Judson, Adoniram, 1788-1850; Missionaries -- Burma -- Biography; Missionaries -- United States -- Biography
Endowed with a nervous temperament, his nature was exceedingly sensitive
to discomfort. One of his fellow-prisoners says: “His painful
sensitiveness to anything gross or uncleanly, amounting almost to folly,
was an unfortunate virtue to possess, and made him live a life of
constant martyrdom.” Of his personal habits, Mrs. E. C. Judson says:
“His predilection for neatness, uniformity, and order amounted,
indeed, to a passion. Then he had an innate sort of refinement about
him, which would subject him to annoyance when a less sensitive person
would only be amused—a most inconvenient qualification for a
missionary. This passion for order—which I should rather consider an
unconquerable love for the beautiful and elegant, studiously
perverted—displayed itself rather oddly after the means for its
natural gratification and development were cut off. Nobody ever
luxuriated more in perfectly spotless linen, though, partly from
necessity, and partly because there was a suspicion among his friends
that he would wear no other, it was always coarse. The tie of the
narrow black ribbon, which he wore instead of a neckcloth, was
perfect, and the ribbon itself would not have soiled the purest snow,
though it was often limp and rusty from frequent washing. His general
dress was always clean, and adjusted with scrupulous exactness, though
it often looked as if it might have belonged to some rustic of the
last century, being of the plainest material, and in fashion the
American idea of what was proper for a missionary, perpetuated in
broad caricature by a bungling Bengalee tailor. Most people thought
that he dressed oddly from a love of eccentricity; but the truth is,
he was not in the least aware of anything peculiar in his costume,
never seeing himself in a mirror larger than his pocket toilet-glass.
He could see his feet, however; and his shoes never had a spot on
their polish, nor the long, white, carefully-gartered stockings a
wrinkle, much less a stain. In the construction and arrangement of his
unique studying apparatus, which was composed of two long, narrow
boxes mounted on a teak table, there was the same mixture of plainness
with neatness and order, and, what was rather conspicuous in all his
arrangements, a wonderful capacity for convenience. No one ever
thought of invading his study corner; for he dusted his books and
papers himself, and knew so well where everything was placed, that he
could have laid his hand upon the smallest article in the darkest
night.”
A nature amply endowed with these fine sensibilities must have
instinctively shrunk from the filth of the dungeon and the squalor of
the prisoners; while the constrained and crowded position, night and
day, and the galling fetters, were almost unendurable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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