Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's MissionEddy, Daniel C. (Daniel Clarke)
History
Daughters of the Cross: or Woman's Mission
Eddy, Daniel C. (Daniel Clarke)
Women -- Biography; Women missionaries
The great subject of a missionary life was presented to her view, connected
with a proposal to accompany Rev. C.S. Stewart to the Sandwich Islands as
his assistant and companion. With trembling anxiety she submitted the case
to the wise discretion of her Father in heaven: on earth she had none.
As may be supposed, it was no easy thing for a young lady of high and
honorable connections, who had always been surrounded with friends and
educated in the circle of refinement and luxury, to leave all these. There
were tender ties to be riven, fond associations to be broken up, dear
friends to part with, and a loved home to leave behind; and when the
momentous question was brought distinctly before her mind, it required a
strong faith, a firm dependence on God, an entire submission to his will to
induce her to take the solemn and important step; but, believing herself
called upon by God, she decided in his favor, and lost sight of the
sacrifice and self-denial of the undertaking.
She resolved to go--to go, though home was to be abandoned, friends to be
left, loved scenes deserted, and a life of toil to be endured. She resolved
to go--to go, though she might pass through a sea of tears, and at last
leave her enfeebled body upon a couch that would have no kind friends to
surround it when she died. She resolved to go, though she should find in
savage lands a lowly grave.
She was married to Mr. Stewart. in the city of Albany, on the 3d of June,
1822. Mr. Stewart had already been appointed as a missionary, and was to
go out to the Sandwich Islands under the care of the American Board. They
sailed in company with a large number of others who were destined for the
same laborious but delightful service. The sun of the 19th of November went
down on many homes from which glad spirits had departed on their errand of
mercy to a dying world; and on that day the eye of many a parent gazed
upon the form of the child for the last time. Nor could a vessel leave
our shores, having on her decks nearly thirty missionaries, without being
followed by the prayers of more than the relatives of those who had
departed. There was mingled joy and sorrow throughout the churches of New
England, as the gales of winter wafted the gospel-freighted vessel to her
distant destination.
They arrived, in April of the following year, at Honolulu; and, after a
residence of a few days, located themselves at Lahaina, a town containing
about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, who were mostly in a degraded
condition. Here they found but few of the conveniences of life, and were
obliged to live in little huts, which afforded but slight shelter from the
scorching heat or the pelting rain. In these miserable tenements did the
child of luxury and wealth reside, and in perfect contentment perform the
duties of her station. She suffered, but did not complain; she labored
hard, but was not weary; and, cheerful in her lot, smiled even at her
privations and sorrows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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