Her work was short,
her toil soon ended; but she fell, cheering, by her dying words and her
high example, the missionaries of all coming time. She was the first, but
not the only martyr. Heathen lands are dotted over with the graves of
fallen Christians; missionary women sleep on almost every shore; and the
bones of some are whitening in the fathomless depths of the ocean.
Never will the influence of the devoted woman whose life and death are here
portrayed be estimated properly until the light of an eternal day shall
shine on all the actions of men. We are to measure her glory, not by what
she suffered, for others have suffered more than she did. But we must
remember that she went out when the missionary enterprise was in its
infancy--when even the best of men looked upon it with suspicion. The tide
of opposition she dared to stem; and with no example, no predecessor from
American shores, she went out to rend the veil of darkness which gathered
over all the nations of the East.
Things have changed since then. Our missionaries go forth with the approval
of all the good; and the odium which once attended such a life is swept
away.
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