifty thousand
who had listened, at least once, to Christian
preaching during the year, were quite the same
as before. The missionaries knew it could not,
and were hardly surprised, as the assistants
James and Nersu returned from their village
preaching, to hear in one place of several who
were 'almost Christians,' and in another of a
whole village which had abandoned idol-worship,
and defended Christianity, though it did not
practically accept it.
" The next year, Luchama, wife of the Telugu
baptized by Mr.' Day in 1840, after being for ten
years a violent opposer, was converted, laid
aside her ornaments, and united with the church.
A little later we find her, with Julia, a boarding-
scholar converted the year before, in a tent
pitched by the wayside, aiding Mrs. Jewett in
teaching Christ to the women who came to
Nellore at the great festival. Soon after Julia
was baptized, and one other, — three in four
years. •
" In 1853, when the failure of Mr. Day's health

OUR GOLD-MINE.

345

again compelled him to leave, we find the aban
donment of the mission again under discussion.
" The next year one of the assistants proved an
apostate ; and two years later, the other, Chris
tian Nersu, died. Mr. Day never returned ; but
in 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Douglass sailed to re-
enforce the mission.
" By 1857 tne church numbered twelve. Then
came the great mutiny. Nellore was guarded
only by three hundred invalid sepoys, whose
captain .said he could afford the missionaries no
protection in case of attack. Mr. Douglass was
already in Madras : Mr. Jewett went there for a
few months. There was but one baptism that
year. " The next was a year of sunshine.
" First two women — Lydia, and Elizabeth,
wife of Christian Nersu — applied for admission
to the church.
" ' This is all deception,' said a Mohammedan,
witnessing their baptism.
" ' I felt the power of the Holy Spirit coming
down upon us,' said one of the sisters in the
church. " ' I trembled .exceedingly,' said another, not a
Christian.

346 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" Soon six others were baptized.
" ' My heart overflows with joy,' said the woman
who ' trembled exceedingly,' herself one of the
number. " ' They will soon come in crowds,' said Poly-
appa, father of one of the six, a youth from the
normal school; and soon he helped fulfil the
prophecy by coming himself.
" Thirteen in all were baptized, nearly all of
them from families connected with the school.
It does not seem like a great work as we look
back upon it ; but it did to the missionaries then,
and I think they judged rightly.
" In 1859 came a terrible visitation of cholera.
Victims were found in the boarding-school and
among the young converts.
" Often there was but a few hours' interval
between perfect health and death. But it was
hard to mourn for those who were so glad.
" ' I am going to my Father,' said the woman
who ' trembled exceedingly ' when she stood for
the first time by the waters of baptism, now
fearlessly entering the river of death ; and, turn
ing to her husband, she asked the question no
heathen can answer, ' Where are you going ? '
" ' O my Father, receive me now ! ' said an-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 347
other, the first pupil in the boarding-school, and
a convert of the revival of 1858. 'I am ready.
No fear, though a worm, and nothing. Come,
take me now. Hast thou not said, He that seeks
thee finds thee ? Yes, Lord, I come.'
" ' Why weep ? ' he said to those around him.
'I now enter heaven with great joy. Does not
our Father want many to serve him above ? I
see the hosts of God. Don't you see them?
O glorious city, how numerous are thy gates !
Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory ! '
" Ruth, baptized from the boarding-school just
before Mr. Day left, and now wife of Ezra, one
of the most efficient native preachers, had been
for eight years a consistent member of the
church. In 1861 she became, for a little time,
a member of Mr. Douglass's family.
" One morning, while the family were at the
table, she began to tremble and weep as though
her heart would break.
" ' No one knows the cause of my grief,' she
said as she arose and left.
" Through the afternoon she avoided answer
ing questions ; but about one at night she came
to the room of Mr. and Mrs. Douglass, asking
them to pray for her.

348 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' It was soon evident,' says Mr. Douglass,
' that we had more need of her prayers than she
of ours. Such- a scene we had never thought it
would be our privilege to witness. There was
no more sleep. We had come to the gate of
heaven.' "' Truly,' "said Mrs. Douglass, 'this is enter
taining an angel unawares.'
" The next day, with a heavenly smile on her
face, she went from room to room, from person
to person, telling of the preciousness of Christ.
" For more than ten days this lasted, and the
mission-house seemed the dwelling-place of God.
The days were filled with work, and the nights
with praise.
" ' My child is mad ; she is possessed of a
devil,' said her poor old heathen mother in
agony. " But it was no madness. When the intense
excitement was over, she settled down into one
of the most earnest and happy of Christians.
Her joyful experience was itself the fruit of
weeks of earnest prayer, and within a few days
bore fruit in the conversion of two. One of
them, to the wonder of the world, was her own
mother.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

349

" The next year, two others were baptized ;
the next, four, one of them a brother of Ruth ;
then four more came, and then five. The dew
fell very gently ; but the years of absolute dearth
were over.
"About seventy-five miles from Nellore lies
Ongole, with a population of ten thousand. The
missionaries had several times visited it, and
awakened inquiries and an appetite for tracts
and books among its people. One evening in
1854, after trying all day to gain a hearing in the
city, and gaining only abuse and stones, Mr. and
Mrs. Jewett and Nersu stopped on a hill over
looking the place, looked down upon its hundred
temples, sang hymns of praise, and prayed God
that he would send a missionary to Ongole, that
souls might be saved there, and heathenism die.
" In 1 860 it came at the same time into his
heart and Mrs. Jewett's to go there again. They
resolved to do it, trusting in God for means to
meet the expense. Just then a friend came
forward, with two hundred dollars for 'extra
expenses.' They went, and brought back with
them to Nellore Obalu, a young man, the head
of a family, a convert asking for baptism. He
was baptized, and returned to Ongole.

350 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" In 1862 Mr. Jewett, on his return to America,
found the friends of missions again discussing
the usual panacea for financial embarrassment, —
the abandonment of the Telugu mission. The
urgency of the case was stated to Mr. Jewett.
" ' The Union may abandon the field,' he re
plied ; ' but / will bear no part in the fearful
responsibility. If encouragement and aid are
refused me by the Union, then I will return
alone^ and spend my remaining strength and days
among the Telugus.'
" ' Well, brother, if you are resolved to return,
we must send somebody with you .to bury you-;
you certainly ought to have a Christian burial
in that heathen land,' said the secretary with a
smile. " In April, 1865, the prayer of the little band
that met on ' Prayer-meeting Hill,' never dream
ing they were giving name to the place, began
to be answered. Mr. Clough, the 'missionary
for Ongole,' arrived with Dr. Jewett at Nellore.
Mr. Douglass had been sick for months, and left
immediately. " Early the next year, Mr. Jewett and Mr.
Clough visited Ongole. A while later, in Tala
Kanda Pond, forty miles distant, just as he was

OUR GOLD-MINE. 351
sitting down to eat, a leather-dresser heard the
news that a missionary had come to Ongole.
The food remained untasted. Four years before,
while away from home, he heard two of the na
tive converts talking about religion. He hardly
noticed what they said at the time ; but as he
*
walked home their words came to him again, and,
as he afterwards said, ' the Lord enlightened his
mind.' " ' I am resolved to give up idols,' he told his
wife and neighbors.
'"Then Polarana and Maluchma will send
cholera and small-pox among us ; you are mad,'
was their answer ; and, for the months that fol
lowed, he was treated very much as if he had
been a walking embodiment of both diseases.
" ' If you cannot let me have the Christian re
ligion here, I shall go away, and not return,' he
said at last.
" ' What is the Christian religion ? ' asked his
wife. " He told her what little he knew. It was very
little, but enough to make her long to know
more. And now they came together to Ongole as
inquirers. Soon after, Mr. Jewett baptized them.
" The next year we see Mr. Clough on his pony,

352

OUR GOLip-MINE.

and Mrs. Clough in her palanquin, the monotony
of the journey varied only by the steady ' Ho, ho,
hum ' of the bearers, or an occasional extempore
song from them on the supposed merits of Mrs.
Clough and her little boy, placing seventy-five
miles between themselves and all Christian soci
ety, except what they brought with them. No,

Palanquin-Travelling.
not quite all ; for at the door of the bungalow,
running toward them, panting, laughing, capering
like a little boy for joy, was Obalu. He soon
left, and returned with hot water and sheep's
milk : so, with coffee, and some mouldy bread
brought from Nellore, they made their first break
fast at Ongole.
" ' We thought it very good,' he writes. ' We

OUR GOLD-MINE. 353
are very happy here ; do not care to be any hap
pier. True, we want money ; but the Lord will
send that'
" Very soon two native preachers, in the midst
of hard words, and sometimes hard stones, were
offering the gospel to the citizens of Ongole.
Every morning and evening there was preaching
in some one of the villages around ; while, three
times a week, Mrs. Clough and Ruth went out
together to talk on religious subjects with the
villagers. " On one of his first tours, about twenty years
before, as Mr. Jewett with NersU approached a
village, a man came out and begged him to come
with him. Following through mud and water,
he reached a cluster of sixty mud houses, scarce
ly distinguishable from the earth around them,
where a congregation soon gathered together.
" ' Who made all these things ? ' he asked, after
telling them of the fields of rice, the flocks, the
men, the mountains, he had seen on his way.
' Did idols ? '
" ' No, God made them,' was the answer.
" ' If your child,' said Nersu, ' should turn away
from you to some other man, and say, " You are
my father," would you not be displeased ? '

354

OUR GOLD-MINE.

" ' Yes.'
" ' That you have done to God.'
" ' Tell us the parable of the vineyard,' said the
guide, who had once visited the station at Nel
lore. "He explained it, and that of the sower.
Night came on, and he left.
"These were the pariahs, by the Brahmans
falsely called ' outcast ' or 'no caste ' people.
Among the Telugus they are divided into ' Ma-
las,' who work as coolies, servants, woodcutters,
&c, and ' Mardagas,' who are usually drummers,
leather-dressers, cobblers, or something of the
sort. Together they make one-tenth of the en
tire population. Their villages, numbering some
times three or four thousand inhabitants, lay
scattered all around. Often after that the gospel
was preached in them. It was from one of
them that the convert at Tala Konda Pond came.
" Presently from his region came the report
that so often played the part of mirage on the
missionary desert, — ' a large number of inquirers
and remarkable interest.' But the man who was
so overjoyed he could not eat at the thought of
having a missionary within forty miles of him-
had made the best use of his rare privileges, and

OUR GOLD-MINE. 355
came often to Ongole ; and he confirmed the re
port. "On the 1st of January, 1867, a church of
eight members was formed at Onggle.
" On the day the week of prayer closed, Mr.
Clough and his assistant started for Tala Konda
Pond. Three nights' travel by bullock-cart,
with day-preaching in the intervening villages,
brought them there. Stopping in a tamarind-
grove, he sent word to the villagers that he had
come to tell them of Jesus. The next day
between thirty and forty men and women came,
bringing each provision for four or five days,
and an extra change of clothing.
" ' We have come to learn more about Jesus,'
they said ; ' but we already believe in him, and
want to be baptized.'
" Then came five days of preaching, Scripture-
reading, prayer,. and singing, never to be forgot
ten. The simple , reading of the last two chap
ters of Matthew, or the remark, ' Christ died on
the cross for our sins,' would affect the whole
audience to tears.
" ' I have seen many revivals at home,' said
Mr. Clough, * and witnessed many precious out
pourings of the Holy Spirit : but I never saw

356 OUR GOLD-MINE.
such a blessed time • as this ; never saw such
faith, and such love for Jesus the Saviour.'
" At the close, twenty-eight were baptized.
" The converts were from six villages, distant
from twenty-five to fifty-five miles from Ongole.
Returning to their homes, they met no pleasant
welcome. A guard was placed at the entrance
of their streets, forbidding them to pass either
way. Water from the public wells was denied
them ; and, when disease appeared among the
cattle, the Christians were accused of poisoning
them, and taken before the magistrate. Mr.
Clough stated the facts, the complaints were dis
missed, and for a while the disciples had peace.
"Every thing was now put in the closest
working-order. An earnest appeal for more
missionaries was sent to America. Each village
where there were converts was directed to send
one or two men to Ongole immediately after
harvest, who should return and teach the rest.
One native assistant was appointed to give his
whole time to preaching in the villages ; while
Mr. Clough was busy by day, and often at night
too, in receiving inquirers, and searching out
hearers at Ongole, superintending the building
of a chapel, and visiting the villages around.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 357
" A little later, seven young men from six vil
lages were gathered at the mission-house for
instruction. Before the year closed, the Owgole
church had grown from eight to seventy-five.
" Meanwhile, though to cholera were added fam
ine and small-pox, the work went on at Nellore.
Eleven were baptized in 1865, thirteen the next
year; and the next, startled apparently by the
thought that the founding of the station at On
gole and the death of the ablest assistant had
thrown the whole burden on Mr. Jewett and the
little church, almost every member organized
himself into a private missionary society, and
the result was thirty-three baptisms and three
new out-stations.
" No human pen can describe the years that
have followed, — years every day of which is a
date in the' record-book of -heaven. The dying
saint had given his rupee ; poor blind Lydia, her
four annas ; the first Kala Konda Pond convert,
his two chickens ; the children, their egg-money';
the poorest, something, till a spacious stone chap
el was complete at Ongole. In the villages the
demand for teachers and preachers was incessant.
It seemed hardly right to make teachers of men
who could only spell out words, and preachers of

358 OUR GOLD-MINE.
those who could do hardly more than say, ' Be
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved.' Many an educated American pastor
would shrink back if duty called him to preach
to an audience of sceptics, and courtesy allowed
them to ask all the questions they thought dur
ing the sermon ; yet to a work like this these
ignorant but warm-hearted disciples were sent.
" No one felt the disadvantages of this course
more keenly than the missionaries ; but it was the
best that could be done, and God blessed it. I
wish we could follow these preachers, and watch
the growth of gospel-fruit in each village. We
can only glance here and there at the work, and
then leave it.
" Here in Markapoor, eighty miles west of On
gole, the whole body of disciples had been seized,
and sent to jail. They were whipped, fined
three rupees each, and sent to work on the
grounds around a Vishnu temple. One only es
caped to tell the missionary.
" ' Tell them,' he said, ' to bear it all patiently :
when they go to work on the grounds, sing;
when they go back to the prison, pray.'
" The message reached them, and prayer be
gan.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 359
" ' That must be stopped,' said the Tasildar.
' Order them to work on the temple.'
" They were marched out, singing, —
' Pahpamoo dhulootsoo sume ;
Puschathapamu kazoo sume.'
'Think of your sins, and pray for repentance;
Fall at the feet of the invisible Jesus.'
" ' That must be stopped,' said the officer ; and
they were returned to the jail.
" At once they began to pray.
" ' Stop that ! ' came the order.
" ' We cannot. The teacher told us to pray.'
"Again and again they were sent from jail to
temple, and back ; till at last the Tasildar, wea
ried either by their singing or the less musical
voice of his own conscience, gave the order for
their release.
" ' But we cannot go",' they said. ' We have
been fined and imprisoned unjustly. We cannot
go out like criminals,'
" ' How will you go ? '
" ' Let them give us the three rupees each we
have been fined, and rice for seven days ; then
we will go.'

360 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" The money was actually paid, the rice given,
and the men went out triumphant, singing, —
' Pahpamoo dhulootsoo sume.'
" A dozen telegraph-wires could not have car
ried the news faster than it flew through that
, densely-settled country. Before six months had
passed, Mr. Clough baptized one hundred and
thirty within three-quarters of a mile of the jail ;
and now, within twenty miles of it, there are
more than twelve hundred believers.
"Next we find Mr. Clough making a tour
through these villages.
" At one time, just before midnight, he hears
a noise like the running of a flock of buffaloes.
He is just ready to lead his pony aside, and
let the buffaloes pass, when, instead, he finds
twenty or thirty men, all believers, gathering
together to welcome him. Everywhere, whether
in large towns, or hamlets whose name even he
had not heard, he finds brethren or inquirers.
"And here at Garnegapeuta is a Christian vil
lage, with white .houses, clean streets, and a neat
schoolhouse built by the villagers.
" ' In all heathen India, even among the Brah
mans, you will find nothing to compare with it,'
he says to the bystanders.

OUR GOLD-MINE.

361

" Only one mud house remained neglected,
and not whitewashed. It was the idol-house of
the god Ramasawmy.

let

' ' Why does it remain in this Christian ham-
? ' asks the missionary.

362 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' If we pull it down, the heathen will be very
angry.' "'Let me do it, then.'
" In a minute a crowbar was put into his hands.
After the first blow, helpers were plenty. * In a
few moments the house was a heap of rubbish.
Two large slimy toads hopped out.
" ' See Ramaswamy and his wife ! ' said one
of the company in comic irony. ' Pretty gods,
indeed ! Let the heathen worship you : we don't
want to.'
" And the toads were sent back among the
rubbish. " In the years that follow, we see him, now
conducting alone a ministers' institute, with fif
teen or twenty native preachers noting carefully
every lecture as material for their sermons in
time to come, for plagiarism is not yet a crime in
Telugu preachers ; now in some pariah village,
carrying on the 'desperate, hand-to-hand con
test with superstition, pride, prejudice, igno
rance, drunkenness, lust, deceit, cunning, and
every imaginable machination of the Devil ; ' now,
alone at night, reasoning with some Nicodemus
who ' believes, but dares not openly confess ; ' now
galloping away from a crowd of heathen, the only

OUR GOLD-MINE. 363
way to stop entreaties for a teacher that he can
not grant ; now making a long tour, baptizing
three hundred and twenty-four before he returns.
" The first day of the week of prayer in
Ongole was given to supplication for five hun
dred converts. The close of the year found five
hundred and seventy-three baptisms.
" Converts multiplied around Nellore too ; and
the spirit of inquiry among the heathen, and
earnestness among Christians, grew, until every
Sunday afternoon, instead of holding meetings,
the converts went out, visiting from house to
house through the streets, or. in the villages ;
and the covenant meetings were changed from
records of Christian experience to reports of
Christian work.
"The Timpanys arrived in 1868 ; in 1870, the
M'Laurins and Mr. Bullard. The same year
Mr. Timpany and his wife took up their abode
in Ramapatam, a town of four thousand inhabit
ants, a little more than half way from Nellore to
Ongole. Ezra and Ruth had gone there some
months before to prepare the way.
'' Fourteen years before, Mr. Jewett and Chris
tian Nersu preached there, and were delighted
with their attentive audiences.

364 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' Perhaps,' said Mr. Jewett, ' they may be of
the Lord's elect.'
"' Yes,' answered Nersu. ' I was thinking in
my mind, " Who are the elect ? " Are not these
who give such heed to the word of God ? '
" Ten years later, after passing through it, Mr.
Clough wrote, ' Above every thing else in India,
except the blessing of God, I would like to see
these two places ' (Ramapatam and Allur) ' occu
pied by at least two of our missionaries.'
" Here Mr. Timpany started a school under
a banian-tree, with sand for slates and black
boards, and forefingers for pencils. A little
later, looking out upon the absolute darkness,
he wrote, ' I sometimes cry like the prophet in
answer to the question, " Son of man, can these
dry bones live ? " " O Lord God ! thou knowest,"
my doubt going into my cry.'
" But before a year had passed he was able to
report, ' We are in the midst of a constant re
vival.' "At the close of 1871 there were two hundred
and sixty-seven church-members connected with
Rampatam. The next year,. in a single tour in
the neighborhood of Cumbaldiny, one hundred
were baptized, and the membership grew to four

OUR GOLD-MINE. 365
hundred and twenty; and by the next it was
impossible to go out in any direction without
finding Christians in every two or three miles,
while among the Mardagas scarcely an avowed
heathen remained.
" In 1872 Mr. Clough left for America. A#few
evenings before his departure, five hundred rep
resentatives from the villages under his care
gathered together for last words. Hours passed
by, as hours will at such times, and half-past
eleven came. The very last words must be
spoken. "Their courage failed. 'Don't leave us!'
' Stay with us ! ' ' Don't go to America ! ' burst
from pleading lips, perhaps then, for the first
time, realizing their loss.
" Others caught up the words ; and from the
crowd of eager petitioners, clasping his feet,
pressing upon every side, came the same mes
sage, ' Don't go from us ! '
"'See here,' said the missionary, turning to
'one : ' do you remember, when I was at your vil
lage, that you asked me to come again soon, and
I told you that I could not ; that I had one hun
dred and ninety villages to visit before I could
see you again ? '
" ' Yes, yes ! '

366 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' And do you remember that you begged me
to send you a native preacher, and I told you I
could not, for we had but eighteen, and they, too,
must be scattered through all these hundred
and ninety villages ? '
".'Yes, yes!'
" ' And, that finally, when you followed me out
of the village, begging me to come, or send a
preacher or teacher, I could do nothing but shut
out your prayers, and gallop away ? '
" ' Yes.'
" ' And was it so in your village ? ' turning to
another. " ' Yes.'
" ' And yours ? '
" ' Yes.'
" Memory had been only too faithful in recall
ing those scenes during the hours just past.
" ' And now you know that I am worn out with
work ; that, unless I can rest, I shall soon not be
able to visit you at all. You know, too, that we
must have four new missionaries, and a theo
logical seminary to train native preachers, who
can stay with you all the time ; and I must go
to America to get the men and the money for
the seminary.'

OUR GOLD-MINE. 367
" The petition changed.
" ' Go quick, and come quick ; go quick, and
come quick ! '
" ' When I am gone, will you pray everyday
that God will restore my health and Mrs.
Clough's, and that he will send the four men,
and the money for the seminary ? '
'"We will.' -
" So they parted, and the promise was well
kept. Every day the Christians raised their
petition, without a shadow of doubt that what
they asked they should receive.
"And their prayer was answered. In less
than two years, Mr. Clough returned with the
last dollar of the needed fifty thousand pledged ;
and very soon four new missionaries — Mr. Wil
liams, Mr. Downie, Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Drake
— were at work in the Telugu field. Mr. Wil
liams took charge of the seminary, aided by
Rungiah, — ' one of the noblest of Christian
men, an able preacher, pre-eminently godly, and
with a model family ; ' and two others, ' young
men of superior ability and sterling piety ; ' and
in 1876 reported under their care eighty students,
all strong, vigorous men, preparing to enter the
field, and work.

368 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"At Ongole Mr. and Mrs. Loughridge are
laying the foundations of a Telugu college, and
Mrs. Clough has charge of a normal school
sustained by the Woman's Missionary Society,
numbering fifty-nine scholars.
" During the past year a fearful famine has
prevailed through Southern India. Everywhere,
as they go forth to preach, the missionaries hear
the cries of the starving ; and much of their time
has been given to obtaining relief. But neither
famine, nor its attendant pestilence, has been
able to stay the work. Within a year, seven
hundred and twenty-four have been baptized ;
and the entire membership of the Telugu
churches is now 4,394.
" ' What a glorious wedding was that which
was the stepping-stone to your coming to us in
all the desolation of heathenism ! ' said Julia re
cently, on the occasion of the silver wedding of
Dr. and Mrs. Jewett. ' You gave us the bloom
of your youth, and now a light has been kindled
which is spreading in all the country around.' "
" I wonder if there won't be an opening for a
doctor there in a few years," said Walter.
" No doubt of it," said Katie. " I imagine they
would want him to preach while he was practis
ing, though."

OUR GOLD-MINE. 369
"That of course," Walter replied. "He
couldn't help it."
Mrs. Bancroft waited to hear more ; but noth
ing more was said. Katie took a hand of each
of the younger children, and led them up stairs,
while happy tears dropped upon their clothing
as she put them to bed. Grandpa Sears, with
quick instinct, followed her out of the room,
placing one hand on Walter's head, as he passed.
Clarence twisted a folded paper that he had held
in his hand through the evening.
" Here's something I meant to have handed
you before," he said, seeming not to hear Wal
ter's words, — "a mathematical problem ; your
hobby, you know." As he passed Walter, he
dropped the paper into his lap ; then, opening
the door, " It's a splendid evening for a walk,
Charlie ; " and Charlie, glad to take the remark
as an invitation, accompanied him, leaving Wal
ter alone with his mother.
" I sometimes think, that, at the best, we only
help God, as Minnie helps you, by catching hold
of the broom while you are sweeping," he said.
" But I am glad to know she wants to help ;
and, if there were no children to catch hold of
brooms now, there would be no grown people to

370 OUR GOLD-MINE.
use them by and by. So she does help me, after
all, unless I am ; very busy."
" And God is never very busy, — never too
busy to train bunglers. There' is comfort in
that," said Walter.
And then he told how, one week before, he
had settled the great question of life.
"And it is within that time that you have
thought of being a missionary. Have you not
decided hastily ? " said Mrs. Bancroft after the
first joyful halt-hour had passed.
" No : it was long before then, — as long ago
as when you told us about Judson and Price. I
wanted to fill Price's place, only not to die so
soon : I don't think martyrs are what is most
needed now. That is what made me think of
studying medicine."
" Do you mean that you became a Christian
because you wanted to be a missionary ? " asked
Mrs. Bancroft. This inverted order of experi
ence puzzled her.
" Yes : it seemed the only work worth doing,
and the thought that I wasn't fit for it haunted
me. I never wanted to do any thing before that
I didn't think I could fit myself for, if I tried ;
but this I couldn't. And then I saw there wasn't

OUR GOLD-MINE. 371
any thing I was fitted for, — any thing I'd be
satisfied to keep on doing forever, I mean. But
I am satisfied now."
And so was Mrs. Bancroft. She rested her
hand on his shoulder as, when he was smaller,
she used to put it on his head, but said nothing.
" It's a long time ahead, and I can't tell what
may happen. Maybe I shall find out it isn't
my work, after all, as Katie thinks she has. In
that case I'll stay at home and try to make money
enough to hire a substitute at least. But I mean
tb keep where, if God should call me into the
midst of the work, I could hear, and go without
stopping to get ready. I think every one ought
to do that"
Perhaps, with Mrs. Bancroft's thankfulness
that Walter was ready, there was a little joy
that so many years must pass first ; a hope, that,
instead of calling him to heathen lands, God
would intrust to him the easier work of supply
ing the needed funds ; for, after all, she was a
mother.

CHAPTER XV.
TO-DAY.
ilATIE was joyfully counting over her
disappointments. She had hoped to fit
herself for a missionary : instead, she
had discovered her own unfitness, and found her
true work. She had hoped that she might teach
Walter not to watch her, taking her life as a test
of the power of Christianity : instead," he had
watched her more closely than ever ; but he had
become a Christian. She hoped, when grandpa
Sears came, that his stay might be short : he
was to spend his life with them ; but her only
trouble now was, that that life must be so short.'
She had hoped, that, since Ida had no good words
for foreign missions, she might become content
to say nothing about them : Ida was fitting for
the work of a foreign missionary. She had
hoped to see the conversion of her class : they
312

OUR GOLD-MINE. 373
were all scattered, and their places filled by new
ones ; but their letters told her they had joined
other classes, and some had been led by other
hands to Christ. She had hoped and prayed
and planned for the success of her missionary
sewing-circle : it had sunk in the preparation for
the fair ; but the sisters of the church, quickened
by her evident disappointment, had organized a
branch Woman's Missionary Society, and elect
ed her secretary, and the contributions of the
church were doubled.
"There isn't much use in our planning our
work ; the thing is to be willing to do it," said
Katie. "Is that so?"
In the darkness, Katie had imagined herself
alone ; but Walter had been on the sofa all the
time, planning out his work.
" I have found it so," said Katie.
" Then I don't know but I may as well profit
by your experience. I was planning how I
could convince the world, particularly the small
part of it called Clarence Merriam, that a man
can be a missionary without being a fool."
" Is it very important that he should be con
vinced? " asked Katie.

374 OUR GOLD-MINE.
The lamps were lighted, and in a moment
Clarence came in. He was hardly seated with
Walter and Katie before he commenced : —
" It is a melancholy fact, that though missions
have been in existence for a century, and Chris
tianity for nineteen centuries, not more thah
onerfourth of the world is Christian, and, of
those, three-fourths are not Protestant."
Walter made no reply.
"You have given up your wild project of the
other evening ? "
" What would you advise me, then ? What
shall you do ? " asked Walter. This was coming to
the point much sooner than Clarence expected.
" I think I shall accept my uncle's offer, and
engage in his cutlery, — book-keeper now, and
agent by and. by."
" It is a melancholy fact," remarked Walter
gravely, "that though cutlery has been in use
more than nineteen centuries, and forks for at
least three, three-fourths of the world go without
them, and, of the remainder, not one-fourth use
silver ones."
" But the aim of missions is to do good, and
of cutleries to make money : there is the differ
ence."

^ OUR GOLD-MINE. 375
" If your aim is only to make money, I would
rather work at mine all my life and fail at last,
than at yours and succeed."
" I did not mean that. Through money I can
educate the ignorant, rescue the drunkard, suc
cor the poor, reform the immoral, and relieve the
suffering. I call those worthy objects, and there
are organized channels for them."
" But people have been doing all those things
for much more than a century," interposed Ka
tie ; " and at least three-fourths of the ignorant
are still uneducated, the poor unsuccored, the
immoral unreformed, and the suffering unre
lieved. Every thing worth doing has to be done
slowly. The things that can be done in one life
time generally perish -in another."
" I, too, believe in working for immortality,"
said Clarence ; " but I think I can find a more
practical way of doing it. I do not believe in
spending four dollars to get one to the heathen."
" Do you mean that the managers of our mis
sionary societies are dishonest or extravagant ? "
"Neither: I only mean, that, for every four
dollars given to missions, the heathen get not
more than one dollar's worth of any thing worth
having."

376 OUR GOLD-MINE.
, " Education is a commodity that has a market-
value in America, I believe. In 1871 the pupils
in mission schools of various denominations
numbered 360, 189.1 In Massachusetts we spent
that year for public-school education $12.10 per
child.2 At that rate, the education of those
heathen children would cost $4,358,286: from
which I infer, that at least so much of the
$5,232,716 given to missions 'goes to the hea
then ; ' at least four dollars out of five."
"A part of the expense of these schools
is borne by the native Christians, is it
not?" (
" Yes ; but if, as a result of missions, the
money that would have gone for arrack and
opium goes for schools ; if natives are willing to
pay for schooling, instead of being hired to send
their children, as was done in the earlier days of
missions, — the benefit conferred is at least as
great as if we supported the schools entirely.
Remember, too, that the stimulus to thought,
which, according to Keshub Chunder Sen, mis
sions have given, has sent hundreds to other
1 Statistical tables in Land of the Veda, taken from reports of
various societies for 1871.
2 Report of Board of Education, 1872.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 377
than mission schools, and that the idolatry sup
planted cost something." *
" Yes," interposed Kate. " Mr. Douglass says,
that in Bassein, for every dollar spent on dwell
ing-houses, markets, and buildings of real use,
one hundred dollars are spent on pagodas, gods,
and kyoungs. I fear it will be a long time
before you will be able to complain of any such
extravagance as that among the -friends of mis
sions." "Still," said Clarence, entirely ignoring Ka
tie's remark, "the object of missions is to save
souls, not to educate children : and it is a fact,
that every convert actually gained from heathen
ism thus far, even if we include the West-In
dians as heathen, has cost $270 ; .while in the
harder countries, like Siam, they have cost
$1,000 apiece."
"I gravely suspect that, if you count every
thing, every orphan rescued by our asylums has
cost more than $270 ; and I know, that, on an
average, every drunkard reformed or lost one
1 Some missions schools receive grants in aid from the British
Government. On the other hand, should we count in the cost of pri
vate schools, endowed academies, normal schools, and new buildings,
in Massachusetts, which is necessary to a fair comparison, it would
fully double our estimate of the cost of education here.

378 OUR GOLD-MINE.
really saved in our * Homes,' every student
educated in our colleges, every sick man cured
at our hospitals, every rogue made honest by our
reform schools, costs, on an average, more than
that," said Katie. "But if you are consistent in
your economy, and give up all these, I fancy we
shall have a state of things you will not much
like." " It would be a melancholy fact," said Walter,
"if the conversion of a soul cost as much as a
really elegant silk dress or a horse ; but, even
then, I think there are members of our churches
who could indulge in the luxury occasionally.
Happily, however, the expenses of the MissionT
ary Union, under which I shall enlist if I go, for
five years in which I have estimated them, includ
ing every thing, from a theological seminary
to a postage-stamp, were but $1,011,518; and
the number baptized, 20,680, averaging $49 ex
pense to each convert." -
"That includes some converts in European
countries, does it not ? India is the true test of
the success of missions."
"The average expense in India, including
I Reports 1S6S-1S72 inclusive.

OUR GOLD-MINE. 379
Burmah, was $74 to each convert;1 and this
includes $10,000 for the Theological Seminary
at Rangoon, and $ 1 3,000 for the printing-office
and grounds there."
" Those must have been remarkable years."
" Not at all. There were no marked revivals,
except that among the Telugus. I think the
statement for- the past five years would be even
more favorable."
" Then you dispute my figures."
" No : I think them fair. For the first dozen
years, either in the Bengal or Burman mission,
the expenses were much more than $1,000 to
each convert : I dare say that in both countries
the average, including those years, and counting
every thing spent on education as spent on mis
sions, has been fully $270. There may be socie
ties, especially where a very successful mission
has graduated into independence, and a new and
difficult one taken its place, whose average is
greater than that now. Our Telugu and Chinese
missions were founded nearly together.2 For
the twenty years prior to 1869, the expense of
1 Charging those missions with the same proportion of the expense
for officers, agents, &c., as they share in the special missionary appro
priations of the society.
a Beginning with the Chinese of Siam.

380 OUR GOLD-MINE.
the Telugu mission averaged more than $460
to a convert. Since then, the average cost has
been $25. How soon we shall see a like sud
den reduction in the Chinese mission, no man
can tell ; but, for the past, your estimate may be
none too high." . *
" And you think it pays ? "
"Certainly, if any thing does. The begin
nings of all enterprises are costly. If you should
count in all the money spent in machinery and
fruitless experiments, you would find the first
dozen sewing-niiachines, or any thing else worth
having, cost more than $10,000 each. It does
not follow that I shall not buy one at the present
market-price, or that the thousands spent at the
outset were not well spent."
" Still," said Clarence, " if more souls can be
saved with the same money in other ways, I
should, if a Christian, adopt those ways. The
converts of home missions cost less than $50
each, while yours from heathenism cost $79." *
"Add to the expenditures of home-mission
1 In estimating the future progress of missions by the past, con
verts who have died are, of course, deducted : but, in estimating the
average expense to each convert, there is no propriety in this j certainly
not if it is done for the sake of a comparison with home missions, and
a like deduction is not made there.

OUR GOLD-MINE. ». 381
societies those of our education societies, and
to that the endowment of theological seminaries,
the cost of half the literature (religious and
secular) used in its field, of common, high, and
boarding schools, in good part of orphan-asylums
and other charitable institutiofri^iSien take away
from their field the thousand indirect Christian
izing influences, require them, like foreign mis
sions, to create the conditions of success, and
see on which side the balance would be."
" Then you would give up home missions ? "
" Never ! They are the true feeders of foreign
missions. But it does not follow, that, because
the parent supports the child, the child must be
allowed to starve until the parent has eaten all
that he possibly can. All I claim is, that, as
compared with other benevolent enterprises,
foreign missions are cheap; as compared with
smoking, or fast horses, or following the fash
ions, they are extremely cheap ; but, taking into
account the eternity that lies before every soul,
they are cheap beyond all possibility of compari
son." A brief pause, and Clarence remarked, " You
have studied my problem evidently: have you
solved it ? "

382 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" No."
¦ " Have you it with you ? "
' Walter unfolded the paper Clarence had
dropped in his lap on the last missionary even
ing. " Read it, please."
Walter read, " In 1859 there were in the world
215,000 converts from heathenism, connected
with forty-seven societies,, whose period of labor
has averaged, thirty-nine years each. Dividing
215,000 by 39, we find the average annual gain
of converts has been 5,538. The average an
nual expenditure has been about $1,500,000.
The present annual expenditure is $5,000,000.
At that rate, the annual increase would be 18,-
460. Supposing that the present rate of ex
penditure should continue, how long would it
take to convert the 725,000,000 of the heathen
world ? "
Walter read without comment.
" According to my reckoning," said Clarence,
" or rather that of ' The Index,' — for I am in
debted to it for my figures, — it would take 39,273
years." " Perhaps so. I have never learned to find
the last term of a series in geometrical progres
sion by addition."

OUR GOLD-MINE. 383
" What do you mean ? "
" I mean that your calculation is based upon
a supposition absolutely unsupportable, — that
contributions will remain the same, and converts
increase at a fixed average rate ; a thing which
never has been, and never can be. Every true
convert is a multiplier. Every converted com
munity is a missionary force. During the first
ten years after Carey landed in India, the aver
age net gain of converts was two and a half per
annum ; during the last ten, 2, 1 1 7. We should
come nearer the truth if we say, that, on an
average, the number of converts from heathen
nations throughout the world has doubled every
fifteen years ; and, if it continues to do this, the
year 2100 will open upon a converted world."
" Your arithmetic has run mad ; you'd better
muzzle it," said Clarence.
" It has been exposed to a bite from yours, I
acknowledge. I do not think my estimate a
basis for certain prophecy ; though I do not be
lieve you can find fifteen years in which the
number of converts from heathenism has not
doubled. I do not really expect the time will
come when every individual in Heathendom,
from an hour old upwards, will be a Protestant

384 OUR GOLD-MINE.
church-member ; which is what your question de
mands. Remember, on the other hand, that an
immense work of undermining has been done,
not yet shown in numerical tables ; that now
there is a nominal Christian population in hea
then lands nearly three times as great as the
number of communicants ; that, when the pro
portion of Protestant church-members to the
population is as great as in America, — one in
seven, — the work of foreign missions will be
over ; that, before that time, events may happen,
— like the revolution in Madagascar, the volun
tary opening of Japan, the evangelizing of the
Catholic Church from within itself, the prevalence
among the Hindoos of societies hostile to caste,
the discovery of new tribes and eligible locations
in Africa, — which will do in an hour the work
that years have been waiting for ; that, in fact,
you might as well estimate the time it will take
to go through Hoosac Mountain ten years hence
by the time it took to bore through it at first
as estimate the future progress of missions by
the past or present progress. The sum of the
whole matter is this." Walter read now from
notes which he had been pencilling down during
the conversation : —

OUR GOLD-MINE. - 385
"Missions do not go forward at a fixed, but
at a constantly agumented, rate of increase.
The reasons of this are, —
" 1. The increasing number of converts, and
therefore of contributions, in Christian lands.
"2. The increase of wealth in our country,
shared in by the Church.
" 3. The increase in general information and
missionary zeal.
" 4. The gradual undermining of confidence in
idolatry among the heathen, which has been the
main work of many societies in the past, but tells
upon numerical tables only in the future.
" 5. The removal of obstructions, such as the
opposition of the East-India Company, the aver
sion to foreigners in China and Japan, the perse
cuting spirit of several heathen courts, the Afri
can slave-trade.
"6. Increased facilities for travelling in hea
then lands, and communicating with their inhab
itants through the press, enabling the mission
ary to do the work of many years in one.-
"7. Increased knowledge of the geography,
history, and religions of heathen nations.
" 8. Improved methods of missionary labor.
" 9. The fact that every true convert from hea-

386 * OUR GOLD-MINE.
thenism is a contributor, to some extent, both in
money and work.
" Many of these causes have but just begun to
operate. Most of them are sure to operate more
powerfully in the future than in the past. If
they do, the child may be born in this century
who shall live to see Christianity triumphant in
India. . But, if I believed the world would never
be converted, I would still give to missions as I
would to other works which I never expect to
see finished, and believe it the most economical
investment I could make."
" I am delighted to find such a serene hope
fulness," said Clarence. " The only pity is, that
it has no firmer foundation in reason." As this
argument was unanswerable, both boys were glad
of the entrance of Mrs. Bancroft ; but, before she
began her history, grandpa Sears interposed a
word. " Your figures are all right, Walter, and your
conclusions may be. Perhaps God means to
move his troops straight on to victory ; but I
doubt it. His cause always has rolled on, not
shot forward like an arrow. And always some
spokes in the wheel have been up, and some down ;
some going backward, and some going forward :

OUR GOLD-MINE. 387
and those that were going up and forward have
thought every thing was going in a bee-line to the
goal ; and those that were going backward have
thought every thing was going backward, and the
world to destruction. It has been first the con
version of the empire, then Popery; first the
Reformation, then apostasy ; first Cromwell,
then Charles II. ; first Edwards and Whitefield
and the great revival, then wide-spread defection
and French infidelity. It needn't be so ; but it
it has been so. Missions have had no great set
back yet ; but I'm afraid. There are hours,
when, if we put our "hands firm to the wheel,
years can do the work of centuries ; and, if we
don't, it rolls back, and the work of years or cen
turies must be slowly done over again. And I
think this is such an hour. More men must be
had in Burmah ; and somewhere among our re
cent graduates there are ten men whom God
calls to that field : but I'm afraid. — because I am
old and timid, maybe — that all our graduates
haven't honestly asked, ' Is it I ?' And there are
the Telugus : either expenses must be increased
to meet converts, or converts diminished to meet
expenses among them; and we must decide
which. Somewhere in our land there are a thou-

388 OUR GOLD-MINE.
sand purses, that have yielded five dollars annu
ally to our missions, that are called — just as
really called of God as Samuel was — to decide
it by opening wider, and yielding ten or fifteen ;
but I'm afraid there are members in our churches
who are not seriously asking, ' Is mine one ? '
and, if they should find it was, wouldn't thank
God for the discovery. And there are at least
five thousand mothers whom God calls to train
up their boys to think about missions, and be
ready to go, if God calls them, as you are, Wal
ter ; but I am afraid some of them are not doing
it. And the only way to insure that the whole
amount of missionary energy shall double in the
next fifteen years is for everybody to see to it
that his own does."
"Had I closed the story two months ago,"
said Mrs. Bancroft, " it would have been in the
same strain in which grandfather has just
spoken ; " but when, at the May anniversaries
this year, I saw the people in the pews take up
the debt of forty-seven thousand dollars which
has been accumulating for the past eleven years,
and of their own accord, with quiet obstinacy,
hold the meeting in session against the will of
its managers, till the greater part of the moun-

OUR GOLD-MINE. 389
tain was removed, and as I have since watched
them patiently following up their work till the
Missionary Union stands free, I have thanked
God, not for the raising of the debt, but for the
sure dawning of the day when the truth shall be
universally received, that the work of missions is
the business, not of a board or a society, but of
every separate church-member.
" Let us, then, give a glance this evening at
the work done and the work before us. We
have seen that the India of to-day is not the
India we visited with Carey in 1793. Then a
letter twelve months old from England was new :
now steam has brought London within thirty
days of Calcutta, and the telegraph has reduced
the distance to minutes. Then clumsy boats, the
ox-cart, the palanquin, and the pony were the
only aids to travel : now the railroads of India
carry annually sixteen million passengers, her
sacred Ganges is ploughed by government steam
ers, while twelve thousand miles of wire carry
messages for her people. Then the whole inte
rior was sealed, and its roads almost impassable :
now it is all open, and surveyors are everywhere.
Then no native thought of learning English :
now it is hardly a barrier to an American pro-

390 OUR GOLD-MINE.
fessor, going among the educated classes there,
that he speaks English only, while in the count
ing-houses of every large city may be found
hundreds who read the language readily. Then
a whisper against sacred customs through the
mission press sent a panic through India and
England : now changes more radical than the
early missionaries dared dream are discussed
weekly in native newspapers. Then children
must be hired to attend Christian schools : now
stanch Hindoos contribute to the support of
these schools. Then, if natives could be induced
to take Christian books as a gift, the missionary
rejoiced in his success : books are sold now.
Then the education of women was looked upon
with terror or utter contempt : to-day the edu
cation of the girls of India receives more atten
tion than did that of the boys thirty years ago,
in Calcutta between seven and eight hundred
women are regularly taught in their zenanas by
the ladies of the Union Woman's Missionary
Society, and many a young Brahman secretly
imparts to his wife daily what he learns at the
schools. Then no money could hire a respecta
ble Hindoo to touch a dead body : now Brah
mans in the medical schools practise dissection

OUR GOLD-MINE. 391
without a scruple. Then the Kulin Brahman
honored his fathers-in-law by permitting them to
support him : now he can be compelled to sup
port his wives. It is not fifty years since the
high-caste widow of India coveted the funeral-
pile as the only door of escape from a fate
infinitely more terrible : now, though at rare
intervals, we hear of attempts at suttee ; the
-intelligent classes look back upon it as we upon
the human sacrifices of the Druids. It is not
sixty years since an order was issued by the
India Government, that missionaries 'must not
preach to natives, nor allow native converts to
do so : ' now the officers of government and the
founders of the Somaj vie with each other in
praise of the work done by missions.
" And the change wrought, or working rather,
is greater even than these outward signs indi
cate. It is no mere intellectual satisfaction that
we feel when we find Euclid, Blackstone, Cow-
per, J. Stuart Mill, perhaps with the skin of
the sacred cow used in their binding, resting on
the tables of cultivated Brahmans, for by this
we know that we have clasped bands with our
Eastern cousins; that for the India of to-day
every thing is possible. Already, in vision, we

392 OUR GOLD-MINE.
see, not afar off, the time when between us and
them ' there shall be no more sea.' There could
hardly be a more striking illustration of this
change, which is the prophecy of greater change,
than a little incident C. C. Coffin relates of a
sacred Benares bull which strayed into the gar
den of a native Christian. The Christian split
his head open. An angry Brahman dragged
him before the court.
" ' Whose was the bull ? ' asked the native
judge. "'Siva's.'
" ' Then let Siva appear and make complaint.'
" ' An earthquake cannot shake Benares ; for it
rests, not on earth, but on Siva's trident:' but
the hand that holds the trident is growing un
steady ; and, if it fails, what will become of Be
nares ? Already within its gates are six hundred
native Christians.
" ' I question,' says Mrs. Bronson, returning
to Assam through Calcutta after fourteen years'
absence, ' whether in any country in the world so
marvellous and so radical changes in the very
foundations of the social and religious life of a
people can be found as have occurred among the
Hindoo population of British India during the
last decade.'

OUR GOLD-MINE.

393

" Do not imagine that the change thus work
ing is already wrought. The old India has not
passed away, though a new India is contesting
the ground with it inch by inch. In city and in
jungle, the present jostles against the past. The
locomotive shrieks past villages built in the
style of centuries ago, and in its course startles
the tiger from his lair. Cow-catchers make ir
reverent but unmistakable suggestions to sacred
bulls," and easy cushions and thirty miles an
hour mar the romance as well as the hardships
of pilgrimage ; but the bulls are sacred, still,
and the pilgrimages are made. The gods are
not rejected yet ; though the time when men
were ready to fight or die, or even to kill other
people, for them, is past. Even now we need
not go many miles from any of the large cities
to find the wealthy Sudra dropping his offering
into the brass plate of the Brahman beggar as
humbly and reverently as though the dust of
past centuries had never been stirred by the
breath of the nineteenth."
"Is it the nineteenth century, the railroad,
the telegraph, and the government schools, that
have made the change ? or do you claim the credit
of it for missions ? " asked Clarence.

394 OUR GOLD-MINE.
"Both," said Mrs. Bancroft " The question,
so much discussed, has less interest to no one
than to the missionary. Believing fully that
the work of missions is the thing God meant
when he made the world ; that He who gave him
his orders holds in his hand all the forces, moral,
intellectual, and material, of the universe, — he
claims the first right to the use of them all, and
cares little where the credit is- given, if but the
work be done. For him the Suez Canal was
dug ; for him the railroad and the telegraph,
the photographer's instruments, and the electri
cal battery, were designed by God long before
they were discovered by man ; for him all books
are written ; his is the cause for which the whole
world is working to-day, except so far as its work
is doomed to certain failure. But, in deciding
the cause of the great change that has come over
India, you must not forget that missionaries in
troduced there the first steam-engine, the first
printing-press, the first native magazine and
newspapers, the first girls' school, the first col
lege, the first of a hundred other elements of
civilization ; and especially must you remember
that to the hard work and persistent right living,
of the missionaries is due that conversion of the

OUR GOLD-MINE. 395
English Government and the East-India Com
pany without which these changes had been
almost impossible.
" But, after all, our great joy is in the spiritual
conquests of these eighty years.
" If the change in British Burmah and South
ern India has been less marked than in Bengal,
it is even more exclusively the result of Chris
tian influences.
" The palace of Ava is a ruin ; the prison of
Oung-pen-la is overgrown with briers and cac
tuses.; the hopia-tree at Amherst has fallen ;
the dwellings, the zayats, the graves even, of the
earlier missionaries, are hard to find : but in four
teen hundred- Burman faces lighted with the
hope of immortality, in twenty thousand Karen
and Garo hearts lifted to God in prayer, in hun
dreds of transformed hamlets from which more
than four thousand Telugu converts send forth
hymns of praise, they have a better memorial.
" And almost anywhere in British Burmah you
need but to strike the shell of heathenism to
prove that it is but a shell, though a very strong
one still.
" ' Our books tell nothing of the forgiveness of
sins,' thoughtfully says a Bassein Burman.

396 OUR GOLD-MINE.
" ' Guatama is dead, and cannot help us ; I
want to know what Jesus Christ can do,' says
another. " ' How remarkable it is,' says an aged Buddh
ist Pwo, near Rangoon, to a native preacher,
' that men and women of such intelligence as the
teacher and mamma should leave their country
and their comfortable houses, and come among us,
who, in comparison, live like pigs ! — how wonder
ful ! We ought to run and beg them to tell us
about God, instead of their living in a boat, and
enduring hardships in going about to tell and en
treat us. And yet, notwithstanding all this, we
do not become Christians.' Here and there, as
you enter a Burman house, you may find a copy
of the Acts or Digest of Scripture, lying open,
ready for reading when the master of the house
comes in ; and here and there in some Karen
church you will find a steady, earnest Burman
listener, — possibly one who has learned Karen
that he might listen to Christian preaching.
" These are not Christians, perhaps will never
be ; for they fear the people : but, when the mass
of the Buddhists are brought even where these
stand, there will be no people to fear, and the
greatest hindrance will be removed. This steady

OUR GOLD-MINE. 397
transfer from the ranks of opposers to the ranks
of those who fear opposition is one of our bright
est signs.
" And even now it is not sixty years since Jud
son was laboring, in peril of death, without one
inquirer ; not fifty since the Karens were without
school or written language, a nation of drunk
ards ; hardly seventy since Carey baptized his
first convert. How long this gradual, I cannot
call it slow, progress, this work of sapping and
mining, shall last, I do not know, but not always.
Some time, the battle shall be fought which
shall be to India what Tours was to Europe, but
not with material weapons. And the question
for every .Christian is, ' Shall I belong to the ad
vance guard of Christ's army, or be a straggler
in its rear?'
" It is lack of Christianity in America, not
heathenism in Burmah, that now prevents the
gospel from being preached in every town from
Bengal Bay to China. We have not kept pace
with God's providences. Our liberality has
grown ; but God's work has grown faster. While
thousands of miles of territory are open to us
now, that were hermetically sealed then ; while,
all over the mountains, tribes invite us that

398 OUR GOLD-MINE.
then would have received us on spear-points ;
while peoples then unnamed are building us
chapels, and races that have sullenly withstood
the labor of years are begging to join our ranks
as laborers, — we have scarcely more than kept
the ranks of our laborers filled as death has
thinned them.
" Not less than I pity the heathen do I pity
the men whom God is calling to help them, but
who will not hear the call ; for, notwithstanding
our slackness, never was our part of Christ's
great field so full of buds of promise as to-day."
A stray breeze sent the branches of the apple-
tree against the window. It had been a white
sheet of blossoms in . the early spring : now
the ground was strewn with embryo apples * but.
on the tree was little but leaves.
Grandpa looked at it, and then at Walter.
" The drought, I suppose," he said.
" But God himself waters . the trees of his
spiritual orchard," answered Walter : " so there
can be no drought there."
" God gives the increase" said grandpa ; "and
Paul has planted, I suppose ; but Apollos must
water"

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