THE THREE MRS. JUDSONS - Helpmeets to the Missionary in
Burma
Miss Ann Hasseltine
There was a
pleasant stir in the little village of Bradford, Mass., one day, in the year
1810. It was the occasion of a meeting of the Missionary Society, or General Association
of Massachusetts, and the delegates were entertained with great hospitality- A
number of these worthies, older and younger, were gathered at the table of a
Mr. Hasseltine for dinner, and among them young Mr. Adoniram Judson, who had
just signified his great desire to go as a missionary. Pretty Ann Hasseltine
waited on the table. A gifted and sprightly girl she was, as well as beautiful
and good. She looked with curious interest upon the young man whose bold
missionary projects had made a stir in the meeting, but to her mind, he was
wholly absorbed in his plate. How could she guess that he
was that very moment engaged in composing a graceful bit of verse in her praise
? Yet so it was, and he must have found courage to tell her this, and other
things, by and by, for she afterwards went to Burma as the wife of the bold
missionary. At that time it was India that was the chosen field.
Ann
Hasseltine was born in Bradford, Mass., in 1789. She was a restless, merry,
vivacious girl, richly gifted. At sixteen she entered the service of her
Saviour with all her heart, and her brightness and beauty became His. She
taught school for some time after leaving Bradford Academy, which gave her
added fitness for the life of a missionary, which she entered, in 1812, on her
marriage
to Mr. Judson, afterwards Dr. Judson. She was one of the
very first lady-missionaries. The first from America was Mrs. Kaske, going with
her husband in 1746 to South America. The two missionaries had a serious time
reaching their field. The East India Company decided that missionaries were not
desirable, and ordered them back to America, but finally allowed them to go to the
Isle of France. They then planned to go to Madras, but the East India Company
had jurisdiction there, and finally, the only way that opened was to Rangoon,
Burma, a place always held in great dread. But they embarked for Rangoon in a
crazy old vessel, and were tossed about so violently that Mrs. Judson was
dangerously Ill
She recovered after landing. Everything was forlorn and
gloomy enough, but they took courage and set about their work.
Mrs. Judson
learned the language very quickly, and used it to advantage. Four years after
setting out upon the voyage to Burma, little Roger Williams, who had for eight
months been the joy of the missionary home, was taken from them.
Twice Mrs.
Judson had to return to America, once for two whole years, to recover her
broken health. She was a great help in the mission field, having a school for
girls, and busying herself in many ways.
In a time of
war with England, Americans were not always distinguished from Englishmen, and Dr.
Judson, then at Ava, was thrown into prison. It was a wretched building of
boards, with no ventilation but through the cracks, and had never been cleaned
since it was built It was to this dreadful place that Mrs. Judson brought the
tiny baby Maria for her father's first sight of her. Through all the
imprisonment, the loving and courageous wife visited her husband in the midst of
all sorts of dangers, as she was the only white woman in Ava. She brought him
clean linen as she could, and food, day by day.
One day,
having a little more time than usual, she thought she would surprise Dr. Judson
by making him a mince pie, as he used to be fond of the dainty at home. She
contrived to make it out of buffalo meat and plantains, sending it to him by the
one faithful servant. But alas! The poor prisoner was moved to tears at the
sight of it and at the thought of his wife's devotion, and could not eat the
pie. A fellow-prisoner ate it instead
After a few
months, a lion who had been presented to the king was placed in a cage near,
and made night and day hideous with his roarings till he died. His cage was so
much better than the prison that Mrs. Judson by dint of much begging at last
got permission to move her husband into it. The months wore on, and Dr. Judson
was secretly removed to another place to a death-prison. When Mrs. Judson heard
it, she set forth, with little Maria in her arms, and partly by boat, partly in
a jolting cart, reached the wretched prison. " Why did you come ? "
her husband cried. " I hoped you would not, for you cannot live
here." The keepers, cruel as they were, yielded at last, and gave her a
little room near, which was half full of grain, and there she spent the next
six months.
By and by Dr.
Judson was sent as an interpreter on a trip, and at last, after many delays and
dangers, was released. Coming back to Ava, he hurried to find his wife. He was
startled to see a fat half-dressed Burman woman holding a baby too dirty to be
recognized as his own child. On the bed lay his wife, worn and pale, her glossy
hair gone, her fine head covered with a cotton cap. But she recovered, and the
family left the scene of so much misery.
The Judsons
began mission work in a new station, and Mrs. Judson was planning a girls'
school, and many activities, when Dr, Judson was summoned to Ava on very
important business. She urged him to go. While he was absent, she was stricken
with fever. With no missionary friend at hand, only the weeping Burmans
bewailing "the White Mamma," she passed away. Her husband received
the tidings, and hastened home to find the grave under a hopia (hope) tree,
surrounded by a rude railing. Little Maria lingered six months, then she was
laid beside her mother.
