uaintances. "I hear," said one
lady to another, "that Miss Hasseltine is going to India. Why does she
go?" "Why, she thinks it her duty. Would you not go if you thought it
your duty?" "But," replied the first speaker emphatically, "_I would not
think it my duty_."

On February 6, 1812, an ordination service was held at the Tabernacle
Church in Salem, when Adoniram Judson and four others were set apart for
foreign missionary work. On the previous day he and Ann Hasseltine had
been made man and wife at Bradford; and a few days later Mr. and Mrs.
Judson, accompanied by Mr. Newell and his wife, set out in the brig
_Caravan_ for Calcutta.

CHAPTER II.

THE ROAD TO RANGOON.

After a four months' voyage the missionary party reached Calcutta, and
there they received a warm welcome from Dr. Carey and his
fellow-workers. They were invited to the missionary headquarters at
Serampore, a spot some few miles from Calcutta, in possession of the
Danish Government, where the Baptist missionaries resided in order to
avoid the interference of the English authorities. At that time the
British rulers of India were opposed to all missionary work, and
discouraged it by every means in their power. Foreign preachers were not
allowed to reside in India even for a few weeks, and English
missionaries were not suffered to remain unless they could obtain
special permission from the East India Company. The American
missionaries had not been many days in India before they discovered
this. They were summoned from Serampore to Calcutta, and there formally
commanded, in the name of the Company, to leave India at once and return
to America. To do this would have ruined all their plans, so they asked
and obtained permission to go instead to the Isle of France (Mauritius),
whither a vessel was about to sail. But as it would only accommodate Mr.
and Mrs. Newell, the Judsons perforce remained in Calcutta waiting for
another ship.

They were allowed to stay in peace for a couple of months; but when the
authorities learnt that they had not yet departed, an urgent order was
issued, commanding that they should be immediately sent to England in
one of the East India Company's vessels. There seemed no possibility of
their evading the order this time, but they learned that another vessel
was just going to set out for the Isle of France. Unfortunately it was
impossible for them now to obtain permission to go there; but the
captain of the vessel, on heari