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 Luther, Calista V. 
 The Vintons and the 
 
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REV. JUSTUS H. VI NTON 
 
MRS. CALISTA HOLMAN VINTON 
 
THE VINTONS AND 
 THE KARENS. 
 
 MEMORIALS OP^ REV. JUSTUS H. VINTON 
 AND CALISTA H. 'VINTON. 
 
 CALISTA V. 
 
 "LUTHER. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 PUBLISHED BY W. G. CORTHELL, 
 
 MISSION ROOMS. 
 1880. 
 
Copyright, 1880, 
 Bv W. G. CORTHELL. 
 
 Stereotyped aiid printed by Rand, Avery, &" Co. 
 Boston. 
 
TO 
 
 W^t Baptist C}jurcl)eis of Connecticut, 
 
 WHO, THROUGH LONG YEARS, 
 
 BY THEIR SYMPATHY, PRAYERS, AND CONTRIBUTIONS, 
 
 SUSTAINED AND CHEERED MY BELOVED 
 
 PARENTS IN THEIR WORK FOR 
 
 GOD AND THE KARENS, 
 
 5 ffiratefullg Bcliicatc tfjcsc fHcmorials. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following memoirs have been prepared at the 
 earnest and repeated request of many who felt that 
 the simple record of such devoted lives would be tor 
 the glory of God and the good of his Church. They 
 are sent forth with the hope that they may inspire 
 others to show a devotion and earnestness similar to 
 those so markedly displayed m the consecrated lives 
 of Justus H. and CaHsta Vinton. 
 
 The verses at the head of each chapter are selected 
 from " Hymns of Faith and Hope " by Horatius 
 Bonar, a little book which, during the last years of my 
 mother's Hfe, comforted and cheered her in many 
 dark hours. Her own copy, purchased in George 
 Miiller's orphan-houses in Bristol, Eng., lies before 
 me as I write. Its worn binding shows the evidences 
 of the long voyage to India and the many jungle- 
 journeys, during which it never left its owner's side. 
 
 V 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 Marked in many pages, it seems to speak to us, with 
 her own gentle voice, words of heavenly cheer. 
 
 I take this opportunity to thank those friends who 
 have so kindly furnished me with letters and reminis- 
 cences of my beloved parents, from which many of 
 the facts in the memoirs, especially with reference to 
 the life of my parents in America, have been drawn. 
 
 I also wish to acknowledge with thankfulness the 
 great assistance which my dear husband has rendered 
 in every stage of the work. In the midst of the 
 labors and cares attendant upon the charge of a large 
 parish, he has cheerfully spent many days of patient 
 work in arranging and making available the crude 
 materials by the aid of which these memoirs have 
 been written. 
 
 CALISTA VINTON LUTHER. 
 
PI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface i-iv 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAGS. 
 
 Birth and Early Years of J. H. Vinton. — Conversion. — 
 Call to Preach. — Licensed by the Ashford Church. 
 
 — Enters the Institution at Hamilton, N.Y. — Decis- 
 ion to become a Missionary. — Revival Work, — 
 Death of Belinda Vinton I-9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Calista Holman. — Bitter Experience. — Conversion. — 
 Baptism. — First Communion. — Strange Recovery. 
 
 — Consecration. — Goes to Hamilton. — Proficiency 
 in the Languages. — Marriage. — First Studies in 
 Karen. — Learning a Language by the. Natural 
 Method. — Mr. and Mrs. Vinton set sail for Burmah. 
 
 — The Cashmere. — Labors for the Crew. — Anxiety 
 
 of the Missionaries. — Many Conversions . . 10-20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Landing at Maulmain. — Immediate Work in the Jungles. 
 
 — Method of Labor. — The Karens. — Burmese Cru- 
 elty. — Jungle Labors. — Discouragements. . 21-38 
 
 vii 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Mr. Vinton's Faith. — Elder Swan. — Visit to a Karen 
 Prophet, — Unkind Reception. — Day of Fasting and 
 Prayer. — Tenacity of Purpose. — Conversion of a 
 Karen Chief. — The Cloud breaks. — The Prophet 
 foiled. — Lakee 39-53 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Labors among English Residents in Burmah. — Sympathy 
 of English Residents and Officers with Mission Work 
 in India. — The Christian Heroes of the Indian Army. 
 
 — Mr. Vinton's Sunny Disposition. — Amusing De- 
 scription by Mrs. Vinton. — Rainy Days. — Indiffer- 
 ence to Insults. — "Sister Miranda." — The Vinton 
 Children. — Voyage to the Cape. — Death of Harvey 
 Vinton. — Return to America .... 54-69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Failure of the Missionary Spirit in America. — Mr. Vin- 
 ton's Addresses and Singing. — The Missionary's 
 Call, written by Dr. Nathan Brown. — The Five-Franc 
 Piece. — Frank's Chapel. — Enthusiasm of Contribu- 
 tors. — Return to India. — Voyage interrupted at the 
 Cape of Good Hope. — Continuation of the Story of 
 Frank's Chapel. — English Contributors . . 70-81 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A New Field. — Rangoon. — The Desire for Education. 
 
 — Cruel Oppression of the Karens by the Burmans. 
 
 — Karen Martyrs. — Praying for War. — Demands 
 for Compensation by the English Government. — Joy 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 of the Karens. — The English Fleet returns. — Karen 
 Spies. — Rousing the Villages. — A Nation's Deliver- 
 ance. — Burmese Preparations for War. — Rangoon 
 and other Posts captured. — Horrible Revenge of the 
 Burmans. — Fearful Suffering of the Karens. — The 
 Cry of the Churches to Mr. Vinton. — He takes the 
 Responsibility, and goes to Rangoon. — Life in 
 the Stockade. — Terrible Scenes among the Karens. 
 — Hospitals. — Death of Pah-yah. — Dr. Kincaid's 
 Letter. — Many Conversions. — Treaty of Peace. — 
 The Government orders the Missionaries to remove. 
 «— Removal to Kemmendine .... 82-104 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 A New Trial. — Famine. — Mr. Vinton distributes Rice to 
 the Starving. — Generous Conduct of Rice Merchants 
 to Mr. Vinton. — Anxiety of his Friends. — Fruits 
 of Generosity. — Thousands converted. — The Vote 
 of Censure by Brethren in Am.erica. — Mr. Vinton's 
 Justification. — Separation from the Missionary 
 Union. — Consecration Anew to the Work. — The 
 Karen Home Mission Society. — Generosity of the 
 Natives. — Completion of Frank's Chapel . . 105-116 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Pegu High School. — Mrs. Vinton as a Teacher. — 
 School Discipline. — Teaching Greek to her Children. 
 — Their Surprising Discovery. — Parting from the 
 Children. — The Children in America. — Kindness of 
 Friends. — Abundant Labors. — Training Native 
 Helpers. — A Happy Life 117-131 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PAGB, 
 
 Modes of Conveyance. — Romance and Reality. — An 
 Elephant's Sagacity. — English Contributors to the 
 Mission. — The Carriage. — Trials of Faith . 132-142 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 "A Crisis in Brother Vinton's Affairs." — The Shadow of 
 the Cloud. — The Last Jungle Journey. — Illness. — 
 Mrs. Vinton's Letter. — The Closing Scene. — Funeral 
 Services. — Mr. Rose's Address. — Mr. Vinton's Last 
 I-etter 143-150 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Sympathy. — Shall She return Home ? — Dr. Kincaid. — 
 Decision to remain. — Fruits of the Maulmain Nor- 
 mal School. — The Work of Oversight. — Donations 
 from Scholars. — Mrs. Vinton's Remarkable Dream, 
 
 151-173 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 Return of Mrs. Vinton's Daughter to Burmah. — She en- 
 gages at once in the Work. — Travelling by Buffalo- 
 Cart. — The Dismayed Cook. — The Kalah Cook as 
 an Institution. — Arrival at the Village. — Mrs. In- 
 galls. — Travelling in state 174-196 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Milking a Buffalo. — Experientia docet. — Fermented 
 Fish. — Foolish Questions. — Housekeeping under 
 Difficulties. — The Solution. — Put Yourself in His 
 Place. — Too Proud. — The Voice of Jesus. — Igno- 
 rance 197-218 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Training Servants. — Native Helpers. — George and Isa- 
 bella. — Brainerd's Return. : — Mrs. Vinton sails for 
 England. — Cheltenham and London. — America. — 
 Rev. R. M. Luther. — Home at Last . . . 219-233 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Fruitful Labors in America. — Canada. — Philadelphia. — 
 Return to Burmah. — Last Illness. — Arrival of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Luther. — Closing Scenes. — Death of Mrs. 
 Vinton ......... 234-242 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Miranda Vinton. — Mrs. Binney's Letter. — Mrs. Stevens's 
 
 Letter 243-252 
 
f 
 
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 ^i^ 
 
 THE VINTONS AND THE 
 KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Be brave, my brother, 
 Fight the good fight of faith 
 
 With weapons proved and true. 
 Be faithful and unshrinking to the death : 
 
 Thy God will bear thee through. 
 Grudge not the heavy cost. 
 
 Faint not at labor here : 
 'Tis but a lifetime at the most ; 
 
 The day of rest is near." 
 
 Justus Hatch Vinton has been in his 
 heavenly home for twenty years ; but his mem- 
 ory, with that of his no less devoted wife, 
 Calista Holman, is still tenderly cherished in 
 the hearts of those who know any thing of 
 the first thirty years of mission work among the 
 Karens of Burmah. 
 
 Rarely have two kindred souls gone forth to 
 their life-work so peculiarly adapted to the 
 
2 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 scenes of hardship and trial, mingled with glo- 
 rious successes, as were these. 
 
 Justus H. Vinton was born in Willington, 
 Conn., Feb. 17, 1806. Calista Holman was 
 born in Union, Conn., April 19, 1807. Both 
 emphatically learned to bear the yoke in their 
 youth. Mr. Vinton was early led to Christ. 
 When only ten years of age, he was converted, 
 and soon after united with the Baptist church 
 at Ashford, Conn., and even at that age evinced 
 many of the traits which made his after-life 
 such a grand success. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, the increasing gravity 
 of his demeanor and the fervency of his devo- 
 tion awakened apprehension in the mind of his 
 mother, who feared that it might be the result 
 of failing health ; but, in reply to her question- 
 ings as to the cause of his changed conduct, he 
 answered, " Mother, ' woe be unto me if I preach 
 not the gospel.' " This was the first intimation 
 he had given to any one of his determination to 
 enter the work of the ministry. 
 
 In the year 1826, when scarcely twenty years 
 of age, he entered Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
 logical Institution. 
 
 He had, some time before going to Hamil- 
 ton, offered himself to the church at Ashford 
 
EARLY YEARS. 3 
 
 for license to preach. Strange to say, there 
 was some hesitancy in granting him a license, 
 owing to the remarkable absence of all self- 
 assertion upon the part of the candidate. The 
 venerable John G. Wightman, who was present, 
 was requested by the brethren to decide for 
 them. He replied that he had no doubt as to 
 the advisability of licensing the young man to 
 preach. He was convinced that he had the 
 grace of God in his heart ; and that, as no babe 
 was born six feet high, there was a reasonable 
 hope that the young brother would grow. 
 
 Strange that the brethren should have hesi- 
 tated to license one, of whom the record of 
 Madison University says, *' He was pre-emi- 
 nently a man of revival-power ; and probably 
 no single life in Burmah has shown larger 
 results in the ingathering of souls to Christ." 
 
 In 1829, after the most careful thought, he 
 appointed a day of fasting and prayer, in order 
 that he might learn his duty with regard to de- 
 voting himself to preaching in the t/aen sparse- 
 ly settled West. In a letter written to his par- 
 ents he says, "When the day came, I retired 
 that I might be quite alone with God, that thus 
 I might, with more freedom, pour out my soul 
 before him in fervent supplication for his Spirit 
 
4 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 to guide me in the decision I was about to make 
 as to the field of my future labor. Here it was, 
 while upon my knees before the Lord, that I 
 received my first impressions that it would be 
 my duty to leave my native land, and go far 
 away to the benighted heathen, that I might 
 preach among them the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ. I had previously designed to spend the 
 day in prayerful consideration of the claims of 
 the West ; but at this time I was so strongly 
 impressed that it would be my duty to go to 
 Burmah, that during the day I could think of 
 little else but the forlorn condition of that 
 deluded and infatuated people." 
 
 Fearful lest he might be mistaken, and being 
 continually urged by some of his fellow-stu- 
 dents who were under appointment to the West, 
 and were anxious to have him accompany them, 
 he 'concluded to defer definite decision for a 
 year. At the end of this period he reconsid- 
 ered all the arguments presented, and decided 
 to go to Burmah. From that moment he never 
 wavered. His conviction became stronger, 
 until, as he says, his whole soul " became ab- 
 sorbed in the delightful anticipation of carrying 
 to benighted Burmah the news of an ascended 
 Saviour." He paid the expenses of his col- 
 
STUDENT LIFE. 5 
 
 lege course by teaching district and singing 
 schools, and by supplying churches in the 
 neighborhood of Hamilton. He apologizes, in 
 a letter to his mother, for not having written 
 home for several months, saying that his studies 
 had been pressing him very hard, and that 
 every Saturday he had ridden thirty miles to 
 supply a destitute church. In other letters he 
 speaks of teaching district-schools for twelve 
 dollars per month ; and in one letter he congrat- 
 ulates himself greatly on having **by judicious 
 firmness " secured the privilege of boarding all 
 the time at one place. 
 
 His singing-schools were very popular, and 
 are still remembered by older residents in the 
 vicinity of Hamilton. 
 
 It has been said that "there never was a 
 Vinton who could not sing ; " and the rich, full 
 voice with which God had blessed him, not 
 only helped to supply his scanty purse while a 
 student, but in the jungles of Burmah it won 
 the heart of many a wild Karen ; and thousands 
 of redeemed souls in glory to-day could testify 
 that Mr. Sankey was not the first who ever 
 thought of "singing the gospel." 
 
 At this time his letters home were upon one 
 topic, and that was religion. Frequently is 
 
6 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the record made of the wonderful way in which 
 God had blessed his labors : in one revival, over 
 seventy were converted within three weeks. 
 Many times he notes the fact that the singing- 
 school had been turned into a prayer-meeting. 
 
 At one time his district-school became the 
 scene of a precious outpouring of the Holy 
 Spirit. This was at Laurens, Otsego County, 
 N.Y. From the work there begun, over fifty in 
 the town alone were converted at the date of 
 his letter ; and the work continued for months 
 after. 
 
 These facts are not recorded as strange, but 
 simply to show the spirit of the man. What 
 more unlikely field for divine grace than a 
 country singing-school, unless, perhaps, it be 
 the ordinary district-school of forty years ago ? 
 
 Once, when home on a vacation, he heard of 
 a church that had become so cold and lifeless 
 that it had ceased to hold any public service. 
 He went to the place, and gave out an appoint- 
 ment to preach. As might have been antici- 
 pated, when the hour of service came, not a 
 soul was present save himself. Without ap- 
 pearing to think that he should have been dis- 
 couraged, he sat down upon the church-steps, 
 and began to sing. Soon a crowd gathered ; 
 
REVIVAL WORK. *J 
 
 Upon which he invited them into the church, 
 and preached so fervently, that a large number 
 were convicted, and a revival began which 
 extended throughout the whole township. 
 
 It was during this time that his beloved sister 
 Belinda, who had cherished the desire of accom- 
 panying him to Burmah, was suddenly smitten 
 down by disease, and died. He, at Hamilton, 
 heard only that she was very ill. Unable to 
 leave at the time, he wrote the following touch- 
 ing letter : — 
 
 Dear Sister Belinda, — From a letter received 
 from our dear parents, I learn that you are upon a bed 
 of sickness, perhaps upon a bed of death. This is 
 what I had least anticipated. I have for a number of 
 weeks been thinking of writing to you upon the glorious 
 theme that has so enchanted both our hearts ; but alas ! 
 it seems that I have nothing more to do with counselling 
 and encouraging you respecting your future labors here 
 on earth. Allow me, then, dear sister, to say one word 
 with reference to your work above. My poor soul almost 
 breaks forth with ecstasy while, for a moment, I allow 
 my imagination to carry me forward, to witness your 
 employment when you shall have dropped this clay tene- 
 ment, and your disembodied spirit shall have soared 
 away to breathe the pure and holy atmosphere of heaven. 
 There shall you be introduced into the presence of your 
 once suffering, now glorified Saviour. You shall see 
 him as he is. You shall be permitted to gaze on his 
 
8 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 uncreated beauties, and vie with the angels in praising 
 your Redeemer. 
 
 But what is that I see just before you ? It is a dark 
 and lonely vale ; but fear it not, my sister. Come, let us 
 walk together to the entrance of this dark valley. 
 
 Does your courage seem to fail you ? Lean upon 
 that tried arm : it will sustain you. Are you disheartened 
 at the ruggedness of the way ? Cheer up your drooping 
 spirits : the way is short, and heavenly music shall attend 
 your course, and scatter all the gloom. And when heart 
 and flesh shall fail you, when friends C2n accompany you 
 no farther, then angel-forms shall guide you, and, more 
 blessed than all else beside, Jesus the Saviour shall be 
 with you, and lead you by living fountains of waters. . . . 
 Allow me one word with regard to your encounter 
 with the last enemy. Death. Your victory and future 
 triumph are secure. It is true that the enemy you will 
 encounter is haggard in his form; but be not afraid of 
 him. His deadly power has been taken from him ; so 
 that all he can do is but to cut the cord which binds you 
 here to earth, and free your captive soul, to be with 
 Christ. Meet him, then, dear sister, fearlessly. Meet 
 him with a shout of victory ; and, as you enter on the 
 contest, say triumphantly, " O Death ! where is thy sting? 
 O grave ! where is thy victory ? Thanks be to God, who 
 giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 And should you for a moment seem to fall beneath 
 his power, look away to Jesus, and cry exultingly, " Re- 
 joice not over me, O mine enemy! Though I fall, I shall 
 arise again ! " and Jesus, yes, dear sister, Jesus, will surely 
 bring you off victorious. Oh, how that blessed thought 
 lifts the soul above, and fits it for its exit ! 
 
SISTER S DEATH. 
 
 9 
 
 I have written you, dear sister, as though I should 
 never see you again till we meet in heaven. Still the 
 Lord may yet allow you the privilege of serving him 
 upon some heathen shore ; and this may be to fit you for 
 his work. God grant it may be so ! But, should it be 
 otherwise, he may allow your spirit to go and visit 
 Burmah, and there witness the trophies of his grace; 
 yes, and thence again to ascend to heaven, carrying the 
 blest intelligence that heathen souls are coming home 
 to God. 
 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 J. H. Vinton. 
 
 She died a few days after the date of this 
 letter. Her youngest sister, Miranda, filled the 
 place by her brother's side, which this sad 
 death left vacant, when in 1841 she joined the 
 Maulmain Karen mission. 
 
10 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "Must I be smitten, Lord? 
 Ai-e gentler measures vain ? 
 Must 1 be smitten, Lord? 
 Can nothing save but pain ? 
 
 " Then the fierce tempest broke : 
 I knew from whom it came ; 
 I read in that sharp stroke 
 A Father's hand and name." 
 
 During these years of preparation through 
 which Justus Vinton was passing, we find the 
 young girl who was to be his future wife under- 
 going a peculiar experience, and one which has 
 rarely been equalled. 
 
 She had been unusually active and energetic 
 as a child, but in her sixteenth year she was 
 prostrated by a severe and protracted illness. 
 
 For more than two years she was completely 
 helpless, and unable to rise from her bed. Her 
 mind was filled with rebellious thoughts against 
 God, who, she sometimes felt, had created her 
 only to suffer. 
 
CALISTA HOLMAN. II 
 
 However, the Holy Spirit was pleased to 
 make her affliction a means of grace. She be- 
 gan to have juster views of her heavenly Father, 
 and at last submitted entirely to his will, ac- 
 knowledging that it was better to suffer the 
 will of God than to be left to follow her own 
 way. The duty of baptism presented itself to 
 her ; though it seemed to be an impossible thing 
 for her, convinced as she was that it was only 
 rightfully administered by immersion. Her 
 heart, however, was so determined, that her 
 friends consented to her having an interview 
 with Elder Grow, who was then preaching at 
 West Woodstock, four miles from her home. 
 
 He has given, in his journal, the following 
 account of the interview and her subsequent 
 baptism : — 
 
 " Calista Holman had been very sick, and to human 
 appearance would never recover. I was invited to visit 
 her. She was brought in a chair into the room where I 
 was, as she was unable to walk, to relate her Christian 
 experience. Such an experience I never heard before 
 nor since. Her mother asked me if it would not injure 
 her to be baptized. I answered, ' Just according to her 
 faith.' She herself believed it to be her duty, and re- 
 quested me to baptize her. A meeting was appointed at 
 a house near the water ; and after the sermon she was 
 wrapped in a buffalo-robe, and carried in a sleigh to the 
 water-side (it was in the month of March). 
 
12 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " I first baptized three of her sisters. I then asked 
 her, * Do you think you could walk?' She answered, ' I 
 think I can, a little.' Supported by Deacon Seagrave 
 on one side, and myself on the other, she entered the 
 water, and was baptized. 
 
 " She was then carried back to the house. One of 
 the deacons said it was best to give her the hand of 
 fellowship at that time, for she would never be able to 
 meet with the church. When I stood by her bedside 
 to give her the hand of fellowship, I never enjoyed a 
 season like it. It appeared to me that the whole house 
 was filled with the Holy Ghost." 
 
 The ordinance of the Lord's Supper was then 
 administered at her earnest request. She said 
 she wished to remember her Lord's death once 
 before she died. During the administration 
 Elder Grow said, **This is our sister's first com- 
 munion, and it will probably be her last. We 
 now receive her into the church militant : she 
 will soon be with the church triumphant." 
 
 To her friends it seemed like a funeral ser- 
 vice. To her it was the beginning of a new 
 life. She began to recover from that day ; and 
 the next morning she arose from her bed with- 
 out assistance, for the first time in more than 
 two years. 
 
 Her family physician, himself not a Baptist, 
 cheerfully adds his testimony to the fact of her 
 
CONSECRATION. 1 3 
 
 recovery dating from her baptism. So far from 
 being "about to enter the church triumphant," 
 she had thirty years of Christian warfare before 
 her. The frail girl of eighteen, whose baptism 
 was looked upon as the last important act of her 
 life, was destined to cross the ocean, and for 
 thirty years to endure hardships and perform an 
 amount of labor which would have broken down 
 an ordinary constitution. 
 
 The venerable widow of Deacon Seagrave, 
 above mentioned, still survives, and is living in 
 Providence, R.I. She was present at the bap- 
 tism ; and, from her vivid recollection of all the 
 circumstances of that wonderful scene, we have 
 reproduced some of the details above given. 
 
 Calista Holman was no sooner restored to 
 health, than she began to think that her life 
 was given her for a noble purpose. After much 
 prayer and self-examination, she resolved to 
 devote herself to the work of foreign missions. 
 She was thrown upon her own resources for the 
 completion of her education, and that special 
 training necessary to fit her for the work of her 
 life. By teaching and studying alternately, she 
 obtained, however, an education far in advance 
 of that attained by most women of that day. 
 She was particularly proficient in the languages, 
 
14 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 obtaining such a knowledge of Latin, Greek, 
 and Hebrew, that, when married to Mr. Vinton, 
 he found her far in advance of himself in ac- 
 quaintance with these tongues. 
 
 We do not know what his opinion was in re- 
 gard to a wife knowing more than her husband : 
 but we find that he did not think it well for a 
 man to know less than his wife ; for he at once 
 commenced an extended course of private study, 
 to which he rigidly adhered for years in the 
 midst of the most arduous missionary labors. 
 
 On April 9, 1834, Mr. Vinton and Miss Hol- 
 man were married. Miss Holman had previ- 
 ously spent a year at Hamilton studying Karen 
 in company with Mr. Vinton, preparatory to 
 their departure for Burmah. 
 
 Ko-chet-thaing (afterward Mr. Vinton's right- 
 hand man in jungle-work and preaching) had 
 come to this country a short time previous with 
 Rev. Mr. Wade. He was their teacher in this 
 new language. Mr. Vinton, in a letter to his 
 parents, gives an amusing account of the diffi- 
 culties in their way. 
 
 " You will wish to know something of our studies. 
 Well, then, we are studying a language without a gram- 
 mar or a dictionary. The Karens have never had a 
 written language until very recently, and even now all 
 
STUDYING KAREN. 1 5 
 
 we can boast of is an alphabet and a little tract of six 
 pages. The courses we are obliged to pursue in obtain- 
 ing the Karen equivaleats of Enghsh words are various. 
 
 " Sometimes we point to an object, and say in Karen 
 ' n ' koh de le ? ' ' What do you call that ? ' and our teaclier 
 will give us the Karen word, which we will insert in our 
 dictionary. Often he brings us objects, and gives us 
 their names in Karen. To-day he brought us a grasshop- 
 per, and gave us its Karen name. He then made it both 
 hop and fly, so I was furnished with two more words. 
 Then, calling me out to see a hen and chickens, he gave 
 me their names; and by imitating the clucking of the hen, 
 the crowing of the cock, and the peeping of the chicks, 
 he furnished us with Karen words signifying these sev- 
 eral acts. 
 
 " When these methods fail we have recourse to 
 brother Wade. We tell him the words or phrases for 
 which we wish the Karen, and he converses with Ko- 
 chet-thaing in Burmese ; and through the medium of that 
 language we obtain what we want in Karen. So you see, 
 we have a most difficult task before us. 
 
 " Our teacher, however, is most patient, and does all 
 he can to help us to a knowledge of the language. He 
 tells us that we ' go much straighter ' than we did." 
 
 What a pity that this poor unlearned Karen 
 teacher did not then, in 1833, steal a march on 
 Heness and Dr. Sauveur, and publish a treatise 
 upon the ** natural method " of learning a lan- 
 guage ! 
 
 The result of this training: was that Mr. Vin- 
 
l6 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 ton acquired the Karen so idiomatically, that in 
 after-years he was an authority among the na- 
 tives themselves, for the use of Karen phrases ; 
 and they were accustomed to say, as the high- 
 est praise, to later Karen missionaries, "You 
 speak the language almost as well as teacher 
 Vinton." 
 
 In July, 1834, Mr. and Mrs. Vinton set sail in 
 the good ship *' Cashmere," for Burmah, in com- 
 pany with the Wades, the Howards, the Deans, 
 the Osgoods, and others. They had a long voy- 
 age of one hundred and sixty days, and (a com- 
 mon experience in those days) suffered much 
 from shortness of provisions and lack of water. 
 To judge from most missionary journals of 
 those days, American ships were floating famine 
 hulks. Most of the party suffered greatly from 
 sea-sickness ; but Mr. Vinton was so prostrated 
 that for six weeks he scarcely left his berth, and 
 his friends feared he would never live to reach 
 Burmah. 
 
 Yet during this time of weakness and suffer- 
 ing, his mind dwelt continually upon the impen- 
 itent condition of the officers and crew of the 
 ship ; and, although unable to lift his head from 
 the pillow, he spent hours in wrestling with 
 God in prayer for their salvation. 
 
REVIVAL AT SEA. 1 7 
 
 In a letter written during the voyage he 
 
 says, — 
 
 "When we first came on board ' The Cashmere,' I was 
 unable to escape the conviction that we had something 
 to do for the salvation of souls before we should reach 
 Burmah. We had proceeded, however, but a little way, 
 when I was attacked by sea-sickness, and for nine weeks 
 I was unable to preach. As I began to get better, I felt 
 such a burning solicitude for souls as I hardly ever be- 
 fore experienced, — a solicitude which could find expres- 
 sion only in groans and tears. 
 
 "After preaching one day, when I was helped to pour 
 forth the fulness of my soul in fervent pleadings with 
 the impenitent to come without delay to Christ, I was 
 much exhausted, as it was the first time I had attempted 
 to stand so long. I retired to rest, but could not. I had 
 a load on my spirit which was insupportable. . . . When 
 I could restrain the bursting emotions of my heart no 
 longer, I threw myself upon my face before God, and 
 giving vent to a flood of tears poured forth an agonizing 
 cry for mercy upon their precious souls." 
 
 In one of the entries in his journal we find 
 these words : — 
 
 "The burden on my soul seems all but unbearable. 
 I take it to Jesus, and yet it weighs upon me till I feel 
 crushed. This morning I looked at the second officer 
 with inexpressible longings that he should be a Christian. 
 I thought of his being a servant of the Devil, and of his 
 having given to the prince of hell that which belonged 
 
1 8 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 to God ; and my cry was that God, for the sake of his 
 dear Son, would come and save his soul. In the after- 
 noon I was so oppressed, I knew not what to do. I went 
 to my stateroom, and there besought the Lord for Jesus' 
 sake to send his Holy Spirit on board ' The Cashmere.' " 
 
 Nor was he alone in his longings. In Mrs. 
 Vinton's journal we find the same anxiety re- 
 peatedly expressed. She speaks of a remarka- 
 ble scene, when Mr. Vinton was preaching from 
 the text, ** Come, for all things are now ready ; " 
 during which the sailors sat spell-bound, while 
 he spoke of salvation, and of the sending of 
 the Holy Spirit to strive with sinners. A sec- 
 ond sermon made those hardened men tremble, 
 and say that it seemed like the day of judg- 
 ment. 
 
 That night the first officer came to Mrs. 
 Vinton, and told her he had given his heart to 
 God. The captain came out upon the Lord's 
 side shortly after, and from that time the Holy 
 Spirit was present with continually increasing 
 power. The steward, the supercargo, and a 
 number of the sailors were converted. 
 
 The hearts of this faithful band of missiona- 
 ries were made glad, not only by seeing souls 
 converted as the fruit of their labors and 
 prayers, but also by the earnestness with which 
 
FIRST FRUITS. I9 
 
 the captain and officers joined in the meetings, 
 and plead with the unconverted to yield them- 
 selves to God. 
 
 Of one occasion Mrs. Vinton makes the fol- 
 lowing record in her journal : — 
 
 " This evening the first ojfficer rose, and in the ful- 
 ness of his heart addressed his shipmates. One of the 
 sailors, unconscious of time or place, or of any thing 
 save the awful fact that he was a sinner hasting to the 
 judgment, arose at the same time, and replied to every 
 exhortation of the officer^ saying, ' I will be for God ; I 
 will serve him ; I will watch and pray,' &c. Never before 
 did I see a sinner so closely arraigned before his own 
 conscience and the bar of God, as he." 
 
 In another entry, she says, — 
 
 "At the meeting to-night the captain arose, and at- 
 tempted to speak, making a confession of his sins ; but 
 his heart was too full. After a few words, he sat down, 
 and gave vent to his tears. One of the sailors, to whom 
 Mr. Vinton had given a Bible, fell on his knees, and 
 told the Lord that he had read in the precious book 
 which one of his servants had given him, the promise, 
 'Ask and ye shall receive;' and, although he was con- 
 scious that he deserved nothing but hell, yet he was en- 
 couraged by this promise to plead for forgiveness of his 
 sins. Such a strain of penitence and contrition for sin 
 was then poured forth as I never before heard." 
 
20 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Truly " those who sow in tears shall reap 
 in joy ; " and the power of agonizing and united 
 prayer was never more plainly manifested than 
 during that long and uncomfortable voyage. 
 Toward the latter portion of the voyage, both 
 provisions and water ran short ; and so many 
 of the crew were prostrated by scurvy, that the 
 ladies were obliged to do the stewards' work in 
 the cabin, and the missionaries had to assist 
 in working the ship. 
 
 The parting between the missionaries and 
 their spiritual children must have been affect- 
 ing beyond description. Yet, now that so many 
 of that company are gathered on the heavenly 
 shore, how blessed must it be for them to re- 
 call those hours spent in earnest prayer, and 
 the precious ingathering of souls which fol- 
 lowed ! 
 
 We doubt not also that Mr. Vinton rejoices as 
 much as he expected to do, that there is a land 
 " where there is no more sea." His old enemy, 
 sea-sickness, never failed to meet him as soon 
 as they lost sight of land, and they rarely 
 parted company until the anchor was down 
 again. 
 
BEGINNING THE WORK. 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray ; 
 Be wise the erring soul to win ; 
 Go forth into the world's highway, 
 Compel the wanderer to come in." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Vinton landed in Maulmain 
 in December, 1834. By study at Hamilton and 
 during the voyage, they had become sufficiently 
 familiar with the language to admit of their 
 beginning work at once. They left for the jun- 
 gle within a week of their arrival ; and, enter- 
 ing a district where the gospel had never been 
 ■proclaimed, they continued for three months 
 going about from village to village preaching 
 Christ to the multitudes. 
 
 At first they travelled together ; but they re- 
 ceived so many invitations from distant villages, 
 that they resolved to separate. Each took a 
 band of native Christians, and, with them as 
 guides and assistants, went from village to vil- 
 lage preaching the wonderful story of the cross. 
 This arrangement was found so effective, that 
 
22 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 it became the plan for their future work. For 
 twenty-four years they carried out this idea of 
 "dividing to conquer." 
 
 Mrs. Vinton would start in her little boat, 
 accompanied by a few of her school-girls, and 
 spend the entire season in travelling from vil- 
 lage to village along the rivers, telling, in her 
 own tender, womanly way, the story of redemp- 
 tion to the crowds who gathered around her. 
 
 With this work of preaching the gospel was 
 combined the ministering to the sick, the mani- 
 fold tender offices so necessary among a people 
 without a single correct idea concerning the 
 human body and its ailments, and also the 
 inculcation of that most needful lesson that 
 " cleanliness was next to godliness." 
 
 She also established female prayer-meetings 
 in every direction, and at the most available' 
 points commenced village schools, placing them 
 under the control of some of her own scholars. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Vinton would be pursuing 
 the same plan of work among the mountain- 
 villages, and places more difficult of access. 
 Occasionally their paths would cross. In the 
 depths of the jungle they would meet, travel 
 together for a little while, perhaps visiting some 
 noted Karen prophet or prominent opposer of 
 
CHRISTIAN KAREN GIRLS. 
 
 23 
 
 CHRISTIAN KAREN GIRLS. 
 
JUNGLE-TRAVELLING. 25 
 
 the work ; and then they would separate again, 
 perhaps not to meet until the labors of the 
 season were over. 
 
 It does not seem to have occurred to Mrs. 
 Vinton to think that she was, in the estimation 
 of some wise theorists, "only a missionary's 
 wife." She felt that she had as truly a vocation 
 to preach the gospel as had her husband. Yet, 
 withal, her work throughout her life was done 
 with so much true womanliness and modesty, 
 that we think St. Paul himself would have been 
 satisfied that she did not ** usurp authority over 
 the man." 
 
 The long absences from each other were very 
 trying in many ways ; not only because of the 
 intense attachment which continued to exist 
 during all their married life, — an attachment 
 which made their companionship an idyl, — but 
 also from the fact that jungle-travelling, in 
 those days, was far more dangerous and arduous 
 than it is now. Tigers and other wild animals 
 were very abundant, and Mrs. Vinton repeatedly 
 speaks of narrow escapes from them. Several 
 times she notes the fact that a tiger had come 
 and taken cattle from under the open native 
 house in which she was sleeping, and when 
 nothing but the protecting hand of God pre- 
 
26 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 vented the ravenous beast from leaping upon 
 the open veranda, and taking one of the un- 
 conscious sleepers. 
 
 Jungle-work was not all a triumphal proces- 
 sion. In many places the Burmans had so 
 prejudiced the villagers by misrepresentations 
 and frightful stories, that the missionaries found 
 it impossible to obtain food. 
 
 One story, widely circulated, was that the 
 white missionaries stole children to make slaves 
 of them, or to eat them. Sometimes an entire 
 village, on the approach of the missionary, 
 would flee into the jungle, tying the grass to- 
 gether across the pathway, thus giving the mis- 
 sionary a significant warning that if he followed 
 them it was at the risk of his life. 
 
 The country was in an unsettled state ; and 
 bands of robbers roamed about, attacking soli- 
 tary boats and defenceless villages, carrying off 
 the women and children into slavery. This 
 rendered travelling, without a strong escort, 
 unsafe. Mrs. Vinton writes, in a letter to Mrs. 
 Baron Stow : — 
 
 " I cannot have time to describe all the interesting 
 scenes of the past three months. We have been travel- 
 ling constantly, and have been on a visit to the great 
 Karen prophet, about two hundred and fifty miles from 
 Maulmain. 
 
KO-THA-BYU MEMORIAL HALL. 
 
 27 
 
THE KARENS. 29 
 
 " The Karens in general listen with great interest when 
 we tell them of God, and frequently exclaim, 'That is 
 what our forefathers told us ! That is right ! That is 
 good ! ' I have endeavored to discover how their fore- 
 fathers came by a knowledge of God ; but they always 
 answer, ' Our ancestors knew him from the beginning, 
 but when they sinned against him he hid himself from 
 them; and their descendants after them knew not how 
 to worship him; and, as he did not protect them from 
 evil spirits, they were obliged to offer sacrifices to them 
 to appease their wrath.' 
 
 " They tell us of many attempts ' to return to the wor- 
 ship of the God who made the earth, and the heavens, 
 and all things.' 
 
 "These efforts have sometimes been continued for 
 months, and even years ; but the poor Karens have inva- 
 riably fallen a sacrifice to the brutal persecution of the 
 Burmans. 
 
 " One village of nearly a thousand inhabitants wor- 
 shipped God in this way for some time, unknown to the 
 Burmans ; but, when the latter learned the fact, they sent 
 an armed force to destroy the village. Some of the 
 Karens inquired of their leader if they should fight. 
 'No,' replied the chief: 'it is inconsistent with the wor- 
 ship of our God to fight. We will cast ourselves upon 
 his protection.' They then opened their gates, brought 
 forth their weapons of defence, and laid them at the feet 
 of their enemies. Thus defenceless, they were immedi- 
 ately slain by their cruel oppressors, the Burmans.' 
 
 This record seems incredible ; and yet in the 
 year 185 1, — even so late a date. as that, — the 
 
30 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Burmese viceroy of Rangoon told Mr. Kincaid 
 that he would instantly shoot the first Karen 
 whom he found that could read. 
 
 The eagerness which the scattered communi- 
 ties of Karens manifested to hear of the ** long- 
 lost law of their God " was most gratifying ; 
 but it made the hearts of the lonely laborers 
 ache to see how little they could accomplish 
 among so many. Wherever they went, they 
 were urged beyond measure to go to other 
 villages, and tell the "good news" there; and 
 so deeply did the magnitude of their labors 
 press upon them, that Mrs. Vinton writes : — 
 
 " Oh, could we be divided, and go a thousand ways 
 at once, then might the poor Karens hear the gospel. 
 When I reflect upon the earnestness of this dear people 
 to receive the gospel, while so few can hear it from our 
 lips, my heart sinks within me. 
 
 " A large party of Karens have just been here ; and 
 when they were told that Mr. Vinton had gone by land 
 to Newville, and that I had gone down the river, they 
 said they feared they would never see us. They told 
 Ko-chet-thaing that they had heard that God had shown 
 mercy to the Karens, and had sent them his word and 
 teachers; and they had long been inquiring where we 
 were. Sometimes they would hear of us at Maulmain, 
 sometimes at Belu-Gyun, sometimes at Chummerah, 
 sometimes at La Kee's village ; but they never could find 
 
WAITING FOR THE GOSPEL. 3 1 
 
 US. Their * younger brother, the white man,' had come, 
 and had brought the long-lost law of their God ; but to 
 them it was all in vain. They remained in their sins, 
 poverty, and wretchedness, and should go down to hell 
 if the teachers did not pity them. They begged Ko- 
 chet-thaing to intercede with us, that we would remain 
 in one place, that they might all come to us. 
 
 " Ko-chet-thaing was much moved as he told me the 
 sad tale ; and I could not refrain from tears. A chief on 
 the Burman border is praying morning and evening that 
 God will send the teachers that way, that he may be 
 baptized. Lord, what are we among so many.? Send, 
 oh ! send more laborers into this harvest! " 
 
 In an account of a journey taken shortly 
 after, she writes : — 
 
 " We had scarcely set our feet upon the shore, before 
 an intelligent-looking woman asked me where we were 
 going. I told her I was going to a village eight miles 
 inland, to tell the people there about God. She inquired 
 why we did not tell the villagers present about God. 
 
 " I told her I could not stop then, as I had appointed 
 to be at the inland village, and must reach there before 
 the heat became too great. Her countenance fell, but 
 she immediately passed on before us. And, when we 
 had proceeded about a mile, we reached a village, and 
 found all the inhabitants standing in the road to receive 
 us. As we drew near, they cried out to us, ' Tell tis of 
 the law of God ! Tell us of the law of God ! ' 
 
 " Such was their entreaty, that we were compelled to 
 stop about half an hour, and preach to them, promising 
 
32 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 that we would come back to them at some future time. 
 At the next village the people gathered around me with 
 intense interest to inquire about the new rehgion. After 
 talking to them some time, I spoke of prayer. With 
 great earnestness, they asked, ' How shall we pray ? ' I 
 called on one of the assistants to pray; and, as he com- 
 menced, the head man followed, repeating word for word. 
 They plead with great earnestness that we would remain 
 with them during the night, that they might call in the 
 inhabitants of the surrounding villages, that they, too, 
 might hear of God and heaven. . . . 
 
 "Two miles farther on, we came to a Pwo Karen 
 village. We went at once to the house of the chief; but 
 his wife, who had never before seen a white person, 
 would not permit us to enter. As soon, however, as the 
 villagers learned who we were, they flocked around us, 
 and listened attentively to the word of God. The assist- 
 ants were so moved by their pressing invitations to re- 
 main, that they began to plead with me to remain over 
 sabbath. In vain I told them of our many engagements, 
 of the much we had to do before the rains. 
 
 "It was not until I told them that I thought Mr. 
 Vinton would travel there during the rains, that I could 
 persuade them to proceed. That evening we visited 
 another village, and spent the night at the house of the 
 chief. 
 
 "We had a large and deeply-interested audience; and 
 although I closed the service at nine o'clock, yet the 
 assistants continued preaching till after midnight, and 
 began again before light. 
 
 " Although we had to return to the boat that day, and 
 much of our way lay through burnt-over forests, yet it 
 
JUNGLE PREACHING. 33 
 
 was impossible to force ourselves away from the people 
 before the sun had become quite hot. On our return we 
 met several companies of people, who showed such an 
 anxiety to hear the word, that, when the assistants were 
 once seated, they seemed chained to the spot. 
 
 " On reaching the boat, I found that one of the two 
 men I had left to watch it had gone off to a distant 
 village, preaching. It appeared, that, the night previous, 
 several men had listened to the gospel, and they would 
 not be content until their friends should hear it also. So 
 they over-persuaded this man to return with them, and 
 spend two or three days. We proceeded up the river 
 some distance, and found him there preaching to the 
 villagers. A number said that they believed in this reli- 
 gion, and would worship God. 
 
 " I was feeling so exhausted from over-exertion, that I 
 felt it was necessary to return as soon as I conveniently 
 could to Ko-chet-thaing's village, not only for rest, but 
 for necessary medicine. I had also in the boat a sick 
 Karen woman, who needed attention and medicine at 
 once. However, we felt compelled to stop at another 
 village, where the people had been having a great '■nat 
 feast' (a feast in honor of the evil spirits, whom the 
 Karens believe to be the cause of sickness, misfortune, 
 &c., if angry ; and of good fortune, if appeased). 
 
 " Hearing of my arrival, they gathered around me ; 
 and although I could scarcely stand, or even sit erect, 
 yet I contrived to talk to them ; and they listened dur- 
 ing the whole day, each one assuring me that they would 
 never again eat to the w^/j, but, as they had now heard 
 of God, they would with one consent worship him. Not 
 only so ; but they would return to their respective vil- 
 
34 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 lages, and tell their friends what they had heard, and 
 persuade them to worship him too." 
 
 What would our pastors at home in America 
 give to have the message they bring welcomed 
 so thankfully, and embraced so readily ! What 
 would they give to know that every one of their 
 converts became at once a preacher of right- 
 eousness, and carried the good news of salva- 
 tion to some other waiting soul ! 
 
 The work of preaching the gospel among 
 the Karens was not, however, unmixed with 
 discouragements. Mrs. Vinton in her journal 
 speaks of some villages where the people re- 
 fused to receive her, and where even the women 
 retreated to the houses, and pulled up the lad- 
 ders after them (a ladder or a notched stick 
 being the usual mode of entrance to a heathen 
 Karen house). One such scene she thus 
 describes in her characteristic way: — 
 
 " We have just stopped at a Pwo Karen village where, 
 for days past, multitudes have assembled to worship the 
 pagoda." [Many Pwos and some Sgaus, the two main 
 septs of Karens, had embraced Buddhism, at least nomi- 
 nally, before the arrival of missionaries.] 
 
 "The assembly was just breaking up. It was impos- 
 sible to get even a hearing, for every one was busy about 
 his own matters ; and, besides, they did not like to hear, 
 
MARTABAN AND ROBBERS POINT. 
 
 35 
 
DISCOURAGEMENTS. 37 
 
 that, instead of getting merit, they had been sinning 
 against God, and if unrepentant they would be lost. I 
 went up to the village, thinking perhaps they would listen 
 at their homes ; but, seeing me coming, they pulled up 
 their ladders, and set their dogs on me. On returning to 
 the boat, I could not help inquiring if one of that vast 
 number could be saved. They are far more hopeless 
 than were Ezekiel's dry bones : for they would lie pass- 
 ive when prophesied over; but these, as if the Devil 
 did not like to be attacked upon his own ground, were 
 ready to burst with rage at us for trying to tell them ' a 
 more excellent way.' 
 
 " Last night we were at a village where we found a 
 widow whose husband was killed a few weeks ago in 
 a trap set for wild beasts. Mr. Vinton and I had repeat- 
 edly urged him to accept of Christ ; but he invariably told 
 us that he was convinced of the propriety of worship- 
 ping God, and he even exhorted others to repentance ; 
 but, as for himself, he could not yet leave off drink. 
 Only a few days before his death, Mr. Vinton, with his 
 usual earnestness, urged him to accept of Christ imme- 
 diately, reminding him of the uncertainty of life. He 
 said he would repent by and by. A few days after, 
 being urged by some of his relatives to go to a nat feast, 
 he went, and was killed on the way. Those who set the 
 trap offered the bereaved widow the price of her hus- 
 band (about two hundred dollars according to Karen 
 law) ; but she refused, and, strange to say, asks another 
 husband in his stead. 
 
 " The people in this region are in a very excited state 
 on account of the depredations of robbers. 
 
 " A buffalo came running into the village to-day with 
 
.38 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 a spear six feet long sticking in his back. A band of 
 about two hundred robbers from the Shan country have 
 been lurking about the villages for several days past, in 
 order to steal children, and sell them for slaves. They 
 have obtained several little ones already, and the vil- 
 lagers are in great consternation about it. 
 
 " Oh, my sister ! you do not know how to appreciate 
 your peaceful home. You do not know what it is to go 
 to bed at night knowing that robbers are lurking around 
 your dwelling, or that tigers are smelling your footsteps 
 around the house, and waiting for their prey. They have 
 become so bold at Newville that they will go up a ladder 
 ten feet high, seize a man in the house, and carry him 
 off. When I think of the ten thousand dangers to which 
 we are exposed, I wonder that we are still alive." 
 
POWER IN PRAYER. 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Go, labor on, spend and be spent, — 
 Thy joy to do the Father's will : 
 It is the way the Master went ; 
 
 Should not the servant tread it still ?'* 
 
 Mr. Vinton was a man of strong faith and 
 of remarkable power in prayer. We never 
 heard the term so commonly used now, " gifted 
 in prayer," applied to him ; but his petitions 
 were wrestlings with God, and were character- 
 ized by all the urgency and earnestness with 
 which a man might plead for his life or that of 
 his dearest friend. A minister, speaking of an 
 occasion when he heard Elder Swan and Mr. 
 Vinton praying together, says, " I never heard 
 any thing like it. They seemed utterly uncon- 
 scious of time or place. They appeared to be 
 standing face to face with God ; and they 
 pleaded with him for lost souls in such a way 
 that I felt convinced that that was prevailing 
 prayer.'' 
 
 Much of the success which attended the 
 
40 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 labors of these two eminent men of God was 
 doubtless owing to their strong faith that God 
 heard and answered prayer, and to a certain 
 persistence with which they carried out their 
 convictions of duty. Some men called it ob- 
 stinacy ; but many redeemed souls to-day are 
 praising God for that very obstinacy, for the 
 persistence with which they labored and prayed, 
 the one among the heathen in Burmah, the 
 other among the gospel-hardened sinners of our 
 own New England. 
 
 Which was the more difficult field, we will 
 not now undertake to say ; but what a glorious 
 meeting it will be when these two life-long 
 friends clasp hands on the other shore, and 
 together recount the wonders of redemption, 
 and recall the many hard-fought battles here 
 on earth, and greet the thousands among the 
 redeemed who were led by their words and 
 prayers to Jesus ! 
 
 As illustrative of Mr. Vinton's determina- 
 tion when he believed himself to be in the way 
 of duty, we give a brief account of his visit to 
 a noted Karen prophet, as taken from his jour- 
 nal : — 
 
 " We are now at the prophet's village, but have not 
 yet seen him. On our arrival yesterday, his followers 
 
VISIT TO A KAREN PROPHET. 4I 
 
 told US he was absent, but would be back at night. 
 Night came, but he was still absent, and continues to be 
 so, if the word of the villagers can be relied upon; but, 
 unfortunately, no two individuals agree in their state- 
 ments about him. It is probable that he will prevent an 
 interview if possible. He has so far committed himself, 
 that to meet me would be to his disadvantage ; for he 
 has asserted that I am his older brother, Jesus Christ, 
 and that there is no difference between his sentiments 
 and mine. 
 
 "The villagers appear well: they listen attentively, 
 and acknowledge that it is wrong to worship pagodas, 
 and hold nat feasts ; and many say they will come and 
 worship with us to-morrow." 
 
 The next day the people did not seem so 
 willing to listen. None came to worship ; but, 
 on visiting some of the principal men at their 
 homes, they professed to believe the truths of 
 religion, but said they dared not profess it pub- 
 licly, because, if they did, the Burmans would 
 kill them. They proposed to worship God in 
 secret, and, when questioned, to say that they 
 believed as the Burmans did ; but, when told 
 that if they became Jesus Christ's followers 
 they must give up lying and deceiving, they 
 said, "Well, then, we cannot be his disciples." 
 They began to inquire when Mr. Vinton was 
 going to leave ; and the answer was, " Not till I 
 
42 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 have seen your prophet, if I have to stay here 
 two months." 
 
 Several days passed, and still the prophet 
 remained absent. All the favorable indications 
 disappeared, and the villagers seemed to have 
 determined that they would have nothing to do 
 with the new religion if they must come out 
 and own Christ before the world. An excur- 
 sion to some of the neighboring villages, how- 
 ever, resulted in the conversion of a chief and 
 another man, who frequently visited Mr. Vin- 
 ton at his boat. They were so eager for instruc- 
 tion that they sometimes remained far into the 
 night, talking about God. They said, "We will 
 worship God. If the Burmans persecute us in 
 one place, we will fly to another. If seized 
 and tortured, we will sooner die than deny the 
 Saviour." 
 
 Yet still the prophet's followers continued to 
 oppose so strongly, and they showed such an 
 evident desire to get rid of the whole party, that 
 Mr. Vinton's assistants began to urge him to 
 return to Maulmain without seeing the prophet. 
 
 To this, however, Mr. Vinton would not 
 listen for a moment. He proposed, instead, a 
 day of fasting and prayer, that God would pour 
 out his Spirit upon the opposers of his truth, 
 
DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER. 43 
 
 and turn their hearts unto himself. To this 
 the assistants cheerfully consented ; and he says 
 in his journal, — 
 
 " We are spending to-day in looking up to God for 
 his blessing. Shall we look in vain? My heart dies 
 within me at the thought. O Thou who hast never said 
 to the seed of Jacob, ' Seek ye me in vain,' art thou not 
 even now inviting us to seek the Lord till he come and 
 rain righteousness upon us ? " 
 
 The next day the indications still appeared 
 unfavorable. Mr. Vinton writes : — 
 
 " The assistants, to a man, are disheartened, and wish 
 to return. I told them to-day I could not go yet, but 
 they might if they wished. They held a consultation, 
 and all except two resolved to go.^ We went up to the 
 village as usual to talk to the people, for no one will come 
 to us ; but we could not obtain a hearing from a single 
 person. If we went into their houses, the people would 
 vacate them, and leave us alone. 
 
 " If we visited them at their work, they would either 
 leave it, or remain silent as dumb men. After sunset 
 the gongs and drums began to beat; and the cry was 
 raised, 'Away! away to the pagoda to worship!' We 
 went back to the boat ; but soon a messenger came, say- 
 ing that the prophet had returned, and would meet us at 
 the pagoda. 
 
 * One of these was Ko-chet-thaing, the first Karen Mr. Vin- 
 ton ever saw, and from whom he learned the language. 
 
44 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " When introduced to him, his whole manner indicated, 
 what I had previously suspected, that he was afraid of 
 me. I attacked him on all sides, but he was very evasive. 
 He consented to all that I urged, save to give up his 
 heathen practices, and, with his followers, to become 
 openly the servant of the living God. To this he said 
 he did not dare do so, for the Burmans would in that 
 case put them all to death. He is a cunning, artful 
 fellow, and has undoubtedly consented to see me, merely 
 to get rid of us. When I told him it was the command 
 of Christ to preach the gospel to every creature, he 
 adroitly replied, ' The people here have heard. Now go 
 and preach to those who have not heard.' 
 
 " Our interview closed with the most pressing invita- 
 tion to leave the place." 
 
 One would think that by this time Mr. Vin- 
 ton had done all that any one could, and that he 
 would have shaken the dust of that village from 
 off his feet, and gone his way ; especially as 
 the assistants came, and told him that the rice 
 was exhausted, and not a kernel could be pur- 
 chased in the prophet's village. But to their 
 urgent entreaties Mr. Vinton answered, ** If we 
 return now, nothing will be effected ; and God 
 has not brought us here for nothing." 
 
 After a season of prayer, the assistants con- 
 sented to remain one day longer. 
 
 And now mark the providence of God. Not 
 
- RESULTS. 45 
 
 only was Mr. Vinton's presence secretly under- 
 mining the prophet's influence, as will appear in 
 the close of this narrative^ but in the villages 
 in the immediate neighborhood of the prophet's 
 home the Spirit of God was preparing a work, 
 the magnitude of which at the time was not 
 even suspected. 
 
 We have mentioned on page 42 the conver- 
 sion of a chief and one follower. In the after- 
 noon of the "one day longer" he came to Mr. 
 Vinton, bringing three others with him, to hear 
 more of the new religion. Mr. Vinton went 
 with them across the plain, the little distance 
 which separated the boat from their village, and 
 they called all the inhabitants together. 
 
 During the rest of the afternoon and evening 
 they listened to the preaching of the word ; and 
 the entire company resolved at once to embrace 
 the truth, and serve Christ. 
 
 The chief said, " There are villages all around 
 us in the mountains, which have never heard 
 the word of God. And now will you not go 
 on, and tell them the ' good news,' so that they, 
 too, may believe and be saved .? " 
 
 Mr. Vinton had not come prepared to stay 
 over night, having brought no bedding, and hav- 
 ing even left his coat in the boat. The nights 
 
46 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 at that season in the year were as chilly, among 
 the mountains, as they are here in October. 
 However, the people pressed him so earnestly 
 to remain with them that night, and go to the 
 other villages on the morrow, that he consented. 
 Let us give the account of the night in his own 
 words : — 
 
 " I am here without shelter ; still I am comfortably 
 provided for. The Karens have built a rousing fire, 
 which they will keep burning all night, by the side of 
 which I shall in a few moments lay me down upon a fine 
 new mat, and cover me with a piece of new cloth direct 
 from the loom. The inquiry was made a moment ago, 
 ' Has the teacher a pillow ? ' 
 
 " On finding me destitute, I was presented with a nice 
 bamboo (six or seven inches in diameter), which, but for 
 the quality of hardness, would answer as good a purpose 
 as I could desire. Still I hope to enjoy a comfortable 
 night's rest." 
 
 The night, however, was not to pass without 
 interruption. At midnight the chief and a 
 number of villagers came over to the place 
 where they were sleeping, and woke them up, 
 desiring to be told more about God and heaven. 
 They preached to them for two hours, and then 
 they left the tired missionary for a while. Be- 
 fore light, however, the chief came back, and 
 
THE CLOUD BREAKS. 47 
 
 Staid with them till they left. So much eager- 
 ness was shown to hear the gospel, that Mr. 
 Vinton promised to send a young man to be- 
 come their teacher. They, on their part, agreed 
 to build a chapel, and take all the care possible 
 of the teacher who should be sent. 
 
 Urged by the chief, Mr. Vinton consented to 
 visit some of the neighboring villages. At the 
 very next village, the head-man and all the 
 principal men said, "This is the long-lost law of 
 our God. This is the true religion. We will 
 embrace it ; and, if the teacher is willing, we 
 will be baptized on the spot." Three powerful 
 chiefs in the same region promised to build, 
 each of them, a chapel, and support a teacher 
 if Mr. Vinton would send one. 
 
 Wherever he went, crowds followed, eager to 
 hear the truth ; and hundreds were converted. 
 Mr. Vinton says, — 
 
 " We have been brought in safety to this village. We 
 had a most fatiguing time, sometimes for hours being 
 obliged to drag ourselves up the steep ascent by laying 
 hold of the bamboos which grew beside our path. We 
 were much exhausted on our arrival; but the villagers 
 came together at once, and after listening to us for a 
 few hours they said, ' We will believe in Jesus, and em- 
 brace him as our Saviour.' They then entered into the 
 
48 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 most minute inquiries to learn how they, as the disciples 
 of Christ, should conduct themselves. These inquiries 
 continued until a late hour. They desired particularly 
 to know how they should spend the Lord's Day, and how 
 they should pray. 
 
 "When the old men returned to the village, the young 
 men remained to sleep with us in the zayat. I could not 
 sleep. My thoughts of God and heaven were too sweet 
 to admit of interruption. The zayat had no roof; so I 
 lay and gazed upon the stars, and thought of the won- 
 derful majesty of God, and the more wonderful grace 
 which could stoop to save rebellious man. The more I 
 mused upon it, the more was I lost in contemplation of 
 the amazing theme. I could only repeat, ' God so loved 
 the world ; ' but why, and how much, I could not tell. A 
 little before light these sweet thoughts were interrupted. 
 The Karens had awakened from their slumber; and each 
 began saying to his companion, 'Pray to God;' when 
 the other would respond ' Pray ; ' and then was heard, in 
 every part of the zayat, the voice of prayer from those 
 who were making their first petitions to the living God." 
 
 But it is time to speak of the effect of Mr. 
 Vinton's stay at the prophet's village, and of 
 this evangelistic work in the vicinity. It was 
 soon seen that the prophet's influence was 
 being sensibly weakened. When Mr. Vinton 
 was on his return, he appointed a meeting at 
 the foot of the mountain, within sight of the 
 prophet's village. Hither came great numbers, 
 
BAMBOO. 
 
 49 
 
 BAMBOO. 
 
THE PROPHET FOILED. 51 
 
 many of whom were the converts of the night 
 preaching of that "one day longer" to which 
 the assistants consented. They had remained 
 faithful ; and their resolutions to serve God had 
 gained strength, although they were bitterly op- 
 posed by the prophet and his adherents. The 
 day was spent in the most interesting religious 
 services, Ko-chet-thaing being one of the 
 preachers. 
 
 At the close of the day the chief said, ** Well, 
 the prophet has proved himself a false prophet 
 for once ; for this mornins: he told us that last 
 night his Kala [spirit] had gone and visited the 
 white teacher, and that he [the teacher] had 
 gone to Maulmain." 
 
 Said Mr. Vinton, "As to his spirit visiting 
 me, I know nothing about it. As to my going 
 to Maulmain, you can judge as well as I." At 
 this instant one of the prophet's principal ad- 
 herents came up, when the chief attacked him, 
 to know what he thought of such a leader as 
 the prophet. 
 
 "If," said the chief, "he did not know, why 
 did he say such a thing } If he did know, why 
 did he lie so.-*" The poor man had not one 
 word to offer in vindication of the prophet, 
 and the effect upon the by-standers was great. 
 
52 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Mr. Vinton's journal continues: — 
 
 " On reaching the boat, I found a noted chief from 
 Siam awaiting me. There was more of princely dignity 
 and style about his person and attendants than I ever 
 saw before in a Karen ; but he listened with great in- 
 terest to the story of the cross ; and when I ceased 
 speaking said, ' I have never heard any thing about this 
 religion before. Now, will you not eome to my country, 
 and spend a long time, and teach me and the thousands 
 of my people, so that we may be saved ? ' 
 
 " I answered with a full heart, ' Yes ! if my life is 
 spared, I will come.' I promised to send them a native 
 teacher; and the chief, on his part, promised to sup- 
 port him." 
 
 From this interesting interview, Mr. Vinton 
 left the prophet's village, and went to the cen- 
 tral village of the territory, occupied by the 
 celebrated Lakee, one of the most powerful 
 chiefs among the Karens, and a most interest- 
 ing character. 
 
 Mr. Vinton says of him, — 
 
 " He is the leading character among the Karens, and 
 the only one who is much respected by the Burmans. 
 His influence is daily extending, and he bids fair to be 
 a kind of prince among them. 
 
 " He is a man of more mind than any Karen I have 
 yet seen ; boasts no royal ancestry, but has risen to his 
 present eminence upon his own merits. The Karens 
 
LA KEE. 53 
 
 from all parts of Burmah are flocking into this region to 
 put themselves under his jurisdiction ; so that this may 
 yet be the very heart of the Karen world, and Lakee 
 become a king. 
 
 "When I inquired of him what he thought of the 
 Christian religion, he answered, ' Your account of it is 
 very good; but I have never seen any of the foreign 
 teachers before, and do not, therefore, know what credit 
 to give your statements. The prophet and other teachers 
 have their pretended revelations from God ; but we have 
 to take their word for it, for no one can read or under- 
 stand the revelation but themselves.' 
 
 " I then proposed to send him a man who should teach 
 his people to read the word of God for themselves. 
 ' Yes, yes !' said he, interrupting me. ' That is it ! Now 
 the teacher's words hit my heart. Just send me a man 
 that shall teach the people to read ; and, if what you say 
 about the law of God is true, we will embrace this re- 
 ligion at once, and all be baptized together.' 
 
 "Had this expedition accomplished nothing but the 
 arrangement for placing these native assistants, I should 
 feel that our labor had not been in vain in the Lord ; but 
 hundreds have for the first time listened to the preaching 
 of the gospel, and the seed has been sown, which, with 
 God's blessing, will produce an abundant harvest." 
 
54 THE YINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " Not many lives, but only one, have we; 
 
 One, only one : 
 How sacred should that one life ever be, 
 
 That narrow span ! 
 Day after day filled up with blessed toil, 
 Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil." 
 
 We have given, already, enough to indicate 
 the untiring devotion and the marvellous skill, 
 which characterized Mr. Vinton's labors among 
 the Karens. 
 
 His labors, however, were not confined to 
 this people. He studied the Burmese language, 
 so that he might be able to preach to the Bur- 
 mans when opportunity offered. When con- 
 fined to the city during the rains, when travel- 
 ling is impossible, we find him laboring among 
 the English soldiers in garrison, preaching and 
 distributing tracts among the Burmese, and 
 pushing on the Karen translation of the New 
 Testament, or writing his Commentary. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton speaks, in a letter home, of his 
 having distributed over eight thousand tracts 
 
PAGODA AT MAULMAIN. 
 
 55 
 
 PAGODA AT MAULMAIN. 
 
LABORS FOR THE ENGLISH. 5/ 
 
 in six weeks ; and his faithful labors among the 
 troops resulted in many conversions, not only 
 among the common soldiery, but among their 
 officers as well. 
 
 His deep piety, and absolute devotion to the 
 work of saving souls of whatever nationality, 
 won for him during his life the respect and ad- 
 miration of all with whom he came in contact ; 
 even of men who honored the man and mission- 
 ary, though they hated his religion. Many 
 such contributed material aid, and afforded him 
 assistance by kindly acts which could not be 
 purchased with gold. 
 
 One, a professed atheist, was a ship-owner. 
 He often said to him, ''Mr. Vinton, I don't 
 believe as you do, and it is no use for you to 
 try and make a Christian of me ; but remember, 
 you and your family are welcome to a free pas- 
 sage on any of my ships at any time, and to 
 any port ; and my house, either in Rangoon, or 
 Maulmain, or Amherst, is always open to you." 
 
 These were no empty professions. On sev- 
 eral occasions it was necessary for both Mr. and 
 Mrs. Vinton to avail themselves of his generos- 
 ity ; and they found that his captains had re- 
 ceived orders to show them every courtesy, and 
 to place the best of every thing on board at 
 their disposal. 
 
58 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Mr. Vinton's genial, sunny disposition en- 
 deared him alike to the ignorant, simple-minded 
 Karens, and to the cultivated and sometimes 
 fastidious English officers, who had it in their 
 power to aid him so greatly in his work. 
 
 Credit has never been sufficiently given here, 
 in America, to the assistance which English 
 residents have furnished to our missions and 
 missionaries. Much of our success, particularly 
 in Burmah, has been due to the moral as well 
 as pecuniary support extended to the mission- 
 aries by English civil and military officers. 
 
 Even the English government offers to any 
 mission school what is called a ** grant-in-aid." 
 This is a sum of money equal to the amount 
 expended by the school itself for educational 
 purposes. The sums thus paid vary from two 
 hundred and fifty dollars to fifteen hundred dol- 
 lars in different schools. No restrictions are 
 placed upon the schools receiving such aid, 
 save that they shall be open to the government 
 director of education for inspection. 
 
 Mr. P. Hordern, who has been for the past 
 ten years government director in Burmah, is an 
 enthusiastic admirer of the American school- 
 system, and has given great encouragement to 
 educational work in all our stations. 
 
KINDNESS OF ENGLISH RESIDENTS. 59 
 
 Thousands of dollars are also given by pri- 
 vate individuals. These donations are sent to 
 the missionary in the most quiet, unostentatious 
 manner, generally with a request that the name 
 of the donor may not be mentioned. Grants of 
 land for building purposes, exemption from tax- 
 ation, free medical attendance, and even a mili- 
 tary or police guard in passing through danger- 
 ous parts of the country — these, and a hundred 
 other kindly acts which an English officer has 
 it in his power to perform, make his friendship 
 a desirable thing, however much some may af- 
 fect to despise it. . 
 
 No one ever had more opportunity of testing 
 this than Mr. Vinton ; though Dr. Kincaid, Mrs. 
 Ingalls, Dr. Binney, Dr. Mason, and others have 
 cheerfully borne testimony to the large-hearted 
 liberality, the hearty co-operation, the tender 
 sympathy, and the unexpected help in time of 
 sickness or trial, which many of the English 
 government officers have given. 
 
 We have referred to the material aid given. 
 We may not omit speaking of the earnest Chris- 
 tian life of many of these officers. Havelock 
 was not a phenomenal character. Hundreds of 
 English officers in India have been equally de- 
 voted and faithful. They are found to-day in 
 
60 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 every station, from the lowest to the highest. 
 When in 1853 Lord Dalhousie, the governor- 
 general, came to Rangoon, he was quite ill, yet 
 he said to one of his suite, ** If I am able to see 
 any one, it must be the American missiona- 
 ries." They were accordingly sent for, to have 
 a personal interview with him. He made many 
 inquiries about the mission, and expressed a 
 deep interest in the work among the Karens. 
 When Mr. Vinton and Dr. Kincaid thanked him 
 for the kindness which had been shown them by 
 his subordinate officers, he said quietly, " I am 
 glad if they have done their dutyT 
 
 Let any one read that exquisite work, 
 ** Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India,'* 
 the record of one of the most daring soldiers 
 that ever was known in that land of daring 
 men ; the man who, with seventy-five native 
 troopers, took the princes of Delhi from the 
 midst of an armed mob of thousands of natives. 
 
 Yet this man was one of the most humble 
 Christians in the army. 
 
 The 39th Regiment was known familiarly as 
 " God Almighty's Own," from the large number 
 of pious men in it. 
 
 The roll of Christian officers includes some of 
 the most distinguished names in the history 
 of the English dominion in India. 
 
CHRISTIAN HEROES. 6l 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence ; Sir Henry Havelock ; 
 Sir Herbert Edwards, famous jn the Punjaub; 
 Gen. John Nicholson ; Gen. Neill, bravest of the 
 brave ; Hodson, the captor of the Delhi princes ; 
 D'Arcy Todd, killed at the head of his men at 
 Ferozeshahar, and whose last entry in his jour- 
 nal was that he only wished to live that the 
 love of Christ might prepare him to leave this 
 world; Arthur Conolly, lovely and beloved, 
 who fell a martyr at Bokhara ; Gen. James Bell, 
 whose tender offices of kindness have so often 
 comforted the hearts of our missionaries in 
 Burmah ; Gen. Sir David Russell, who last year 
 gave sixteen thousand rupees to the Rangoon 
 mission, — these are a few only of the many 
 names of the Lord's dear children who have in 
 former years been the most faithful supporters 
 of missions in India. 
 
 Their places are vacant now. Many hearts 
 in India have been saddened as death has called 
 them, or as the burden of years of arduous ser- 
 vice has sent them home to England ; but in 
 their stead others are arising ; and some of the 
 brightest spots in a missionary's life are illu- 
 mined by the light of that Christian love which 
 has been shown by these devoted servants of 
 God. 
 
62 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 We have spoken of Mr. Vinton's sunny dis- 
 position. It was a family trait ; and Mrs. Vin- 
 ton, herself naturally inclined to despondency, 
 was accustomed to say, " A Vmton never can 
 see trouble ahead." She would sometimes illus- 
 trate this persistent determination to look on 
 the bright side, by describing a scene, which, 
 no doubt, had more than once occurred. 
 
 "Mr. Vinton and Miranda, his sister, would plan an 
 expedition on horseback. I would say, ' Why, it is no use 
 sending for the ponies : it is just going to rain.' 
 
 " ' Oh, no ! ' Miranda would say : ' look at that blue sky,' 
 pointing to a little break in the clouds, away in precisely 
 the opposite direction from that from which the storm 
 was approaching. I would lead her around to the other 
 side of the house, and show her the heavy black clouds 
 coming up from the south-west, boding a perfect down- 
 fall. ' Yes, yes ! ' she would say : ' that looks like rain by 
 r.nd by, but there is time enough for us to get our ride 
 before the storm. Besides, it may all blow over. What 
 do you think, brother?' — 'Oh, yes! we'll go, by all 
 means. It doesn't look near so black as it did. Put on 
 yoi-.r habit, and we'll be off and home again before it 
 rains.' Before the riding-habit could be dojined, the 
 wind would be blowing a hurricane, and the rain coming 
 down in torrents; but those two would appear as uncon- 
 cerned as if it were all a part of their plan. If I said, 
 • You see I was right about the rain,' Mr. Vinton would 
 answer, ' Yes, my dear, you are always right ; but wait 
 
RAINY DAYS. 63 
 
 a moment. This storm will be over soon, and then our 
 ride will be all the more pleasant for the rain.' Yet I 
 could see that it had set in for a heavy pour which would 
 last all night. The only satisfaction I ever received was, 
 'Well, Miranda, it will be all the brighter to-morrow, and 
 we will take a longer ride then.' " 
 
 This scene may seem, to those who did not 
 know Mr. Vinton, somewhat exaggerated ; but 
 it is not overdrawn in the slightest. Indeed, it 
 might almost be a parable of the man's life. 
 The " rainy days " which came into his life 
 have only made the morrow of eternity the 
 brighter. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton found this hopefulness and buoy- 
 ancy of disposition in her husband a great 
 source of strength in her many hours of de- 
 spondency and discouragement. Many times 
 did she go to her husband's study utterly dis- 
 pirited, seeing nothing but difficulty and possi- 
 ble failure in the future ; but in the sunshine of 
 his happy spirit all the clouds were driven away, 
 and she went back to her work feeling that 
 after all, there was something yet worth living 
 for. 
 
 Sometimes, when worn out with her unceas- 
 ing .labors, and suffering from the depressing 
 effects of the climate, she would imagine that 
 
64 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 that curse of India, disease of the liver, had 
 made her its victim ; and after putting the 
 clothing of the household in order, and gener- 
 ally settling affairs, she would go to her husband 
 to ''talk it over" with him, and arrange for the 
 future in the event of her death. He, however, 
 would laughingly say, ** My dear, it is not your 
 liver that is affected : it is your brain. Depend 
 upon it, the trouble is there." 
 
 This may sound heartless ; but no one who 
 knew the great tenderness of his heart could 
 for one moment believe him capable of want 
 of sympathy. Mrs. Vinton has said that it was 
 the truest kindness to turn her thoughts away 
 from her own feelings ; and she would come out 
 of his study laughing, and saying, *' Well, it is 
 scarcely worth while to arrange for my funeral 
 just yet." 
 
 When she would go to him in tears over some 
 act of unkindness or ingratitude, his only reply 
 was, '* Be above it, my dear ; be above it ! If 
 you take any notice of it whatever, you only 
 lower yourself to a level with those who have 
 injured you. Be above it ! " 
 
 Thus, amid encouragement and discourage- 
 ment, his sunny cheerfulness and faith in God 
 supported him amid labors and trials which 
 
KAREN MISSION COMPOUND AT MAULMAIN. 65 
 
"SISTER MIRANDA." 6/ 
 
 would have broken down a less buoyant consti- 
 tution. He obeyed literally the injunction, 
 " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, 
 Rejoice." 
 
 During the period between 1834 and 1848, 
 Mr. Vinton's labors were confined to the Maul- 
 main district, with the exception of occasional 
 journeys into Rangoon and Tavoy. 
 
 It is beyond the scope of these personal 
 memoirs to give a detail of these labors. The 
 results may be found briefly summed up in the 
 records of the mission, and in the statistics of 
 the Maulmain Karen mission for 1847. 
 
 In September, 1841, the sister Miranda, al- 
 ready alluded to, joined her brother on the mis- 
 sion field. She was then only twenty-two years 
 of age. For seven years she had hoped and 
 prayed that God would send her to Burmah ; 
 and it was "the happiest day of her life" when 
 she found herself by her brother's side in Maul- 
 main. She at once engaged in the work of 
 teaching, for which she showed marked talent. 
 
 She acquired the language from constant 
 communion with the natives, and continued to 
 use it throughout her life with marked fluency 
 and correctness of idiom. The exceeding sweet- 
 ness of her disposition endeared her to all. 
 
68 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Indeed, she was one of the few in this world 
 who are so blessed as to avoid all carping criti- 
 cism, and to escape the sting of venomous 
 tongues. 
 
 To both Mr. and Mrs. Vinton, her presence, 
 as well as the assistance she rendered, was an 
 unspeakable comfort and joy. During the next 
 twelve years of varied experience, of patient 
 seed-sowing and triumphant harvesting, " Sister 
 Miranda," as the whole mission called her, was 
 the light and joy of the house, a constant bene- 
 diction from on high. 
 
 Of her life and labors we will let those speak 
 who knew her well, and loved her dearly. Mrs. 
 Dr. Binney and Mrs. Dr. Stevens have kindly 
 furnished reminiscences which will be found at 
 the close of this volume. 
 
 To Mr. and Mrs. Vinton three children had 
 been born, — Justus Brainerd in April, 1840; 
 Calistain September, 1841 ; and Harvey Howard 
 in 1846. In 1847 Mrs. Vinton's health failed 
 completely, and it was thought best for her to 
 return to America. The necessity of rest for 
 Mr. Vinton was also apparent ; and, besides, it 
 was deemed advisable to have him return in 
 order to try to awaken anew the missionary 
 spirit and consecration of our churches. 
 
RETURN TO AMERICA. 69 
 
 They set sail in "The Ocean Queen," from 
 Maulmain for the Cape, in the latter part of 
 1847. The voyage to the Cape of Good Hope 
 was perilous ; and in Table Bay the ship was 
 saved from going ashore on Robin Island only 
 when every cable had parted save one. 
 
 At Cape Town the Vintons remained for 
 several months, waiting for a vessel in which 
 they could obtain passage to America. Here 
 Harvey, the youngest child, sickened and died ; 
 and the afflicted parents made his grave in that 
 strange land. 
 
 They obtained passage finally in the ship 
 ** William Shaler," and landed in Boston early 
 in 1848, after fourteen years' absence from 
 home. 
 
JO THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Such let my life be here, 
 Not marked by noise, but by success alone; 
 Not known by bustle, but by useful deeds ; 
 Quiet and gentle, clear and fair as light, 
 Yet full of its all-penetrating power, 
 Its silent but resistless influence ; 
 Making no needless sound, yet ever working, 
 Hour after hour, upon a needy world I " 
 
 The missionary spirit of the American Bap- 
 tist churches in 1848 was at a low ebb. The 
 first enthusiasm of the mission effort had 
 passed away. Dr. Judson's return in 1844 had 
 revived old memories, and to some extent in- 
 creased the contributions ; yet in 1846 the 
 income of the Missionary Union was so small, 
 that the Board were forced to debate as to which 
 of their missions they would relinquish. The 
 society was forty thousand dollars in debt, and 
 the deficit was increasing yearly. 
 
 It was necessary, therefore, that Mr. Vinton 
 should spend most of his time in visiting the 
 churches, and striving to persuade their mem- 
 
VISITING AMERICAN CHURCHES. /I 
 
 bers to do from enthusiasm what they should 
 have done from motives of duty. 
 
 He was accompanied in these journeys by 
 two young Karens, Myah A and Kone Lowk, 
 whom he had brought with him to this country 
 to assist him in translating the Bible into 
 Karen. 
 
 Mr. Vinton's own enthusiasm was contaofious. 
 His fine presence, remarkable ability as a public 
 speaker, and his sweet singing, all contributed 
 to deepen the impression which his earnest 
 words had produced. His singing of " Rock 
 of Ages" both in Karen and in English, and 
 "The Missionary's Call," which latter we print, 
 will never be forgotten by those who heard it. 
 The result of his labors was soon seen in the 
 re-awakening of a mission spirit in the churches, 
 and in the designation of new missionaries to 
 the Asiatic missions. 
 
 Meanwhile Mrs. Vinton, who was still very 
 ill when she arrived in the country, was endeav- 
 oring to rest in her own peculiar way. Though 
 for most of the time an invalid, yet by holding 
 receptions in her sick-room, or by taking ad- 
 vantage of her well days for holding " mothers' 
 meetings " or *' conversation gatherings," she 
 managed to do a wonderful work, the results of 
 
72 
 
 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHANT. 
 
 "^- 
 
 -15'- 
 
 * 
 
 » 
 
 -&- 
 
 1. My soul is not at rest. There 
 
 comes a strange and secret 
 whisper to my .... 
 
 2. Why live I here ? The vows 
 
 of God are 
 
 And I will 
 
 Henceforth, then, it matters 
 not if storm or sunshine be 
 
 my 
 
 And when I come to stretch 
 me for the 
 
 And if one for whom Satan 
 hath struggled as he hath for 
 
 spirit, 
 
 earthly lot, 
 last, . . 
 
 like a dream of . . . 
 
 and I may not slop to 
 play with shadows, or 
 pluck earthly .... 
 I may no longer doubt to 
 give up friends and idol 
 
 bitter or sweet my . , 
 
 in unattended agony,be- 
 neath the cocoa's . . 
 
 should ever reach that 
 blessed 
 
 :=]: 
 
 -^- 
 
 -f2- 
 
 that tells me I am on en- chant 
 till my work have done, 
 
 and rendered 
 
 and evei-v tie that binds 
 
 my heart to ... . thee, . 
 
 I only pray, "God make 
 
 me holy, and my spirit 
 
 nerve for the stern . . hour . 
 
 it will be sweet that I 
 
 toiled for other worlds than 
 
 Oh, how this heart will 
 
 glow with grati - tude and 
 
 VIVACE. Chorus for first five verses. /^ 
 
 -J \ 
 
 ~l 
 
 ed . 
 
 up ac- 
 
 my . 
 
 of . 
 
 ground. 
 
 count. 
 
 country! 
 
 strife!" 
 
 this. 
 
 love! 
 
THE FIVE-FRANC PIECE. 
 
 71 
 
 :tfc 
 
 na-tions," Comes on the night-air, and a - wakes mine ear, 
 
 A-A^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 Chorus for last verse. 
 
 f=f=t 
 
 t=:t 
 
 s 
 
 gas of e - ter-nal years,My spirit never shall re - 
 
 ^ J 
 
 pent That toil and suf-fering once were mine be - low. 
 
 ^s^^^^^p 
 
 which are constantly appearing in the after- 
 history of the mission. 
 
 It was while she was thus *' resting " at the 
 home of Deacon Granger at Suffield, Conn., 
 that the little five-franc piece, which grew to be 
 a chapel, began its labor of love. 
 
 There was living at Suffield a lady by the 
 name of Mary Ann Bestor. She was quite poor. 
 A five-franc piece had been given her, with which 
 
74 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 to purchase a warm dress for winter ; but, desir- 
 ing to contribute something to the cause of mis- 
 sions, she argued in this way : " This money is 
 my own. If I choose to go without the dress, 
 and give the money to the Lord, it is my privi- 
 lege to do so." Still she was so fearful that it 
 would become known, and she be blamed for 
 giving from the depths of her poverty, that she 
 concealed the money in the toe of one of a 
 pair of stockings which she had knit, and, 
 handing them to Myah A, who had visited 
 her, told him to give them to Mrs. Vinton, 
 and tell her that the contents of the toe were 
 for the heathen. 
 
 When Mrs. Vinton learned how poor the 
 donor was, and that she was depriving herself 
 of a warm dress thus to give, her heart was 
 touched, and she said, " This is holy money, and 
 must not go into the general fund." 
 
 That evening, on mentioning it to a friend 
 (believed to have been Deacon Roberts of 
 Hartford), he said, " It is cold weather : Frankie 
 should have a wrapper;" and he handed her a 
 ten-dollar bill, which she wrapped around the 
 five-franc piece ** to keep him warm." The 
 next day another ten-dollar bill was given by 
 Deacon Day of Hartford, *' to buy Frankie an 
 
FRANKIE. 75 
 
 overcoat, as the weather had grown colder." 
 Mrs. Henry P. Kent of Suffield, hearing of the 
 circumstance, said, *' These are stinging nights 
 to sleep alone : Frankie must have a bedfel- 
 low ; " and a five-dollar gold piece was laid by 
 his side.^ 
 
 Mrs. Vinton then said, " If Frankie had a 
 few more wrappers, I would send him to Bos- 
 ton to buy some Bibles for our Karens." So 
 she wrote out " Frankie's " history, and sent it 
 to Dr. Ives, saying, " Are there not some of 
 your members who will clothe Frankie suitably 
 for a journey to the city ? He has a good coat 
 and overcoat, but he sadly wants other articles 
 of clothing." 
 
 Dr. Ives keenly appreciated the wit of the 
 letter, and as keenly sympathized with the mis- 
 sionary spirit that lay beneath the wit. So he 
 read the letter from the pulpit at a Sunday- 
 morning service. Thirty dollars was at once 
 subscribed to " purchase Frankie suitable 
 clothes." The amount, in bank-bills, was 
 handed to Mrs. Vinton ; and she sent off 
 *' Frankie " to Boston, at the same time writ- 
 ing his history to the publisher from whom the 
 Bibles were bought. 
 
 * We are glad to say that the " warm dress " for Miss Bestor 
 was also forthcoming. 
 
76 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 He returned " Frankie " to Mrs. Vinton, and 
 with him so many of his wrappers and coats, 
 &c., that she said, *' I will send him to Phila- 
 delphia, to Dr. Jayne, to buy a box of medi- 
 cines for our Karens." The medicines were 
 purchased, and yet '* Frankie " was still sent 
 back to Mrs. Vinton, with a facetious message 
 from Dr. Jayne. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton said, " Now I'll take him to 
 Mrs. Thompson, and let him buy some eye- 
 water ior our poor Karens, who suffer so much 
 from the glare of the sun." But Mrs. Thomp- 
 son said, " I have been expecting you, and the 
 box is already packed and waiting for you ; but, 
 bless you ! I don't want any of Frankie's wraps. 
 It is too cold weather to strip a little fellow like 
 that." 
 
 Mrs. Vinton then said, ** This money always 
 comes back to me. It is evident that I have 
 not yet found its true mission ; but it shall yet 
 do a good work for Burmah." 
 
 Just at this time Mr. Vinton returned from a 
 tour among the churches, and she told him 
 " Frankie's " story. He said, after hearing it, 
 '• I too have had a donation which has touched 
 my heart. At Norwich, a Mrs. Chapell came 
 to me, and tearfully said, handing me a little 
 
FRANK S CHAPEL. JJ 
 
 roll of money, * This belonged to my poor boy. 
 I cannot put it into the general fund ; but will 
 you, Mr. Vinton, take it, and apply it to some 
 special purpose .-* * " 
 
 Mrs. Vinton at once said, *' That, too, is holy 
 money. It will do to go with my Frankie ; " 
 and, struck with the coincidence of the names 
 and of the thought which had been for years in 
 her mind, she exclaimed, — 
 
 " This money shall build a house for the 
 Lord in Burmah, and it shall be called Frank's 
 Chap el y 
 
 The story with its singular incidents was 
 repeated by one and another ; and Mrs. Vinton's 
 purpose was freely spoken of, though, we be- 
 lieve never put into print. 
 
 Money soon began to flow in from many 
 sources, designated for " Frank's Chapel." 
 After a few months Mrs. Vinton visited Phila- 
 delphia. Here some friends said, ** We often 
 visit Burmah in imagination ; and when we 
 reach there we are tired enough to sit down. 
 May we not rejit pews in Frank's Chapel } " 
 
 " Certainly," was the reply. So a plan of a 
 church was drawn, and as fast as sittings were 
 taken, the names of the pew^holders were writ- 
 ten upon it. 
 
78 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Ministers who contributed had their names 
 written on the platform. The enthusiasm be- 
 came general in Philadelphia churches ; and 
 soon nearly all the seats were taken, and a con- 
 venient communion-service was presented. 
 
 From Philadelphia Mrs. Vinton went to Cin- 
 cinnati, O. The people there said to her, " Why ! 
 you have rented all your pews, and we Western 
 people are crowded out." So they drew a 
 larger plan, and transferred the Eastern names 
 to it, and began renting pews themselves. 
 
 All through the West this same enthusiasm 
 prevailed. 
 
 In Cincinnati the Odd Fellows presented a 
 large and beautifully bound pulpit Bible, with a 
 suitable inscription. 
 
 A fine-toned bell was presented in one place, 
 pulpit-lamps in another, and a communion-table 
 in a third ; and until her departure from this 
 country Mrs. Vinton received contributions for 
 the building-fund. 
 
 In July, 1850, the Missionary Union sent out 
 one of the largest companies of missionaries 
 which ever sailed from these shores. The com- 
 pany comprised fourteen missionaries, Dr. and 
 Mrs. Wade, Dr. and Mrs. Kincaid, Dr. and Mrs. 
 Ward (of Assam), Mr. and Mrs. Whiting, Dr. 
 
RETURN VOYAGE TO INDIA. 79 
 
 Dawson (medical missionary), Miss Shaw, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Vinton, Mr. and Mrs. Bronson. They 
 embarked in " The Washington Allston." By 
 the time they reached the Cape of Good Hope, 
 Mrs. Vinton and Mrs. Kincaid had become so ex- 
 hausted by the fearful hardships of the voyage 
 in an ill-found ship, that they left the ship, 
 and took passage (together with Dr. Kincaid) on 
 the English ship *• Tudor," for Calcutta. The 
 voyage to Cape Town occupied eighty-nine days, 
 and was a scene of continued suffering. From 
 Cape Town to Calcutta the voyage on **The 
 Tudor" occupied only sixty-eight days, and was 
 an exceedingly pleasant contrast to that which 
 preceded it. Mr. Vinton remained on *'The 
 Allston " until the voyage was completed, 
 though he suffered severely from sickness, and 
 landed in Maulmain in an enfeebled state, from 
 which it was months ere he recovered. But we 
 must not dwell upon these sad occurrences. 
 There is much that is pleasant which may well 
 occupy our attention. 
 
 No sooner had Mrs. Vinton spoken, in Maul- 
 main, of her desire to build " Frank's Chapel," 
 than she found all the friends of the mission 
 just as ready to aid in the work as had been 
 
So THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the brethren in America. The English friends 
 joined with the Karens in their desire to con- 
 tribute, and soon a goodly sum of money was 
 collected. Some of these contributions were 
 accompanied with facetious messages, as were 
 the American ones. An English officer sends 
 two hundred rupees with the message, "In 
 America they gave money to keep Frankie 
 warm: in view of the high state of the ther- 
 mometer, I send this to keep him cool." An- 
 other sends one hundred rupees "for legs for 
 Frankie to stand on," alluding to the custom of 
 building houses on posts in Burmah. One offi- 
 cer alone (Gen. Russell) gave one thousand 
 rupees. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton supposed herself on the point 
 of realizing her wish, — which was to build 
 the chapel at the Karen mission-compound in 
 Maulmain (which was called " Newton "), — 
 when unexpected difficulties occurred. She did 
 not know then that these "difficulties" were all 
 part of God's plan. 
 
 The Lord was about to open at last the Pegu 
 provinces to the gospel of Christ ; and Ran- 
 goon, instead of Maulmain, was to become the 
 centre of mission effort in Burmah, and the 
 
A NEW FIELD, 8 1 
 
 field where the Vintons were henceforth to 
 labor, where they were to reap even more abun- 
 dantly than they had ever yet done, and where 
 they were to die and to be buried. 
 
82 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Go, labor on : your hands are weak, 
 
 Your knees are faint, your soul cast down ; 
 Yet falter not : the prize you seek 
 Is near, — a kingdom and a crown I 
 
 " Men die in darkness at your side. 
 
 Without a hope to cheer the tomb; 
 Take up the torch, and wave it wide, — 
 
 The torch that lights time's thickest gloom." 
 
 Mr. Vinton had made frequent journeys into 
 the Rangoon district between the years 1836 
 and 1847; and he had baptized many who had 
 joyfully accepted of Christ, even though they 
 knew that stripes, imprisonments, and perhaps 
 death, awaited them if their idolatrous rulers 
 discovered that they were "Jesus Christ's 
 men." 
 
 Ko-tha-byu and Mr. Abbott had sowed good 
 seed among the Rangoon Karens ; and, in spite 
 of opposition, little churches had sprung up in 
 many places. 
 
 Almost every year Mrs. Vinton had pupils in 
 
SCHOOLS. 83 
 
 her school in Maulmain, who had con'.e over 
 two hundred miles, threading the forests by- 
 night, not daring to travel by day, for the sake 
 of learning to read God's word in their own 
 lano^uas^e. This desire to read " God's word," 
 by the way, was a remarkable characteristic of 
 the Karens ; and it was this which was the 
 secret of those educational movements which 
 were so misunderstood, not to say misrepre- 
 sented, in America. It took American Chris- 
 tians thirty years to learn that a Karen would 
 not take his knowledge of the gospel at second 
 hand, but insisted upon his right to be taught 
 by missionary schools to read in his own tongue 
 "the long-lost law of his God." 
 
 When the pupils who came through so many 
 dangers to obtain this coveted knowledge re- 
 turned to their homes at the close of the rainy 
 season, they carried with them, secreted in 
 their turbans, a copy of the Gospels or of the 
 Epistles. They knew, that, if found in pos- 
 session of the "white man's book," a certain 
 and cruel death awaited them at the hands of 
 their Burman oppressors. 
 
 Truly "they counted not their lives dear unto 
 them," that they might possess God's truth. 
 
 The unwritten, and, alas ! now never to be 
 
84 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 written, martyrology of those years of woe, has 
 furnished the names of many who were sent to 
 terrible death for this cause, while others were 
 tortured to the extreme verge of endurance, yet 
 were faithful to their God. Yet, while these 
 dark scenes were occurring in the Karen jun- 
 gles, American Christians were generalizing in 
 annual meetings upon the exact status of the 
 missionary and his wife, and gravely doubting 
 whether he was not assuming altogether too 
 m uch 7'esponsibility. ^ 
 
 The portions of Scripture thus carried back 
 by the pupils were secreted in the earth during 
 the day ; but at night, while a guard stood 
 around the house to give warning of approach- 
 ing danger, they were drawn from their hiding- 
 places, and read to eager listeners. 
 
 How sweetly did the message of salvation fall 
 upon the still night air ! and how consoling to 
 those poor despised "Karen dogs," — as the 
 Burmans were wont to call them, — to learn that 
 God had remembered the Karens, and sent 
 them back the long-lost law of their God ! How 
 
 * I shall never forget the thrill with which T listened to 
 the recital, by an aged Christian of the Rangoon district, of the 
 terrible torture which he had himself endured, and which he 
 had witnessed, during these dark years. — R. M. Luther. 
 
PRAYING FOR WAR. 85 
 
 gladly did they hear of a redemption purchased 
 not with silver and gold, but with the precious 
 blood of Christ ! and what wonder that these 
 same Rangoon Karens went cheerfully to prison, 
 to slavery, to torture, to death, even the death 
 of the cross? 
 
 One day Mrs. Vinton, in Maulmain, was 
 startled by the inquiry, " Mamma, is it wrong to 
 pray for war ? " Such a question from the peace- 
 loving, submissive Karens, was astounding. 
 
 " Why ? " was the cautious reply. 
 
 "Because we are tired of being hunted like 
 wild beasts ; of being obliged to worship God 
 by night and in the forest, not daring to speak 
 of Jesus, save in a whisper. O mamma ! may 
 we not pray that the English may come and 
 take our country, so that we may worship God 
 in freedom and without fear ? " 
 
 "Yes, you may!" she answered; and from 
 that day that one petition made a part of every 
 prayer which went up from the hundreds of per- 
 secuted Christians ; and they looked for the 
 coming of the English guns, and for the protec- 
 tion which the English flag had ever brought 
 with it, as earnestly as they had looked for the 
 coming of their "younger brother, the white 
 man." 
 
86 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 In 1852 the English government, weary with 
 the repeated outrages upon English residents 
 in the Burmese dominions, sent an armed vessel 
 from Calcutta to Rangoon to inquire into the 
 causes of complaint, and to demand redress 
 from the Burmese governor. 
 
 At that time the annexation of the country 
 had not been thought of by the English govern- 
 ment. They had not come prepared for war : 
 all that was demanded was, that an equivalent 
 for certain confiscated property of English resi- 
 dents should be paid, and a guaranty given 
 that in future the foreign residents should be 
 unmolested, and the provisions of the treaty of 
 1827 should be observed. 
 
 Great was the joy of the Karens when the 
 news spread that the English had come ; and 
 earnest prayers were offered that God would 
 blind the Burmans to their own interests, and 
 prevent them from acceding to the very reason- 
 able demands of the English. What was their 
 dismay when told that the steamer had gone 
 quietly out of Rangoon harbor without firing a 
 gun, and that they were still left under the 
 iron heel of their oppressors ! 
 
 But the little " Sesostris " came back one day, 
 — Bot alone, however. There were "The Fox," 
 
A nation's deliverance. Sy 
 
 "The Duchess of Argyle," "The Nemesis" 
 (well-named, this latter vessel, for she had come 
 as the avenger of a long list of black crimes 
 against humanity). 
 
 Had we stood on the old pier at Rangoon, 
 and seen two or three poorly-clad natives, with 
 passive faces, gazing off into the stream, where 
 lay anchored a portion of the "Majesty of 
 England," we would have supposed that of all 
 Rangoon they cared least for the grave political 
 problems which had been perplexing two gov- 
 ernments. 
 
 Bur had we seen the same men, stealing 
 quietly out of the city at nightfall, passing 
 stealthily under the shadow of the mighty 
 Shway Da-gong, and plunging into the track- 
 less jungle which lay behind the great pa- 
 goda, hastening to the first Karen village, and 
 arousing the head men, — then passing rapidly 
 by paths known only to themselves, and warn- 
 ing the scattered hamlets along the Pegu 
 Yomah Mountains, — we would have realized 
 the truth that an oppressed people were about 
 to be delivered, and that the coming of the 
 English fleet was recognized as the answer to a 
 nation's prayer. 
 
 So soon as the ultimatum of the English 
 
88 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 authorities in Calcutta — the Governor-general 
 and Council of the East India Company — was 
 received by the Burmans, preparations were 
 made for resistance. The old fortifications in 
 the vicinity of Rangoon had fallen into disre- 
 pair ; but the Burmans began rebuilding the 
 immense stockade around Shway Da-gong, and 
 erecting batteries at various points on the river- 
 bank, and on the crests of the low hills near 
 the city. 
 
 As in former wars, the Karens were compelled 
 to leave their homes to work on the fortifica- 
 tions, to build bridges, and to cut roads through 
 the pathless forest, and were even driven at the 
 point of the spear into the ranks to fight against 
 their deliverers. The Burmans, however, soon 
 found that it was no use to attempt to make the 
 Karens fight. Not a bullet from a Karen musket 
 ever reached the English ranks. The Karens 
 either fired into the air, and deserted in a body 
 to the enemy, or else fell, pierced by the bullets 
 of the men for whose coming they had so ear- 
 nestly prayed.' 
 
 * After one of the skirmishes in front of Rangoon, the 
 English troops sent out to bury the dead found a number 
 of Karens among the killed. Upon their breasts were found 
 copies of the Gospels, or fragments of the Epistles, revealing 
 the fact that they were Christians. 
 
BURMESE BOASTING. 89 
 
 Before hostilities began, the Burmans made 
 light of the coming of the English. They 
 would whet their knives before the Karens, and 
 perform their war-dances, and say, "We will soon 
 drive these pale-faces back into the sea whence 
 they came. They have no strength, and one 
 Burman can drive a hundred of the coward red- 
 coats. They took Rangoon once before, but 
 they gave it up again. You will soon see their 
 ships returning, or else sunk deep in the river ; 
 and then we will make these Karen dogs feel 
 our vengeance. They want the English to 
 come ; and, when we have driven their white 
 friends forever from the country, we will attend 
 to them. We will flay them alive, roast them 
 over slow fires, and none shall deliver them out 
 of our hands." 
 
 They talked loudly, but ran away at the first 
 fire, save when they were sheltered by stockades 
 or the curiously shaped pits in which they in- 
 trenched themselves. After some of the fights 
 dead gunners were found chained to the guns, 
 a happy expedient to keep them from deserting 
 in action. One post after another fell before 
 the English, one hastily gathered army after 
 another was defeated, and successive generals 
 were beheaded '' pour encourager les autres ;'' but 
 
90 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the only effect on the Burmans was to increase 
 their rage against the Karens, whom they re- 
 garded as the cause of all their misfortunes. 
 
 They burned their villages and standing 
 crops ; they pounded the children to death in 
 rice-mortars, or threw them into the air, and 
 caught them, as they fell, upon spears ; they 
 tied women to the horns of buffaloes, and tore 
 them limb from limb ; they cut men to pieces, 
 slowly hacking them to death through succes- 
 sive days. They even, with devilish ingenuity, 
 crucified some Christian Karens, and, fastening 
 the crosses on rafts, set them adrift upon the 
 river, that they might be tortured in their intol- 
 erable thirst by the sight of the cooling stream. 
 Some of these unfortunates drifted down to the 
 English fleet before death put an end to their 
 sufferings. English surgeons did all that was 
 possible to save them, but in vain. 
 
 Tidings of these intolerable sufferings soon 
 reached Maulmain ; and Mr. Vinton, yielding 
 alike to the agonizing cry of the seventeen 
 Karen churches in Rangoon, the beseeching of 
 Eugenio Kincaid, and the unanimous solicita- 
 tions of the missionaries in Maulmain, went at 
 once to Rangoon. Had he waited the six 
 
DEFENCE OF MR. VINTON. 9I 
 
 months which would have been necessary to 
 refer the call of the Rangoon Karens to the 
 Board of the Missionary, Union in Boston, and 
 to have received their formal authorization of 
 his transfer, he would have escaped the condem- 
 nation of those who afterward blamed him for 
 having *' acted on his own responsibility;" but 
 what was the man to do ? 
 
 More than this : four months previous a joint 
 letter, signed by Eugenio Kincaid, Dr. Dawson, 
 and Mr. Vinton, had been sent to Boston to the 
 Missionary Union, urging the vital importance 
 of Mr. Vinton's remaining in Rangoon, where 
 he was then on a hurried visit in company with 
 his sister, the devoted Miranda Vinton. This 
 was before hostilities began. If, in the judgment 
 of such a man as Dr. Kincaid, it was necessary 
 that Mr. Vinton should take up his residence in 
 Rangoon at that date, how much more was this 
 necessary when the poor Karen Christians were 
 being rent and torn, and when according to 
 Mr. Kincaid's published letter of April, 1857, 
 " three natwe preachers had already been cruci- 
 fiedy and five thousand refugee Karens were 
 living in carts and under trees within seven 
 miles of Rangoon, while all the strong, efficient 
 
92 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 men were from ten to fifteen miles farther in- 
 land, holding the Burman forces in check " ! ^ 
 
 When Mr. Vinton arrived in Rangoon, he 
 found the Burmese part of the city in ruins. 
 The wells and tanks were choked with dead 
 bodies. Under the ruins of each native house 
 was to be seen a deep pit. These had been 
 prepared as hiding-places for the women and 
 children during the bombardment. When the 
 city was set on fire by the shells, the sight of 
 shrieking women and children rushing through 
 the flames was described by the survivors as 
 horrible in the extreme. 
 
 Mr. Vinton and Mr. Kincaid obtained per- 
 mission to occupy two deserted monasteries 
 inside of the stockade ; and, six weeks after the 
 capture of the city, their families came over 
 from Maulmain. 
 
 As soon as it was rumored abroad that 
 " Teacher Vinton " had come, the refugees who 
 bad been driven from their burning homes, 
 with nothing but the clothes they wore, and 
 who had been living secreted in the forests 
 and jungles, subsisting upon roots and herbs 
 
 * E. Kincaid, D.D., April, 1857. He says also, in the same 
 letter, " Every Karen village within fifty miles of Rangoon was 
 burned, ?in4 their stores of rice either seized or destroyed." 
 
A BURMAN ZAYAT. 
 
 93 
 
CARE FOR THE SICK. 95 
 
 and what game they could trap, came crowding 
 into the city. 
 
 They filled the monasteries in which the Vin- 
 tons v/ere, and camped out under the trees on 
 the slope in front of Shway Dagong. 
 
 They brought with them almost every ima- 
 ginable disease ; and the cases of small-pox 
 increased in number so rapidly, that it soon 
 became necessary for Mr. Vinton to build a hos- 
 pital for them. With the self-forgetfulness so 
 characteristic of both himself and wife, this 
 hospital was placed close to their own house, 
 ** so that we could better care for the cases which 
 needed us most,'' Mrs. Vinton simply said. Her 
 first duty in the morning was to make the 
 rounds of the various buildings and shelters, 
 administering medicine to the sick, consolation 
 to the bereaved, and infusing new courage into 
 the hearts of the poor, homeless, dispirited 
 creatures who looked on her as an angel of 
 deliverance. 
 
 A letter written at this time to friends in 
 Woodstock, Conn., will give a better idea of 
 the scenes of this sad time than any descrip- 
 tion of ours : — 
 
 " Let me introduce to you a few of my suffering fam- 
 ily. 
 
96 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " In the next room to us lies Lai-nyo, he and his fam- 
 ily all sick with measles. He has been employed in our 
 Maulmain mission for several years ; and, as both he and 
 his wife were educated under our care, they seem to us 
 like our own children. 
 
 " They must have something to eat and some medi- 
 cine when we come back ; but w^e must now step into 
 another building, about ten feet from the corner of our 
 house. 
 
 " There, nearest the door, lies a poor woman sick with 
 small-pox. She is one of four thousand refugees who 
 have been driven from their homes, and have been hid- 
 ing in the jungle, sleeping on the ground, exposed to the 
 burning heat by day and the dews by night, for three or 
 four months. When she found she was taken with this 
 dreadful disease, she said, ' Carry me to the woman. I 
 will die with her, if I am to die ; and, if I get well, I will 
 get well with her.' 
 
 " She was brought in five or six days ago ; but, poor 
 thing ! she will soon be where the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and the weary are at rest. Behind her lie her 
 two daughters, ill with the same disease ; but they have 
 youth on their side, and may recover. The husband and 
 father helped to bring them in, but had to return at once 
 to the encampment to take care of another daughter 
 who was too ill to be moved. 
 
 " There in the corner lies one of our most promising 
 theological students. He was taken with small-pox at 
 Kemmendine, and brought in ten days ago. A few 
 hours after he reached us he heard that his mother and 
 grandmother had been seized by the Burmans, and most 
 cruelly put to death, some say crucified. 
 
DEATH OF PAH-YAH. 9/ 
 
 " But let us go and speak to him. Perhaps you never 
 saw one sick with small-pox. If not, make up your mind 
 to see sujffering. As we pull up the curtains which are 
 over him to keep the flies off, — oh, what a stench ! A 
 mass of corruption from head to foot ! There is not a 
 place as large as the hand which is not one running sore. 
 The doctor says he cannot live. About two hours ago 
 I came out here to urge him to take some food. 
 
 " I said, ' What will you have ? ' 
 
 " ' Nothing,' was the reply. 
 
 " ' But I have some nice sago and arrowroot ; or, if 
 you prefer, I will get you a cup of tea and some bread.' 
 
 " ' No, no : I want neither.' 
 
 " ' How is your mind ? ' 
 
 " ' Happy, happy ! ' 
 
 " ' What is your chief desire ?' 
 
 " ' To get well, and preach the gospel ; but all will be 
 right now. If I die, I will go directly to Jesus. If I 
 live, I will serve him here.' 
 
 " ' Is your heart steadfastly fixed on God ? ' 
 
 " ' // is all peace^ is the answer. Yes, precious soul, 
 all is peace within, notwithstanding this loathsome ex- 
 terior. Jesus is here, the hope of glory. If there are 
 missionary trials, there are also missionary joys ; and 
 what can exceed the joy of seeing a soul like this plum- 
 ing its wings for heaven ! True, we are loath to part 
 with him. We need him to preach the gospel to his 
 countrymen throughout the jungle. Our only ordained 
 preacher is dead, and the last two of the assistants, and 
 now we must part with meek and lovely Pah-yah. 
 
 " Well, we will go on to the girls' boarding-house. It 
 is a poor, rickety thing. You must stoop to get under 
 
98 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the low eaves, and then take a high step to reach the 
 floor. 
 
 " Just by the door lies a whole family of refugees, sick 
 with the measles, and one has whooping-cough super- 
 added. The father can just sit up, and lean his back 
 against a post. He is watching his wife, who is suffer- 
 img for want of breath. 
 
 " The measles have struck in upon her lungs, and she 
 cannot live many hours. Her babe lies crying by her 
 side, sick for want of food and care ; for its mother has 
 not been able to nurse it for two days. 
 
 " Next to her lies the one having both measles and 
 whooping-cough. In the corner lies the oldest son, just 
 recovering from measles ; but he is suffering from oph- 
 thalmia, and is almost stone-blind. 
 
 " Another daughter lies in the next room, sick with 
 dysentery, yet crying for a plantain. Near her is a 
 widow, whose husband has just died with cholera, leav- 
 ing her with four little children. They have all had the 
 measles and small-pox, and are wasted to mere skeletons. 
 
 " On beyond are several houses yet unvisited ; but I 
 spare you. You are not yet accustomed to so much 
 suffering, and you shudder at it." 
 
 After speaking at some length of the recep- 
 tion that same day of a box of clothing from 
 the ladies to vi^hom she was writing, and after 
 thanking them for their generous gifts, she 
 says : — 
 
 ^^ Evening. — We are seated around the table with 
 brother Kincaid and family. The opening of a box from 
 
DEATH OF PAH-YAH. 99 
 
 America is a matter of so much rejoicing that we have 
 to call in our neighbors to be glad with us. But, alas ! 
 where is rejoicing? One has come in to tell us that the 
 poor woman's freed spirit has soared above. After tea 
 we open a bundle of precious books from America. We 
 read and talk of home. Our feelings are tender ; but 
 another messenger comes to tell us that the other woman 
 has ceased to breathe, and her child cannot live long ; 
 also that Pah-yah cannot speak. 
 
 " Mr. Vinton hastens out to him, but he is insensible. 
 We separate for the night with sad hearts. 
 
 '"'' Sunday mortiing. — The sun has risen, bright and 
 cheerful, but, alas ! its cheerful light falls on sad faces. 
 
 " About midnight Pah-yah became stronger, called his 
 friends around him, and said, ' Let me serve God until 
 the last moment.' 
 
 " He then gave directions about his funeral, how he 
 wished to be bathed, laid out in clean clothes, and buried. 
 
 " ' And now,' said he, ' let us pray.' As the prayer 
 ceased, he was asleep in Jesus. Oh, what a happy sab- 
 bath to him ! 
 
 " He has met a martyred mother and grandmother in 
 the presence of the Lamb. 
 
 " The child also died in the night, and all four are to 
 be buried to-day. 
 
 " Tuesday. — Lai-nyo's child died to-day, and we have 
 just buried it. It seemed like a grandchild to me, but 
 it has gone to sleep on Jesus' breast. While at break- 
 fast this morning, we saw a man carried by the door to 
 the hospital. It is a bad case, and somewhat advanced, 
 and I fear will result fatally ; but we must try and smooth 
 his pathway to the grave. 
 
100 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " Every account from the jungles is one of suffering 
 and sorrow. Our feelings are continually lacerated by 
 the tales of how the Burmans are robbing, plundering, 
 burning, and destroying the whole country. The Karens 
 are truly in the furnace of affliction, but our Father 
 guides^ 
 
 The foregoing gives a little glimpse of a part, 
 and but a small part, of the Vintons' labors 
 during the first year of their residence in Ran- 
 goon. Mrs. Vinton had a large school of some 
 two hundred pupils during most of this time. 
 In it were gathered old men and women for 
 whom spectacles had to be purchased, mothers 
 with babes in their arms, fathers and sons sit- 
 ting on the same bench, learning to read the 
 word of God ; and all listened to the message 
 of salvation with all the more readiness, be- 
 cause it came from those who had proved their 
 sincerity by feeding the hungry, sheltering the 
 homeless, caring for the sick and dying, and 
 providing for the orphan and widow. 
 
 Not a Sunday passed without baptisms. 
 Scarcely a day but what companies came in 
 from the jungles, some for books and medicine, 
 many for advice and consolation ; and to all was 
 the gospel preached in faithfulness. That was 
 a glorious harvest-time ; and though they had 
 
DR. KINCAID S LETTER. lOI 
 
 never worked so hard, or passed through such 
 soul-harrowing scenes, literally weeping with 
 those who wept until they almost forgot how to 
 smile or be glad, yet Mr. Vinton in after-years 
 often said, " I would go through it all again for 
 the joy of seeing souls come flocking into the 
 kingdom, and for the opportunities we then had 
 of doing good." 
 
 Dr. Kincaid, in a letter written about the 
 same time, and published in 1857, says : — 
 
 " The Lord rolled on us an amount of labor never 
 known by us before. The peoples' hearts were softened 
 like wax. The arm of the Lord was made bare, and the 
 gospel wrought mightily upon the people. We had Pen- 
 costal seasons almost every week, preaching daily and 
 every evening, male and female prayer-meetings every 
 week, baptizing converts every sabbath, hundreds cured 
 of diseases. 
 
 " During the rains two hundred and fifty Karens 
 learned to read the word of God, who could not read 
 before. Over thirty young men received biblical instruc- 
 tion preparatory to labor in the distant villages, some as 
 preachers, some as school-teachers. 
 
 " Such was our work, but not all. Thousands were 
 suffering in all parts of the country ; and they could go 
 nowhere for advice and sympathy except to us, their 
 teachers. No others could understand their language ; 
 no others could feel for them. Before the rains were 
 over, a new Burmese army, under the command of the 
 
102 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 king's father-in-law, and numbering fifteen thousand 
 strong, had fortified themselves in Pegu. Detachments 
 of three or four hundred in a body were ravaging the 
 country. . . . Many disciples had fallen by the cruel 
 dagger of the Burman, or had been sold into slavery. 
 . . . Some five thousand families living in carts had 
 come within eight miles of Rangoon to escape from the 
 Burmans. . . . We visited these refugees in the wilder- 
 ness. We found large numbers of our disciples, and 
 their thankfulness to see us and hear us was deeply 
 affecting. 
 
 " They asked Mr. Vinton to sing and pray with them. 
 Such an assembly is rarely seen." 
 
 Steadily did the little English army advance, 
 taking town after town and fort after fort, all 
 the time offering to treat with their proud and 
 scornful enemies whenever they should show 
 any desire to come to terms. 
 
 It was not, however, until Ava, the ** City 
 of the Golden Foot," was threatened, that the 
 king would yield. A treaty was made, and peace 
 proclaimed ; but it was long ere peace came to 
 the harassed and persecuted Karens. Indeed, 
 it seemed for a time as if matters were worse 
 than during the war ; for detachments of the 
 disbanded Burman army were flying in every 
 direction ; and wherever they went they left 
 nothing behind them but smoking villages and 
 
REMOVAL TO KEMMENDINE. IO3 
 
 mutilated bodies of the dead. In the vicinity 
 of Rangoon, robberies and murders were of 
 nightly occurrence. 
 
 Shortly after peace was declared, it became 
 necessary for the Vintons to leave the ruined 
 old monastery which had so far sheltered them ; 
 and they moved to a beautiful spot two miles 
 from the stockade, where Mr. Vinton com- 
 menced putting up buildings for the accommo- 
 dation -of his family and of the large school 
 which followed him to his new home. 
 
 The removal was necessitated by an order 
 from the English government, compelling the 
 vacating of all the religious buildings which had 
 been occupied during the war. 
 
 With the increased accommodation Mrs. Vin- 
 ton's school increased in numbers ; and she soon 
 had competent teachers trained, not only to 
 lighten her own daily labors, but to take charge 
 of the village schools which were springing up 
 wherever the country was sufficiently quiet for 
 the Karens to return to their homes. 
 
 Great anxiety was expressed by the English 
 friends of the mission at its removal so far from 
 the fort as to Kemmendine ; and fears were 
 freely expressed that they would all be found 
 murdered in their beds : but the " arrow by day 
 
I04 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 and the terror by night " came not near them. 
 We doubt if there was a man in Burmah who 
 would lift his hand against Mr. Vinton, so much 
 was he revered and beloved, both by Karens and 
 Burmans. 
 
 After a time, the new buildings at Kemmen- 
 dine being completed, the work of the mission 
 began to move on with system and regularity; 
 and the prospect was, that a few months would 
 behold the country tranquillized, and the great- 
 est obstacles to jungle-work removed. For a 
 short time the hearts of the faithful missiona- 
 ries exulted in the prospect of an extension of 
 the special work of preaching the gospel in the 
 regions newly opened to the truth. These 
 hopes, however, were destined to a sad revul- 
 sion. 
 
FAMINE. 105 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Go, labor on : 'tis not for nought ; 
 Thy earthly loss is heavenly gain ; 
 Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not: 
 The Master praises — what are men ? " 
 
 A NEW trial was coming upon the devoted 
 Karens. They had endured war and pestilence : 
 now famine, with all its attendant horror, stared 
 them in the face. Their stores of rice had been 
 burned or stolen, their cattle had been driven 
 off, and they had neither seed to sow nor buffa- 
 loes to till the fields. The country had been so 
 pillaged and laid waste, that both Burmans and 
 Karens began to feel the scarcity of food. 
 Ship-loads of rice came from Calcutta, and it 
 was sold for six and seven times the usual price. 
 Those who had money bought ; but there were 
 thousands who had lost all by robbers, especially 
 among the Karens. Thousands had eaten their 
 last meal of rice, and were subsisting on wild 
 roots and herbs. 
 
 As children look to their parents for counsel 
 
I06 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 and assistance, so had the Karens, both Chris- 
 tian and heathen, learned to look to Mr. Vinton ; 
 and they came to him in this new trial. 
 
 He commenced giving out the little store of 
 rice which he had laid in for the school. This 
 was soon exhausted, and he procured a few 
 hundred bushels more. But the news spread 
 that there was rice at Teacher Vinton's ; and 
 the people began coming in companies, be- 
 seeching him for food for their starving families. 
 The tales of suffering and woe which they 
 brought were heart-sickening. Stalwart men, 
 emaciated from want, and weary and dusty from 
 the long journey, bearing in their skinny arms 
 the basket or bag to contain the rice they hoped 
 to receive, came beseeching aid. 
 
 Some fell fainting at Mr. Vinton's door, and 
 must be carried in and carefully fed back to life, 
 little by little, until sufficiently strong to ven- 
 ture on the return journey. It was worth some- 
 thing to see the eagerness and joy with which 
 they started for their homes, carrying with 
 them the precious treasure that should bring 
 back life and vigor to the wasted forms of wife 
 and children, lying helpless and ready to die, in 
 the desolate dwellings far away. Soon the sec- 
 ond store of rice was exhausted. Meantime the 
 
FAMINE. 107 
 
 people were dying in the streets ; and every 
 morning the authorities sent out to collect and 
 bury the dead.' 
 
 Any one supposed to possess a secret store 
 of rice was murdered in order to obtain it. A 
 man who lived not half a mile from the mission 
 premises was set upon one night, was tortured 
 until he told where he had hid the little rice he 
 had saved, and then, with fiendish cruelty, the 
 robbers forced the dry grain down his throat, 
 filled his nose and ears with it, and finally drove 
 a sharp stake down the throat quite through 
 the body, and left him to die. The people in 
 the adjoining houses heard the cries and 
 screams ; but, in that dreadful time of terror, 
 none dared to interfere. At one time more 
 than thirty government boats, laden with com- 
 missariat stores, were cut off by a band of 
 robbers. Even an armed mail-boat had been 
 captured by robbers, and the boatmen killed, 
 and the mails rifled. 
 
 Mr. Vinton had given out the last bushel of 
 rice he had in store, and still there were thou- 
 sands of suffering Karens who did not know 
 where to look for their next meal. He was not 
 the man to stand helplessly wringing his hands, 
 
 * Dr. Kincaid. 
 
I08 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 while people were starving to death before his 
 eyes. So soon as the last of the rice in store 
 was exhausted, he went down to the rice-mer- 
 chants and said, *' Will you trust me for a ship- 
 load of rice ? I cannot pay you now, and I do 
 not know when I can pay you ; for I have re- 
 ceived no remittance from America for over a 
 year. I cannot see this people die before my 
 eyes. If you let me have the rice, I will pay 
 you as soon as I am able." They answered, — 
 
 "Mr. Vinton, take all the rice you want. 
 Your word is all the security we want. You 
 can have a dozen cargoes if you wish." 
 
 He filled his granaries and outbuildings with 
 rice ; and the work of distribution went on. 
 At first he supplied only Christians, and tried 
 to keep a regular account of the amounts given 
 out; but he found that he could not turn a 
 starving man away because he happened to be 
 a heathen ; and, as the applicants increased so 
 rapidly, it was useless to attempt to keep a 
 record, and he gave freely to all who came. 
 
 Some of his friends became alarmed and said, 
 " Mr. Vinton, you are ruining yourself. You 
 do not know the names of one half the people 
 to whom you are giving this rice. How do you 
 expect to get your pay .'* " 
 
THOUSANDS CONVERTED, lOQ 
 
 His answer was, '' God will see to that." 
 And He did see to it. Every cent of the money- 
 expended was refunded ; and the interest of that 
 money was laid up in heaven in the jewels that 
 now deck his crown of rejoicing. It is doubtful 
 if, at the time, even he recognized the impor- 
 tance of this work of love. It was not till after 
 the famine was over, and he went out among 
 the people, that he found that that one act had 
 opened the hearts of the heathen to receive the 
 message which he brought, as nothing else 
 could have done. They gathered around him 
 in crowds. They brought their wives and chil- 
 dren to look upon their deliverer. They said, 
 "This is the man who saved our lives, and the 
 lives of our little ones : his religion is the one 
 we want." In the excess of their joy and grati- 
 tude, he had difficulty in preventing some of the 
 heathen from worshipping him. That was a 
 blessed reaping-time. Thousands were baptized, 
 churches were organized, chapels and school- 
 houses were built, and the hearts of both Bur- 
 mans and Karens were turned toward God 
 as never before. 
 
 The Maulmain churches which he had plant- 
 ed during eighteen years of labor, mourned his 
 absence ; but they rejoiced that the Rangoon 
 
no THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Karens, who had waded through such bloody 
 persecution, had such a leader and helper. 
 To-day, though he has been in his heavenly 
 home more than twenty years, the name of 
 Justus Hatch Vinton is a talisman through 
 the jungles of all that country. The Karens 
 speak it with moistened eyes and bated breath : 
 they still say, in hushed tones, ''He saved our 
 lives r 
 
 We have no desire to revive old disputes 
 which have long been settled by the logic of 
 events, nor to re-awaken differences which have 
 disappeared in the light of "that City which hath 
 no need of the sun by day, nor of the moon by 
 night;" but simple justice to the memory of 
 this man of God requires that we should point 
 out the coincidence in point of time between 
 these remarkably successful and self-denying 
 labors for Christ and suffering humanity, and 
 the passing of that vote of censure which re- 
 sulted in the severance of his connection with 
 the society of which he had been for more than 
 twenty years a faithful servant. 
 
 His justification has come sooner than he 
 expected. The present wise, temperate, and 
 enlightened policy of the Missionary Union, 
 which has borne such wonderful fruits during 
 
CENSURE FROM BRETHREN. Ill 
 
 the past few years, is far more aggressive than 
 the measures which Justus Vinton even con- 
 templated, and for attempting which he was so 
 severely censured by some of his brethren of 
 that day. 
 
 It has been said that every wholly conse- 
 crated life must have its Calvary ; and this, 
 perhaps, may explain why God not only ac- 
 cepted the heartfelt consecration of his life and 
 labors, to which reference is so frequently made 
 in his letters of that period, but added yet the 
 heavier cross of misconstruction, and led him 
 by the via dolorosa which ended in the sacrifice 
 of cherished friendships, and a reputation which 
 was dearer than life. This accomplished, he 
 committed himself wholly to Him who judgeth 
 uprightly ; and with one exception, not even in 
 his letters to his nearest friends, do we find any 
 reference to the troubles of that period. The 
 exception is in a letter to Rev. N. Brown, dated 
 March i8, 1857. In it he says : — 
 
 " With regard to the past, though I have attempted 
 nothing but in self-defence, I now regret that I should 
 even have done that ; that I had not made this my only 
 answer, '/ ajn doing a great work, and cannot come 
 down.' As for the future, I ask for nothing, I care for 
 nothing, but my work. I have no wrongs that I even 
 
112 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 wish to have redressed. As to an organization, I have 
 little responsibility. All I ask is one which will not 
 hinder us in our work. With such an organization, old 
 or new^ I am prepared to co-operate with all the powers 
 I possess. I sent in my resignation, because in the then 
 existing state of things I became well satisfied that there 
 was nothing before me, if I continued, but defensive 
 war, and I must have peace and quiet." 
 
 " Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," he went 
 about the work which was, alas, too soon to be 
 finished ! 
 
 He received, in common with the other mis- 
 sionaries I who withdrew from the Missionary 
 Union on account of the action of the unfortu- 
 nate deputation, a cordial invitation to unite 
 with the American Baptist Free Mission Soci- 
 ety, which he accepted so far as to take up a 
 nominal connection with it. 
 
 Though he received no specified salary from 
 that society, it very kindly acted as his finan- 
 cial agent in the collection and transmission of 
 funds, and in the publishing in this country of 
 his reports and letters. 
 
 From this time forward, however, the funds 
 which carried on this large mission were con- 
 
 » D. L. Brayton, A. T. Rose, J. S. Beecher, N. Brown, D.D., 
 and N. Harris. 
 
NATIVES CONTRIBUTING. II3 
 
 tributed mainly by native Christians and by 
 English residents, who had for years watched 
 with deep interest the progress of this marvel- 
 lous work. 
 
 In 1854, at Mr. Vinton's suggestion, the Ka- 
 rens of the Rangoon district had organized the 
 Karen Home Mission Society, the first society 
 of the kind ever formed in Burmah, and, so far 
 as we know, the first ever formed on heathen 
 soil. 
 
 The natives were already supporting their 
 own pastors and schools ; but this organization 
 was intended for aggressive work among the 
 heathen. At the first annual meeting, thirty 
 pastors and three hundred lay delegates were 
 present. For the special work of sending evan- 
 gelists to the regions beyond, six hundred ru- 
 pees had been raised, and eight men employed. 
 Over two hundred rupees had been given for 
 Mrs. Vinton's school in the city, and six hun- 
 dred children had been taught in the village 
 schools. Three thousand eight hundred and 
 thirty rupees had been contributed toward the 
 erection of *' Frank's Chapel," a work in which 
 the native Christians took increasing interest. 
 The people pledged themselves to try to raise 
 five thousand rupees the coming year for benev- 
 
114 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 olent objects, outside of their home expenses. 
 Two of the principal business-men promised to 
 give one-half of their profits for the year to the 
 mission. We are thus minute in these details, 
 because the history of these times has never 
 been written. Mr. Vinton was not only averse 
 to resorting to popular methods of advertising 
 his work, but the excessive labors of the last 
 few years of his life left him but little time for 
 journalizing or correspondence. A yearly state- 
 ment of the receipts and expenditures of the 
 mission was carefully prepared and published, 
 and with this such incidental facts as would as- 
 sure the donors that their contributions had 
 been faithfully and conscientiously applied. 
 
 Beyond this, we are almost entirely depend- 
 ent for information concerning the last years 
 of his life, upon Mrs. Vinton's letters to her 
 children. 
 
 It is time that we should give some further 
 details concerning the building of '* Frank's 
 Chapel," upon the erection of which so much 
 of the future success of the mission seemed 
 to depend. Sufficient funds had been contrib- 
 uted to warrant Mr. Vinton in commencing the 
 work. Plans were drawn by Capt. Williams of 
 the engineer department of the English army ; 
 
BUILDING FRANKS CHAPEL. II5 
 
 and he, in company with Major Simpson of the 
 same service, very kindly offered to superintend 
 the erection of the building without compensa- 
 tion. 
 
 The plans furnished by Capt. Williams were 
 for a building much more elaborate and sub- 
 stantial than had been contemplated at first ; 
 but Mr. Vinton was assured by English resi- 
 dents of Rangoon, that, whatever its cost might 
 be, it should be paid for. 
 
 A beautiful location had been selected at 
 Kemmendine, on a bold natural terrace over- 
 looking the Rangoon River and the wide-spread- 
 ing plains of Dalla beyond. Through the solici- 
 tation of English friends, the land necessary 
 had been made a free gift to the mission by 
 Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India, 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1855, with most inter- 
 esting ceremonies and earnest prayers, the cor- 
 ner-stone was laid by Mr. Vinton, in the pres- 
 ence of a large assembly of native and English 
 friends. The building, when completed, was to 
 be sixty by seventy feet, two stories high ; the 
 lower part being designed for a schoolroom, and 
 the upper part for the church services. It was 
 built in the most substantial manner, of brick, 
 and was admirably adapted for the purposes for 
 
Il6 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 which it was designed. It was to be used, not 
 alone for the ordinary services of the mission, 
 but as an assembling place for the Home Mis- 
 sion, the associations, and general conventions. 
 The Rangoon Karen Mission was, at this time, 
 the largest in Burmah ; and a want had long been 
 felt for a building sufficiently commodious to 
 receive the large numbers who gathered at the 
 meetings of its missionary organizations. 
 
 It stands to-day, after twenty-five years, as the 
 Vinton Memorial. 
 
THE MISSION SETTLED. 11/ 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 "Less, less, of self each day, 
 And more, my God, of thee ; 
 Oh keep me in the way, 
 However rough it be I 
 
 " Less of the flesh each day, 
 Less of the world and sin ; 
 More of thy Son, I pray, 
 More of Thyself within." 
 
 The mission was now definitely settled at 
 Kemmendine, on the land, the purchase of 
 which was the objective point in the vote of 
 censure passed by the brethren at home upon 
 Mr. Vinton. The work was systematized and 
 divided into departments. Mrs. Vinton had 
 the entire charge of the Pegu High School, 
 numbering from two hundred to two hundred 
 and fifty pupils. 
 
 Mr. Vinton had, during the rains, a theologi- 
 cal class of young men, who were soon to go 
 forth as the noble band of native preachers, 
 which is now the strength and stay of the Ran- 
 <roon and Bassein missions. 
 
115 THE VIXTOXS AND THE KAREXS. 
 
 This work of teaching was irksome to him, as 
 he felt that his special work was to preach ; but 
 it was imperatively necessary that the young 
 native assistants should at least know enough 
 of systematic theology to enable them to an- 
 swer the objections urged by the heathen, par- 
 ticularly the Buddhists, with whom they came 
 in contact. His labors were confined exclu- 
 sively to theological instruction, as the gen- 
 eral educational work was conducted by Mrs. 
 Vinton. 
 
 She was an instructor of the most marked 
 ability, and was especially gifted with a fertility 
 of resource, and a tact for expedients, which 
 contributed in no small degree to her extraordi- 
 nary success as an educator. Many theories of 
 instruction, which are only now being tried in 
 America, were successfully reduced to practice 
 by her thirty years ago. 
 
 The public examinations of her schools were 
 always largely attended by English officers and 
 their wives, who took a deep interest in her 
 work, both in Maulmain and Rangoon, and who 
 contributed most generously to its support. 
 
 An article which appeared in the " Witness " 
 after her death, speaking of her ability, says : — 
 
MRS. VINTON AS A TEACHER. IIQ 
 
 "As a teacher, she had few, if any, equals. When on 
 her way to this country she spent some weeks in Eng- 
 land, and went to visit an old friend in Bristol. The 
 gentleman was the superintendent of a very large mis- 
 sion school in the suburbs of the city; and he spoke, as 
 he was going to his post of duty, one sabbath, in regard 
 to a class of rowdy half-grown boys, saying that nothing 
 could be done with them unless the police were there. 
 Mrs. Vinton said, ' I think I could manage them without 
 the assistance of a police officer.' Her friend replied 
 that he should like to see her try. 
 
 " She went and took her seat in the midst. Her pres- 
 ence and her words were like the music before the evil 
 spirit of Saul. The lions were lambs. 
 
 " This was repeated wiih the same result every sabbath 
 while she remained there ; and is it too much to expect 
 that the seeds of truth, then implanted in their hearts, 
 will bring forth in some of those outcasts the fruits of 
 repentance and holiness ? " 
 
 She was not only a good instructor, but an 
 excellent disciplinarian as well. True, she had 
 the gentle and yielding Karens to deal with ; 
 yet it was no small task to keep two hundred 
 and fifty pupils in order, both in the school and 
 out of it, and especially when the matter was 
 complicated by the presence of a few Burmese 
 boys in the school. 
 
 Her remedy for the use of foul language (a 
 vice very common in that country) was to call 
 
I20 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the whole school together, and make the offend- 
 ers publicly wash out their mouths with strong 
 soapsuds ; and her discipline generally appealed 
 to the feelings of self-respect, which she main- 
 tained could be developed in the most ignorant 
 and degraded by judicious treatment. 
 
 Besides teaching, conversing with the com- 
 panies of heathen who came in daily, conduct- 
 ing prayer-meetings and children's meetings, 
 acting the part of physician and nurse to her 
 own pupils and the sick in the neighborhood, 
 making and translating books, writing hymns, 
 travelling from village to village instructing the 
 people, she yet found time to educate her two 
 children with such fidelity and efficiency that 
 she had fitted Brainerd for collesre in all but 
 Greek before he was fifteen ; and Calista, when 
 sent to America in 1854, was found to be pre- 
 pared to enter classes of girls much older than 
 herself. 
 
 When she travelled in the jungles her chil- 
 dren accompanied her in the boat, and they 
 were expected to learn their lessons as regularly 
 as when they were in town. 
 
 She had an endless fund of expedients for 
 interesting them in their studies ; and many 
 were the privileges and pleasures granted, upon 
 
STUDYING GREEK. 121 
 
 condition that the lessons for the day were well 
 learned. 
 
 One of her masterpieces of strategy in her 
 children's estimation was when she taught 
 them the rudiments of Greek without their 
 knowing it. One day when they were six and 
 eight years respectively, they begged her for a 
 new picture-book, saying that they had looked 
 at their old ones until they were tired. She 
 promised, that, if they would have their lessons 
 well learned that day, she would find something 
 for them in their father's library. 
 
 On going, however, to the study, she could 
 find nothing new but two little Greek Introduc- 
 tions. They were profusely illustrated after 
 the "New-England Primer" style, each letter 
 of the alphabet having an object underneath it, 
 the name of which began with the same letter, 
 as A for alomiE, B for l^(^8iov. These books 
 she carried to the children as a great prize. 
 The new names for these familiar creatures 
 were repeated to them, to their great delight ; 
 and, at the end of half an hour, though they 
 had not seen a quarter of the pictures, the 
 books were solemnly closed, and taken away, 
 with the promise, '* If you have perfect lessons 
 to-morrow, you can have these beautiful books 
 for half an hour again." 
 
122 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Never were lessons better learned or more 
 perfectly recited ; and, for another half-hour, 
 they revelled in the queer words and quaint pic- 
 tures. Day after day did this little farce go on. 
 They soon learned to read and translate the 
 easy sentences ; and they thought that of all 
 games their ingenious mother had ever in- 
 vented, this was the most delightful. They 
 could repeat the Lord's Prayer and Ten Com- 
 mandments as readily in Greek as in English. 
 
 One day their mother said, " Children, don't 
 you think it is time for you to take up the Greek 
 grammar ? " Brainerd burst into tears, and said, 
 " You don't think I'm old enough to study 
 Greek ; do you, mother ? " 
 
 " Why, my son," what have you been doing 
 for these last months ? " 
 
 *• Why, I thought I was playing. I did not 
 know I was studying Greek." 
 
 When he found how he had been thus inno- 
 cently betrayed into studying Greek, he revolted 
 and said, ''Well, I won't be fooled into Latin 
 in that way. I won't begin that till I'm ten 
 years old." 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Vinton parted with his two chil- 
 dren, and sent them to America to complete 
 their education. This seemed to be the sorest 
 
PARTING FROM THE CHILDREN. 1 23 
 
 trial which had yet befallen him. Mrs. Vinton 
 had kept them with her in that unhealthy cli- 
 mate longer than was commonly deemed pru- 
 dent, because she feared that one or both par- 
 ents might die during their absence at school ; 
 and she wished them to remain until they had 
 received the impress of their father's strong 
 mind and devoted character, and until the 
 memory of both father and mother might be- 
 come clear and distinct, in case parents and 
 children should not meet again. 
 
 It was wisely done ; for Brainerd and Calista 
 never saw their father's face after the day, when, 
 kneeling with them in their state-room on the 
 '* Fire Queen," he commended them, with sobs 
 and broken utterances, to the care of a cove- 
 nant-keeping God. 
 
 Nothing but loyalty to Christ led to such a 
 sacrifice as this. In a letter written to her chil- 
 dren, Mrs. Vinton says, — 
 
 " More than a hundred times have I asked myself the 
 question, 'Have I done right? Is it for the best?' 
 Your father and I have made it a subject for prayer for 
 years ; and we felt convinced, that, should we keep you 
 here, we should be sacrificing your future good and 
 future usefulness to our own selfish feelings. But my 
 heart cries out fo;" yoii, my children, and I sometimes 
 
124 'J^"E VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 think, ' Why should I have to commit them to the care 
 and training of others, when both, Cahsta especially, need 
 a mother's love and guidance ? ' 
 
 " But my duty to these dear Karens, my duty to the 
 heathen, my duty to Christ, all demand it ; and that is 
 enough. All I can do now is to lay you on the kind bosom 
 of our dear Saviour by constant prayer. Oh ! what should 
 I do in this hour of trial, if I could not look up and say, 
 ' Lord Jesus, I have done this for thee and for thy cause. 
 Take the dear ones into thy special care. Raise them 
 up kind friends, to do more and better for them than we 
 could have done ' ? 
 
 "It is my daily prayer that this trial may be sancti- 
 fied to each one of us, and that we, as a family, may be 
 more pious, more devoted, than ever. 
 
 " Should the Lord permit you to reach America, com- 
 plete your education, and then bring you both back as 
 missionaries of the Cross, how happy should we be ! I 
 should feel like saying, ' Now lettest Thou thy servant 
 depart in peace ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' 
 We are all in his hands, either to live or die, as is for his 
 glory." 
 
 How fully were her prayers answered in 
 every respect ! God raised up friends and 
 guardians for her children ; and the judicious 
 training and tender parental care which Calista 
 received in the home of Rev. D. Ives, D.D., of 
 Suffield, and his devoted wife, left nothing to be 
 desired by the most anxious of mothers. It 
 was rio slight privilege to spend three years in 
 
LETTERS TO THE CHILDREN. 12$ 
 
 such a Christian home as that, — to be under the 
 moulding and elevating influence of a man who 
 walked with God as did Dr. Ives; and Mrs. 
 Vinton often expressed her thankfulness to God 
 for permitting her daughter to enjoy such rare 
 opportunities for the development of a high 
 Christian character. 
 
 In Deacon and Mrs. Pierce of Hamilton, 
 N.Y., Brainerd also found those who did all 
 that was possible to supply the place of father 
 and mother. The Lord took care that while 
 the parents were sacrificing so much for him in 
 heathen lands, the children lacked for no good 
 thing. 
 
 In the midst of more abundant labors than 
 ever, Mrs. Vinton found time to write often to 
 her children ; and these letters are filled with 
 earnest exhortations to greater consecration and 
 deeper piety, and also with accounts of her 
 work. In one letter she says, — 
 
 " It is now six weeks since we locked up our house, 
 and have been wandering in the jungle, not stopping at 
 any place more than three days ; at some villages only 
 one, and at others only a few hours. Travelling by day 
 in a tropical sun, and in the damp chilling airs by night, 
 midst dense jungle and tall cane-brakes, with the long 
 wet grass rubbing against our faces and cutting them 
 
126 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 like sawteeth, — travelling sometimes on foot, sometimes 
 on ponies, sometimes in buffalo-carts, sometimes in na- 
 tive canoes so small that we dare not laugh lest we up- 
 set them, or think a big thought lest we sink them, sit- 
 ting up till late at night talking to the multitudes who 
 throng us, and then rising at two or three o'clock in the 
 morning for a fresh start before the sun rises, — this has 
 been our mode of life for the past six weeks. 
 
 " But our hearts have been filled with one constant 
 hymn of praise, as we see the readiness of the heathen 
 to listen to us, and the deep affection which the dear dis- 
 ciples manifest for us. I sometimes wish I could know 
 that they love God as well as they do us. We are liter- 
 ally loaded with presents. It is amusing to see the 
 quantities of fowls, eggs, ducks, rice, and milk, which 
 they bring in. At some villages they kill pigs for us ; 
 and at one place I overheard the order given to kill a 
 buffalo, but I forbade it. I told them to keep their buf- 
 falo to plough their fields and draw their cart. We 
 could not cat the half they brought us, rnd sent what we 
 did not need to the school in the city. 
 
 '' Wc have penetrated into some dark regions this 
 year. You remember how last season the heathen ran 
 away from us at Mawloo ; biit had you been with me last 
 Thursday, you would have seen a still more ridiculous 
 sight. I rode over from Pa-rah's village on horseback ; 
 and to see a woman riding, and a white woman too,, 
 brought out the whole village, yet when I arrived they 
 would not venture up into the house. 
 
 " I sat down where they could not see me unless they 
 came up. They then ventured to the top of the notched 
 stick of timber which led up into the house, and stood 
 
VISIT TO MAWLOO. 12/ 
 
 gazing at me. I spoke kindly, and said, ' Come and sit 
 down, my sisters ; ' but they preferred to keep their feet 
 ready for a sudden retreat. As there was a great multi- 
 tude still standing on the ground, who could not get up 
 to see me, I rose, and went into an inner room, and sat 
 down at the farther end, and gathered my little troup of 
 boys and girls who had followed me from the other 
 village, 
 
 " Taking out our hymn-books, we began to sing. This 
 brought up scores of them ; and I continued to sing, not 
 raising my eyes from my book till the room was more 
 than half full of women and children. At last I thought 
 that it would do to speak to them. So, as I was sitting 
 on a low stool, I took it up gently, and moved smilingly 
 toward them; but, before I had taken two steps, they 
 shrieked, and ran like a flock of sheep with a wolf at their 
 heels. I sat down, and laughed outright at them, and 
 succeeded in stopping a few, with whom I talked until 
 the head man and his secretary and their wives came to 
 see me ; and then all fear seemed to vanish, except that 
 some of the mothers feared that the 'kalah,' or spirit, 
 would leave their children in consequence of seeing me, 
 and went off muttering ' Pruh kalah ! pruh kalah ! kalah 
 k'hah,' which is a prayer to the Nats. 
 
 " Your father has placed Maw-yah-poh and his wife 
 there, and we expect a church will be formed before next 
 year. Even here, at this heathen village, more than a 
 dozen have brought in money for Frank's Chapel ; saying 
 they see us so hard at work for the Karens that they 
 wish to help us. We hope that some seven or eight vil- 
 lages where we have been will receive the gospel. 
 Wherever we go, even among the heathen, we are treated 
 
128 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 with the utmost kindness. They frequently speak of 
 our having saved their lives during the famine. Truly 
 that was the best investment we ever made : the bread 
 then cast upon the waters is now returning. 
 
 " You must always keep in mind that you are the 
 children of missionaries, and that if you are careless of 
 your demeanor, or do any thing wrong, it will be a dis- 
 grace to the dear cause." 
 
 This latter injunction had been so often 
 repeated, that the sense of the responsibility 
 rested on the children's minds, perhaps even 
 more hea^vily than the parents intended. 
 
 Calista, chen a girl of fifteen, says that while 
 at school, and during her vacations, she felt as 
 if the whole credit of the cause of Foreign 
 Missions rested upon her shoulders, and that 
 any inconsistency in her conduct, either as a 
 school-girl or as a Christian, would bring hope- 
 less disgrace on the cause which was so dear 
 to her parents. 
 
 Again Mrs. Vinton writes, — 
 
 " The Lord is providing for all our wants. Had any 
 one told me twenty years ago that a boy then in my school 
 would send me a bag of eight hundred rupees, and prom- 
 ise two hundred more soon, I would not have believed it. 
 Lewis Raymond feels that God has called him to preach; 
 and he is going to give up his lucrative situation under 
 Government, and complete his study of theology, and 
 then go to his great work. 
 
TRAINING NATIVE HELPERS. 1 29 
 
 " He has hitherto contented himself with paying the 
 expenses of another to preach in his stead, but it does 
 not satisfy him ; and now he must go himself. Dr. Bal- 
 four has just sent two hundred and twenty rupees more 
 for the school. 
 
 " His father is a clergyman in Scotland ; and he sends 
 all the letters which I write to him, to his father. He 
 allowed a friend to read my last letter, and he sent twenty 
 rupees for the privilege of reading it. Chah too, my old 
 cook, is married, and has gone to preaching. . . . You 
 know how anxious I felt for the conversion of our syce 
 (the man who takes care of the pony), and how much 
 we have prayed that he might be a Pwo preacher. I 
 do trust that our hopes are about to be realized. He has 
 spent all his spare time in studying ; and last evening 
 brother Brayton asked me if I would allow him to go to 
 Kemmendine on a preaching excursion with him. I said 
 ' Yes ! with all my heart. It is our great desire that the 
 Lord may call him away from the stable, and set him to 
 preaching.' He is the best syce we ever had ; and, in all 
 the three years he has been with us, I have never had 
 occasion to reprove him once ; but I will gladly give him 
 up to the work of preaching, and take another raw lad to 
 train in his place. 
 
 " Last evening Nau Oo-thah lingered around after 
 all the rest had retired, and finally said, ' I love to be 
 with you, mamma, very much ; but I hear there is a great 
 village near Parah's place where they do not worship 
 God, but where they say they will have a school ; and I 
 want to go and teach it, if mamma is willing. I told her 
 that it was the greatest joy of my heart to train boys and 
 girls for the service of God, and that, although she was 
 
130 THE VINTONS AND TII^ KARENS. 
 
 my right-hand girl and a great help to me, yet if the 
 Lord had called her, as he had done rir.n Nai-nau and 
 Nau Poll, I would release her at once, and put Nau Mce 
 tha in her place, till she was trained and qualiiied to 
 go and serve God too. 
 
 '• Many ask me how it is that I am always training 
 raw Karens, and, as soon as they begin to be useful to 
 me, let them go from me. It is trying, especially when 
 for weeks together we have unsavory and half-cooked 
 disJies, prepared by a new hand in the cook-house ; but 
 it is a part of my missionary work. No one is so blest 
 in their help as I am. My girls and boys serve me, not 
 for money, but to improve themselves and prepare for 
 future usefulness ; and I trust that many of them will 
 preach and teach when I am dead and gone. 
 
 " Major Simpson has sailed for England ; and, about 
 a week after, Capt. Brander sent us one hundred and 
 fifty rupees, with a note from Major Simpson, saying it 
 was for our own personal expenses. Since that we have 
 learned that he has sent all his furniture to be sold at 
 auction, with the order that the avails are to be given to 
 our school. This will realize some two hundred rupees 
 more at least. 
 
 " Yesterday Capt. Seymour sent thirty rupees over 
 and above what he has given lately for the mission, say- 
 ing, • This is for your owft use.' It is quite opportune ; 
 
 for sister has been with us for a fortnight, so ill that 
 
 she was not expected to recover, and we have had to 
 watch her, and fan her night and day, to keep the breath 
 of life in her. 
 
 " I have looked forward to this vacation, hoping that 
 I could rest a little ; for I was feeling quite worn out with 
 
A HAPPY LIFE. 13! 
 
 my school-work through the rains, and this is the vaca- 
 tion that the Lord has sent me. But we are happy still; 
 for it is all the Lord's work, and he sends it to us to do." 
 
 Seldom do we see workers who rejoiced more 
 in doing the will of Him who had sent them 
 than these two. 
 
 An English lady writes to a friend : — 
 
 " The Vintons are the happiest family I ever met. 
 They were happy after theii: beloved sister Miranda left ; 
 they are happy now, though their children are far away ; 
 they are happy through trial and suffering ; they are 
 always happy in their work." 
 
132 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ** Yes, o'er me, o'er me, he watcheth, 
 Ceaseless watcheth, night and day : 
 Yes, even me, even me, he snatcheth 
 From the perils of the way. 
 
 ** Thus I wait for his returning. 
 Singing all the way to heaven ; 
 Such the joyful song of morning, 
 Such the tranquil song of even." 
 
 It has been said that no lady missionary 
 ever travelled as extensively as Mrs. Vinton. 
 Whether this is so or not, she had many varied 
 experiences, and had an opportunity during the 
 thirty years of her missionary life to try almost 
 every mode of conveyance, from the elegant 
 barouche of an English friend, to being carried 
 over a nullah in the arms of two natives, or 
 being jolted nearly into fragments in a spring- 
 less native cart, drawn by a pair of runaway 
 buffaloes. 
 
 We give one experience out of many : — 
 
 " When we came down to the river again yesterday 
 
TRAVELLING BY CART. 1 33 
 
 only one yoke of buffaloes could be found ; and they 
 were so wild, that they would not come near the chapel. 
 
 " They were harnessed to a cart, and blindfolded, while 
 I tried to get into the cart ; but the moment I came near 
 they threw their noses up into the air, and snorted, 
 kicked, and plunged, so that they had to be taken out. 
 I then got into the cart, lay down, and covered myself 
 up entirely from sight ; but now the buffaloes would not 
 come anywhere near it, so I walked on to the next 
 village. 
 
 " Here we found some people loading carts with rice 
 to take to the river to sell. They asked me to go with 
 them ; but there was no place for me to ride, save on the 
 tongue of the cart, right between the buffaloes. They 
 put in a footstool ; and I carefully crept over the paddy 
 (unhulled rice), and seated myself on my precarious seat, 
 not daring to raise an umbrella all the way to screen me 
 from the burning sun for fear of frightening the buffa- 
 loes. As I rode along, having no little daughter to be- 
 guile the weary time with her chatter, I was left to my 
 own reflections. First, I recollected the missionary ad- 
 dress I heard in Cincinnati, in which the speaker tried 
 to prove that modern missions ought to be far more 
 successful than ancient missions, because 'of the mod- 
 ern facilities for travel by steamers and railways, and 
 sending gospel messages by telegraph.' 
 
 "Oh! thought I, how I wish Mr. B. could come 
 here and try it one dry season, and look upon the hea- 
 then world as it is, not as Christianity has made the 
 civilized world. Again, I thought of the great congre- 
 gations in America, who in their gorgeous churches 
 sit and sing, — 
 
134 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 * Waft, waft, ye winds, his story, 
 And you, ye waters, roll ; ' 
 
 and I exclaimed, 'How different to us, poor matter-of-fact 
 people, who go to carry the gospel on our tongues, is 
 the work, from what it seems to those who commission 
 the winds and the waves to do their duty.' 
 
 " The easterly winds that are now sweeping through 
 these jungles, drying, yea, scorching up every thing in 
 their course, do not in the least help us, but give us a 
 fever for six hours in the day. 
 
 "As for the waters, they only aid us when compelled 
 so to do by the sturdy sinews df eight resolute oarsmen. 
 The gospel will doubtless introduce railroads, steam- 
 boats, and telegraphs, but not till many more mission- 
 aries have first wandered, with tired limbs and dusty 
 clothes, through rice-fields and jungles, from village to 
 village, waking up intellect, and the love and fear of 
 God, in these wild ignorant people. 
 
 " By the time the religion of Jesus Christ has taken 
 such deep root that foreign aid or missionaries will not 
 be needed, it will do for Christians to sit and sing 
 
 'Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,' 
 
 and to blame missionaries because they are not more 
 successful than Paul, who had no railroad to travel on, or 
 Peter, who had no electric telegraph by which to send 
 his gospel messages. For the present we must content 
 ourselves to sit cramped up in our little canoes, thread- 
 ins: these noble rivers and winding: nullahs even to their 
 very sources, or to be shaken to a jelly in these spring- 
 less buffalo-carts, or, what is preferable to those who 
 have the strength, go on foot." 
 
AN ELEPHANT S SAGACITY. 1 35 
 
 Mr. Vinton, on his inland tours, rode an ele- 
 phant or a horse. He had a sturdy little pony, 
 trained to follow the path without any guidance ; 
 and he was accustomed to do much of his 
 studying while in the saddle. 
 
 This method had its disadvantages, for it was 
 liable to sudden interruptions. On more than 
 one occasion, while passing through the dense 
 jungle, a low hanging creeper or trailing vine 
 caught him, while the pony passed on, leaving 
 the astonished rider lying on his back in the 
 jungle-path, wondering what had happened. 
 
 When travelling by elephant, the sagacious 
 brute would clear the path of all overhanging 
 boughs, and the reader could pursue his studies 
 uninterrupted. Yet, on one occasion, the ele- 
 phant put a sudden stop to a lesson in the 
 Greek Testament. Mr. Vinton had paused at 
 a wayside village for the noontide rest, and was 
 sitting reading his Testament on the veranda 
 of a native house. He called to one of his 
 attendants to bring him some water. His ele- 
 phant, standing near, heard the order, gravely 
 stalked off to the village tank, and, seizing a 
 basin, filled it with water ; and, coming back, 
 poured it upon Mr. Vinton's head, while he sat 
 absorbed in his studies ! 
 
136 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Sometimes he travelled on foot, accompanied 
 by his little band of helpers ; threading the 
 forests, climbing the mountains, exposed to 
 wild beasts by night and the scorching sun by 
 day, and yet counting it all joy that he might 
 be permitted to preach the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton gives some interesting details in 
 a letter to the children : — 
 
 "We arrived at this village a few days ago. Since 
 then, your clear father has gone away to the mountains, 
 — to a region where a white man has never trod, and 
 where the blessed gospel of the Son of God has never 
 yet been preached. The Christians here feel very 
 anxious about him ; and all pray for him daily, that he 
 may be kept from the dreadful jungle-fever so prevalent 
 there. 
 
 " Had he gone for any other purpose than to carry the 
 gospel, I should feel anxious ; but he is in the Lord's 
 hands. He has gone on foot through a pathless jungle, 
 and has taken with him young men, to place as school- 
 teachers and preachers if he finds people disposed to 
 receive them. We are very much encouraged by the 
 reports which come in from the villages. Mau Yay re- 
 ports having baptized fifty-four lately; and a number are 
 awaiting the ordinance at Gna-dee's village. We have 
 been spending a day in fasting and prayer for the out- 
 pouring of God's Spirit on his work. We are asking 
 God for a shower of divine grace, which shall bring all 
 these surrounding districts into the kingdom of heaven. 
 
ENGLISH CONTRIBUTORS. 1 3/ 
 
 We are looking for, and expecting, greater and greater 
 things. 
 
 " God has accompanied this work from the first with 
 special marks of his divine favor, and has sent us such 
 great and precious blessings, that we have covenanted 
 with him that we will not complain of any affliction or 
 trial, if he will only be with us, blessing our labors, and 
 making us the instruments of bringing thousands and 
 thousands to righteousness. 
 
 " How I wish, dear children, th?,t you could hear the 
 Christian Karens pray for you ! Thej^ are daily asking 
 God to spare your lives, and bring you back to this 
 country to be their teachers. It is their great fear lest 
 the luxuries and comfort of America may so charm you 
 that you will not want to return to the hard work and 
 privations of our life here ; and hundreds of prayers are 
 going up daily for you. How holy and devoted you 
 ought to be ! for you are the children of many prayers. 
 Your father and I have recently been trying to lay you 
 again upon the altar of God, and dedicate you anew to 
 his service. If you live, you are the Lord's. If you die, 
 you are still the Lord's. Do try to give yourselves 
 wholly unto him." 
 
 In another letter she speaks of the receipt of 
 "I20 Rs. from Major Burton, lOO Rs. from 
 Major Hawkins, 80 Rs. from Lieut. Moxon, for 
 the mission work, besides 669 rupees from 
 Gen. Russell, for Frank's Chapel, in addition to 
 200 Rs. given a short time previous ; also 50 Rs. 
 from the venerable Bishop Wilson of Calcutta." 
 She adds, — 
 
138 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 "You will laugh to know that 100 Rs. has just come 
 in from Shway Gan, Capt. Sparks's head man. He once 
 said that he feared no man on earth but Mr. Vinton, and 
 that he feared him more than he did the Devil. Nothing 
 but the Lord's grace could have opened his wicked heart 
 to have given thus much for the chapel. 
 
 " All of Mr. Williams's surveyors gave more than one- 
 eighth of their wages for the season, for the chapel ; so 
 we feel encouraged to go on with the school of nearly 
 two hundred pupils, feeling sure that if the Lord can 
 levy tribute upon such a man as Shway Gan, he can 
 do it upon others." 
 
 A touching, yet amusing incident occurred 
 about this time, which we will give in Mrs. Vin- 
 ton's own graphic words : — 
 
 " I must tell you about our carriage ! Some of the 
 Maulmain Karens, who were once boys in our school, 
 and who were baptized by Mr. Vinton, came around here 
 with sixty or seventy elephants to work in the Teak for- 
 ests. The Government, wishing to purchase elephants for 
 service in putting down the mutiny in Bengal, requested 
 us to call on the Karens. We did so ; and they have 
 sold over fifty elephants to Government at a handsome 
 price, over six hundred rupees per head. They said they 
 wished to give some of the profits to the Lord, and some 
 to us, their old teachers. 
 
 " They first put down fourteen hundred I'upees for the 
 mission, and then said they wanted to do something for us 
 personally. They said we had now been laboring for the 
 Karens twenty-three years, and had never owned a car- 
 
THE CARRIAGE. 1 39 
 
 riage ; so they went to Mr. Shafraz's, and partly engaged 
 one for 650 Rs., and paid 6 Rs. as earnest-money. Mr. 
 Craig hearing of it said, that though it was a good one, 
 yet Gen. Bell had one for sale, equally good and strong, 
 and that he would send his butler, Ramsawmy, with Mr. 
 Vinton, to look at it. 
 
 " He did so ; and Mr. Vinton, while telling the dear, 
 good general how grateful it was to him to see such a 
 manifestation of feeling upon the part of his Maulmain 
 children, added, ' I will take the carriage to please them, 
 but will credit it to the mission. For no one shall pre- 
 vent me from glorying that I have preached a free gos- 
 pel; and I will still show them that I sought not theirs, 
 but them.' 
 
 " The general said, ^Then you cannot, conscientiously, 
 receive a present from your people without crediting it to 
 the mission .-* ' 
 
 " Mr. Vinton said ' No.' 
 
 " Well, then,' said the general, * have you any scruples 
 about receiving a gift from me ? ' 
 
 " Mr. Vinton was nonplussed, but answered ' No.' 
 
 " ' Then,' said the general, ' I present you with the car- 
 riage.' 
 
 " The Karens went over, and drew it back to our 
 house with great delight. It is a very strong and hand- 
 some carriage, and will be a great comfort to us. But 
 what pleases us the most, is to see how glad every one is 
 for us to have it. 
 
 " Ramsawmy ran every step of the way back to Mr. 
 Craig's ; and, when he told them about it, they clapped 
 their hands for joy, and cried, ' Good, good ! ' 
 
 " ' Ramsawmy said he hoped the general would give 
 
140 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the carriage ; but, if he had not given it, he himself in' 
 tended to have given a part of it.^ Thus you see God is 
 still raising up friends, both native and European, to 
 minister to our wants. Ought we not to be good and 
 faithful .? 
 
 " One of the principal owners of the elephants was 
 Nya Pee, Myah A's brother, who was born soon after 
 we arrived in the country. They expect to give the 
 mission another thousand rupees before they return to 
 Maulmain. How gladly would we again go around to 
 Maulmain, visit those dear churches, and labor for their 
 spiritual interests, should the Lord open the door ! Per- 
 haps when you come back. He will do so ; and Brainerd 
 may yet preach to those who, in that terrible sickness, 
 when he was a babe, so earnestly prayed for his life. . . . 
 Our examination is over. I was nearly sick for a week 
 before it commenced ; but special strength seemed given 
 me, so that I was enabled to go through with the exami- 
 nation of all the different classes. 
 
 " Gen. and Mrs. Bell were there ; Major and Mrs. 
 Burton, Major and Mrs. Lys, Major and Mrs. Magoun, 
 Capt. and Mrs. O'Connell, Capt. and Mrs. Power, and 
 many others. The school acquitted itself so well that an 
 officer present said, ' This is the finest sight in all Bur- 
 mah.' 
 
 "Dear, good Mr. Craig was there of course. He has 
 lately given us two hundred rupees, to be sent to America 
 to be divided between you two. Another donation for 
 the mission, of over two hundred rupees, comes unex- 
 pectedly from Secunderabad, through Major MacFarlane. 
 How can we ever indulge in doubt, or fear that all neces- 
 sary means for carrying on this great work will not be 
 
TRIALS OF FAITH. I4I 
 
 forthcoming, even though we do not know from day to 
 day how or whence our wants are to be supplied ? 
 
 " I must tell you one out of a hundred similar in- 
 stances of a Father's tender care for our wants. One 
 Saturday Mr. Vinton returned after a long jungle tour. 
 It was the close of the month, and his coolies were ex- 
 pecting their wages. We had not a rupee in the house, 
 and a large school looking to us for their daily food. 
 For a moment our hearts sank within us ; and we said, 
 * What shall we, what can we, do .'* Here are the coolies 
 expecting and needing their pay, here is this large school 
 to be supported, and not a rupee at our command ! ' 
 After a few moments of prayer, Mr. Vinton's faith tri- 
 umphed ; and he said, ' Have the children nothing to eat 
 for the sabbath .? ' — ' Oh, yes ! ' was the reply : ' the last 
 rupee was paid out this morning to obtain supplies for 
 the sabbath.' 
 
 " ' Very well, then,' said he, * I am relieved. We will 
 wait, and see what God will do for us then.' 
 
 " Early on Monday morning a friend put a roll of 
 forty rupees in his hands. This enabled him to pay off 
 his coolies, and buy necessary food, both for the school 
 and for our own family. 
 
 " After breakfast he called on a friend who said, ' Mr. 
 Vinton, I have a bag of money here for your mission.' 
 The next day another friend sent in one hundred and five 
 rupees, and the next fifty rupees ; and thus God put it 
 into the hearts of friends to send us relief just in the 
 time of need, and without our saying one word to them 
 about it. God has so manifestly rebuked our unbelief, 
 that we shall be doubly guilty in the future not to trust 
 his providential care." 
 
142 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Footsore and worn thou art, 
 
 Breathless with toil and fight : 
 How welcome now the long-sought sleep 
 Of this all tranquil night ! 
 
 " Rest for the toiling hand, 
 
 Rest for the thought-worn brow, 
 Rest for the weary, way-sore feet, 
 Rest from all labor now." 
 
 We give these facts just as they occur in the 
 scanty memorials which are still left. They 
 are collected in the main from letters which 
 were preserved without any thought of their 
 being used in the preparation of a biography. 
 One cannot read these letters without noticing 
 the generous amounts of money, which, after 
 the separation of Mr. Vinton from the Mission- 
 ary Union, were given by his English friends. 
 We find in the Second Annual Report of the 
 Rangoon Karen Mission, published in October, 
 1857, the large sum of sixteen thousand and 
 thirty-nine rupees credited as having been re- 
 
A ** CRISIS. 143 
 
 ceived up to that date from this source alone. 
 From the Karens, nine thousand two hundred 
 and twenty-two rupees had been given ; and 
 from friends in America, during the same time, 
 rupees four thousand six hundred and sixty-four. 
 
 The warm attachments formed between the 
 Vintons and officers of the Eno-lish civil and 
 military service did not cease when these latter 
 were ordered to England, or to other stations 
 in India. The son and daughter still receive 
 letters from those, who, speaking after the 
 manner of men, twenty-five years ago stood 
 between their parents and utter failure, during 
 that ^^ crisis ill Brother Vintons affairs y' which 
 a now venerable doctor of divinity gleefully 
 boasted he would bring about. 
 
 The prospect for ''Brother Vinton," indeed, 
 was not very bright ; but God brought light out 
 of darkness, and we doubt not that, in that 
 upper and better world, he will be the first to 
 greet the venerable doctor, and to assure him 
 that he builded better than he knew. 
 
 Amid all these encouragements, however, 
 the glorious success of the work, the wealth of 
 hearty friendship, as expressed in generous 
 gifts, and the prospect of largely increased use- 
 fulness in the mission, — it was plainly seen by 
 
144 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 those who knew him best, that his strength was 
 slowly giving way under the strain to which he 
 had been subjected. 
 
 Himself the very soul of honor, he seemed 
 utterly confounded and unable to understand 
 the action which had separated him from the 
 society, which, up to the last moment of his 
 life, he loved with the devotion of a first love. 
 Indeed, on one occasion, when he would have 
 been wholly justified in obtaining legal redress 
 for a pecuniary wrong done him, the only ex- 
 pression which can be discovered is one of 
 dazed amazement that a Christian brother could- 
 be guilty of such a thing. 
 
 It was impossible that a soul so sensitive 
 and so tenacious of its friendships could pass 
 through the scenes of 1854 and 1855, and the 
 sundering of old ties, without receiving a mor- 
 tal wound. 
 
 His heart was slowly breaking under the 
 misconstructions of good men, — men whom he 
 never ceased to love, and for whom he contin- 
 ued to pray until the last day of his life. Yet 
 all this, though it seemed to his friends so hard 
 to understand, was the process through which 
 it pleased God that he should pass, ere there 
 was developed in him that entire surrender of 
 will which he so much desired. 
 
 I 
 
THE SHADOW OF THE CLOUD. I45 
 
 For months before he died he was so evi- 
 dently ripening for heaven that his wife said 
 tremblingly, *' Surely he is not long for this 
 world." For nearly twenty-five years she had 
 walked by his side, a daily witness to his ten- 
 der, Christ-like spirit, his utter devotion to the 
 one work of saving souls, and the steady 
 growth in grace which marked his whole life ; 
 but the higher life to which he attained at this 
 time, all unconscious of it himself, made her 
 feel that indeed his prayers had been heard, 
 and that the fiery furnace through which he had 
 been passing had but purified the gold, and that 
 the Master's own image was being reflected in 
 the molten, quivering metal. To others, also, 
 this was equally apparent. Mrs. Beecher, 
 speaking of the last association which he at- 
 tended in the Bassein District, said that she 
 felt borne to heaven on Mr. Vinton's prayers. 
 Gen. Bell said to his wife one day, " How 
 rapidly that dear man of God seems growing in 
 grace lately." 
 
 The last prayer-meeting he attended was at 
 the house of this old and tried friend, who, 
 commander-in-chief of all the English forces 
 in British Burmah, was at the same time a 
 humble Christian, and an earnest student of 
 
146 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 God's word. An English lady who was pres- 
 ent at this meeting says, — 
 
 "We can never forget Mr. Vinton's words that night. 
 He seemed to have had a glimpse into the hidden things 
 of God; and instead of going on with the study of the 
 chapter, as we were in the habit of doing, we sat spell- 
 bound, listening to his burning words. As he spoke of 
 the bhss of heaven, his face seemed to brighten and 
 glow with an unearthly light; and, as we knelt with him 
 in prayer, w^e felt awed by the way in which he seemed 
 to talk with God face, to face. How little we thought, 
 that, in one short week, he would be standing in the 
 inner sanctuary, in the presence of his risen Lord ! " 
 
 He had just returned from his last journey 
 when he attended the meeting referred to. 
 News had come from the mountains west of 
 Shway Gyeen, that scores of villages were 
 ready to receive the gospel. The region was 
 one so difficult of access that it had never been 
 reached by missionary effort ; and this awaken- 
 ing was the result of the conversion of a 
 few young men who had heard the gospel on 
 the plains, and had gone back to their friends 
 to tell the story they had heard. Mr. Vinton 
 selected six young men who were ready to go 
 into that unhealthy region in order to proclaim 
 the unsearchable riches of Christ ; but, that 
 they should be properly located, it was neces- 
 
LAST JOURNEY. 14/ 
 
 sary that be should go himself, survey the 
 field, and select the most available points for 
 the location of native preachers. Only scanty 
 records have come down to us from this jour- 
 ney, though in after years it bore abundant 
 fruits. There was opportunity, after the jour- 
 ney began, to send back two brief letters, and 
 from these we make the following extracts : — 
 
 " From Nau-toh's to Kyouk-pong, I walked nearly the 
 whole way, as the pony's back was sore. I stopped at 
 a great number of villages on the way, and preached my- 
 self hoarse. I arrived just as the gong was about to 
 ring, jaded and tired, and yet preached a long sermon. 
 The people were very attentive. A cloud is gathering; 
 and, judging from my feelings, there will be rain. Oh, 
 may it be long and abundant ! Pray, my dear wife, not 
 so much that God will watch over me, as that he will go 
 with me by his Spirit; for without that I might as well 
 be dead as alive. 
 
 " Oh for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, such as the 
 apostles had to prepare them for their great work ! 
 
 " I have been invariably well, and mostly happy, since I 
 left. But for this 'body of death,' which drags down my 
 poor soul, and makes it so earthly and grovelling in its 
 aspirations, so unlike the heavenly, I should be perfectly 
 so. I have had some precious seasons, in which the spirit 
 has triumphed over the flesh ; and I have been brought 
 into goodly fellowship with my precious Saviour, and I 
 have cared for nothing in the world but to be a herald 
 of mercy to the perishing. Pray, dear wife, that God 
 
148 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 may strip me for the race, and harness me for the bat- 
 tle. I long for nothing so much as for more power in 
 prayer. I would be a wrestling Jacob, and a prevailing 
 Israel. I want an increase of power to preach the word 
 in the demonstration of the Spirit, and with power." 
 
 He returned to Rangoon on the 24th of 
 March, 1858, in apparent health, complaining 
 only of being ** very tired." That evening he 
 attended the Bible-reading at Gen. Bell's, to 
 which reference has been made. 
 
 The next day it appeared that he was ill, but 
 he still kept about the work which had accumu- 
 lated during his absence. On Saturday fever 
 set in ; and Dr. Dickinson, his faithful physician 
 for many years, was summoned. No one, how- 
 ever, anticipated that it would prove to be more 
 than a slight attack of jungle fever. 
 
 He talked with all the natives who came in, 
 and transacted the necessary business connected 
 with the mission as he lay on his bed, ever 
 cheerful, rallying his wife on her unceasing 
 anxiety about him, telling her how good every 
 thing tasted that she brought him, and laying 
 many a plan for future work and future use- 
 fulness. 
 
 On Monday he was too ill to see any one ; 
 but on Tuesday the fever left him, and the 
 
MR. VINTON S DEATH. I49 
 
 doctor pronounced him out of danger. Tues- 
 day night there was a change. The doctor 
 was hastily summoned. It was evident at 
 once to him that the disease had assumed a 
 grave form. He used all the means that his 
 long experience could suggest ; but by nine 
 o'clock, so rapid had been the progress of the 
 disease, he left the bedside, saying, " I can do 
 no more ! He can live but a few hours." 
 
 It had not needed these words to assure Mrs. 
 Vinton that the costliest sacrifice she could 
 offer was now to be laid upon God's altar. The 
 closing scene can only be described in the 
 words of this devoted wife ; and we give entire 
 the letter in which the news of their father's 
 death is communicated to the son and daughter. 
 
 "Dear, dear Children, — You seldom write to me 
 about your religious feelings. Is your love to God 
 increasing, or diminishing? This you can ascertain by 
 asking yourselves whether you possess any thing too 
 dear to give back to God, the Author of all our mercies. 
 I know that you love your parents. Do you love them 
 so much that you would be loath to part with them if 
 God calls ? 
 
 " Three sabbaths ago I was in the south-east room 
 reading my Bible, and feeling very happy in my mind. 
 I knelt down to pray ; and in my prayer I renewed my 
 covenant with God, and distinctly surrendered myself, 
 
150 THE VIXTOXS AXD THE KARENS. 
 
 soul, body, time, influence, children, and husbard, to the 
 Lord; and I felt so hearty and happy in doing it! In a 
 moment something seemed to ask me if God should 
 accept of this surrender, and should take any one of 
 these things, whether I would heartily resign it without 
 a murmur? I shuddered at the thought, and sank back, 
 and was about to rise from my knees, but shuddered still 
 more at my feelings. I spoke out aloud, ' Have I been 
 so long a time a professor of religion, and have I any 
 thing too dear to give to God ? No, Lord ! ' And I 
 burst into tears, and exclaimed, ' No, Lord : I am hon- 
 est in my surrender. I resign every thing and every 
 one.' 
 
 "I felt fully assured from that time that God was 
 about to make a requirement. What, I did not know. 
 Sometimes I thought it would be one of you. I made 
 up my mind that the cords which bound me to earth 
 were about to be sundered. During the week, from day 
 to day, I used to go to my closet to cast my cares upon 
 Jesus ; and oh, what precious seasons I spent there ! 
 
 "Every thing about the mission work, about your 
 father, who was then absent upon the mountains west 
 of Shway Gyeen, every thing about you two, or about 
 your return, I carried there, and left quietly. Some- 
 times, on coming away, I said to myself, ' Why have I 
 for these many years been groaning under my cares, 
 when it is so easy to lay them at the feet of a loving 
 Saviour.?' 
 
 " Soon your father returned, having been absent about 
 a month. He was not quite well ; but he would not say 
 he was ill, only 'very tired and worn out with the long 
 journey on the elephant.' 
 
MRS. VINTON S LETTER. I51 
 
 "The next day he was more languid, and his flesh 
 hotter; but he had been gone so long, that there was a 
 world of business to be attended to, and the natives 
 were around him all day. In the evening we attended 
 the meeting at Gen. Bell's. Your father led, and I am 
 sure some of his remarks about the bliss of heaven will 
 never be forgotten by those present. 
 
 " The next morning he felt worse, but still he worked 
 all day. Friday he consented to take some medicine, 
 and kept his bed. He had asked an engineer to give 
 him some advice about the new shingle roof for Frank's 
 Chapel ; but toward evening he said he could not walk 
 over, and I must go. I made ready; but, when Capt. 
 Newmarch came, he went over, and stood talking nearly 
 an hour. 
 
 " He had a bad night, and early Saturday morning I 
 sent for the doctor. I went into my closet with this new 
 care to cast at Jesus' feet ; but alas ! as soon as I knelt 
 down, and asked God to restore your dear father to 
 health, something seemed to ask me, 'Do you remem- 
 ber your laying all upon God's altar ? God has accepted 
 the offering, and is now going to take it to himself.' I 
 tried to pray, but could not, and left the room in anguish, 
 fully knowing that a dreadful blow was pending, and yet 
 not daring to murmur, or say, ' Why doest thou so ? ' 
 
 " On Monday he was so much worse that the doctor 
 forbade any one seeing him but myself and Mary Bray- 
 ton. Tuesday the fever left him ; but just at night dys- 
 entery set in, and at nine o'clock the doctor left his 
 bedside, saying he could do no more for him, and that 
 probably he would not live two hours ; but he did sur- 
 vive until seven o'clock Wednesday morning, March 31. 
 
152 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " One thing was very remarkable, that he suffered so 
 little during his short illness. I asked him very fre- 
 quently if he had a headache, or pain anywhere (such as 
 usually accompanies fever) ; but he invariably said ' No : ' 
 and the doctor assured me he was right, — that there was 
 no feeling but that of weakness and languor. Those 
 who saw him pass away, and then looked upon the 
 corpse, exclaimed, ' This is not death ! ' No, dear chil- 
 dren, do not ever say that your father is dead. He is 
 only gone into the inner sanctuary, to perform a higher 
 and a nobler work than travelling in the Karen jungles. 
 
 "You must feel that if you are not descended from 
 the titled ancestry of earth, you are the children of a 
 uian of God, passed into the skies. Few children ever 
 had such a father. Oh, strive to be just like him ! 
 
 "You know how he was beloved, and all but wor- 
 shipped, throughout the Karen jungles. Some seem to 
 think that it almost amounted to idolatry, and that it was 
 necessary to take him away that the churches might 
 look more directly to God ; but he was as much beloved 
 and respected, yea, venerated, by the English community. 
 
 " The funeral was attended this morning by all the 
 missionaries, and all the officers^ civil and military. 
 Every one feels the dreadful blow, and some go so far 
 as to predict the utter ruin of the whole mission; but not 
 so. God is not dead ! He knew what he was doing in 
 taking away the holiest and hardest-working missionary 
 from the field ; and I think he will now pour out his 
 Spirit, and carry on the work more powerfully than ever 
 before. 
 
 " The cause was dear to your father, very dearj but 
 
MRS. VINTON S LETTER. 153 
 
 it is much dearer to the Saviour. Prepare to come out 
 with his mantle upon you. 
 
 " The day before your father fell asleep he asked if I 
 had written to you. I said ' No : I cannot get time to 
 write this mail.' He said, 'You must write, and assure 
 them that I am not very ill. I fear some one may write, 
 and that they will worry about me, and think that I shall 
 die.' 
 
 '• After the doctor gave him up, I wanted to tell him 
 that he might not live, and ask him for some directions 
 for the future ; but the friends who stood by would not 
 consent. They could not believe that he was going to 
 die, and thought it would alarm him unnecessarily. All 
 that I could do was to say to him, — 
 
 " ' My dear, this is a dying world. In the event of 
 any thing happening to either of us, what would be your 
 wish with regard to the children.?' He answered, 'To 
 have them complete their studies, and come out and take 
 our places.' 
 
 " ' But if we should both die, what about Calista ? 
 Would you think it best for her to come if we are not 
 here ?' 
 
 " ' Oh, yes ! Tell, her not to fear, but to trust God : 
 he will take care of her.' 
 
 " At another time I leaned over the bedside and said, 
 ' Dear, how do you feel now 1 Shall we together see the 
 goodness of the Lord in the land of the living?' He 
 looked up so pleasantly, and said, ' Yes ! ' 
 
 " ' Have we long years of usefulness before us ? ' 
 
 " ' Yes ! Oh, yes ! ' 
 
 " Mr. Brayton, who was watching with him, said de- 
 
154 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 cidedly, ' I cannot think brother Vinton's work is done 
 yet.' 
 
 " Not a quarter of an hour before he died, the doctor 
 asked him how he felt. He answered, 'A little stronger.' 
 I do not think he thought of dying until he opened his 
 eyes in glory." 
 
 What more fitting close to a shining life like 
 his, than to be translated thus suddenly from 
 the battle-field to the 'presence of the Lord ; 
 to die, as he had lived, "■ with the harness on ; " 
 to close his ** tired" eyes, thinking only of a 
 brief rest ere he went forth to the conflict 
 again, and to open them in the 
 
 " City of the pearl-bright portal, 
 City of the jasper wall, 
 City of the golden pavement, 
 Seat of endless festival " ! 
 
 What mattered it that there was no opportu- 
 nity for dying testimony, for a last good-by to 
 the faithful wife, or tender messages to the 
 absent children } His life and labors had been 
 one continual testimony ; and to the mourning 
 wife and children there was the less need of 
 loving farewell messages, since, in all the long 
 past, there had not been one bitter word which 
 needed now to be unsaid. 
 
 There was a hush in the room as the spirit 
 
FUNERAL SERVICES. 155 
 
 took its flight ; and then an awe came down 
 upon those who stood by, as they beheld the 
 mysterious transfiguration that sometimes comes 
 after death. As they saw a glad smile creep 
 over the sleeping face, they felt that in some 
 inexplicable way the happy, glorified spirit had 
 been enabled to whisper to its other self some- 
 thing of the unutterable glories of the world 
 beyond. The soul that had so long panted for 
 more holiness, and greater conformity to the 
 divine image, was at last satisfied, because it 
 had ''awakened in His likeness." 
 
 We cannot explain the unwillingness of Mr. 
 Vinton's friends to believe that he was about 
 to die, even after the doctor had given him up, 
 except that they all loved him so, and felt that 
 he was doing such a great work, and that he 
 was so necessary to it, that it was impossible 
 that God could be about to take him away. 
 He had gone in and out before them for so 
 many years, a tower of strength, that they 
 seem to have imagined that he could not die. 
 
 Mr. Rose said, in his address at the fu- 
 neral, — 
 
 "Is it possible that Mr. Vinton is dead, — our friend 
 and brother, esteemed and beloved as a devoted and 
 honored servant of God ? Shall we see his familiar face 
 and hear his friendly voice no more ? 
 
156 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " I confess I find it difficult to realize this. Nay, I 
 cannot realize it. I have never felt such a strong pro- 
 pensity in my mind to reject the evidence of my own 
 senses as in this case. There is something within, 
 stronger than an ordinary unbelief, that sternly refuses 
 to admit as true what my own eyes have seen. 
 
 " When I first saw the icy hand of death laid upon his 
 countenance, I felt, for the moment, as if God had made 
 a mistake. I felt as if the Angel of Death had been 
 misdirected. I felt that Mr. Vinton's time had not yet 
 come, that his work was not yet done; for though he had 
 labored among this people for twenty-four years, and 
 though his labors have been blessed and honored of God 
 as the labors of but few men have been, yet it seemed to 
 me the great amount of good he had been enabled, 
 through divine help, to accomplish, was a pledge of his 
 still more abundant labors, of success still more heart- 
 cheering and glorious. 
 
 "He walked among us in the midst of his years, in 
 the dignity of undiminished strength and ripened man- 
 hood, presenting before us a spectacle morally beautiful 
 and noble. All the powers of his manhood were conse- 
 crated to the highest interests of men. In the emphatic 
 command, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel to every creature,' he heard the voice of Jesus 
 speaking to him ; and confiding without a doubt in the 
 promise, * Lo ! I am with you alway,' he came to these 
 ends of the earth, and went through these provinces of 
 Burmah, from village to village, and from town to town, 
 in season and out of season, bearing precious seed, even 
 the lancprruptible word of God, which liveth and abideth 
 fpfeyef, 
 
MR. ROSES ADDRESS. I57 
 
 " God was with him ; for his language was, ' Send me 
 not except thou go with me.' Christ was with him, for 
 he felt that without him he could do nothing ; and what 
 has been the result? His spiritual children are now 
 numbered by scores of thousands. Many, who had re- 
 ceived the life-giving words from his lips, have gone to 
 heaven before him, and many more are now on the way. 
 
 " As I follow the soul of our departed brother up to 
 the world of bliss, I see, with a vision stronger and more 
 true than that of the natural eye, companies of redeemed 
 Karens, radiant in robes of light, with harps of gold, 
 coming forth to give the first greeting, saying, ' O teach- 
 er, teacher! have you come? Welcome! welcome!' I 
 can hear them say, ' Teacher, but for you, we had never 
 come here. You showed us the way of eternal life. 
 You led us to Jesus, You taught us how to pray, and 
 here we are redeemed and glorified.' 
 
 " Mr. Vinton's aim was something higher and nobler 
 than to establish a mere nominal Christianity. It was 
 to win souls to Christ, to bring men practically and ex- 
 perimentally to the knowledge of repentance toward 
 God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, resulting in 
 hoHness of heart and life." 
 
 These are the words of a brother missionary, 
 one who had known him intimately for years ; 
 and it was a common saying, that to know Mr. 
 Vinton was to love him. 
 
 The following tribute appeared in "The 
 Christian Secretary : " — 
 
158 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 "Justus H. Vinton is dead. The toils and labors of 
 the devoted missionary are ended, and he has gone up 
 to receive his reward. For nearly a quarter of a century 
 brother Vinton labored with unflagging faith and devoted 
 zeal in the cause of his Master. No obstacle was pow- 
 erful enough to discourage him in his labor of love. No 
 adverse circumstance could for a moment delay him in 
 the work which he had evidently been called to do. 
 
 " In storms and sunshine, in prosperity and in adver- 
 sity, brother Vinton was still the same. Earnestly de- 
 voted to his Master's service, blessed with an iron consti- 
 tution, an indomitable will, and unwavering faith in the 
 promises, his whole missionary life was a glowing exam- 
 ple of a devoted disciple, earnestly engaged in his Mas- 
 ter's vineyard, 
 
 " Nor were his labors unblessed. No missionary 
 could point to as many converts, as the seals of his min- 
 istry, as Justus H. Vinton. 
 
 " There will be no more misunderstandings with regard 
 to the 'policy' of brother Vinton. He may have made 
 mistakes in the course of his long missionary career. 
 It would be surprising if he had not; but they were 
 errors of the head, and not of the heart. Whatever they 
 may have been, or however he may have been misunder- 
 stood in this country, he was always honest in his deal- 
 ings with his fellow-men. 
 
 " He is beyond the reach of criticism now, and we are 
 sure that no one will feel disposed to indulge in it. As 
 a Christian and a missionary, his name will be held in 
 cherished remembrance by thousands of his friends in 
 this country, as well as in India, and future generations 
 will rise up to call him blessed." 
 
MR. VINTON S LAST LETTER. 1 59 
 
 No more fitting close to this memoir can be 
 found than the closing sentences of the letter 
 written by Mr. Vinton to the Baptist churches 
 of Connecticut just before leaving for his last 
 journey, and which was found among his papers 
 after his death. 
 
 " Here, then, is the great subject-matter of my letter. 
 You have helped us with your contributions of money 
 most liberally, and we pray God to reward you a thou- 
 sand-fold. But what avails this, so long as these pre- 
 cious souls are not converted ? and this never can be, 
 without more wrestling, agonizing prayer to God. Were 
 it possible that prevailing prayer could be offered unac- 
 companied by alms, and could we have but one, I would 
 unhesitatingly say, '■Leave us^ if need be, to starve, but give 
 us of your prayers, that the work of saving souls may 
 go on.' And yet I know that no man can offer prevailing 
 prayer who does not lie as a living or dying sacrifice upon 
 God's altar, without stipulation, condition, or reserve. 
 
 " Oh, what a precious privilege ! Every thing upon 
 that altar — our bodies, our souls, our children, our 
 property, our influence, our all ! What an inheritance 
 for our children ! 
 
 "Brethren and sisters, I earnestly entreat you to 
 meet us before that altar upon which our earthly all shall 
 have been deposited, that we may there become wrestling 
 Jacobs and prevailing Israels upon behalf of priceless 
 souls, — that we may indeed travail in birth for souls till 
 ' Christ be formed in them the hope of glory.' 
 " Affectionately yours, 
 
 "J. H. Vl\ton." 
 
l60 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 " This earth has lost its power to drag me downward; 
 Its spell is gone : 
 My course is now right upward and right onward, 
 To yonder throne." 
 
 The sad story was whispered from one weep- 
 ing Karen to another. The pastors told it to 
 their people with broken utterances. Little 
 companies of Karens went from village to 
 village, not, as six years before, to carry the 
 glad news that the deliverer had come, but 
 with the heavy tidings that the best earthly 
 friend the Karens had ever had was gone from 
 them forever. Large companies came down to 
 the city, stunned with the news, and anxious, 
 not only to learn from the mamma's own lips 
 the confirmation of the sad report, but to min- 
 gle their tears with hers, to look into the 
 vacant study, so filled with tender associations 
 to many of them, and to gaze on the grave of 
 one whom they had loved only too well. 
 
 It was touching to see some of them steal 
 
SYMPATHIZING KARENS. l6l 
 
 off to his Study, and pass their hands caress- 
 ingly over the quaint old-fashioned chair he al- 
 ways sat in, and over the papers which lay on 
 the desk still undisturbed, as if in the hard 
 rough outlines of the wood, and in the rustling 
 paper, there must be some lingering memory 
 of the busy hands which were now forever at 
 rest. Though crushed at first by the sudden- 
 ness of the blow, yet they had been too long 
 under the influence of that hopeful, trusting 
 spirit, to doubt that the Lord, who had raised 
 them up such a leader and helper in the dark- 
 est hour of their need, would still be their sup- 
 port and stay in this heavy affliction. Thou- 
 sands of prayers went up from that smitten 
 flock for the bereaved widow, for the fatherless 
 children so far away, and for themselves, that 
 the Great Shepherd might now lead them, and 
 teach them to depend more wholly upon him. 
 
 Deputations of native pastors came to beg 
 Mrs. Vinton not to leave them to return to her 
 home in America, but to remain and to take up 
 her husband's work, and to go before them as 
 he had done. 
 
 Go home to America ! Yes : it would have 
 been sweet to go back to the dear old home- 
 stead where her childhood had been spent, and 
 
1 62 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 where an aged mother still longed for one more 
 sio:ht of the absent daucrhter. Fond sisters 
 and a loving brother would have vied with each 
 other in making her last years happy and rest- 
 ful ; and, more than all, her two children were 
 in America ; and who could have blamed her if 
 she had turned her steps hithervvard, and, con- 
 tenting herself with twenty-four years of active, 
 ceaseless service for the heathen, had spent the 
 last six years of her life in the retirement of 
 her home, and in the enjoyment of the society 
 of the host of friends who stood ready to wel- 
 come her to these shores ? 
 
 Doubtless the home of her childhood, with 
 its many tender memories, never appeared more 
 peaceful and inviting, with its low-browed roof 
 and quaint New England surroundings, — the 
 orchard, the chestnut-wood, and the whispering 
 pines, where had been her bower of prayer ; 
 doubtless the claims of the aged mother, the 
 widowed sister, and her own fatherless chil- 
 dren, never appealed so strongly to her heart ; 
 but clear and distinct above these came the 
 call from the Karen churches, the entreaties 
 of the native Christians, the cry of the igno- 
 rant and perishing all around. We cannot be 
 surprised that she resolutely endeavored to put 
 
SHALL SHE RETURN HOME? 163 
 
 aside her own grief, and sense of loss, and be- 
 gan to strengthen the hearts of the pastors 
 with words of encouragement, and to comfort 
 the weeping disciples with the assurance, that, 
 so long as she lived, she would remain with 
 them, and labor on as before. 
 
 Great grace and power seemed to come upon 
 her from on high, as if to prepare her for the 
 lonely, toilsome path before her. Dr. Kincaid, 
 the old and tried friend, concerning whom the 
 Vintons had so often occasion to use the lan- 
 guage of Proverbs xvii. 17, and Philippians i. 3, 
 came at once from Prome to Rangoon, and, by 
 his judicious counsel and hearty co-operation, 
 very much aided Mrs. Vinton and the native 
 pastors in arranging plans of work for the 
 future. Not content with this, he went out 
 among the people to assure them that the 
 mamma would not leave them, and that, when- 
 ever they needed his presence or assistance, he 
 would come at once, and help them in any way 
 that he could. These were no ''idle words." 
 Eugenio Kincaid was a man of deeds, large- 
 hearted, and self-sacrificing ; and many a time, 
 during the next six years, did he leave his 
 field, and come to Rangoon to aid Mrs. Vinton 
 by his counsel, in carrying on a work under 
 
164 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 which many a pastor in this country would 
 have staggered. 
 
 Never was a Burman missionary so loved 
 and trusted by the Karens as Dr. Kincaid. 
 Like the dear teacher who had just gone from 
 them, he had shown that he sought "not 
 theirs, but them." Fearless and independent, 
 while trusting and humble, he read in his com- 
 mission, ** Preach the gospel to every creature ; " 
 and whether, in his journeys among the Bur- 
 mans, he came across a Karen hamlet or a 
 garrison of English soldiers, he never refrained 
 from preaching Christ to them, because he had 
 not been specially "designated" to them. His 
 work was owned and blessed of God ; and, be- 
 sides the many trophies won from among the 
 Burmans, he will meet in heaven hundreds of 
 redeemed Karens who first heard the gospel 
 from his lips, besides many others who were 
 cheered and helped by his earnest words and 
 example. Dear, noble, old man ! — the hero of 
 a hundred fights, — his indomitable courage 
 never failed him, whether facing the robbers in 
 northern Burmah, or the governor of Rangoon 
 with his infuriated soldiery, or the terrors of an 
 ecclesiastical council in Maulmain. Right was 
 right, and duty was duty ; and his voice was 
 always heard on the side of truth. 
 
DR. KINCAID. 165 
 
 While we write these lines, news comes from 
 his far-off western home that he lies very ill, 
 possibly at the point of death. 
 
 God grant that this may not be true ! May 
 that brave, true heart beat for many a year yet ! 
 The flashing eye which so often made the cruel 
 oppressor quail beneath its gaze is dimmed 
 with age. The arm which has dealt so many 
 true blows for God and right is weak and 
 trembling with infirmity. But may God grant 
 to make the walk home, in the hush of evening, 
 a calm and restful one ; and as the twilight 
 deepens, and the forms of earth are lost in the 
 gathering darkness, may the lights of home 
 shine out all the clearer ! May He who has said, 
 " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," 
 place around him the " Everlasting Arms " ! and 
 may this man of God share in the quiet trust 
 expressed in the lines of Bonar : — 
 
 " I am wandering down life's shady path, — 
 Slowly, slowly, wandering down : 
 I am wandering down life's rugged path, — 
 Slowly, slowly, wandering down. 
 
 'Tis the mellow flush of sunset now, 
 
 'Tis the shadow and the cloud ; 
 'Tis the dimness of the dying eve, 
 
 'Tis the shadow and the cloud. 
 
l66 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 'Tis the dreamy haze of twilight now, 
 
 'Tis the hour of silent trust; 
 'Tis the solemn hue of fading skies, 
 
 'Tis the time of tranquil trust. 
 
 We have shared our earthly sorrows 
 
 Each with the other here ; 
 We shall share our heavenly gladness 
 
 Each with the other there. 
 
 We have mingled tears together, 
 We shall mingle smiles and song; 
 
 We have mingled sighs together, 
 We shall mingle smiles and song." 
 
 No one on that heavenly shore will be more 
 glad to greet Eugenio Kincaid than his old 
 comrade on the mission field. They had toiled 
 together side by side for years ; together they 
 had won many a victory over the powers of 
 hell ; and together shall they, with that other 
 grand old veteran, Jabez Swan, walk the golden 
 streets, and thank God for permitting them to 
 do and to suffer for his cause. 
 
 The burden of -the churches thus thrown 
 upon Mrs. Vinton, made it necessary that she 
 should commit a large portion of the school- 
 work to assistants ; and here she began to reap 
 the fruits of the care and wisdom with which 
 
FRUITS OF EDUCATIONAL WORK. 16/ 
 
 the educational work of previous years had been 
 conducted. 
 
 In the Normal School in Maulmain, which 
 in the midst of its greatest promise came to 
 such an untimely end, had been two Karen girls 
 who had been named by friends in America, 
 Fidelia and Eliza. They had profited, during 
 the short time they had been in the Normal 
 School, by the instructions of Miranda Vinton 
 and Miss Wright, who were in charge. 
 
 These two girls Mrs. Vinton called to her 
 assistance, and they soon developed into teach- 
 ers of marked ability. They differed widely in 
 disposition and temperament, each in a sense 
 the complement of the other, yet, both by dis- 
 position and long friendship, fitted to work suc- 
 cessfully together. They had married men in 
 every way worthy of them. Eliza's husband, 
 Rev. Thah-mway, has been for more than 
 twenty-five years a most devoted and efficient 
 preacher and teacher, for the greater portion of 
 the time being an ordained pastor, in charge of 
 a large district of native churches ; not only 
 directing with admirable skill the unordained 
 pastors and assistants under his charge, but 
 also doing splendid service as an evangelist. 
 
 Fidelia's husband, Nyo-poh, was, until his 
 
l68 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 death, employed as a teacher ; for a long time in 
 the city school, of which he was treasurer. He 
 was a most faithful and trustworthy man, and 
 wholly w^orthy of the implicit confidence with 
 which he was regarded by the missionaries. 
 The assistance of these teachers left Mrs. Vin- 
 ton more time to devote to the necessary over- 
 sight of the churches. It has never been fully 
 understood in this country that a large share of 
 the personal work of a missionary is devoted to 
 this task of oversight. Constituted as the ma- 
 jority of the churches are, at least in the first 
 or second generation of mission labor, of con- 
 verts who are either entirely uneducated, or but 
 partially trained, and embarrassed by the rem- 
 nants of heathen superstitions and customs, 
 they would need the very best of pastors ; but 
 to supply this need we have only the ranks of 
 the converts themselves from which to draw. 
 This difficulty has led to a system of oversight 
 and advice upon the part of the missionaries, 
 which demands much time, and is the source of 
 great anxiety. 
 
 Fortunately, in our older missions in Burmah, 
 the necessity for such work is passing away 
 with the introduction of a thoroughly trained 
 native ministry ; and each generation of effort 
 
THE WORK OF OVERSIGHT. 169 
 
 leaves the missionary more free for personal 
 labor among the heathen. However, with the 
 formation of new churches in heathen districts, 
 arises again the necessity for advice from the 
 missionary, and the same process is repeated. 
 We long for the day when the supply of native 
 preachers from the old fields will not only meet 
 the demands of the old churches, but will fur- 
 nish a sufficient corps of native missionaries to 
 meet the wants of the new fields opening on 
 every side. 
 
 It is but right and fair to the missionaries 
 to say that they confine themselves to advice. 
 They never attempt to exercise any disciplinary 
 authority, or to become in any sense '* Lords 
 over God's heritage." Their desire is to train 
 the natives so that as quickly as possible they 
 may be qualified to direct their own church 
 affairs. 
 
 In this work of oversight Mrs. Vinton was 
 greatly assisted by the three ordained pastors, 
 Mau-Yay, Nga-lay, and Yai-pau, and by others 
 equally faithful, but not so prominent. It 
 seemed as if special grace was given to the 
 pastors in this emergency ; for never before, 
 even in the brightest days of the mission, had 
 there been such a display of faithfulness and 
 
170 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 zeal as now. Nor was it alone among the pas- 
 tors that Mrs. Vinton found hearty and effi- 
 cient supporters. 
 
 Loonee-pa and Myat-tway, who, with their 
 sons, were engaged in business in Rangoon, 
 and were living on the mission premises, 
 stood ready to render all assistance in their 
 power in the conduct of the temporal affairs of 
 the mission. The donations of these two fami- 
 lies were on a scale which would put to shame 
 many a one who, in this country, has won the 
 praise of his brethren for liberality. • 
 
 Others, of less means, were equally generous. 
 It is impossible to convey any adequate idea of 
 the readiness of the Karens to do any thing, or 
 give any thing, which might help Mrs. Vinton 
 or further the interests of the mission. Truly 
 the example of self-sacrifice set them by their 
 departed teacher had not been lost, and its 
 influence is felt in that mission until to-day. 
 Even the pupils in the schools participated in 
 this feeling. The " Revenue Survey," which 
 was the basis of the assessment of taxes, had 
 furnished employment to many of the young 
 men of Mrs. Vinton's school during their vaca- 
 tions. Their work was invariably so well done, 
 that a young man had but to present a certifi- 
 
DONATIONS FROM SCHOLARS. I/I 
 
 cate of proficiency from her, and he secured an 
 appointment at once. From the pay which the 
 pupils, thus employed, received for their work, 
 they set apart a tenth, a fifth, or sometimes 
 even a half, as a contribution to the mission. 
 Their donations were so large in proportion 
 to their means, that Mrs. Vinton felt com- 
 pelled to remonstrate with them for giving so 
 much. The tears would start to their eyes 
 as they answered earnestly, ** We cannot give 
 too much. If it had not been for you and 
 your instructions, we should never have known 
 enough to have earned this money. Take it 
 and use it, so that others coming, as ignorant as 
 we were, may be taught as well as we have 
 been." 
 
 Nor were the churches behindhand in the 
 same liberal spirit. Numbers of young men 
 who had been educated in Mrs. Vinton's school 
 refused lucrative appointments under the Eng- 
 lish government, and offered their services as 
 evansrelists and teachers. The effect of all 
 this upon Mrs. Vinton herself was remarkable. 
 She had always been burdened with a despond- 
 ing spirit, and an inclination to look upon the 
 ''dark side." She had fought against it ear- 
 nestly ; and, so long as her husband lived, his 
 
172 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 sunny, hopeful disposition had assisted her in 
 conquering it. When he died, it seemed as if 
 she inherited the calm trustfulness and confi- 
 dence which had been such a marked trait in 
 his character. The wonderful exhibitions of 
 self-denial and sacrifice presented by the Ka- 
 rens strengthened this spirit, and never again 
 do we find in her letters that tone of despond- 
 ency which was frequently to be discovered in 
 her earlier communications. 
 
 In addition, she was much cheered and 
 strengthened by the remembrance of a remark- 
 able dream which she had previous to her hus- 
 band's death. 
 
 She had gone to sleep with her mind full of 
 anxious forebodings caused by the action of 
 the deputation. It seemed to her as if there 
 was nothing left for them to do but to relin- 
 quish the mission, and either bury themselves 
 in the trackless wildernesses of Karennee, or, 
 worse than this, to return to America. 
 
 She dreamed that she stood before a mighty 
 tree, shapely and beautiful, with wide-spreading 
 branches. While she stood gazing at it, a 
 party of men came, and with stern determin- 
 ation attacked the noble trunk with axes, say- 
 ing to each other " Let us cut it down ! " The 
 
MRS. VINTON S REMARKABLE DREAM. 1 73 
 
 work of destruction went on, until the trunk 
 was nearly severed, when all save one withdrew, 
 and stood at a little distance to watch its fall. 
 The last few strokes were given, and the trunk 
 was severed ; but, to the astonishment of the 
 lookers-on (and of the dreamer), the tree did 
 not fall. While she was wondering at this, 
 and looking upward, a voice came, " The tree is 
 rooted in the skies. It caimot fall. It is rooted 
 i7t the skies ; " and then she saw that the upper 
 branches were buried in the clouds. 
 
 She awoke ; and, as she thought it over, the 
 impression grew upon her that the dream was 
 indeed sent of God ; and ever after, when diffi- 
 culties threatening the permanence of the mis- 
 sion would arise, she comforted herself with 
 these words, " It is rooted in the skies. It can- 
 not fall. It is rooted in the skies." 
 
174 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " Go labor on : enough while here 
 
 If He shall praise thee, if He deign 
 Thy willing heart to mark and cheer ; 
 No toil for Him shall be in vain." 
 
 So soon as the news of Mr. Vinton's death 
 reached America, Calista, who was just about 
 to graduate at Suffield, prepared to return to 
 Burmah. The churches in Connecticut, who 
 had so often and so liberally contributed to the 
 Vintons, secured her passage and outfit ; and on 
 Christmas Day, 1858, the mother and daughter 
 were re-united. Calista engaged at once in the 
 school work, taking charge of the classes in 
 mathematics, and giving instruction in vocal 
 music, besides assisting her mother in the care 
 of the boarding department. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at, however, that 
 Mrs. Vinton often trembled as she looked for- 
 ward to the future, feeling that the success or 
 failure of the mission depended largely upon 
 the wisdom and skill with which she directed 
 
BRANCHES OF THE WORK. 1 75 
 
 its affairs. She had always been a woman of 
 much prayer ; but she now emphatically gave 
 herself to supplication and prayer that God 
 would guide her and the native pastors, and 
 pour out his Spirit on the churches, and thus, 
 by his presence and special blessing, make up 
 for the loss of their devoted and faithful leader. 
 Mrs. Vinton did not relinquish any of the 
 branches of the work in which she had previ- 
 ously engaged, but carried on all the different 
 departments of it which had hitherto devolved 
 upon both herself and her husband. The only 
 change she made was, that in the dry season 
 she committed the charge of the school to the 
 native assistants, and spent her time among the 
 village churches. This was the more easily 
 done, as the school at that portion of the year 
 consisted mainly of the younger scholars, the 
 older ones havinof returned to their homes to 
 assist their parents in the harvesting of the rice- 
 crop. 
 
 By the large Karen population scattered 
 through the jungles north and west of Rangoon, 
 she was welcomed with a heartiness and enthu- 
 siasm which few missionaries have experienced. 
 Wherever she went, the people came to her in 
 throngs. She was often aroused in the morn- 
 
176 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 ing by the creaking of the bamboo flooring 
 under the cautious step of early callers, who 
 were saying to each other in loud whispers, 
 " Isn't the mamma awake yet ? '* Often it 
 would be midnight ere the last lingering visitor 
 left. The efforts of the people to show them- 
 selves hospitable, and to render her visits as 
 pleasant as possible, were most assiduous. As 
 soon as the news was brought to a village that 
 she had reached the landing-place at the river, 
 perhaps three or four miles away, buffalo-carts 
 were despatched at once to bring her and her 
 baggage to the chapel. Much care was be- 
 stowed on the selection of the buffaloes, and 
 the quietest pair in the neighborhood was pro 
 moted to the post of honor. Sometimes when 
 the carts reached the landing-place, Mrs. Vin- 
 ton would be greeted with the laughing assur- 
 ance, " Come, mamma, you have nothing to 
 fear : these are Christian buffaloes." But at 
 other times it would be, "Take care, mamma: 
 these are heathen buffaloes ; " and the event 
 often tried her powers of holding on and 
 holding together to the utmost. The strange 
 antipathy of these creatures to white people 
 has never been accounted for satisfactorily. It 
 is in some way connected with the sense of 
 
BUFFALO-CART TRAVELLING. I 7/ 
 
 smell ; for a whole herd will gaze quietly upon a 
 white person for a time, but, just as soon as he 
 goes to windward of them, they begin to mani- 
 fest great uneasiness. The massive heads are 
 thrown up ; and the animals sniff the air with 
 evident alarm, not unmixed with anger. In 
 another moment the entire herd breaks into a 
 run, in whatever direction the heads happen to 
 be turned. 
 
 Some experienced old wiseacres have learned 
 to connect the odor with the individual, and will 
 rush at a white person wherever seen ; but, as a 
 rule, the mere presence of a white man does 
 not awaken alarm if he keeps to leeward of the 
 animals. 
 
 Woe be to a poor missionary who has deftly 
 crawled into the cart to which a pair of these 
 powerful creatures have been harnessed. Before 
 he has fairly crouched down in the straw, fond- 
 ly imagining, that, if he can keep out of sight, all 
 will be well, he is convinced of his mistake by 
 a series of snorts and plunges ; and then the 
 infuriated beasts set off upon a dead run across 
 the uneven paddy-fields, taking ditches, bushes, 
 and embankments in their way with the ut- 
 most abandon. Frantically the poor passenger 
 clutches at the sides of the cart, in the vain 
 
178 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 attempt to keep himself from being bumped to 
 a jelly as the springless vehicle bounces over 
 the rough ground. The straw, intended to 
 serve as cushions, glides out from under him in 
 the most inconsiderate manner, and gathers 
 itself up into an indignant lump at the other 
 side of the cart. 
 
 The basket of dishes suddenly makes a lunge, 
 and hits him cruelly in the back. Then an 
 ant-hill under one wheel upsets the basket of 
 cooking utensils; and pots, pans, and kettles 
 come flying at him from all sides, some landing 
 on the ground, to be picked up by the boatmen 
 as they come along. Still the buffaloes keep 
 right on, never slacking their pace for bruised 
 body or broken dishes : their faces are set 
 toward home, and they will not rest until they 
 are brought up, breathless and panting, against 
 some strong buffalo-pen in the village. 
 
 On one occasion Mrs. Vinton found one of 
 these uncomfortable rides brought to a more 
 sudden termination than even she had expected. 
 The buffaloes had made a sudden turn, and 
 were dashing through a grove of trees, when 
 one of the solid wooden wheels of the cart came 
 against a stump. The pole broke ; and away 
 the frantic creatures galloped into the depths 
 
THE DISMAYED COOK. 1 79 
 
 of the jungle, not to be found again until the 
 next day. The village was far away ; and the 
 catastrophe would have been solemn, had it 
 not been enlivened by the actions of the " Kalah 
 cook." His chief anxiety had been for the 
 dishes and other household utensils, which he 
 had carefully transferred from the boat to the 
 cart, after which he had seated himself among 
 his "household goods," prepared to enjoy the 
 long ride to the village. When the buffaloes 
 began to run away, he clutched frantically at 
 the basket of dishes, and tried to steady with 
 his feet .the other basket containing the precious 
 little store of tea, coffee, sugar, bread, butter, 
 lard, curry-powder, pickles, flour, medicines, and 
 spices, beside other necessary things not to be 
 found short of the city bazaar. But alas ! as 
 the cart swayed from side to side, and jumped 
 up and down, one thing after another broke 
 loose from its moorings, and he soon found 
 his hands (and his lap too) literally full. His 
 despairing looks and gestures, his brief ejacu- 
 lations as one dish after another broke, and 
 other treasures were landed in the road, were 
 most amusing. He had an evident determina- 
 tion to "stick to his post," but the trouble 
 seemed to be to find the post. He cast ago- 
 
l80 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 nizing glances over the side of the cart as it 
 danced along : the desire was strong within him 
 at times to seize a basket and jump with it to 
 the ground, but prudence forbade. Mrs. Vinton 
 and her good Nau-oo-thah found their attention 
 happily diverted from their own suffering and 
 bruised condition, as they watched the comical 
 actions of the man ; and they laughed until the 
 tears came. After the '* smash-up " he looked 
 very rueful as they proceeded to gather up the 
 fragments and place them in the baskets, while 
 they waited for another cart to come for them 
 from the village. 
 
 The " Kalah cook," while very useful in his 
 own department, and forming a necessary ad- 
 junct to every travelling party, does not seem 
 gifted with many ideas beyond the work of 
 preparing meals, and keeping out of the way 
 of the boatmen, who look upon him as a mild 
 sort of intruder. 
 
 Once, when Mr. Luther was travelling, the 
 boat grounded on a sand-bar. The boatmen 
 immediately sprang overboard, and began shov- 
 ing it back into deep water. It was hard work, 
 as the tide was rapidly falling ; but, as they 
 paused a moment to take breath, they spied 
 the cook sitting in the bottom of the boat,/^i'^- 
 
THE "KALAH COOK." l8l 
 
 iiig against one of the thwarts with all his 
 strength. 
 
 This grave attempt to aid in releasing the 
 boat from the sand-bar was too much for the 
 Karens ; and they sat down in the shallow water 
 and laughed and screamed to their heart's con- 
 tent, while the poor cook gazed at them in 
 bewildered astonishment. He had never heard 
 of trying to lift one's self over a fence by pull- 
 ing at his boot-straps, for he wore no boots : 
 therefore the similarity of his attempt to this 
 time-worn problem did not strike him. 
 
 The " Kalah cook," however, is in his ele- 
 ment when he has once been safely landed, 
 with his belongings, at the native village. The 
 boatmen despised him and his finiking ways, 
 and hooted at him when he suggested to one 
 of them to go ashore after a chatty of well- 
 water for culinary purposes, instead of dipping 
 it up out of the river. Here, however, at the 
 village the people gaze on him with a mixed 
 amazement at the blackness of his skin, the 
 whiteness of his garments, and the general 
 *' queerness " of his methods of cooking. He 
 receives all offers of assistance with becoming 
 dignity, taking the stray bundles of dry twigs 
 brought him by the little urchins, with only a 
 
1 82 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 nod ; directing, by a lordly gesture, where the 
 women shall place the chatties of water brought 
 from the well ; and, if unable to find a place 
 sufficiently sheltered for his cooking, -making 
 signs for thatch and bamboo to make a screen 
 for his fire, and thus shelter it from the wind. 
 
 He builds his fire on the ground under some 
 native house, or perchance a tree ; and unmoved 
 by the concentrated stare of some dozen or 
 more naked children (who dare not venture 
 into the chapel where the mamma is, because 
 of a rumor that she has threatened to whip all 
 naked children), he proceeds with his cooking. 
 His features relax a little when a dozen of eggs 
 is brought in ; but when a basket of sweet, 
 freshly-hulled rice comes, and with it a fat hen 
 or duck for the mamma's dinner, he actually 
 smiles, and exclaims, " Koungthai ! " (good) ; for 
 the Kalah cook generally has a smattering of 
 English and Burmese, and the latter is his only 
 means of communication with the Karens. But 
 we must leave him to concoct a most savory 
 dinner with the few and rude cooking appli- 
 ances at his hand, — a sauce-pan and a fire kin- 
 dled between three lumps of clay, — while we 
 turn to the missionary and describe her recep- 
 tion. 
 
AT THE VILLAGE. 1 83 
 
 Such of the villagers as are not at work in 
 the paddy-fields are busy in arranging her lodg- 
 ing and living room in the village chapel. Her 
 roll of bedding, tied up carefully in matting, is 
 unfastened, and spread out in one corner ; and 
 by its side the three or four *'pahs" (mat-work 
 covered baskets) containing her changes of cloth- 
 ing, books, medicines, &c., are placed. A bam- 
 boo, about ten feet long, is extended from the 
 floor to a beam overhead ; and a long strip of 
 cloth is stretched from one wall to the bamboo, 
 and at right angles to another wall, thus form- 
 ing a room eight or ten feet square. 
 
 If the village possesses such a thing as a 
 bedstead, it is often brought up and placed in 
 the chapel before her arrival : but the experi- 
 enced missionary generally prefers to spread a 
 bed on the floor ; for these bedsteads, like the 
 houses from which they came, are more than 
 likely to be swarming with vermin. The chapel, 
 being used only for purposes of worship, is the 
 cleanest house in the village. During the mis- 
 sionary's visit, however, it is generally thronged 
 from morning till night by people from all 
 the region about ; some wanting medicine, some 
 counsel, some sympathy, some encouragement, 
 while the great mass are a curious gaping 
 
184 TKE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 crowd of heathen men, women, and children, 
 who must be talked with kindly, their strange 
 irrelevant questions answered, and the gospel 
 preached to them in all faithfulness. 
 
 On these tours Mrs. Vinton was often 
 obliged to settle questions upon church disci- 
 pline, and disputes between church members ; 
 and even questions of law, in the absence of 
 courts, were submitted to her for her judgment 
 and decision. In these latter cases she called the 
 witnesses before her, and, having heard all the 
 testimony on both sides, gave her decision; and 
 from her opinion there never was any appeal. 
 Her sound sense and thorough knowledge of 
 native character were of greater assistance to 
 h^r than Blackstone, or Coke upon Littleton. 
 
 During the day she remained in the chapel, 
 receiving all who came to her. In the evening, 
 as scon as the sun was down, she was out visit- 
 ing from house to house, ministering to the 
 sick and aged, and urging the claims of religion 
 upon the few who were too proud or indifferent 
 to come to see her. Making the chapel in the 
 Christian village her head-quarters, she visited 
 other villages in the neighborhood, sometimes 
 walking over in the morning and returning in 
 the evening, or occasionally going after sunset 
 
A KAREN CHAPEL. 
 
 85 
 
MRS. INGALLS. 1 8/ 
 
 and returning by moonlight. In these walks 
 she was always accompanied by the native pas- 
 tor and a number of the Christian disciples, who 
 went with her, not only to second her efforts, 
 but to show the heathen that they honored 
 their teacher. 
 
 In their desire to make this manifest, they 
 sometimes went to an extent that Mrs. Vinton 
 would not have sanctioned, had she been con- 
 sulted before hand ; and yet it was so evidently 
 the natural outburst of a wish to show to the 
 world how much they loved her, and how much 
 they wished to honor her, that she could not 
 find it in her heart to reprove them. 
 
 As an example of their method of showing 
 their appreciation, one instance will suffice. It 
 furnished a great deal of amusement to the 
 excellent Mrs. Ingalls, who happened to witness 
 it. She was travelling among the Burman 
 villages in her field ; and hearing that Mrs. Vin- 
 ton was in the neighborhood, she went to the 
 Karen village to enjoy one of those rare oppor- 
 tunities for Christian intercourse, and the inter- 
 change of sympathy and thought, which come 
 so seldom to the worn and pre-occupied mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 The day passed in this delightful communion ; 
 
l88 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 and, as night drew nigh, Mrs. Ingalls prepared 
 to take her departure, when Mrs. Vinton told 
 her that the next morning a company of 
 Karens were coming to take her to a village 
 ten miles distant, to spend a few days in Chris- 
 tian work. 
 
 "Why," said Mrs. Ingalls, ''you will pass a 
 village which I very much wish to visit." 
 
 "Stay with me all night then, and we will 
 take you to your destination in the morning," 
 said Mrs. Vinton. 
 
 Every thing was prepared for leaving the vil- 
 lage by daybreak, in order to avoid exposure to 
 the intense heat ; and then, as soon as the 
 chapel was cleared of the mingled crowd of 
 Karens and Burmans, the two missionaries re- 
 tired to rest. 
 
 It was a bright moonlight night ; and about 
 two o'clock in the morning they were awakened 
 by the sound of distant gongs, the jingle of 
 bells, and the shrill notes of native flutes. 
 While they were wondering what it might 
 mean, and vainly trying to compose themselves 
 again to sleep, the noise drew nearer and 
 nearer, and at last ceased just before the 
 chapel. Then voices were heard, " We have 
 come for the mamma. Is she ready to go .? " 
 
THE ESCORT. 1 89 
 
 In a few moments all was bustle and confusion. 
 A dozen fires were kindled, and a dozen rice- 
 pots set on to boil, in preparation for feasting 
 the crowd who had "Come for the mamma;", 
 and then the ** Kalah cook " was hustled out of 
 his sleepy corner by an officious native, and 
 told to get ready a cup of tea and some fried 
 duck's eggs for the mamma, before she should 
 start. 
 
 Sleep was out of the question, even if it had 
 not been for a gentle voice outside the curtain 
 saying, " We will be ready to put mamma's bed 
 and pahs into the cart as soon as she has risen. "^ 
 
 Another inducement was not wanting to 
 rouse Mrs. Vinton from slumber. Mrs. Ingalls 
 had her by the shoulder, and was alternately 
 shaking her, and stopping to give vent to her 
 hearty and mirth-inspiring laugh as she said, 
 ** Get up ! We are going to ride in state this 
 morning." Then she would run, and peep 
 through the cracks in the chapel wall, and come 
 back with fresh accounts each time of the num- 
 ber of carts standing in the moonlit space in 
 front of the chapel, of the gay dresses of the 
 young men and women who had come as escort, 
 
 * Native etiquette requires that in speaking to an older per- 
 sor., or superior, the third person should be used. 
 
190 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 and finally of the astounding fact that in some 
 way oxen, instead of buffaloes, had been pro- 
 cured to draw two of the carts. This latter 
 feature added as much dignity to the occasion 
 as the substitution of Arab steeds for omnibus 
 horses would do in this country. All who have 
 ever been fortunate enough to meet this noble 
 woman, Mrs. Ingalls, who owes much of her 
 success to her joyous, merry disposition, which 
 was now bubbling over at the oddity and weird- 
 ness of this whole proceeding, can imagine 
 that in another minute Mrs. Vinton was laugh- 
 ing as heartily as Mrs. Ingalls, while they 
 dressed themselves, and proceeded to take their 
 room to pieces and finish the packing of their 
 scanty luggage. 
 
 By the time the Karens had eaten their rice, 
 the ladies had taken a cup of tea and some 
 bread, and all was ready for the start. The 
 carts had been filled with clean rice-straw ; and, 
 in the handsomest one, Mrs. Vinton's mattress 
 had been placed to serve as a seat, while the 
 pahs and other luggage had been placed in 
 another. 
 
 The procession then took up its march. 
 First came a company of young men, two of 
 them beating gongs. Then came the cart con- 
 
A BUFFALO-CART. 
 
 191 
 
 
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TRAVELLING IN STATE. 1 93 
 
 taining Mrs. Vinton and Mrs. Ingalls. It was 
 drawn by two of the sleekest oxen, with bells 
 strung around their necks on a broad band of 
 red cloth. By its side walked young men and 
 maidens in holiday attire. Then came another 
 company of men and women ; then the next 
 cart ; and so on until the procession ended in a 
 mixed assembly, who had somehow imbibed the 
 idea that the larger the escort, the more the 
 heathen would be impressed with the dignity 
 of the Christian religion. 
 
 Mrs. Ingalls seemed as much impressed as 
 the heathen could have been, not with the dig- 
 nity of religion, which, indeed, needed no such 
 outward show, but with the love and devotion 
 manifested toward the teacher who had sacri- 
 ficed so much for them. She enlivened the 
 long, slow ride with her merry comments on 
 the extra carving bestowed upon their cart, on 
 the gay trappings of the sober oxen, the delights 
 of riding by moonlight to the inspiring strains 
 of music, and the honor of being attended to 
 their destination by such an escort, with now 
 and then a witty thrust at the Burmans who 
 accompanied the party, which kept all in a roar 
 of laughter. 
 
 " See ! " she would say, " see how the Karens 
 
194 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 treat their mamma. If she wants to go any 
 where they come after her in carts, and such 
 carts ! Drawn by oxen too, all trimmed up with 
 red belts and streamers and bells. And then, 
 as if that were not enough, all these handsome 
 young men and women to keep her company, and 
 show the people that they love their mamma ! 
 Oh, it almost makes me wish 1 were a Karen 
 missionary ! When I wish to go anywhere, I 
 have to walk ; and if I can find two or three 
 disciples to go with me, and show me the way, 
 I think myself fortunate. But never mind : now 
 I am with Mamma Vinton, and share in her 
 honors and her privileges. The Burmans will 
 learn by and by." 
 
 Soon the morning dawned over the broad 
 paddy-plains, and they began to meet compa- 
 nies of Karens and Burmans going forth to their 
 work. Whenever they met a party of Burmans, 
 or passed through a Burman village, Mrs. Ingalls 
 would call out to them in a cheery voice, while 
 her eye danced with merriment, " Look ! see 
 how the Karen mamma travels. Is not this 
 grand ? Do you hear the gongs ? Do you see 
 all this display ? The Karens come forth to 
 meet their mammgi with the honor she deserves. 
 After this I shall expect to have the Burmans 
 
THE BURMANS AND MRS. INGALLS. I95 
 
 treat me so. I, too, shall ride in a handsome 
 cart, drawn by sleek oxen, with music and 
 bells." 
 
 The Burmans, who loved Mrs. Ingalls as 
 much as the Karens did Mrs. Vinton, although 
 they were not yet so ready to show it, nodded 
 laughingly at her bantering tone, and said ** Yes, 
 yes ! the mamma shall not walk any more. She 
 shall ride as well as the Karen mamma." 
 
196 TJIE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " 'Tis first the good and then the beautiful, 
 Not first the beautiful and then the good ; 
 First the wild moor, with rock and reed and pool, 
 Then the flower-blossom or the branching wood." 
 
 However, jungle travel was not a continued 
 picnic or triumphal procession. It had its dark 
 side as well as its light. Sleeping in a boat 
 amid the fever-laden fogs of the river, or in an 
 open chapel, with nothing but a single thick- 
 ness of cloth between her and ** all out doors ; " 
 waking in the night to find a centipede or 
 snake coiled up in bed by her side ; riding after 
 runaway buffaloes, and then reaching a village 
 only to talk until she was hoarse, to hearers who 
 would continually interrupt her with the most 
 irrelevant questions concerning the whiteness 
 of her skin, the size of her nose, or the manner 
 of her dress, — all these were no holiday experi- 
 ences, and yet she rarely spoke of these things. 
 Her accounts of her journeys were always filled 
 with stories of the kindness shown her by the 
 
MILKING A EUFFALO. IQ/ 
 
 Christians ; of the number of bright children 
 who were ready to come into the village or city 
 schools ; of the way the affectionate and grate- 
 ful people had loaded her boat down with rice, 
 chickens, plantains, &c. ; and, above all, of the 
 numbers who had been baptized. 
 
 The Karens showed their desire to gratify 
 her in even trifling things ; and some amusing 
 scenes occurred from their attempts to furnish 
 her with such little luxuries as were obtainable 
 in the jungle. 
 
 For instance, it was very difficult to obtain 
 milk, even in quantities sufficient for the morn- 
 ing cup of coffee or the noonday cup of tea. 
 The natives were not in the habit of using milk 
 in any form, and of course the buffalo-cows 
 were not accustomed to being milked. Know- 
 ing this, Mrs. Vinton seldom expected to get 
 any milk outside of the city; but not unfre- 
 quently it would happen, that, learning her 
 fondness for it, the Karens would search among 
 their herds until they found a buffalo cow with 
 a young calf. 
 
 The unfortunate youngster then soon found 
 himself tied to a stout post for the night, far 
 from his anxious parent. Next morning the 
 fun, or the trouble, began. The calf was 
 
198 THE ViNTONS Ax\D THE KARENS. 
 
 brought and tied near the mother ; and then a 
 group of ten or twenty staUvart young men 
 surrounded the cow. A rope, secured to her 
 neck, was twisted round a post, and the end 
 held by a Karen. Two or three men seized the 
 massive horns. Another rope was cautiously 
 passed around the creature's hind-legs, and 
 either secured to a post, or held by Karens. 
 The remainder of the crowd stood round, ready 
 for any sudden emergency. 
 
 Then one daring Karen, who was as unused 
 to milking as the poor buffalo was to being 
 milked, drew near, with a betel-box coverin his 
 hand, to receive the rich creamy fluid ; but at 
 the first touch of his hand — *' Whoosh!" — a 
 kick, a snort, and a series of plunges, and every- 
 thing had broken loose, and chaos seemed to 
 have come again. The " tying-up " process was 
 gone over again patiently, and more thoroughly; 
 and with a firm look, but trembling hand, the 
 dauntless Karen returned to the attack, while 
 the by-standers seized every "objective point" 
 of the animal. Perhaps the milker succeeded 
 this time in securing a few spoonfuls of milk, 
 while the now frantic animal kicked and plunged 
 with all her might. Then active hostilities 
 would cease for a time, to allow both parties to 
 
**EXPERIENTIA DOCET." I99 
 
 recruit their exhausted energies. Generally, 
 during the next skirmish, the betel-box would 
 be kicked out of the milker's hand, and stepped 
 upon. 
 
 ''Experientia docet ; " and one more wise than 
 the rest would suggest that the milk, as fast as 
 obtained, should be poured into another recep- 
 tacle, and thus secured against accident. 
 
 The amount of milk obtained in this way 
 would vary from half a cupful to a quart, or 
 in rare, cases two quarts, according to the kick- 
 ing capacity of the buffalo, and the endurance 
 of the Karens. When milked into a clean re- 
 ceptacle (and the Karens soon learned that this 
 was a desirable little item to the mamma), it 
 was a great treat ; for it was rich and creamy, 
 and, if boiled, would keep for several days, and 
 furnish cream enough to make a little pat of 
 an ounce or two of butter. The cream, by the 
 way, is churned in a large-mouthed quart bottle, 
 by vigorously shaking it until butter comes. 
 
 Almost every missionary can furnish, from 
 his own experience, scenes similar to the above. 
 Mr. Luther on one occasion, after watching the 
 futile attempts of a party of Karens to get 
 enough milk for his cup of coffee, offered to 
 " show them how to milk." It happened that, 
 
200 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 as the buffalo-cow had proved unusually refrac- 
 tory, the calf had been led up, to persuade the 
 mother to "give down." It was quietly enjoy- 
 ing its long-deferred breakfast, and trying to 
 make up for lost time, when it caught sight of 
 the approaching missionary. With a whoop 
 and a bellow, which rang through the village 
 like the sound of a trumpet, it backed over the 
 Karen who was holding it, and started for the 
 jungle. The mother turned to look for her 
 vanishing offspring, ''which was not wont so to 
 do," when she, too, caught sight of the mission- 
 ary ; and, overturning the dozen or more Karens 
 who were holding her, she disappeared in a 
 cloud of dust. 
 
 The intense dislike which both Karens and 
 Burmans have for milk, butter, and cheese, is 
 not easily accounted for. When we consider 
 the fact that some of them eat monkeys and 
 snakes ; that many will eat the flesh of an 
 animal which died of disease ; that the honey 
 which they use is generally mixed with brood- 
 comb, containing thousands of young bees, 
 which, in the native estimation, adds greatly to 
 the flavor ; that the white-ant queen, — a pulpy 
 mass two inches long, resembling an enormous 
 white grub, — and the palm-worm, which is 
 
FERMENTED FISH. 201 
 
 about the same size and of similar appearance, 
 are regarded as special delicacies, — we cannot 
 but wonder that a cup of pure fresh milk, or a 
 roll of delicious butter, is regarded by them with 
 such infinite disgust.^ 
 
 The articles enumerated above by no means 
 cover the list of dietary peculiarities among the 
 Karens. Of this people, it must in truth be 
 said, ''De giistibus non est disputandumy Their 
 attachment to Nya-eic (fermented fish) is as ex- 
 traordinary as it is universal and undying. This 
 article forms a part of every curry : it is boiled 
 with vegetables, it is fried and eaten with rice ; 
 in fact, it seems as necessary to a native as the 
 very air he breathes. To appreciate this deli- 
 cacy, it is needful to know how it is prepared. 
 To the new missionary, however, all that is 
 necessary is for him to get one whiff of its pow- 
 erful odor, to make him utterly indifferent to its 
 mode of preparation, and only anxious to put 
 space between him and the jar containing it. 
 
 The fish are caught by placing huge nets 
 across the streams. They are then spread 
 out in the hot sun until they have reached a 
 decided state of fermentation. Salt and pep- 
 
 * The natives are now, however, gradually overcoming this 
 prejudice, and are learning to like milk, or at least tolerate it. 
 
202 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 per, and frequently a species of clay, are mixed 
 with the fragrant mass ; and thenceforward it 
 stands prepared to delight the palate of every 
 Karen or Burman, in any form of cookery. 
 Almost every returned missionary has heard 
 the question asked, ** Why cannot the mission- 
 aries live as the natives do .'' It would be such 
 a saving of expense. Why must they have a 
 cook to prepare their meals separately ? Do 
 they feel themselves too good to eat food pre- 
 pared by the natives for their own use ? " 
 
 Argument and explanation are not always 
 satisfactory ; but Rev. Mr. Bunker brought 
 home with him recently an unanswerable reply 
 to these questions. It is a small jar of this 
 fish, just as the natives use it. To such " vain 
 questionings" he replies by uncorking the jar, 
 and offering it to the inquisitive friend for a 
 smell. It is the most convincing statement of 
 the subject which can be imagined. To tell 
 one of these fault-finders that not a Karen 
 knows how to prepare a single article which 
 the missionary can eat except plain boiled rice, 
 ought to be enough ; but, if it is not, Mr. 
 Bunker's little jar, with the information that 
 **some of that" goes into every dish prepared 
 by the Karens, will convince the most skeptical. 
 
FOOLISH QUESTIONS. 203 
 
 Not only are foolish questions asked with 
 regard to food, but the matter of clothing often 
 troubles the minds of some of the ''economical" 
 friends of missions. A gentleman just returned 
 from the mission field was once asked by a lady, 
 " Why do you not live as the natives do ? Eat 
 as they eat, and dress as they dress ? If you did, 
 the missionaries would not require half as large 
 salaries. Why this waste ? " 
 
 The missionary answered, " Madam, would 
 you have our wives and children dress as the 
 natives do ? " " Certainly if they are not too 
 proud,'' was the reply. 
 
 ** Well, Madam," he said, as he looked her 
 steadily in the face, " perhaps you would. A 
 large proportion of the middle-aged women when 
 about their daily work, wear nothing whatever 
 above the waist, and only a single garment be- 
 low ; and the children run perfectly nude until 
 ten or twelve years of age. Such a revolution in 
 dress would make quite a saving in the item of 
 missionary expenditure of the Missionary Union 
 and the Woman's Missionary Society, if you can 
 induce them to recommend it, and the mission- 
 aries to adopt it." 
 
 She made no reply, but doubtless resolved 
 for the future to think before she spoke. 
 
204 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 We have often heard as hasty criticisms up- 
 on the fact that the missionary ladies do not do 
 their own house-work ; and it has been plainly 
 intimated that the reason is, that the strong 
 sensible young woman, who, from her child- 
 hood has practised all the various arts of house- 
 keeping, from the splitting of kindlings, and 
 wiping dishes, to the preparation of an elaborate 
 dinner, has undergone such a transformation, 
 such an " upUfting," on the voyage to India, 
 that by the time she reaches there, she is too 
 proud to do her own house-work. 
 
 It would do some of our New England house- 
 keepers good to be set down in one of our mis- 
 sionary cook-houses, and told to prepare a 
 dinner. ** Where is my stove .-^ " is the first 
 anxious query } 
 
 "My good friend, there is not a stove within 
 a thousand miles. Those little fires on the 
 ground, with the iron tripods over them, are 
 your substitute for a stove." 
 
 ''But where is the chimney } I cannot cook 
 where the smoke blows into my eyes so ! " 
 
 "There is no chimney, my friend. You must 
 keep to windward of your fires, and let the 
 smoke go out at the openings between the roof 
 an4 the low wals." 
 
HOUSEKEEPING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 20$ 
 
 "But where is my sink? my hot and cold 
 
 water faucets ? my cistern-water ? my " — 
 
 " Gently, gently, not so fast," responds the good 
 genius of the place ; and leading her to the door, 
 he points to several large jars of water standing 
 on the ground near by. "There is your sink. 
 Hot water can be supplied by your tea-kettle. 
 The cold water you can bring from the well 
 only about a hundred yards away." 
 
 "But I don't see any well or any pump." 
 
 " True, the well is only a deep pit, and it is at 
 the foot of that hill ; but this bucket and rope 
 are an excellent substitute for a pump. Be 
 careful not to slip into the well, for it has no 
 curb." 
 
 "But I cannot use such water as that: it is 
 thick with mud ! " 
 
 " True : but you must filter what you wish for 
 the table ; and, if you let the water stand for half 
 a day, a good portion of the mud will settle." 
 
 "Where are my pantry — my dish closet — 
 my store room ? " she asks, as the shade deepens 
 on her face, and the sun glares hotter and hotter 
 out of doors. 
 
 "All those you will find at the house, only 
 forty or fifty yards away. The danger from fire 
 is so great in the dry season, that the cook-house 
 is often built farther away than this." 
 
206 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 *' I don't see any oven," is the next complaint. 
 Upon this she is pointed to the large earthen 
 jar half filled with sand, and told that if she 
 builds a fire under it, and places a sheet of iron 
 covered with hot coals over the mouth, she can 
 in time learn to bake pretty well with that ; or, 
 if she prefers, she can have an old-fashioned 
 brick oven built. 
 
 "Where am I to wash my dishes and clean 
 my lamps ? " she asks. 
 
 " At the house you will find a shelf projecting 
 from the veranda, on which are two earthen- 
 ware pans, in which you can wash dishes. 
 When you wish hot water, you can bring your 
 tea-kettle up from the cook-house." 
 
 "Where am I to mould my bread and make 
 my pies ? " 
 
 " You can make your pies up at the house, on 
 any convenient table. As for bread, you will 
 have to buy it ; for the only yeast to be had is 
 made from the juice of the toddy-palm, and that 
 requires a government permit to obtain it. As 
 the application must be made through your ma- 
 gistrate, and may take five or six days before you 
 obtain the permit, you will find that it is better 
 to buy your bread from the natives, who have 
 bought yearly permits to gather the juice and 
 
MORE DIFFICULTIES. 20/ 
 
 make the yeast. Besides, you will find, that, if 
 you try to keep flour in the house, it will soon 
 be swarming with worms, and will probably 
 become useless before you can use up a barrel." 
 
 The poor woman thinks of her mother's large, 
 airy kitchen, with its clean floor, its shining 
 stove, the sink with hot and cold water to be 
 had at the turning of a faucet, the endless ar- 
 ray of pots, sauce-pans, griddles, kettles, tinware, 
 earthen-ware, dippers, strainers, toasters, graters, 
 sifters, steamers, egg-beaters, and other uten- 
 sils ; and she gently suggests, that, in the bracing 
 climate of New England, house-work with all 
 these labor-saving implements is no child's play ; 
 and that, unless she can have better tools to 
 work with, she fears she will have to hire one 
 of the dozen strong men who are at her elbow, 
 each one begging for the chance to do all her 
 cookinc:, washino: dishes, &c., for the modest 
 sum of a dollar and a half a week, and he will 
 board and clothe himself. 
 
 The hitherto patient genius frowns and says, 
 " You are above your position ! What are you 
 more than your sisters in America, that you can- 
 not do your own house-work ? " 
 
 '* But circumstances alter cases," she suggests. 
 " Here I have nothing but a tea-kettle, a couple 
 
208 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 of frying-pans, and two or three earthen jars, 
 and a fire on the ground. I can never learn to 
 cook with these ; and besides, in this hot climate 
 how long do you think I would last, trotting 
 through the hot sun to draw water from a well 
 a hundred yards away, crouching over these 
 smoky fires with the thermometer at a hundred 
 degrees in the shade, and running back and 
 forth from the house every time I want a dish 
 or an article from my store-room." 
 
 "Well," is the reply a little severely, *' proba- 
 bly you would not live more than a year or two ; 
 but then, on your gravestone could be inscribed, 
 'The victim of Economy and Humility.' And 
 the dollar and a half per week saved could be 
 devoted to making up to your husband and 
 children for your loss, and in re-imbursing the 
 Missionary Union for your outfit and passage 
 money." 
 
 After all, this is only a very low view to take 
 of this much vexed question. There is a yet 
 higher principle involved, but it is apparent 
 only to those who are capable of taking a broad 
 and comprehensive view of Christian duty. It 
 should be the aim of every faithful laborer to do, 
 not necessarily **the next thing," as some writer 
 puts it, which may be something very paltry 
 
THE SOLUTION. 2O9 
 
 and unnecessary, but when a selection must be 
 made from a mass of things, to do what, under 
 God, will most conduce to his glory, and the 
 eternal good of souls. Washing dishes or do- 
 ing house-work may be, and often is, a means of 
 serving God, and in many cases a Christian 
 duty ; but if allowed to stand in the way of a 
 call to the performance of a duty of a higher 
 nature, the salvation of a soul, or the teaching 
 of one ignorant of God, such an absorption in 
 the "much serving" merits and receives the 
 Master's rebuke. 
 
 It is almost impossible to explain, to those 
 who all their lives have been accustomed to the 
 division of labor which prevails in this coun- 
 try, the multitudinous cares which crowd upon 
 the foreign missionary every day, until his 
 chief thought becomes, " How can I make one 
 pair of hands do the work of ten ? " The in- 
 ventor who takes some unsightly lumps of iron 
 and steel, and makes a machine which will 
 lighten his own or other's labor, is not necessa- 
 rily a lazy man ; nor is the machinist who takes 
 an awkward, ignorant youth, and, by patient 
 teaching, transforms him into a skilled work- 
 man, necessarily " above his work." We call 
 such men benefactors ; but when, on the mis- 
 
210 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 sion field, a skilled workman for God teaches a 
 native lad how to black his boots or groom his 
 pony, in order that he, the missionary, may 
 have time to devote to the translation of the 
 Bible into the boy's native tongue, — a work 
 which will not only benefit the lad, but millions 
 of his countrymen, — what an outcry do we 
 hear because the missionary is too proud to 
 black his own boots ! 
 
 Imagine one Christian minister and his wife 
 placed in Boston, and consider them as the sole 
 representatives of the Christian religion in East- 
 ern Massachusetts. Wipe out the State Con- 
 vention, the Sunday School Union, the city 
 missions, the public and private schools, the 
 libraries, and the book-stores. Drive every edu- 
 cated man and woman from the State, and leave 
 in their places a mass of ignorant and depraved 
 creatures, who have every thing to learn which 
 is worth knowing, and only the aforesaid minis- 
 ter and his wife to teach them. The minister, 
 by the way, is a foreigner. The gospel must 
 be preached, and a foreign language learned 
 in which to preach it ; and, before public wor- 
 ship can be established, portions of the Bible 
 must be translated and hymns prepared. Calls 
 come from all parts of the State for a visit 
 
211 
 
 from the overburdened preacher, who feels that 
 the masses of one city are more than he alone 
 can preach to, while actit.g the part of trans- 
 lator, physician, and druggist for the entire 
 community. 
 
 A hasty visit to Springfield, Fitchburg, Wor- 
 cester, and Lawrence, results in the conversion 
 of over a hundred souls. These he must bap- 
 tize, and organize into churches ; and there he 
 is, without a Bible or a catechism to give them, 
 not a pastor nor a school-teacher to send them, 
 and all the powers of hell combined to draw 
 away the weak, ignorant believers from their 
 new-found hope. He hastens home to urge his 
 wife to put out her washing, and take the time 
 to teach a few children to read ; and he asks 
 her if she cannot find time to give them a little 
 Bible instruction each day, so that when a por- 
 tion of the New Testament is translated, a 
 catechism translated, a spelling-book prepared, 
 and an elementary arithmetic and a geography 
 through the press, which will soon be sent him 
 from China, these wild, ignorant children shall 
 be able to take these books, and return to their 
 homes as teachers, and, if converted (as he 
 trusts they may be), as preachers. As he rides 
 along in his ox-cart, he sighs as he remembers 
 
212 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 that years must elapse before all this can be 
 accomplished ; but it never will be done unless 
 it is begun. So he mentally resolves to give 
 up the notion which he has had, that no one 
 can iron his shirts or his white neckties quite 
 as nicely as his wife, and allow her to hand 
 over this department of her work to one of 
 the numerous laundrymen of Boston. When 
 he reaches home, he finds his wife engaged 
 in the sad duty of preparing for burial the 
 body of a woman who has just died of chol- 
 era, and whose friends and neighbors have all 
 fled and left her to her fate. His wife left 
 her own children to the care of some young 
 girls next door, while she went and sat by 
 the side of the suffering, dying creature ; and 
 not only smoothed her pathway to the grave, 
 but turned her dying eyes to the Lamb of God, 
 who alone could take away her sin ; and she had 
 the joy of seeing her depart in the triumphs of 
 faith. The dying woman with her latest breath 
 besought the missionary's wife to take her four 
 little ones to train up for God ; and faithfully 
 must the solemn trust be fulfilled. 
 
 She cheerfully acquiesces in her husband's 
 plan ; and the four children, after being washed 
 and clothed in new, clean garments (which she 
 
" TOO PROUD. 213 
 
 must make herself), are added to those whom her 
 husband has brought in from the country ; and 
 she still tries to go on with their instruction, in 
 addition to all her other cares and duties, visiting 
 the sick in the neighborhood, and entertaining 
 the scores of men and women who come in every 
 day. Her school rapidly increases ; and now num- 
 bers of the idle, vagrant children, who formerly 
 spent their time in the streets, are found in her 
 back parlor, learning of Jesus. They are dirty 
 and filthy in the extreme ; and they have so much 
 vermin in their hair and clothing that the 
 patient teacher is compelled in self-defence to 
 do something to prevent her house from be- 
 coming unendurable to herself and her family. 
 This woman, who, according to some of her 
 would-be critics, is "too proud to do her own 
 washing," shows these children how to use soap 
 and water, and with her own hands cuts off the 
 matted shock of hair, immediately burns it, and 
 then washes the running sores on the head, ap- 
 plying some healing ointment, and clothes the 
 children in garments which she has made out of 
 material for which ber husband's scanty purse 
 has paid. And now the work is — just begun. 
 The children are sweet and clean for once in 
 their lives ; but, unless a reformation is wrought 
 
214 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 in their homes, they will soon be in the same 
 condition in which they were before. The al- 
 ready over-taxed wife and mother determines to 
 put out her sewing, and get a girl to come and 
 help in the care of her own little ones, so that 
 she may give more time to visiting the women 
 at their homes, and teaching them how to keep 
 their houses and their families in a better con- 
 dition. She goes into the miserable dens and 
 hovels, lets in the sunlight and fresh air, and 
 tells the women that their homes would be more' 
 presentable and their families healthier if they 
 would not throw all the refuse matter out of the 
 doors and windows. She furnishes them soap, 
 brooms, wash-tubs, combs, needles, and thread, 
 and teaches them how to use them ; and still the 
 work grows on her. She must have books for 
 her pupils, which her husband has not time to 
 translate. A large number of women are beg- 
 ging her to allow them to come in the evenings, 
 and learn to sew, and to read God's word. 
 Deputations come in daily from Chelsea, from 
 Newton, from Cambridge, Waltham, Woburn, 
 and Lynn, inquiring if she cannot come to their 
 homes, and teach them too. People are dying 
 all around her for the lack of simple remedies 
 she alone possesses, and knows how to use. 
 
THE VOICE OF JESUS. 21$ 
 
 Now, suppose she still plods on in her kitchen, 
 baking, broiling, and mopping, because she can- 
 not bear to give up all her home duties. Her 
 conscience goads her occasionally as she meets 
 professional cooks in the street, who would be 
 glad to do this work for a mere pittance ; and she 
 sometimes wonders whether her time would not 
 be better spent in feeding the starving, healing 
 the sick, and teaching the ignorant, than in 
 watching for the critical moment when a loaf of 
 cake should come out of the oven. 
 
 She takes the matter to God ; and in her 
 closet she seems to hear the voice of Jesus say- 
 ing, " Go out into the highways and hedges and 
 compel them to come in, that my house may be 
 full." Ah ! she knows she need not to compel. 
 Eager faces are looking into hers, and crying, 
 ** Come over and help us." Helpless women 
 are stretching forth their hands to her for aid. 
 Young children there are, whose tender feet 
 need but a little guiding to lead them into the 
 "shining way." There are dying ones to be 
 pointed to Jesus, bereaved ones to be comforted ; 
 and, on the other hand, her kitchen duties. 
 She weighs the question well, and let us hesitate 
 to pronounce her proud if she decides, that, as 
 the only woman in all Massachusetts who can 
 
2l6 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 do this work for the souls and bodies of her suf- 
 fering sisters, while there are hundreds who can 
 do her cooking, her duty lies in the varied direc- 
 tions we have indicated, and that she must give 
 up her necessary housework for the no less 
 necessary harvest-work to which her Master has 
 equally called her. 
 
 It is difficult to speak upon this subject with- 
 out being gravely misunderstood. No Christian 
 woman would underrate housework, or regard 
 any thing which tended to promote the comfort 
 of her family as menial or unimportant ; but 
 let not the women to whom God has committed 
 this work look with scorn upon the women to 
 whom he has committed another department of 
 labor. So long as we do not stigmatize as proud 
 the public school-teacher, who not only teaches 
 all day, but works late into the night over her 
 examination papers and reports, or the skilful 
 lady-physician who finds her days too short to at- 
 tend to all the calls upon her time and services, 
 because neither of them do their own house- 
 work, we should hesitate to criticise our lady 
 missionaries, who combine in their work, not 
 only many of the duties of these two, but of 
 half a dozen others beside. As has been before 
 intimated, ignorance lies at the foundation of 
 
IGNORANCE. 21/ 
 
 all such criticism ; but it is time that the hard- 
 working women of America, who are saving 
 their pennies and consecrating their dollars 
 through much self-denial, should know that 
 their sisters on the foreign fields are not living 
 lives of ease and indolence, because they do not 
 do their own housework, or stand at the wash- 
 tub. They have to penetrate into dens and 
 hovels swarming with vermin, and grapple with 
 filth and disease in their most loathsome form. 
 They must needs sit patiently for hours with 
 crowds around them, none of whom are too 
 clean, and many of them offensive in the ex- 
 treme, listening to their complaints, or trying to 
 instil into their darkened and brutalized intel- 
 lects a drop of celestial knowledge. 
 
 Believe me, my sisters, as one who has tried 
 it, the duties of a clean New-England kitchen, 
 with the fresh bracing air coming in at the win- 
 dows, are often, under such circumstances, re- 
 membered with a sigh of painful longing. 
 
 The foregoing may seem unnecessary and 
 uncalled for. Our readers may say, " Every one 
 knows that a missionary cannot be occupied 
 with household affairs ; " but alas ! every one 
 does not know. Only a short time ago an in- 
 telligent lady, who supposed herself well in- 
 
2l8 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 formed upon such matters, said to a returned 
 missionary, " In my opinion the reason why 
 missionaries are so anxious to return to their 
 field of labor, is because they live in such lux- 
 ury, and have so many servants. Of course 
 they cannot be contented in this country where 
 they have to do their own work." A very 
 wealthy lady was asked to assist in the prep- 
 aration of the outfit of one of our missionaries. 
 Looking at the list of articles she saw the item 
 "two dozen shirts." "What does he want so 
 many shirts for.?" she asked at once. It was 
 explained that as the washermen sometimes 
 kept the clothing sent them to be laundried for 
 two or three weeks, owing to the incessant rains, 
 it was necessary to have a comparatively large 
 supply of wearing apparel on hand. She at 
 once refused to do any thing toward the prep- 
 aration of the outfit, on the ground that the 
 missionary's wife was too proud to do her own 
 washing, and ske would not countenance such 
 
NO DOMESTIC PRIVACY. 2U} 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " No slacker grows the fight, 
 No feebler is the foe, 
 No less the need of armor tried, 
 Of shield and spear and bow." 
 
 The privacy of the dear old home in Amer- 
 ica is another of the comforts that the foreign 
 missionary lays upon the altar. Henceforth his 
 home and every room in it is as public a place 
 as the halls and parlor of a hotel. The natives 
 have no idea of privacy ; and they come into 
 the missionary's house at all hours, and walk 
 through the rooms, examining the articles of 
 furniture or clothing, admiring here, question- 
 ing there, experimenting somewhere else, with- 
 out a thought that they are intruding. In that 
 hot climate no doors are closed during the day, 
 and short curtains are hung in the doorways to 
 screen the occupants, and yet admit air above 
 and below. The natives, unaccustomed to even 
 these slight barriers, pull them aside, and look 
 in without having the slightest appreciation of 
 
220 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 our desire to be alone when we are at the toilet ; 
 and they will not unfrequently come into the 
 bedroom before the missionary or his wife have 
 risen. 
 
 Such little intrusions must be dealt with in 
 the most gentle manner. A rough word would 
 drive the whole party from the house, never to 
 return again ; and the missionary's influence 
 would be much weakened thereby. A smiling 
 "Please do not come in here just now: we are 
 dressing, and it is not our custom to visit with 
 friends when we are putting on our clothes," is 
 the best way of greeting a company of men and 
 women coming into a missionary's bedrooii at 
 five o'clock in the morning. They will ba^.k 
 out precipitately, perhaps overturning one or 
 two in their sudden retreat ; but probably in an 
 hour from then, if the lady of the house goes 
 into her room and draws the curtain behind her, 
 some curious old man will follow her and peep 
 in, to see for what purpose she went in there. 
 This total want of privacy is a great trial at 
 first; but it is one which must be borne with 
 most patiently, if the missionary would win the 
 love and confidence of his people. 
 
 But we must return to Mrs. Vinton, and tell • 
 how she made these '* household troubles" an 
 
TRAINING SERVANTS. 221 
 
 efficient means of missionary effort. She was in 
 the habit of taking boys and girls into her ser- 
 vice ; and while teaching them how to cook, and 
 do housework, sometimes under the supervision 
 for a month or two of a "Kalah cook," she had 
 them attend school, and gave them personal in- 
 struction in the evenings. By this means they 
 advanced as rapidly in their studies as the other 
 pupils. These boys and girls were always se- 
 lected from among the most destitute ; and she 
 clothed them, and supplied all their wants from 
 her own purse, in return for the work which they 
 learned in time to do ; and so far from their 
 position being regarded as menial, they were 
 often envied by their richer mates because of 
 the advantage which they derived from the extra 
 instruction she knew so well how to give. In 
 one of her letters to her children she says, 
 " Many ask me how it is that I am always train- 
 ing raw Karens, and, as soon as they begin to 
 be useful to 'me, let them go from me. It is 
 trying, but it is part of my missionary work. 
 
 " No one is so blessed in their help as I am. 
 My girls and boys serve me, not for money, but 
 to improve themselves, and prepare for future 
 usefulness. I trust that many of them will 
 preach and teach when I am dead and gone." 
 
222 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 She has passed away ; but all over the jungles 
 of the Rangoon district, and in many other mis- 
 sion fields, are to be found faithful pastors, de- 
 voted teachers, successful evangelists and Bible- 
 readers, whom she had fitted for their life-work. 
 It seemed to be her lot to train up teachers, and 
 send them out to other fields ; but there were 
 two who were providentially permitted to remain 
 with her, and to aid her most materially during 
 the last years of her life. These were George 
 and Isabella, the children of good old Loonee- 
 pa, or Maw-0, of whom mention has been made 
 on page 203. Unlike the most of the scholars, 
 they were not poor; and it was not for this 
 reason that Mrs. Vinton bestowed special train- 
 ing upon them. Their home was on the mis- 
 sion compound, at the foot of the hill on which 
 Mrs. Vinton's house stood, just across a romantic 
 little stream which wound its way to the river. 
 They did not, therefore, leave town during the 
 vacations, but spent most of their spare time m 
 Mrs. Vinton's house, either playing with Brain- 
 erd and Calista, or poring over illustrated papers 
 and picture-books. 
 
 Their father was at that time a wealthy tim- 
 ber merchant, and a most devoted and faithful 
 supporter of the mission so long as God gave 
 him the ability. 
 
GEORGE AND ISABELLA. 223 
 
 Calista and little Naw Chung-Gah (Isabella) 
 soon became fast friends. The latter slept on a 
 mat in Calista's room, and shared in the use of 
 all her books and playthings, receiving in com- 
 mon with Loo-nee (George) much extra instruc- 
 tion from Mrs. Vinton. Both were remarkably 
 precocious children, and evinced much fondness 
 for study. Loo-nee so distinguished himself in 
 the public examinations that he was called, by 
 English officers, Christopher Columbus, George 
 Washington, Daniel Webster, Shakspeare, and 
 other distinguished names. He much preferred 
 George Washington to all the other cognomens 
 which had been thus playfully bestowed upon 
 him, and assumed it as his name. In time 
 Washington was dropped, and his family name 
 Ogh or O added in its place. 
 
 The Karens have a curious custom of chan- 
 ging a man's name after the birth of a son, and 
 calling him by the name of the son, adding 
 the affix "father of." Thus Maw-O's name 
 after Loo-nee's birth became Loo-nee-pah. The 
 mother, in like manner, lost her name, and be- 
 came Loo-nee-mo, or the mother of Loo-nee. 
 
 When Mrs. Vinton's children were sent to 
 America to school, Calista called her little friend 
 aside, and told her how lonely her father and 
 
224 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 mother would be, and how they would miss the 
 many tender little offices she had been accus- 
 tomed to perform ; and she begged the little 
 Karen girl to fill her place as far as possible. 
 She taught her how to do many little things 
 for which they had depended on the daughter's 
 care, and charged her not to let them miss these 
 little offices of kindness. 
 
 So tenderly and faithfully did the good child 
 fulfil the trust imposed on her, that the bereaved 
 parents on several occasions burst into tears, on 
 finding that the Lord had indeed sent them 
 another daughter to minister to and to comfort 
 them while their own was in America. Thus, 
 with the cheerful consent of her own father 
 and mother, Naw Chung-Gah was installed in 
 Calista's room. After a time her name was 
 changed to Isabella, a name by which she had 
 been sometimes called before Calista went to 
 America. In Mrs. Vinton's letters to her chil- 
 dren are found frequent references to the rapid 
 progress Isabella made in her studies, and to 
 the dutiful affection she showed to her foster- 
 parents. She soon became fitted to take charge 
 of younger classes in the school, and every year 
 became increasingly useful. 
 
 She took charge of the house when Mrs. 
 
A FAITHFUL ONE. 225 
 
 Vinton was absent in the jungle with Mr. 
 Vinton. She was ever watchful and thoughtful 
 for their comfort, and, in times of sickness, was 
 a most tender and devoted nurse. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton often said that her own daughter 
 could not have shown more filial affection ; yet 
 when she went down to her father's house, she 
 was just as gentle and dutiful to her own par- 
 ents as to Mr. and Mrs. Vinton. 
 
 Many, many times has the remark been made 
 by those familiar with the mission, that, if Mrs. 
 Vinton had done nothing else than to train up 
 such an efficient helper and teacher as Isabella, 
 she would not have lived in vain. Both she 
 and her brother George had frequent opportu- 
 nities to take positions elsewhere as teachers at 
 large salaries, but they chose to stay with Mrs. 
 Vinton ; and it is impossible to speak too highly 
 of the important and efificient service they ren- 
 dered. George not only became a most suc- 
 cessful teacher, but aided the mission greatly 
 as a translator, owing to his critical and thor- 
 ough acquaintance with the English language. 
 
 In thus mentioning these two, no disparage- 
 ment is intended or implied with regard to the 
 scores of other devoted teachers and laborers 
 who were trained by Mrs. Vinton in different 
 
226 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 periods of her missionary life, and who also 
 rendered invaluable aid to the mission in the 
 various localities where duty placed them. 
 Such helpers as Tah-loo, Dee-Hai, Thah-mway 
 and his wife Eliza, Naw-Oo-thah, Lai-Nyoh, 
 Gna-Dee, Lai Nah, Fidelia, Sarah and Ella, two 
 sisters given to Mrs. Vinton by their dying 
 mother, Gna Kaing, Catherine, Naw-nai-naw, 
 Livy, and marty others whose names are written 
 in heaven, have a bright record here on earth, 
 and a brighter one above. We mention George 
 and Isabella thus particularly, because they 
 were more personally identified with Mrs. Vin- 
 ton in her work in the city school, and were 
 privileged to remain with her to the end, minis- 
 tering to her in her last moments, and following 
 her beloved remains to the grave on the hill-top, 
 where husband and wife now sleep side by side, 
 surrounded by the precious dust of many of 
 their faithful and beloved disciples, almost un- 
 der the shadow of the mighty Shway Dagon. 
 
 In 1861 Brainerd Vinton, having completed 
 his college course at Madison University, mar- 
 ried Julia A., the eldest daughter of Rev. Dr. 
 Haswell of the Maulmain Burman Mission. 
 Receiving a unanimous call from the Karen 
 churches of the Rangoon district to be their 
 
BRAINERD S RETURN. 22/ 
 
 missionary, he set sail from Boston in Septem- 
 ber, and reached Rangoon in due time. 
 
 He found his mother and sister in failing 
 health, owing to the accumulation of cares and 
 duties which had rested on them since his 
 father's death ; but it was hoped that both 
 would rally, and that the relief experienced from 
 his arrival would give them an opportunity to 
 regain strength without being obliged to return 
 to America. Mrs. Vinton, although so weak 
 and prostrated, started at once with Brainerd 
 for a long trip among the jungle churches ; and 
 great were the rejoicings of the people to learn 
 that "the son of his father" had come back to 
 them. 
 
 A severe illness, on her return from the 
 jungle, made it evident, that, if her life were to 
 be spared, an immediate return to America 
 was absolutely necessary. It had been decided 
 some time previously that Calista must seek a 
 cooler climate as soon as any one could be 
 found in whose company she might make the 
 voyage, as she was too weak to travel alone ; 
 and Mrs. Vinton sorrowfully began to open her 
 eyes to the fact that she, too, must leave her 
 beloved work, and turn her face toward Amer- 
 ica. No one who has not gone through this 
 
228 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 trial can in any degree realize the painful char- 
 acter of the struggle through which her mind 
 passed before coming to this conclusion. 
 
 It seemed so much easier and better to work 
 on while life should last, and then to pass away 
 to the rest and reward for which her soul hun 
 gered ; and yet, on the other hand, she felt it 
 wrong to throw away life needlessly. Her phy- 
 sician assured her that all she needed was a 
 long sea-voyage, and a year or two of entire 
 rest ; and that she might then look forward to 
 many years of active service on the mission 
 field. 
 
 The decision was made ; and in October, 1862, 
 mother and daughter sailed in the American 
 ship "Vaucluse," from Rangoon to Falmouth, 
 England. The voyage was long and trying in 
 the extreme. Mrs. Vinton, as usual, instant in 
 service, beguiled the tedium of the voyage by 
 labors among the crew, and was rewarded with 
 success. Who can tell whither the ocean-winds 
 have blown the seed sown thus in weakness 
 and weariness .? but the fruit shall be seen in 
 eternity. 
 
 In March, 1863, they landed at Falmouth, 
 England, and were received and hospitably en- 
 tertained by warm Christian friends who had 
 
MRS. VINTON S VISIT TO ENGLAND. 229 
 
 heard of their work, though they had never seen 
 them. From there they went to Plymouth, and 
 thence to Bristol, to visit Mr. George Miiller 
 and his orphan houses, in which work Mrs. 
 Vinton was deeply interested ; since she had 
 learned by precious experience the blessedness 
 of trusting the Lord for temporal as well as 
 spiritual supplies. 
 
 To Mrs. Vinton's great surprise, although this 
 was her first visit to England, she found, wher- 
 ever she went, both hearts and homes open to 
 receive her, and bid her welcome in the name of 
 the Lord. She always had a low estimate of 
 herself and of her labors, — considering herself 
 a comparatively unknown worker upon the very 
 outskirts of the vineyard ; and although her 
 school in Rangoon had received so many flatter- 
 ing commendations, and such abundant contri- 
 butions from people of all classes and of all 
 fa,iths, some of them indeed of no faith, yet she 
 attributed all this to the interesting nature of 
 the work, and never dreamed that she herself 
 could be an object of interest to any save her 
 personal friends. We can imagine her surprise, 
 then, to find herself greeted, wherever she went, 
 with a warm-hearted, earnest cordiality, which, 
 though so thoroughly English, was not to be 
 
230 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 expected from those to whom she thought .jer- 
 self to be a perfect stranger. 
 
 She had, indeed, expected a kindly welcome 
 from the Bells, the Underhills, Sir David Rus- 
 sell, Dr. Balfour, and others, with whom her hus- 
 band and herself had enjoyed pleasant Chris- 
 tian intercourse in Burmah ; but, in addition to 
 these dear and cherished friends she, found many 
 others. They gathered around her, and not only 
 expressed the deepest interest in her work, with 
 every detail of which they seemed familiar, but 
 they invited her to their homes, and made her 
 feel the breadth and depth of true English hos- 
 pitality, as she had never known it before. 
 
 In London she was the guest of Dr. and 
 Mrs. Underbill. With them she spent several 
 weeks, enjoying rare opportunities for meeting 
 such noble Christian men and women as Rev. 
 Dr. Angus, Mrs. Ranyard, Rev. Dr. Brock, Sir 
 Morton and Lady Peto, Rev. Dr. Landels, Hon. 
 and Rev. Baptist W. Noel, Rev. and Mrs. Tres- 
 trail, and others, who were in such hearty sym- 
 pathy with her work that she felt no longer like 
 a stranger in a strange land. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Tucker assured her that her very 
 name was fragrant to all who were in any way 
 acquainted with foreign missions. The gener- 
 
CHELTENHAM AND LONDON. 23 1 
 
 ous grants given by the Bible and Tract Socie- 
 ties filled her heart with renewed confidence 
 that God was still providing for the needs of the 
 beloved mission under her charge. 
 
 Leaving London, she went to spend a month 
 at Cheltenham with those devoted friends of the 
 mission, Gen. and Mrs. Bell. Then came a 
 brief visit to Liverpool, where she and Calista 
 were most hospitably entertained by Mr. and 
 Mrs. Jackson, of Dr Birrell's church, Pembroke 
 Chapel; then the voyage to America — Home! 
 
 We find, from letters written at this time, that 
 Mrs. Vinton had hoped that the passage to Eng- 
 land would restore her health, and that a few 
 months' rest in that country would permit her to 
 return to her loved work. It was, therefore, a 
 sore disappointment to her to find that further 
 rest and medical treatment would be required. 
 She writes to her sister as follows : — 
 
 " We have been in London a month ; but my health has 
 not improved so much but that I fear I shall be obliged 
 to go still farther to regain it. If necessary I will go on, 
 trusting that the Lord will direct my steps. I cannot tell 
 you how I long to get back to my school, the Karen 
 churches, and my work among the heathen. Much as I 
 wish to see you and dear mother, also Lucinda" (Mr. Vin- 
 ton's sister) "and father Vinton, I would gladly take ship 
 to-morrow for Rangoon, if I could hope to live there, and 
 
232 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 be able to do any thing. I did not want to leave my work ; 
 but I have come thus far, and I am praying for a heart 
 to say, ' Thy will be done in my sufferings as well as in 
 my labors.'" (April i8, 1863.) 
 
 In June, 1863, she landed in New York, and, 
 after but a day's rest, started with Dr. and Mrs. 
 Nathan Brown, formerly of the Assam Mission, 
 for an annual meeting of the Free Mission 
 Society, held at Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Here 
 she met Mr. R. M. Luther, who had just com- 
 pleted his studies at Princeton (N. J.) Theologi- 
 cal Seminary, and who had resolved to devote 
 himself to mission work, though he had not 
 settled on any particular field of labor. Her 
 earnest appeal for Burmah decided the question 
 in his mind, and he offered himself at once as 
 a missionary to the Karens. 
 
 Mrs. Vinton felt that this was indeed a spe- 
 cial answer to prayer ; and she wrote at once to 
 her son, and to the Karen churches, that she 
 was now convinced that the Lord had led her 
 steps to America, for he had, sent a man who 
 would take charge of the High School in the 
 city, and of other departments of the educa- 
 tional work, and the printing-press. She con- 
 tinued, "I hope the Lord will soon send him a 
 good wife, so that they together may return with 
 me." 
 
AN AGED MOTHER. 233 
 
 She little thought that the young man whom 
 she so enthusiastically commended to the Karen 
 churches was destined to be her son.' 
 
 Leaving New Jersey after a brief visit to 
 Philadelphia, Calista was taken to the home of 
 her foster-parents, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Ives, of 
 Suffield, Conn. Mrs. Vinton then made an all- 
 too-brief visit to the dear old homestead in 
 Union, Conn., where the aged mother's eyes 
 had grown dim with watching for the beloved 
 daughter. 
 
 ^ Nor, indeed, did " the young man " think so at that time. 
 R. M. L. 
 
234 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Another battle fought, and oh ! not lost, — 
 Tells of the ending of this fight and thrall ; 
 Another ridge of time's lone moorland crossed, 
 Gives nearer prospect of the jasper wall. 
 
 Gone to begin a new and happier story, 
 Thy bitter tale of earth now told and done. 
 
 These outer shadows for that inner glory 
 
 Exchanged forever. — O thrice blessed one ! " 
 
 Mrs. Vinton had returned to America to 
 rest ; yet the few weeks spent in Union and 
 Tolland, Conn,, were really all the rest she 
 gave herself during her entire stay in this 
 country. She had never realized how thor- 
 oughly her system was broken down, and 
 seemed to wonder that the old weariness and 
 exhaustion still continued ; but she felt so much 
 benefited in other ways by the bracing air and 
 homely food of her native land, that she prom- 
 ised herself an early and complete recovery. 
 
 Hence when, from every part of the country, 
 there came the most urgent invitations to visit 
 
STONINGTON UNION ASSOCIATION. 235 
 
 churches and associations, and address them 
 upon the subject of our missions in Burmah, 
 she did not think of refusing, or of urging the 
 state of her health as an excuse for non-com- 
 phance. In this way she was in a few weeks 
 drawn away from her home. 
 
 A most memorable visit was that which she 
 made to the Stonington Union Association in 
 the last week in June. Twenty-nine years be- 
 fore, this association had designated the Vin- 
 tons as its missionaries to the heathen. Again 
 in 1850 it had solemnly renewed their designa- 
 tion in the name of the churches of Connecticut 
 represented by it. On that occasion, after a 
 most remarkable prayer by Elder Swan, Mr. 
 Vinton, ''with his face shining like an angel's," 
 exclaimed, " I go bound in spirit unto Burmah, 
 and from Burmah to heaven." ^ 
 
 All the old-time friends had not passed away. 
 The Rev. Dr. Palmer, whose friendship had not 
 wavered for one moment, the venerable Elder 
 Swan and others, whose tender love had been 
 life-long, were there. Mrs. Vinton always spoke 
 of this last visit as the most precious thing in 
 the long history of her connection with the Con- 
 necticut churches. 
 
 ^ Elder Swan's Biography, p. 415. 
 
236 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 From Stonington she went to Hartford, and 
 there again renewed old friendships. While in 
 Hartford she determined, in answer to the 
 many urgent letters she had received from the 
 West, to visit some of the churches in that part 
 of the country ; and it was arranged that she 
 and Mr. Luther should make a systematic tour 
 through the states of Ohio, Illinois, and Wis- 
 consin, and also through portions of Canada. 
 In July, 1863, the journey began. After pausing 
 at Hamilton for the commencement exercises of 
 Madison University, she next visited Buffalo, 
 Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and the churches 
 of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. 
 Returning, she addressed many of the churches 
 in Canada, along the line of the Grand Trunk 
 Railway. 
 
 The effect of her earnest words upon the 
 communities and churches was thrilling. En- 
 thusiasm was aroused everywhere, and the mis- 
 sionary spirit was quickened in many places in 
 which it had almost ceased to exist. It was 
 noticeable in her addresses that she made but 
 few references to herself or to her own work. 
 She aimed rather at giving to our churches a 
 clear and accurate view of the true condition of 
 our mission fields, in order that they might 
 
MRS. VINTON IN CANADA. 23/ 
 
 intelligently comprehend the demands made 
 upon the Christians in this country for assist- 
 ance. Her frequent exclamation was, ** The 
 people will give and pray for our missions, if 
 they only know the facts in regard to them. 
 What they need is not theory or argument, but 
 facts ; " and the facts, as taught her by nearly 
 thirty years of mission life, she endeavored to 
 give them. As to the effect produced by her 
 inimitable addresses, we might quote largely 
 from the religious and secular papers of the day ; 
 but we content ourselves with but one extract. 
 It is from "The Canadian Missionary Link,** 
 and was published so recently as October, 1879, 
 sixteen years after the visit to which it refers. 
 
 " About sixteen years ago a returned missionary from 
 the Karens, Mrs. Vinton, who for years had toiled among 
 them, after a brief stay in America, travelling, lecturing, 
 pleading for the perishing ones in that heathen land, 
 visited our institute in Woodstock, just previous to her 
 return to her former field of labor, and talked to us about 
 this interesting people. I remember well how our hearts 
 were touched by the simple appeals of that gray-haired, 
 widowed missionary, who, having already spent weary 
 years of toil and privation among the heathen, was about 
 to return to them in all the freshness of her sanctified 
 zeal for God, there to finish her toil, and thence to ascend 
 
238 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 the tide of missionary effort of our young churches in 
 Canada towards India, and of rousing and impelling our 
 young men and women forward towards those heathen 
 lands, we cannot say ; but there is no doubt that" that 
 woman's hearty appeal and heroic example lie far back in 
 the chain of hallowed influences which produced the 
 results in our own special mission work over which we 
 rejoice to-day." 
 
 In November she returned East, made a brief 
 visit to New York and Philadelphia. At the 
 Central Union Association in the latter place 
 she delivered an address, of which it is said in 
 " The Christian Chronicle : " — 
 
 " No words can adequately describe the ' moments rich 
 in blessing ' enjoyed, as the calm and sweet, yet earnest 
 tones of the great Christian heroine brought vividly before 
 the audience thrilling scenes and events. The hearers 
 seemed really present with the speaker, as oblivious of self 
 she was engaged in her wonted employment in the school, 
 or wandering through the jungle from village to village to 
 tell of Jesus. She led the audience from station to sta- 
 tion ; and tears started unbidden, and sobs could not be 
 restrained, as abandoned posts, and aged or feeble labor- 
 ers, were beheld scattered thinly around the great central 
 region, where seven hundred thousand people are waiting 
 for their 'younger brother, the white man, to come from 
 the setting sun, and give them the long-lost law of the 
 Lord.' Surely no one who saw that countenance beam- 
 ing with the love of Christ will ever forget it, or cease to 
 
RETURN TO BURMAH. 239 
 
 pray that the mother may be spared to return to her son, 
 and resume the work she so dearly loves." 
 
 Returning to New York, much against the 
 desire and advice of all her friends, she deter- 
 mined to sail at once for Burmah. She seemed 
 to be entirely restored to health ; but it was 
 feared, that, unless she spent a winter in America, 
 the restoration would be but temporary. How- 
 ever, her heart was in Burmah. She could not 
 rest day or night for thinking of the Karen 
 churches, and of the destitute regions beyond. 
 So in December, 1863, she sailed for England, 
 and thence, by the ''Overland Route" {via Egypt 
 and the Red Sea), to Calcutta and Rangoon, 
 arriving in March, 1864. 
 
 She engaged immediately in the work of the 
 mission with great hopefulness, and in the con- 
 fident expectation of many years of labor. It 
 was soon evident, however, that her time was 
 short. The old disease,. which had been simply 
 checked, not eradicated from her system, by her 
 too brief visit to England and America, began 
 to make itself felt again. The close of the rains 
 found her busily engaged in preparing the second 
 mission house (then known as the ** Binney 
 House") for her daughter Calista and her hus- 
 band, Rev. R. M. Luther. About Nov. i she 
 
240 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 was suddenly attacked with an acute form of 
 the disease which had followed her so long 
 (inflammation of the alimentary canal), and 
 was prostrated at once. 
 
 From the first she had the best medical attend- 
 ance which could be given her, but without 
 receiving any benefit whatever. Her physician, 
 Dr. Ford, advised her removal to the city 
 (Rangoon), three miles away, where she might 
 be near his own residence, and thus make it 
 possible for him to attend her at any moment, 
 and watch her case critically. Rev. Dr. Stevens 
 very kindly recejved her into his house, and 
 there she remained until the last. 
 
 On the 6th of December Mr. and Mrs. Luther 
 arrived ; and the excitement consequent on wel- 
 coming her beloved daughter produced a tem- 
 porary re-action, but in two or three days she 
 sunk back again. From that time her only de- 
 sire seemed to be to depart and be with Christ. 
 Frequently we who stood by her would hear her 
 murmur, " Come, Lord Jesus ! Come quickly ! '* 
 ** Lord, how long ! How long ! " When one 
 day Mr. Luther repeated a number of passages 
 from the Word, she, after each, replied by quot- 
 ing one of a similar tenor ; and then she repeated 
 the entire twenty-third Psalm. When we would 
 
MRS. VINTON S DEATH. 24 1 
 
 speak of her possible recovery, she would say- 
 earnestly, '' No, no ! My work is done : I must 
 go. I cannot any longer stay away from the 
 bright scenes which have awaited me so long. 
 I am no longer needed here. You will do all 
 for the Karens that I could do, and much more. 
 And now I must rest." 
 
 Dr. Ford, an earnest and devout Christian, 
 said to us, ** I can do nothing. The soul is fret- 
 ting out the body. No remedy will act as it 
 should, and I am powerless. I have never seen 
 an instance in my long experience where so 
 much strength of mind was manifest while the 
 body was so prostrated." 
 
 On the 1 8th of December, 1864, a bright, 
 beautiful morning, at eleven o'clock, she gently, 
 peacefully, passed away. 
 
 " Hush ! Nor dare with ominous breath 
 To syllable the name of Death. 
 We know she only sleepeth ; 
 
 And from the dust 
 Truth hath decreed her glorious resurrection." 
 
 A. W. Hare. 
 
 These imperfect records are closed. It has 
 been a labor of love to compile, from many frag- 
 ments, this sketch of those of whom a veteran 
 missionary said, — 
 
242 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 " Seldom, if ever, has there been an instance where a 
 missionary and his wife were both so eminently quahfied 
 for the work, and so eminently successful, as Justus Hatch 
 Vinton and Calista Holman Vinton. To an uncommon 
 strength of mind, there was added in each a deep piety, 
 and a strong and ardent faith. They entered on their 
 work purposing to make great sacrifices, and expecting 
 through the divine assistance to have many souls for their 
 hire. In these expectations they were not disappointed. 
 To the direct labors of no other missionary pair should 
 we be able to trace so large a number of conversions from 
 heathenism." 
 
 " Softly within that peaceful resting-place 
 
 We lay their weary limbs ; and bid the clay 
 Press lightly on them, till the night be past, 
 And the far east give note of coming day. 
 
 The day of re-appearing ! how it speeds ! 
 
 He who is true and faithful speaks the word : 
 Then shall we ever be with those we love. 
 
 Then shall we be ' forever with the Lord.' 
 
 Short death and darkness : endless life and light 
 Short dimming ; endless shining in 3'on sphere 
 
 Where all is incorruptible and pure, 
 
 The joy without the pain, the smile without the tear." 
 
 H. BONAR 
 
MIRANDA VINTON. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MIRANDA VINTON. 
 
 "Needs there the praise of the love-written record, 
 The name and the epitaph graved on the stone ? 
 The things we have lived for, — let them be our story, 
 We ourselves but rem.embered by what we have done. 
 
 Not myself, but the truth .that in life I have spoken, 
 Not myself, but the seed that in life I have sown, 
 
 Shall pass on to ages : all about me forgotten, 
 
 Save the truth I have spoken, the things I have done." 
 
 The references in the foregoing memoir to 
 Miranda Vinton, who was for twelve years inti- 
 mately associated with her brother in his work, 
 lead us to subjoin the following extracts from 
 letters received from Mrs. Dr. Binney and Mrs. 
 Dr. Stevens, since this volume was in the hands 
 of the publisher. We regret that it has been 
 impossible to collect materials for an extended 
 notice of this excellent and devoted mission- 
 ary ; but we are not without hopes that at some 
 future day a brief memoir shall be issued of one 
 
244 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 who was SO earnest in her work, and who, under 
 God, did so much to render the labors of her 
 brother efficient in winning souls. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Luther, — My first acquaintance with 
 Miss Vinton commenced on mission ground at Maulmain, 
 in April, 1842. I know little of her history previous to 
 that time, except that she completed her school educa- 
 tion, but a short time previous to her going out to Bur- 
 mah, at the Charlestown Female Seminary, Charlestown, 
 Mass. Miss Whiting, the honored and beloved princi- 
 pal of that institution, was her regular correspondent. I 
 was often privileged to read Miss Whiting's letters, which 
 showed that she both held her former pupil in high es- 
 teem and cherished for her the tenderest affection. 
 
 On our arrival in Maulmain, the Judsons, Howards, and 
 Osgoods were waiting on the shore, ready to give us a 
 hearty welcome ; but as Mr. Binney Was to be associated 
 more intimately with your father, who was then the only 
 Karen missionary at Maulmain, he naturally inquired for 
 "Brother and Sister Vinton." He was told that they 
 and "Sister Miranda" were at Ko-Chet Thaing's, where 
 they had been holding a protracted meeting, and that the 
 Lord was so richly blessing their labors that they had 
 not thought it right to leave, even to greet us on our 
 arrival. They thought, however, the heat was becoming 
 so intense, and the season so far advanced, that they 
 could not remain much longer in the jungle. "And who 
 is sister Miranda .'' " was our first question. Dr. Judson 
 replied, " She is brother Vinton's sister, who has been with 
 him in his work now about three years, — a noble worker, 
 
MRS. BINNEY S LETTER. 245 
 
 and will be a charming associate for you, Mrs. Binney. 
 I congratulate you upon having her so intimately con- 
 nected with you in your future Work." 
 
 I was, of course, prepared by such a commendation to 
 love her. The next morning as brother Howard, at 
 whose house we were staying for a few days, was calling 
 his family and guests together for their usual family wor- 
 ship, Miss Vinton, without previous announcement, made 
 her appearance in our midst. The children rushed to 
 embrace and kiss her, and Mr. and Mrs. Howard showed 
 unmistakable signs of joy at her unexpected presence. 
 My first impression, while this was going on, was one of 
 disappointment. She was not the ideal woman I had 
 formed; but a moment after, when we were introduced 
 and she embraced me, too full of emotion to attempt 
 to speak, I took her into my inmost heart, from which 
 duress she never was able to escape. 
 
 The following year she continued to work in connec- 
 tion with your parents. During the rains she continued 
 to teach in the large Karen school, which was composed 
 of " old men and maidens, young men and children," — 
 even mothers with infants in their arms were there, — all 
 gathered from the different villages of the district. Most 
 of these pupils were converts from heathenism ; others, 
 though not as yet baptized, had taken the first step in 
 the right direction by coming to a Christian school to 
 learn to read the word of God, and rarely went back to 
 heathenism. 
 
 The Karens had no written language until a short 
 time before Miss Vinton entered on her work, but we 
 found her speaking and writing it with fluency and accu- 
 racy. She had learned it. as all children learn their 
 
246 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 native tongue, by hearing and speaking. She mingled 
 with the people, and was "one of them" in sympathy 
 and interest ; and she soon was able to express her sym- 
 pathy and interest in intelligible language. I had not 
 the ability to acquire the language so readily in that way, 
 and said to her one day, " How am I ever to learn this 
 language without a good grammar? Now, here is this 
 word, bah : sometimes it is a prefix, and seems to be used 
 as a sign of the imperative ; more frequently an affix, and 
 indicates a negative ; sometimes it is used singly, and 
 sometimes repeated without any obvious reason. By 
 what rule or rules am I to be governed in its use.?" 
 After thinking a moment, she laughingly said that she had 
 never thought about any rule. Now that I had drawn 
 her attention to it, it did look very much as if the Karens 
 stuck it in here and there at random ; but she supposed, 
 when Dr. Mason's grammar was completed, he would 
 show us how and where to use it. She was quite con- 
 tent, however, to go on using it without troubling herself 
 about the rules ; and probably few missionaries ever used 
 it more correctly. 
 
 She knew the spiritual state of every man, woman, and 
 child in the school, and felt a personal interest in each. 
 Like Miss Whiting, under whose influence she had been 
 while preparing for her work, she conversed with, and 
 prayed with and for, every pupil individually. The in- 
 fluence she exerted over the people generally, not only in 
 the schools but in the churches, and in bringing the 
 heathen to Christ, was something wonderful. In all this 
 she never forgot her proper relation to them, as is some- 
 times seen in similar cases, so that undue " familiarity 
 breeds contempt." Always cheerful and kind, yet dig- 
 
MRS. BINNEY S LETTER. 24/ 
 
 nified, she walked before them without reproach, setting 
 an example safe for all to imitate. 
 
 Though so thoroughly engrossed in her own work, she 
 seldom failed to run over, several times a day, to see me 
 a moment, and often to help me. She had the rare gift 
 of being on hand when she could be useful, and yet 
 never officiously in one's way. She had been in the coun- 
 try long enough to be of essential service to us in many 
 ways. 
 
 The third year, I think, of our being in Maulmain, your 
 mother's failing health required your parents' return to 
 America. The Maulmain Normal School was then well 
 established, and Mr. Binney invited Miss Vinton to come 
 to us and assist in the school. A room for her use was 
 added to our small house, and she became a member of 
 our family. It was a great trial to her at first to give up 
 her loved jungle work; but, as Mr. Binney had taken 
 charge of the churches during her brother's absence, it 
 was thought best that I should accompany him in his 
 dry season trips, and she remain in town. She soon be- 
 came intensely interested in her work in that school, 
 which we considered an embryo college. She was a good 
 teacher and a good disciplinarian. The school was 
 taught through the medium of the English language, 
 using English text-books only ; but here free use of the 
 vernacular enabled her to make these well understood. 
 She translated one or two elementary books, mostly for 
 the use of the district schools, and some beautiful hymns ; 
 but she never gave much attention to that department of 
 mission work. At the same- time that she was teaching 
 in the Normal School, she received all visitors from the 
 jungle who came to town, either on business or for reli- 
 
248 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 gious inquiry. She labored earnestly for the salvation of 
 souls, and many souls were given for her hire. 
 
 When the Normal School was abandoned by the 
 decision of the Executive Committee, influenced by " the 
 deputation " they had sent to Burmah to banish the use 
 of the English language from all their missioh schools, 
 she returned to her former work. Though she would 
 have saved the school at any personal sacrifice, she wisely 
 judged that the responsibility rested on the brethren of 
 the mission and the Executive Committee ; and she lost 
 no time in vain regrets or controversy, but cheerfully and 
 without complaint, followed the leadings of Divine Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 About the year 1854 she came home, for the first time, 
 to visit her aged parents and other friends. Though 
 not actually ill, she needed rest; but she obtained but 
 little in a sea voyage around the Cape, and having in her 
 charge three or four motherless children. Her health 
 suffered somewhat by the voyage ; but she soon rallied, 
 and was everywhere received with regard and affection. 
 She was quiet, and did little in public, but everywhere 
 produced the sweetest impressions in behalf of the mis- 
 sion cause in general, and her own work in particular, 
 in private circles. Had her visit been made in this day, 
 when woman's work is bringing together larger numbers, 
 her work would doubtless have been more widely known, 
 and her influence have extended to a larger circle. 
 
 In June, T854, she made us a visit in Washington, D.C. 
 She was present, and listened to Dr. Binney's inaugural 
 address, on entering on his duties as president of Col- 
 umbia College. To a gentleman who had said to her, 
 that, if her acquaintance with Dr. Binney had been con- 
 
MRS. BINNEY S LETTER. 249 
 
 fined to the mission work she must be somewhat sur- 
 prised by the character of his address, " By no means," 
 she repHed. " I have Ijeard Dr. Binney, for weeks in 
 succession, preach in Karen ; and I have always deemed 
 his simple, clear, and moving manner of presenting Bible 
 truths to so ignorant a people, as requiring a higher order 
 of talent than his address to-day. Indeed," she added, 
 " I have not enjoyed his address as I should have done, 
 had I not been thinking how much the labor and ability 
 bestowed upon it were needed in his former field of 
 labor among the Karens." — " And would you have him 
 return to it ? " — " Most certainly : I should rejoice in his 
 return. There are men enough to take this place, who 
 are probably envying him his call to it, while no one 
 can or will take his place in Burmah." Thus she mag- 
 nified her office. There was nothing paramount with her 
 to obedience to her Lord's last command. 
 
 Soon after her return to Burmah, she was united in 
 marriage to Rev. Norman Harris of the Karen Mission 
 at Shway-Geen. At that station little had been done 
 for women distinctively, and the timid women and girls 
 flocked around her at once. She drew them to her like 
 a magnet, and entered into this new work with all her 
 heart. She had been home and was rested. She had the 
 inspiration of an earnest and strong worker at her side, 
 who assisted and encouraged her in all her plans, and who 
 fully appreciated, not only her work, but her. His love 
 and appreciation helped her to seek more earnestly how 
 she might " please the Lord." But whether her labors 
 were too exhausting, or the climate unfavorable, or both 
 united, in less than four months after her marriage she 
 was taken ill of fever, which in a few days terminated 
 
250 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 fatally. Her heavenly Bridegroom called for her, and 
 she left us. 
 
 Not only the heart of her husband, but every heart in 
 the mission circle, was pierced with a great sorrow. The 
 event was as mysterious as unexpected. In the midst 
 of life and health, of great usefulness and happiness as 
 well, she was called away. But a short time before her 
 illness, she had said to a friend that she had never be- 
 fore supposed it possible that so much happiness could 
 have been crowded into three short months. But to the 
 eye of faith the vision extends to the heavenly felicity, 
 to a higher service and to a purer love. 
 
 Perhaps her character has been sufficiently delineated 
 by her work; but I cannot refrain from adding a few 
 words, which I am sure will meet with a hearty assent 
 from those of her missionary associates who survive her. 
 
 She possessed rare executive ability, rare physical 
 health and strength, and a cheerful, unselfish constitu- 
 tional temperament ; while her piety, and consecration of 
 all to the Master's service, have rarely been excelled. Her 
 " meat and drink was to do the will of Him who sent her." 
 Not possessed of a remarkably handsome face or figure 
 while at rest, yet her face always brought pleasure to the 
 beholder, and her presence was a benediction. 
 
 Juliette P. Binney. 
 
 Mrs. Stevens writes, under date of May 14, 
 1880, as follows : — 
 
 My dear Mrs. Luther, — The other day Mrs. Ben- 
 nett mentioned to me your letter, requesting her to give 
 you some reminiscences of your Aunt Miranda. Mrs. 
 
MRS. STEVENS S LETTER. 25 1 
 
 Bennett is quite unable to write, and she asks me to say a 
 iittle to you about our high appreciation of her amiabihty 
 and usefulness. Her life was quiet, yet ever busy in 
 earnest, unselfish work for the Karens whom she loved, 
 and by whom she was most beloved in return. She 
 sought no notice nor admiration ; yet one could not but 
 give both as she pursued the even tenor of her cheerful 
 way, always thinking of some one other than herself. 
 
 She came out quite young, — only twenty, — vigorous, 
 happy, and consecrated to the work among the Karens. 
 Her face was always radiant with kindness, cordiality, ear- 
 nestness of purpose, and sincerity. The picture is very 
 vivid in my memory; and her voice, too, I can hear» Not 
 only was that constantly useful in teaching, but in helping 
 in singing Christian hymns, many of which she translated 
 into Karen. Another thing I may say of her voice, — I 
 "never heard it used to the injury of others. In respect 
 to this rare excellence she had her reward, for I do not 
 remember an unkind word spoken of her. She was uni- 
 versally spoken of in terms of esteem by all who were 
 familiar with her daily life for twelve years among us. Six 
 months previous to the time when Shway-gyeen fever took 
 her prematurely from her new home, she was married to 
 the Rev. Norman Harris. I cannot to this day see how 
 it could be wise to remove one such as she had been, and 
 promised yet to be for many years, while yet in the full 
 vigor of cheerful usefulness, from a sphere where she was 
 so much needed ; but we know it was wise in the eyes of 
 Him "who doeth all things well." 
 
 Elizabeth L. Stevens. 
 
252 THE VINTONS AND THE KARENS. 
 
 Her reward is in heaven. Long years ago 
 has she known the fulness of God's love for 
 his redeemed ones. In the light of the Celes- 
 tial City, the dark hours of earth have all been 
 forgotten ; but not forgotten are the tender and 
 loving and patient ones who toiled with her on 
 earth, and who yet speak of her with an uplifted 
 eye and quivering lip. 
 
 Let us bless God for the re-unions which 
 await us in heaven. 
 
 "ALMIGHTY GOD, with whom do live the spirits 
 of those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom 
 the souls of the faithful after they are delivered from the 
 burden of the flesh are in joy and felicity, we give thee 
 hearty thanks for the good examples of all those, thy ser- 
 vants, who, having finished their course in faith, do now 
 rest from their labors. And we beseech thee that we, 
 with all those who are departed in the true faith of thy 
 Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and 
 bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlast- 
 ing glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 THE END. 
 

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