in revolt. Immediately after his arrival he sent his wife
and Mrs. Boardman aboard the steamer, which was to hurry to Moulmein
for reinforcements. Mrs. Boardman begged to be allowed to remain and
share the danger which was threatening both the whites and the native
converts, but the governor firmly refused to allow her to do so.
As soon as the rebellion was quelled Mrs. Boardman returned to Tavoy
and resumed her work, but troubles now came upon her quickly. On
December 2, 1830, her baby boy died, making the second child she had
lost within twelve months. Her husband, too, was in very weak health,
although still working hard. On March 7, 1831, he reported that he had
baptized fifty-seven Karens within two months, and that other baptisms
would soon follow. But the latter he did not live to see, for he died
of consumption three weeks after writing his report.
The Europeans at Tavoy considered it natural and proper that, now Mrs.
Boardman was a widow, she should, return to America, and they were
somewhat surprised when she announced her intention of remaining at
Tavoy. 'My beloved husband,' she wrote, 'wore out his life in this
glorious cause; and that remembrance makes me more than even attached
to the work and the people for whose salvation he laboured till death.'
As far as possible she took up the duties of her late husband, and
every day from sunrise until ten o'clock at night she was hard at work.
Her duties included periodical visits to the Karen villages. This was
a most unpleasant work for a refined woman, and from the fact that she
scarcely ever alluded to these visits we may conclude that she found
them extremely trying. But, as there was no man to undertake the work
which her late husband had carried on with conspicuous success, she
knew unless she did it herself a promising field of missionary
enterprise would be uncared for.
Preaching, teaching and visiting was not, however, the only work in
which the young widow engaged. She translated into Burmese the
_Pilgrim's Progress_.
Adoniram Judson and Mrs. Boardman had known each other from the day the
latter arrived in Burma, and the former, as the head of the
missionaries in that country, was well aware of Mrs. Boardman's
devotion to duty. On January 31, 1834, he completed his translation of
the Scriptures, and on April 10 he and Mrs. Boardman were married.
Mrs. Sarah Judson's home was now once more in Moulmein, and into the
work there she thre
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