Tounghoo Women by Ellen B. Mason

Another friend writes: "If there were women on the ground, he feels sure the ladies of his Society would undertake their support to almost any number, 'but to what extent they will assume the responsibility of _sending out women_ for the purpose, I cannot," he says, "conjecture." I answer, the women are _not_ on the ground--that is, only a very few. Female Readers _must go and raise up the native helpers_--and if this cannot be done, I dispair of all hope for the women of Tounghoo, and the words of the poor Burman will be made true, who came several miles to hear of Christ, on our first going to that region. After listening with patient attention for more than an hour, she replied: "I think--I think I shall believe--your words sound good. Somehow they seem to make my heart light. But you are going away. How can we believe? If there was only somebody to instruct us. The sun has risen a little way up, but when you leave, it will sink back, _and all is gone._"

Oh, can I ever forget that heathen woman as she gazed upward, with tears falling down her care-worn face? Or the utter hopelessness of her eye when her hands fell drooping in the attitude of despair, as she uttered _"All is gone!"_