Mr. Judson did not live to complete the Burmese dictionary. He finished the English and Burmese part, but the Burmese and English was left in an unfinished state. In accordance with his desire, expressed only a few days before his death, Mrs. Judson transmitted his manuscripts to his friend and associate in missionary toil, Mr. Stevens, upon whom accordingly the task of completing the work devolved. Mrs. Judson thus wrote to Mr. Stevens:
“MAULMAIN, _September_ 4, 1850.
“MY DEAR MR. STEVENS: Parting with the manuscripts which were every day before my eyes during three happy years, almost carries me back to that sad morning in April when _he_ passed from the door never again to return. But I well know that my heavenly Father is ordering all these things, and I have nothing to do but submit—nothing to say but ‘Thy will, O God, be done!’
“A few days before Mr. Judson went away, he told me, if he should never return, to place the dictionary papers in your hands, and it is in compliance with that request that I now send them. I suppose that he would not have improved the English and Burmese part very essentially while carrying it through the press; and the second part, the Burmese and English, is, as far as he had advanced, equally complete. The last word he defined was ——, and the corresponding initial vowel ——.
“The only request he made was that there might be some distinct mark, both in the dictionary and grammar, to indicate where his work ended and yours commenced. The grammar was intended to preface the Burmese and English portion of the dictionary, but is complete only as far as through the cases of nouns—thirty-two manuscript pages. I believe this grammar was on a somewhat different plan from the old ‘Grammatical Notices’; but I send a printed copy of that, in which he has marked several errors, as it may be of some service to you. In addition to the finished parts of the dictionary, you will find the two old manuscript volumes which he had in use ever after his first arrival in Burmah; and these I beg to have returned to me when the work is completed. Interlined and erased as they are, you will have great difficulty in deciphering them, and will no doubt find some parts quite illegible. I think I mentioned to you the plan of having Moung Shway-loo make out, from the old printed dictionary and his own memory, a list of words more or less synonymous, and I send the books, which, although not to be implicitly relied on, are, I believe, quite valuable.
“There is one bound volume which I do not recollect having seen before; but I think it must be a vocabulary arranged from an original Burmese one, as I have heard Mr. J. speak of having such a work. The remaining papers, consisting of two or three little vocabularies, and the like, are, I suppose, of no great value; but I thought it best to send everything in any way connected with defining words. I also put in with the rest the old proof-sheets, as he sometimes had occasion to refer to them.
“And now, may the blessing of God rest upon this work—on you, or whoever else may finish it—on all who, for Christ’s sake, study it, and upon poor Burmah, in whose behalf so much time and labor have been expended.
“Very affectionately, your sister, “EMILY C. JUDSON.”
During the long winter of our Northern States, sometimes a mass of snow accumulates, little by little, in the corner of the farmer’s meadow. Under the warm rays of the spring sun the dazzling bank gradually melts away, but leaves upon the greensward which it has sheltered a fertilizing deposit. It now remains for us to ask what stimulating residuum this great life which we have attempted to describe left behind it upon the surface of human society.