istians, and the love which attaches
the missionary to those spiritual children which the Lord has given
him;--moreover it was their first _home_, sanctified by signal
deliverances and countless mercies;--nevertheless, like Abraham who at
the call of Jehovah, "went out, not knowing whither he went,"--these
"followers of them who through faith inherit the promises," obeyed the
voice of duty, and feeling themselves "strangers and pilgrims on the
earth," went without murmuring to their new sphere of labor. "One thing
is certain," says Mr. B. in a subsequent letter "we were brought here by
the guidance of Providence. It was no favorite scheme of ours."

On arriving at Tavoy, they were kindly received by Mr. Burney the
English resident, and within ten days from their arrival, had procured
a house, and begun to teach inquirers in the way of salvation Much as
there was to discourage them in this _city of pagoda_, "the missionary
looked out on the strange magnificence of shrines and temples that lay
around him,--upon the monuments that had perpetuated for many ages this
idolatrous worship,--upon the priests who taught it, and the countless
devotees who practised it; and as he prepared to strike the first blow
at the hoary superstition which they all enshrined, he felt to the full
the sublimity and greatness of the undertaking. He stood alone, the
herald of truth, before this mighty array of ancient error; but he
trusted implicitly in the promises of revelation, and felt assured that
the day was at hand when all this empty adoration of Gaudama would give
place to the worship of the living God!"[8]

A new difficulty occurred here, which however was speedily surmounted by
the diligence and zeal of the missionaries; the dialect of Tavoy was so
different from pure Burmese as to be almost unintelligible to those who
knew only the latter, but both, fortunately, employed the same written
characters. Mrs. Boardman's employments at this time are enumerated in
their letters. After unwearied toil, and repeated repulses and
discouragements, she succeeded in establishing a girls' school, in
which she employed a woman who could read, as an assistant. She
describes a visit to her school thus: "I am just returned from one of
the day-schools. The sun had not risen when I arrived, but the little
girls were in the house ready for instruction. My walk to this school is
through a retired road, shaded on one side by the old wall of the city,
which i