C. M. Tucker from a Photograph taken at Toronto in 1875.
W. Notman Photo. Walker & Boutall, Ph.Sc.
A LADY OF ENGLAND
THE LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
CHARLOTTE MARIA TUCKER
BY
AGNES GIBERNE
AUTHOR OF ‘SUN, MOON, AND STARS,’ ‘RADIANT SUNS,’ ETC.
‘Nil desperandum’
Motto of the Tucker Family
NEW YORK
A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON
51 EAST TENTH STREET
1895
Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
The principal mass of materials for this Biography wasplaced in my hands last summer by the Rev. W. F. TuckerHamilton, nephew of Charlotte Maria Tucker (A. L. O. E.),and since then many other relatives or friends, both inEngland and in India, have contributed their share ofhelp, either in the way of written recollections or of correspondence.A paucity of materials exists as to the earlypart of the life; but in later years the difficulty is of aprecisely opposite description, arising from a superabundanceof details. Hundreds of letters, more or lessinteresting in themselves, have had to be put ruthlesslyaside, to make room for others of greater interest. Fromfirst to last the long series between Charlotte Tuckerand her own especial sister-friend, Mrs. Hamilton, takesprecedence of all other letters in point of freedom, naturalness,and simplicity. The perfect trust and unshadoweddevotion which subsisted between these two form a rareand beautiful picture.
It has seemed to me, and it may seem to others, thatthe main question in the Life of Miss Tucker is, not so[iv]much what she did here or there, in England or in India,as what she was. Many a discussion has taken place, anddoubtless will again take place, as to the wisdom of hermodes of Missionary work, and as to the degree of successor non-success which attended her labours. I haveendeavoured to give fairly certain opposite views upon thisquestion, even while strongly impressed with the convictionthat no human being is capable of judging withrespect to the worth of work done in his own age andgeneration. Subtle consequences, working below the surface,are often far more weighty, far more lasting, than themost approved ‘results’ following immediately uponcertain efforts,—results which are, not seldom, found aftera while to be of the nature of mere froth. Nothing can bemore unprofitable, usually, than the task of endeavouringto ‘count conversions.’ It is of infinitely greater importanceto note with what absolute self-devotion Miss Tuckerentered into the toil, with what resolution she perseveredin the face of obstacles, with what eagerness she did thevery utmost within her power.
In writing the story of Miss Tucker’s life at Batala, ithas been impossible not to write also, in some degree, thestory of the Infant Church at Batala. My main objecthas of course been simply to show what Charlotte MariaTucker herself was; and Mission work, Mission incidents,Missionaries themselves, come in merely incidentally, as[v]...