BADLEY, Mary (1852-1913)

BADLEY

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 12/6/2018 at 22:30:42

Mary (Scott) Badley
(January 27, 1852 – January 11, 1913)

Indianola Herald, Indianola, IA, Thurs., Feb 6, 1913, p.1, col.1
Mrs. Brenton H. Badley
Mrs. Mary Scott Badley was born at Marlboro, Ohio, January 27, 1852. Her father, John Hillis Scott, embodied the sterling qualities of mind and character which mark the Scotchman. He was an educator with a genius and love for his profession, and he placed the emphasis of his endeavors upon thoroughness of acquirement and the molding of the highest type of character. Under the influence of such a home it is not surprising to know that as a girl she was remarkable for her piety and that at the age of 13 she made a public confession of her faith and joined the church, thus beginning a life of practical Christianity which prepared her for gladly accepting the opportunity of serving her Master in far off Indian.
She inherited her father’s gift for teaching and received her first certificate to teach before she was 16 years of age, teaching successfully for the next four years in the vicinity of Jeffersonville and Washington, C. H. Ohio.
On August 8th 1872, she was married to the Rev. Brenton H. Badley and shortly afterwards sailed from New York for the chosen field of labor. Her intense interest in the natures and her practical sympathy with them in their distressed condition made her influence felt even before she had learned to use the Hindustani language. This she learned rapidly and was soon so proficient in its use that she was appointed to edit a paper called “The Woman’s Friend,” published weekly in the two chief vernaculars of North India. Amongst other translations she also translated a life of Queen Victoria, thus giving to the down-trodden women of India the inspiration of that noble life. Her chief work, however, consisted in supervising seven schools opened in the city of Lucknow for the instruction of Hindu and Moham medan girls, and in going daily to give religious instruction. Her missionary work was characterized by a spirit of cheerfulness and she brought a sense of comfort and trustfulness into the hearts of those she endeavored to help. The down-trodden condition of the masses strongly appealed to her sensitive nature and she did everything in her power to uplift those with whom she came in contact. Being a lover of music and having a voice of marked sweetness she sang the Gospel message into ears that were not moved by the merely spoken word. Having an artist’s appreciation of the beautiful, she was quick to identify the intrinsically beautiful in her environment, even when undiscovered by others, and one of the charms of her personality consisted in her power to inspire in her associates a love for everything beautiful both in character and in nature. In a land where sordidness and vileness abound almost to the exclusion of every uplifting influence this gift of her personality proved a real inspiration, especially to heartsick co-laborers and the band of native Christian workers who were daily associated with her.
Her interest in the children of the seven schools and in the many homes she visited did not lead her to neglect her own home or her duties there. Five boys were born into the home in the first ten years. Tow of these were taken away when less than a year old, but the remaining ones remember a home radiant with love and Christian joy and beautiful with the blossoms of tropical garden and the flowers of loving deeds and sympathetic helpfulness.
In 1882 the family returned to the homeland and during the furlough a daughter was born to bless the home. Upon their return to work in Lucknow the work was resumed and the blessing of God was upon it and it continued to increase in effectiveness and extent. The British Government began to notice what was being done for the women and girls of the land and made it possible to extend the work by giving financial aid. For about seven years more she was privileged to invest her best efforts in her editorial work and in the work of managing a large number of girls’ schools and in her work for the secluded women of Lucknow. The failing health of her husband made it necessary for her to gradually give up most of the work, and two years later, after his death, she bade that phase of her missionary works loving farewell, after nearly twenty years of loving devoted service and came to the homeland to work for twenty years more in the interests of those who had grown so dear to her. Upon her arrival in America she was confronted with the problem of supporting and educating a family of five, the youngest a boy of four years of age.
Her remarkable self-reliance and strength are demonstrated by the fact that within a few months of her arrival she was on a lecturing tour in the interests of foreign missions and with the exception of only a few intervals she has been engaged ever since in this work in the states of the Middle West and New England.
The wealth of her experience on the field, combined with a natural eloquence, made her a speaker of unusual force and attractiveness. Under the Providence of God her services were used with great success and an increased interest in the work of foreign missions followed her instructive addresses, which were often illustrated with stereopticon views. Her interest in the work on the field never waned and she took great pains to keep herself informed of every phase of the development. It had been her desire to return to India and give her remaining years to the people she so dearly loved.
The key-note of her character was unselfishness and her life was an expression of loving thoughtfulness for those around her. Hers was a life filled with the joy of serving her Master through deeds of kindness and sympathy demonstrated in a practical way.
During her last illness she said she had always wished that Longfellow’s lines from Evangeline might be said of her. “And when she had passed it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music.” Those who knew her best feel that this ideal was realized in her life and that no other words so truly describe her beautiful life.
Mrs. Badley was the wife of Simpson’s first graduate and shared the hardships with Simpson’s first representative in the foreign mission field. Her last illness was six weeks in length and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Harlan Read, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on January 11, 1913. The funeral services were held from Asbury Methodist Church, Delaware, Ohio, January 14th, with interment at Oak Grove Cemetery, near that city. Mrs. Badley is survived by four sons and one daughter, Ernest V. of Los Angeles, California, Brenton T., general secretary of the Epworth League in India, Theodore C., a professor in Lucknow Christian College, which his father formed, but who is at home on a furlough, and Rex, of Anaheim, California. The daughter is Mrs. Elizabeth Read, wife of the city attorney of Okmulgee, Oklahoma.