CONCLUSION.
“O Oscar! this can be no penal settlement; it is a paradise, a perfect
paradise of beauty!” was Io’s delighted exclamation as, aided by her
husband, she stepped on shore. Imagination had pictured the Andamans as
some hot waste of sand, or some burning rock, fit abode for criminals
driven forth from their fellow-men; but perhaps the whole earth holds
no fairer spot, none more favoured by nature, than these beautiful
Eastern islands――“emeralds set in the ring of the sea.” There plants
grow in the richest luxuriance; there verdure clothes the forest, and
flowers spangle the earth. Where the green waves gently lap the shore,
corals of marvellous beauty may be seen through the transparent depths.
Well worthy of artist’s pencil or poet’s lay are the dreaded Andaman
Isles.
Oscar, rapt in admiration, gazed on the scene around him.
“Strange――most wonderful!” burst from his lips. “Adam was for one sin
banished from paradise, and my sin, far more detestable than his, has
brought me into another Eden.”
“Not your sin, beloved one, say not your sin!” exclaimed Io; “rather
your repentance, the brave sacrifice which you made in indeed plucking
out the right eye.”
“And what gave me courage to make the sacrifice?” asked Oscar, looking
gratefully at his wife. “Was it not my Io’s brave words when, at the
crisis of my life, she said, ‘Do what you think is right’?”
The Andaman Islands are governed in a humane and liberal spirit. There
is no dungeon there――no chains, unless it be in Viper’s Island, to
which only the most desperate ruffians are transported to be kept under
stricter ward. The chief commissioner has indeed the power of life
or death, and soldiers to carry his orders into effect; but when the
Coldstreams arrived they found themselves under the sway of a wise and
beneficent ruler. The commissioner received Oscar with grave politeness,
his wife with chivalrous courtesy.
“I am afraid, Mr. Coldstream,” said the commissioner, “that I must make
no exception in your favour. Our people here have small allotments of
land, and are expected to cultivate them with their own hands.”
“I wish for no exception in my favour, sir,” was the convict’s reply;
“I deserve none, for there is no one in these islands who has sinned so
grievously against the laws of God and man as myself.”
To Oscar Coldstream his manual labour became a pleasure. No land was
better cultivated than his; and he made his hut a bower of beauty, in
which the bird of paradise was Io.
But the principal labour of both the Coldstreams was amongst the
convicts of either sex. The English couple were earnest missionaries
without the name. Year by year souls were won for the Master, and out
of the chaos of misery and crime a little church of lowly believers
gradually rose. Oscar had no children. This was to him not a matter
of regret, for he could not have endured to leave to his offspring
a heritage of disgrace, the name of the sons of a felon. But the
Coldstreams were granted many spiritual children, and the ties formed
in the Andaman Islands were to Oscar and Io so close and so dear, that
even had a pardon come they would have declined leaving their place
of exile, or rather their sphere of work. Oscar was known amongst the
people as the _pir_, or saint――a title which he always repudiated, but
which clung to him still.
Letters connected the Coldstreams with the outer world, and not
unfrequently the chief commissioner lent newspapers to read. Oscar
knew when a fair young queen ascended the throne which this worthy
descendant of Alfred still fills. He received from Mark Lawrence the
glad news that after years of loneliness his home was to be brightened
by the presence of a wife. The chaplain’s former disappointment had
been in itself a blessing, for without it he would have been linked to
one who would not have made him happy.
With one scene in the life of the Coldstreams, about eight years after
their arrival in the Andaman Islands, my little story concludes.
“There is a vessel in the offing, my Oscar,” said Io one morning;
“shall we go down and see the arrivals?”
Oscar was just putting the last touches to a beautiful water-colour
picture which was to be a birthday present to Io; but he rose at once,
put down his brush, and prepared to accompany his wife.
“Formerly,” observed Oscar, “it was with sadness that we saw new-comers
arriving; now hope counterbalances pity. We look upon prisoners coming
to the Andaman Islands less as sinners to be punished than as souls
that may be saved.”
“But these are not prisoners; they come in the commissioner’s yacht.
There are nice white English faces,” exclaimed Io joyfully, quickening
her pace, “and one is a lady! O Oscar, Oscar!” she continued in the
excitement of pleasure, “I am certain that yonder is Mark Lawrence, and
she who leans on his arm must be his wife!”
Oscar hurried on so fast at the word that Io had to run to keep up with
his pace. Here was a great and unexpected pleasure indeed! In a few
minutes the friends who had deemed that they were parted for ever as
regards this world were greeting each other with cordial delight.
“You never thought――I never thought of my being appointed chaplain
to the troops in the Andaman Islands!” cried Mark, after having
with pleasure and pride introduced his young wife. “Why, Coldstream,
the climate of the place must suit you, for you look little changed
after so many years of residence, only more strong and a little more
sunburnt.” Lawrence might have added, “and a great deal more happy,”
for Coldstream’s fine countenance now wore an expression of peace.
And Io was blooming still, not a silver thread in the auburn hair, not
a wrinkle of care on the white smooth brow. The water-lily had again
opened its chalice to the sunshine, and was smiling in the light which
came from heaven, and was reflected by very many objects around her.
That day was one of the happiest which the Coldstreams had ever known.
No stranger seeing the group that sat eagerly chatting over old days
would have dreamed that the one gentleman was a chaplain, the other
a convict. Oscar himself was the only one to whose mind came the
recollection of his great crime; in his heart of hearts was written,
“Jesus Christ came to save sinners, _of whom I am chief_.”
A party to visit a spot of singular beauty was arranged for a later
hour of the day. The distance was so short that in the evening even the
ladies could walk.
“I have a double object in selecting Palm-tree Point,” observed
Coldstream: “I have just received notice that a Karen is lying in a hut
there with a broken leg. I have not seen him yet, for he is a recent
arrival.”
“I could almost wish that it were our old friend Ko Thah Byu,” said
Lawrence.
“One would hardly find him _here_,” rejoined Coldstream.
In the softened light of a rich sunset the Lawrences and Coldstreams
made their way to the beautiful spot. They found the Karen, not in the
hut, but stretched on a _churpai_ under a tree. None of the visitors
had ever seen the man before, but the fact of his being a Karen
awakened additional interest.
After kindly salutation, and making inquiries after the injury which
the convict had received, Coldstream, taking a seat on a mat, opened
his Karen Bible. The ladies rested themselves luxuriously on a mossy
bank garlanded with rare ferns.
“Ah, that is the book which Ko Thah Byu so loved!” observed the Karen.
“Did you know him?” asked Oscar.
“I knew him well,” said the sufferer. “Ko Thah Byu often came to our
village to give the good tidings of great joy. If I had minded all that
he said I should never have come to this place.”
“I must try to find out where he is,” observed Lawrence, “and give him
news of you.”
The convict shook his head sadly. “Ko Thah Byu is where news cannot
reach him,” said the Karen. “Our brother has gone to be with the Lord.
I was at his side when he died.”
The tidings were received with sorrow. How apt are we to grudge the
victor his crown, the weary labourer his rest! We grieve to think
that a familiar voice shall never again on earth proclaim God’s truth,
though we believe that it is swelling the chorus of His praise in
heaven.
Inquiries elicited a few particulars of the last days of the first
Karen convert and apostle. Ko Thah Byu had latterly been afflicted with
painful sickness, and blindness had quenched the light of his piercing
eyes. The evangelist had had to close his long itinerancies, and wander
no more amongst the heathen. Yet as long as Ko Thah Byu could preach,
he preached, bearing fruit even in old age. Then, as a ripe sheaf meet
for the Master’s garner, the saint fell asleep amongst his own people,
honoured, beloved, and lamented.
“Of the Karen apostle it may well be said,” observed the chaplain,
“that he will have many stars in his crown.”
“May I, unworthy as I am, be reckoned amongst them!” said Oscar
Coldstream with emotion. “I should, humanly speaking, never have known
peace on earth or glory in heaven had I not been taught by the Karen
the force of the inspired words: _Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered.... I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and
mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions
unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin._”
APPENDIX.
Whilst some readers will skip the appendix altogether, to others it
may appear the best part of my book, as it will give some information
regarding the present state of the Karens, and will show what sorts of
fruit now grow on the tree planted by the devoted American missionaries
and their first convert, Ko Thah Byu.
I will not dwell long on the fact mentioned in secular newspapers, that
when the English took possession of Burmah those of the inhabitants
_trusted with arms_ were loyal Karens, as they would defend the laws.
Such courage was displayed by the Karens that they were given by the
English Government a large reward.
It is more interesting to know how the Christian Karens have honoured
the memory of their apostle, Ko Thah Byu. I will give some extracts
from his memoir, to which I have been already indebted:――
“On the 16th of this month, May 1878, occurred the fiftieth anniversary
of the baptism of the first Karen convert, Ko Thah Byu. He was not only
the first in time. As a humble, persistent, and prayerful teacher of
the gospel to his heathen countrymen, he ranks easily first amongst the
hundreds of faithful men who have succeeded him.”
A school and building fund was raised, not only with a view to
usefulness in the growing church, but to erect a worthy monument to
Ko Thah Byu. To give another extract:――
“It was voted, in view of the exigency and the jubilee, to make a
special thank-offering, that the missionary hall might be dedicated
without delay. It was the hottest time of the year, but every man,
woman, and child stayed at his post. An enthusiasm for giving fell
on the people. On the day of dedication our new building fund, which
we had set at the modest figure of 20,000 rupees (less than £2,000),
reached the sum of 42,342 rupees. The debt was extinguished; there was
abundance of material on hand, and over 8,000 rupees in cash.... To sum
up, since 1868 the Karens of Bassein alone have sent 43,050 rupees for
the erection of permanent and substantial buildings.”
Then follows a detailed description of the opening of the Ko Thah Byu
Mission Hall, the winding up of which we will give to our readers:――
“On the wall of the south veranda we have carved in large gilded
Burmese characters――
1828. KO THAH BYU. 1878.
And our prayer is that the building may long stand, and do its part
towards training and sending forth hundreds of men and women far better
equipped for the service of the Master than Ko Thah Byu, and with a
spirit no less fervent and devoted.”
To bring the account of the Karens to a still later date, I give an
extract of a comparatively recent speech made by a lady, the only
Karen missionary at a large conference.[6] Speaking of the interesting
people amongst whom she laboured, she said: “Without any literature,
they had a tradition about some old book which had been taken from them,
but which some day the white men would bring back to them. They were
therefore ready to receive the gospel, and when it reached them they
yielded readily to its power. Now there are _over 450 parishes, with
their own pastors and schools_. They also send out missionaries to the
regions beyond. _There are 30,000 Church communicants._ Many of the
young men have gone with their wives across the hills far north amongst
strange peoples, and are there preaching the gospel.... There is a
Women’s Karen Missionary Society.”
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Footnotes.
1 – The legend is copied almost word for word from a most
interesting work which I procured from Calcutta, “The
Karen Apostle, or Memoir of Ko Thah Byu,” by the Rev.
Francis Mason, D.D., missionary to the Karens. I am
indebted to this work for the information contained in
this story regarding a very remarkable race, as well
as regarding the singular man who is the subject of the
memoir.
2 – It is a remarkable fact that when the English, many
years after the date of my story, took possession of
Upper Burmah, they trusted Karens with weapons, and found
them do good work as gallant police in bringing that
troublesome district into order.
3 – Ko Thah Byu’s account of himself is strictly authentic.
4 – If unprecedented then, not a solitary instance now, as
Constance Kent voluntarily confessed herself guilty of
murder, and was sentenced to imprisonment for life in the
present reign.
5 – It would be deemed very improper for a woman to say “my
husband.”
6 – Held, I think, in 1888, but it may have been in the
previous year.