BURRIE was the daughter of a rich man in British-India, who was so civilized, that he taught his little girl to read and sent her to school.
In this way she was favored above many of her country people, and I know that she was thankful later that her father had given her a good education.
Burrie married very young, and became a widow when she was nearly forty. She had two sons. Some Indian widows lead very sorrowful lives; but Burrie lived in harmony with her sons and their wives and was also an affectionate mother. It was a great sorrow for her, when death entered her home and took away all her children in one day. Poor Burrie! was left quite alone. The friends who tried to console her, thought she would become blind from weeping, the poor woman was in such grief.
When she recovered a little, she thought that it was necessary to appease the angry gods. For this purpose she set out on a pilgrimage to all the holy places in the country, and kept this up for fifteen years.
But in spite of all this she had no peace in her soul and could not appease the gods. Worn out from wandering, she at last decided to return to her home in Calcutta.
But there a new disappointment awaited her. The neighbors thought that old Burrie was certainly dead, and they took possession of all belonging to her. She could get nothing back from them.
Quite discouraged she lay down on the road some distance outside the city, hoping to die soon. Some kind people found her there and took her to the hospital. There she remained for many weeks. One day the nurse said, when she heard her sad story, “The Christians would have treated you kindly.” Burrie had heard a good deal about Christians; she knew that they were people who could help her. At her urgent request they let her go to the missionaries’ hospital. There she heard about the Lord Jesus who had come down from heaven to save and to bless her too. O, the peace and rest after years of seeking! She confessed the Lord as her Savior before her death.
ML-02/29/1920