“My dear Mr. Stevens: Parting with the manuscripts which were every day before my eyes during three happy years, almost carries me back to that sad morning in April when he passed from the door never again to return. But I well know that my heavenly Father is ordering all these things, and I have nothing to do but submit—nothing to say but ‘Thy will, O God, be done!’
“A few days before Mr. Judson went away, he told me, if he should never return, to place the dictionary papers in your hands, and it is in compliance with that request that I now send them. I suppose that he would not have improved the English and Burmese part very essentially while carrying it through the press; and the second part, the Burmese and English, is, as far as he had advanced, equally complete. The last word he defined was ——, and the corresponding initial vowel ——.
“The only request he made was that there might be some distinct mark, both in the dictionary and grammar, to indicate where his work ended and yours commenced. The grammar was intended to preface the Burmese and English portion of the dictionary, but is complete only as far as through the cases of nouns—thirty-two manuscript pages. I believe this grammar was on a somewhat different plan from the old ‘Grammatical Notices’; but I send a printed copy of that, in which he has marked several errors, as it may be of some service to you. In addition to the finished parts of the dictionary, you will find the two old manuscript volumes which he had in use ever after his first arrival in Burmah; and these I beg to have returned to me when the work is completed. Interlined and erased as they are, you will have great difficulty in deciphering them, and will no doubt find some parts quite illegible. I think I mentioned to you the plan of having Moung Shway-loo make out, from the old printed dictionary and his own memory, a list of words more or less synonymous, and I send the books, which, although not to be implicitly relied on, are, I believe, quite valuable.
“There is one bound volume which I do not recollect having seen before; but I think it must be a vocabulary arranged from an original Burmese one, as I have heard Mr. J. speak of having such a work. The remaining papers, consisting of two or three little vocabularies, and the like, are, I suppose, of no great value; but I thought it best to send everything in any way connected with defining words. I also put in with the rest the old proof-sheets, as he sometimes had occasion to refer to them.
“And now, may the blessing of God rest upon this work—on you, or whoever else may finish it—on all who, for Christ’s sake, study it, and upon poor Burmah, in whose behalf so much time and labor have been expended.
“Very affectionately, your sister,
“Emily C. Judson.”
During the long winter of our Northern States, sometimes a mass of snow accumulates, little by little, in the corner of the farmer’s meadow. Under the warm rays of the spring sun the dazzling bank gradually melts away, but leaves upon the greensward which it has sheltered a fertilizing deposit. It now remains for us to ask what stimulating residuum this great life which we have attempted to describe left behind it upon the surface of human society.
Mr. Judson’s achievements far transcended the wildest aspirations of his youth. During the early years in Rangoon, when the mighty purpose of evangelizing Burmah began to take definite shape in his mind; even before the first convert, Moung Nau, was baptized; when indeed the young missionary was almost forgotten by his fellow-Christians at home, or merely pitied as a good-hearted enthusiast—the outermost limit reached by his strong-winged hope was that he might, before he died, build up a church of a hundred converted Burmans and translate the whole Bible into their language. But far more than this was accomplished during the ten years in Rangoon, the two years in Ava, and the twenty-three years in Maulmain. At the time of his death, the native Christians (Burmans and Karens publicly baptized upon the profession of their faith) numbered over seven thousand. Besides this, hundreds throughout Burmah had died rejoicing in the Christian faith. He had not only finished the translation of the Bible, but had accomplished the larger and the more difficult part of the compilation of a Burmese dictionary. At the time of his death there were sixty-three churches established among the Burmans and Karens. These churches were under the oversight of one hundred and sixty-three missionaries, native pastors, and assistants. He had laid the foundations of Christianity deep down in the Burman heart where they could never be washed away.
This achievement is the more startling when we consider that all divine operations are slow in the beginning, but rush to the consummation with lightning speed. Many long days elapse while the icy barriers are being slowly loosened beneath the breath of spring. But at last the freshet comes, and the huge frozen masses are broken up and carried rapidly to the sea. The leaves slowly ripen for the grave. Though withered, they still cling to the boughs. But finally a day comes in the autumn when suddenly the air is full of falling foliage. It takes a long time for the apple to reach its growth, but a very brief time suffices for the ripening. Tennyson’s lark