LEARNING THE LANGUAGE.--MRS. JUDSON VISITS THE WIFE OF THE VICEROY.--HER
SICKNESS.--HER VOYAGE TO MADRAS.--HER RETURN TO RANGOON.--BIRTH OF A
SON.
Those who have acquired a modern European language with the aid of
grammars, dictionaries, and other suitable books, can scarcely estimate
the labor of learning without such aids, such a language as the Burman.
In fact Mr. Judson thinks more progress can be made in the _French_ in a
few months, than in the Burman in two years. Mrs. Judson took the whole
management of family affairs on herself, in order to leave her husband
at liberty to prosecute his studies and the consequence was, that being
obliged constantly to use all the Burman she knew, in her intercourse
with servants, traders, and others, her progress was more rapid than
his.
One cause of difficulty in learning their language was that their books
were made of palm-leaves, marked or engraved with an iron style or pen,
_without ink_. We who are accustomed to clear characters on paper can
hardly imagine the difficulty of tracing out these obscure scratches on
the dried palm-leaves. Another was that in writing, "their words are not
fairly divided like ours by breaks, and points, and capitals, but run
together in a long continuous line, a sentence or paragraph seeming like
one long word." Another difficulty was, that in their idiom, a great
variety of verbs must be used to express one action, either as performed
by persons of different rank, or as done under different circumstances.
Thus there are three or four ways to speak of eating rice, sleeping,
dying, &c. one of which is always used of the king, another of priests,
another of rulers, and another of common persons, and it would be an
insult to use a phrase lower than one is entitled to. Again, for our
term to _wash_, for instance, there are many words; one is used for to
_wash the face_, another, the hands, another, linen, another, dishes,
&c. They have in their language eleven vowels and thirty-three
consonants, but of these there are so many combinations, that about one
thousand characters must be used in printing. Printing, however, was
unknown to the Burmans until our missionaries introduced it.
As no progress at all could be made in their missionary labors until the
language was mastered, they applied themselves cheerfully and diligently
to its acquisition.
An interesting incident is related by Mrs. Judson under date of Dec.
11th, 1813, her first visit to the wife of a man in power. "To-day for
the first time I have visited the wife of the Viceroy. I was introduced
to her by a French lady who has frequently visited her. When we first
arrived at the government house, she was not up, consequently we had to
wait some time. But the inferior wives of the Viceroy diverted us much
by their curiosity, in minutely examining everything we had on, and by
trying on our gloves, bonnets, &c. At last her Highness made her
appearance, richly dressed in the Burman fashion, with a long silver
pipe in her mouth, smoking. At her appearance all the other wives took
their seats at a respectful distance, and sat in a crouching posture
without speaking. She received me very politely, took me by the hand,
seated me upon a mat and herself by me. One of the women brought her a
bunch of flowers, of which she took several and ornamented my cap. She
was very inquisitive whether I had a husband and children, whether I was
my husband's first wife,--meaning by this whether I was the highest
among them, supposing that Mr. Judson, like the Burmans, had many wives;
and whether I intended tarrying long in the country.
"When the Viceroy came in I really trembled, for I never before beheld
such a savage-looking creature. His long robe and enormous spear not a
little increased my dread. He spoke to me, however, very
condescendingly, and asked whether I would drink some rum or wine. When
I arose to go, her highness took my hand again, told me she was happy to
see me, and that I must come to see her every day. She led me to the
door, I made my _salam_ and departed.
"My object in visiting her was, that if we should go into any difficulty
with the Burmans, I could have access to her, when perhaps it would not
be possible for Mr. Judson to have an audience with the Viceroy."
In pursuing his study of the language, Mr. Judson had fortunately
secured as a teacher a Burman of more than ordinary intelligence, and
who had a perfect knowledge of the grammatical construction of the
Burman dialect, and also of the _Pali_, or language of the sacred books.
Day after day he sat with his teacher in the open verandah which
surrounded their dwelling, reading, writing, and talking, joined by Mrs.
Judson in every interval she could spare from family cares, and thus
were they fitting themselves to teach to the poor idolaters the new
religion. Nor did they neglect such opportunities of doing good as
presented themselves even then; but every effort to inculcate their
sentiments was met with the objection, "Your religion is good for you,
ours for us." "You will be rewarded for your good deeds in your way, we
in our way." They found they had to deal with one of the proudest and
most conceited races on earth. Their very religion, as we have before
said, encourages this conceit, by leading them constantly to make "a
merit" of their good actions, or what they suppose such; while it
inculcates neither contrition nor penitence. The peculiar doctrines of
Christianity, its justification through the merits of another, its
humility and charity, were in the last degree opposed to the character
of the Burman race. The missionaries were made daily more sensible that
the Spirit of God must come "with power," before the truth could ever
enter those darkened understandings. Prayer was therefore their only
reliance, as it was their only comfort.
But even this enjoyment, as far as it was social, was soon broken in
upon by the increasing illness of Mrs. Judson, which obliged her to try
the effect of a change of scene and climate. She could not think of
taking Mr. Judson from his labors, and therefore embarked alone in
January, 1815, for Madras. We may imagine the joy experienced by the
missionary, thus left behind, on receiving during her absence letters
from this country, containing an account of the general movement in
America in favor of the Mission, and the formation of the Baptist
General Convention. His heart overflowed with gratitude, and the thought
that though he had no friend near him, there were yet hundreds in his
native land praying and laboring in the same cause, inspired him with
new zeal in his beloved enterprise.
Mrs. Judson's journey, though solitary, was prosperous and successful.
Friends appeared for her where she least expected them. The influence of
her engaging person and winning manners is observable in one obliging
attention she received even from strangers. The Viceroy appointed a
woman to accompany her free of expense; the captain refused money for
her passage; and the physician at Madras, from whom she had received
visits for six weeks, returned the fee which she sent him, saying he was
happy if he had been of service to her. Her health being perfectly
restored she returned to Rangoon after an absence of three months, and
"on the 11th of September, was made the happy mother of a little son."
She soon resumed her studies, and though she saw little other result of
her labors, was cheered by noticing that she and her husband were
gradually gaining the confidence of the natives, who, as she says, would
say to each other "that they need not be afraid to trust us, for we do
not tell falsehoods as the Burmans do." The indolent and deceitful
Burmans saw with surprise that these two Christians always kept
themselves busily employed, and paid every debt they contracted with
strict punctuality. Thus was laid the foundation of respect for the new
religion.