Samuel Reynolds house of Siam: Pioneer medical missionary 1847-1876

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Title: Samuel Reynolds house of Siam: Pioneer medical missionary 1847-1876
Author: Feltus, George Haws
Language: English
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SIAM ***

=SAMUEL REYNOLDS HOUSE
“THE MAN WITH THE GENTLE HEART”=

[Illustration: REV. SAMUEL REYNOLDS HOUSE, M.D.]

“_The Man With the Gentle Heart_”

Samuel Reynolds House
of Siam

Pioneer Medical Missionary
1847-1876

By
GEORGE HAWS FELTUS, A. M., B.D.

ILLUSTRATED

[Illustration: (Publisher colophon.)]

NEW YORK CHICAGO
Fleming H. Revell Company
LONDON AND EDINBURGH

_Printed in the United States of America_

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street

Preface

Quaint, old-time title pages sought to present an epitome of the
contents of the volume. While the name of Dr. House occupies the
sole post of honour on this present title page, none would be more
urgent than he to have that place shared by his wife, Harriet
Pettit House, and her assistant, Arabella Anderson-Noyes, and by
their godson, Boon Itt, whose achievements occupy a good share of
the pages that follow.

The essential material in this book has been drawn from the letters
and journal of Dr. House, now for the first time available for the
purpose. This material has been supplemented by correspondence with
various individuals connected with the principal persons mentioned.
The facts thus ascertained have been interpreted and amplified by
the careful reading of nearly every book in English on Siamese
subjects. For this reason, the narrative may claim to be fairly
complete and authentic.

Two reasons have prompted publication. One reason is to make
accessible valuable historical materials. In the archives of the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions no records covering this
period have been found other than the meagre references in the
annual reports of the Board. The diary of Dr. House’s co-worker,
Rev. Stephen Mattoon, was destroyed by fire; and, so far as is
known, no other private records for those early years are in
existence. The only primary source of information is the chapter,
“History of Missions in Siam,” from the pen of Dr. House, in
the volume _Siam and Laos_, in which his modesty has obscured
the importance of his own labours. So this book is offered as a
contribution to the history of the Church in Siam.

The other reason is that the Church is entitled to the stimulus of
the heroic examples of these godly people. Biographies, at best,
do not appeal to a large circle of readers. Missionary biographies
appeal to fewer still. However, a book that stimulates a few
hundred workers in the vineyard of the Lord may effect more good
in the long run than a book of great but passing popularity. I
venture to believe that few will read the record of the life-work
of Dr. and Mrs. House and the brief story of Boon Itt without
being quickened by the example of their persistent faith, buoyant
hopefulness, sublime trust and apostolic devotion.

Not the least worth while do I count it to be able to place this
narrative in the hands of the young Church of Siam that she may
transmit to the rising generation the story of “THE MAN WITH THE
GENTLE HEART.”

I acknowledge with appreciation the hearty encouragement of friends
to publish what my own inclination would have allowed to remain in
private manuscript. Also, I gladly state that publication would not
have been possible without the financial assistance of friends who
feel that the Church of today should have the privilege of knowing
these noble characters, but who themselves prefer to remain unnamed.

GEORGE HAWS FELTUS.

_The Manse, Waterford, N. Y._

Contents

I. A SUDDEN PLUNGE INTO WORK 9

II. “THE MAN WITH THE GENTLE HEART” 23

III. THE LITTLE CHISEL ATTACKS THE BIG MOUNTAIN 34

IV. RELATIONS WITH ROYALTY AND OFFICIALS 47

V. LENGTHENING CORDS AND STRENGTHENING STAKES 63

VI. CHOLERA COMES BUT THE DOCTOR CARRIES ON 76

VII. PROVIDENCE CHANGES PERIL INTO PRIVILEGE 101

VIII. SIAM OPENS HER DOORS—MORE WORKERS ENTER 131

IX. FIRST THE DAWN, THEN THE DAYLIGHT 156

X. NEW KING, NEW CUSTOMS, NEW FAVOURS 179

XI. HARRIET PETTIT HOUSE 195

XII. HOME AGAIN, AND “HOME AT LAST” 221

XIII. BOON TUAN BOON ITT 230

Illustrations

FACING
PAGE

Rev. Samuel Reynolds House, M.D. Title

Sketch Map of Siam 34

Harriet Pettit House 196

Rev. Boon Tuan Boon Itt 230

A SUDDEN PLUNGE INTO WORK

Dr. Samuel R. House did not have time nor need to “hang out a
shingle” upon reaching Bangkok. He had been there only a few
days—not long enough to unpack his goods—when “a message came
from some great man by three trusty servants that a servant whom he
loved very much had got angry and had half cut his hand off with a
sword.”

This wound was not accidental but self-inflicted. It was a
perverted result of a Siamese custom. In those days slavery
prevailed in the country. Besides the war-captives who were cast
into slavery, custom made it possible for any of the common people
to be sold into servitude. If a man failed to pay a debt there were
two alternatives before him, to be confined in one of the horrible
jails until he discharged his obligation, or to sell himself or his
wife or children into slavery to remain in that state until the
accumulated value of the services should cancel the debt.

Only too often these debts were the result of gambling, a vice
that was universally prevalent under license of the government. If
the debtor was fortunate enough, he might sell the chosen victim
to some lord who was willing to accept the services in pledge for
a loan with which to pay the actual creditor. Such an arrangement
was not altogether without its advantages, for many an improvident
spendthrift had a comfortable living for himself and family assured
by the better management of his lord. But once in servitude the
victim was likely to be held in peonage indefinitely, because
usury on the loan was liable to mount up faster than the value of
services rendered.

It will readily be imagined that a man so improvident as to permit
himself to fall into slavery would not be the most willing worker,
and many would be the tricks of the lazy man to labour as little
as possible. A rather common scheme to avoid an unpleasant duty
or merely to spite the over-lord was to go to the extreme of
inflicting upon self a wound that would incapacitate from work.
Such was the nature of this first surgical case to which Dr. House
was called.

The readiness with which this great man summoned a strange foreign
doctor will be easily understood when it is known that for twelve
years previous there had been an American physician in Bangkok.
Since 1835 Rev. Daniel B. Bradley, M.D., representing the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A B C F M), had been
practising medicine and he had established a high reputation among
all classes for western medicine and surgery. On account of the
recent death of his wife, Dr. Bradley, with his young children,
had sailed for home only a few weeks before the arrival of the new
missionary.

When Dr. House set out for Siam he knew that Dr. Bradley was
there and, having had no practical experience in his profession
before leaving home, he looked forward to beginning his labours in
association with one who not only was a skilled practitioner but
who also knew the pathological conditions of the Siamese. When,
upon arrival, Dr. House discovered that Dr. Bradley had withdrawn
he felt some alarm at the absence of professional counsel, for
he had a constitutional lack of self-confidence that caused him
to feel a painful burden of responsibility in prescribing for
patients. At the end of the first six months he wrote:

“Whatever seemed once likely to be my fate it is pretty
certain now that there is more danger of my wearing out than
of rusting out in this land. Have been on the run or occupied
with visitors all the day and evening ... and my poor brain
has, like its fellow labourer the heart, been compelled to go
through with a great deal. What sights of human misery I am
compelled to see. And to feel that I have not the power of
skill to alleviate,—the iron enters my soul.”

Whatever may have been the first effect of being compelled to enter
upon his profession alone, it is doubtful whether Dr. House ever
perceived that this constraint was probably one means by which he
gained the confidence of the Siamese within a very short period.
For instead of being regarded either as a competitor or as an
assistant to Dr. Bradley, he was accepted at the outset upon the
reputation which his predecessor had so firmly established. It was
this repute of western medicine which caused the great man to send
so promptly for an unknown physician to treat the self-mutilated
servant.

Quickly it became known among the people of Bangkok that another
physician had arrived. The calls for treatment came in such numbers
and with such importunity that in self-defense it was deemed
wise to open the dispensary which had remained closed since the
departure of Dr. Bradley, although there was only a limited supply
of drugs on hand and the nearest base of supplies was London. The
dispensary, or hospital as it was sometimes called, of which Dr.
House thus suddenly found himself the proprietor and whole staff,
was just one of the innumerable floating houses which lined the
river banks of the Siamese capital. It is said that when this new
capital was being established the common people were not allowed to
build houses on land but permitted to live only in boats. At any
rate, until modern times the larger portion of the population lived
in floating houses.

These houses are simply constructed. A raft of bamboo forms the
foundation, which is moored to the bank or to poles driven into the
mud. Upon that foundation a one-story house of boards, thatched
with palm leaves, is built. The house is, customarily, divided into
three rooms. At either end, extending clear across the floor is
a kitchen and a common bedroom. The space between is occupied by
the common living-room and a porch. The living-room is fully open
along the porch, from which it is separated by the rise of a step.
Closely packed together in irregular rows, sometimes two or three
deep, these houses are ranged along the banks of the river and of
the many canals that form the Venetian highways of the city. The
channel beneath the houses, kept from being stagnant by movement
of the tide, served at once as the sewer and the family bath. Many
of these houses are occupied as stores, with their merchandise
exposed to the full view of the customer who does his shopping in a
boat.

It was such a house as this that served the missionary as a
hospital. But “hospital” is scarcely the proper word to use judged
from the equipment, which consisted of a chair or two, a table for
operations and a few mats for the patients. But the place had one
great advantage—the open side exposed the work of the foreign
doctor to the gaze of the curious natives who stopped while passing
in their boats, and then related to their friends the wonders they
had seen.

Here in this rude native shelter, until he gave up his profession,
Dr. House applied himself with deep devotion and self-abandon to
relieving the physical sufferings of the people. He placed himself
wholly at their service, and made no discrimination between rank
of those he served. Frequently he would not reach the dinner table
till the middle of the afternoon, detained by the importuning
patients; and he even laments that the people would not summon him
in the night time in case of serious need.

SOME TYPICAL CASES

His record of patients, to one who is not familiar with a
physician’s records, gives astonishment at the kind of cases
which seemed to predominate. One class was the ulcers and running
sores—many of them most aggravated. These usually were the
result of long-neglected wounds. He writes of extracting bamboo
splinters great and small that had become imbedded in the flesh and
remained there to produce serious inflammation and infection. In
such cases an ignorance too dense for intelligence to comprehend
was the contributory cause of untold suffering. A second class
of cases frequently appearing was that of fresh wounds resulting
from drunken brawls, street fights, treachery and revenge, or
self-mutilation. Scarcely a week passed but a patient was brought
in with head cut open, face gashed, back lashed, or some other
gaping cut. But most loathsome of all were the diseases which the
doctor characterised as the result of vices—diseases which found
victims among all sorts and conditions of men who “working that
which is unseemly” received “in themselves that recompense of their
errors which was meet.”

A cursory review of one day’s succession of patients will be
suggestive. Here returns a man with a tumor on his ear, having the
previous day been advised to come for an operation:

“With good courage and I believe without a trembling hand, I
sat down to this, my first operation not only in the Kingdom
of Siam, but the first operation I think I ever undertook. It
was a simple one, and oh, I cannot but catch such a glimpse
of my Father’s loving-kindness in thus gently leading his
poor ignorant by such simpler cases into the confidence in
myself necessary to do the more serious cases which will
doubtless fall to my lot.... Believing that without His
blessing the simplest operation would fail and with it the
most doubtful one might prosper, I lifted up my heart a
moment to Him in whose name I had ventured to come among this
people to try to do them good.”

While attending him, a boat came up with two women, one a loathsome
object full of sores and scabs—face, hands and limbs—the scars
of former ulcers. A Chinaman with a scrofulous neck—a lad with
gastric derangement—a boy whose leg was transfixed with a sharp
piece of bamboo—so moves the procession. As he returns late for
dinner he observes:

“This morning was fully occupied till dinner at 2 p. m.,
trying to do the works of mercy—how could I send any
away empty! And oh, how happy I should have been in such
Christ-like works had I but knowledge of the diseases, and
judgment and skill. As it is now, the deciding what is to be
done with each case is an act of the mind positively painful,
because I am constantly fearing that I may not follow the
best possible plan.”

On another day thus reads the entry:

“On going down to the floating house at 9 a. m., found several
new patients. A Chinaman of fifty, with caries of the lower
jaw, skin of cheek adhering, pus has discharged from a large
cavity within the mouth. Another Chinaman with syphilitic
destruction of the bones of the nose—a hole left in the
flattened face where pus was discharging.... He seemed to
be in great torment—eaten of worms literally. Now a mother
brings a naked child of five, having large ulcers and a lump
on the thigh, the sequel of the smallpox had two or three
months ago. A Chinaman brings the child of a friend; poor
lad, the smallpox had destroyed one eye and blinded the
other—so no hope, no remedy.”

BUSY DAYS AND A BURDENED HEART

The hours at the hospital were daily from early morning, frequently
from six or seven o’clock, till noon. During the latter part of
the afternoon he answered calls in various parts of the city.
By these calls he came into the homes of the people and became
better acquainted with them than he could have done under ordinary
circumstances. He gives what he calls a fair specimen of the
missionary physician’s life in Siam when his hands are full:

“When I awaked in the morning found two sets of servants
waiting for me—one from Prince Chao Fah Noi, who had sent
his boat for me to go up to his palace just as soon as I
could finish my breakfast; another from Chao Arim, the King’s
brother, wishing me to come over and see some one in his
palace very sick. My first duty of course was to attend to
little George, whom I found still living, though much the
same. This occupied the time before breakfast. After a hasty
meal, stepped into the sampan sent for me (the servants still
waiting to take me across the river to Chao Arim’s)—having
dismissed the Prince’s servants with a note requesting to
be excused. On the other shore entered gates of the city
wall.... While I was waiting for the Prince to be notified of
my arrival, servants gathered around; examined my clothing,
one wished me to take off my hat to see if my head was
shaved, another admired my watch—the ticking pleased the
children mightily. Some strong ammonia I had pleased them
very much. A young man with a flaming long jacket of red
silk (no shirt or vest above his waist cloth) came out; all
servants squatted on the ground. This young Prince conducted
me up a rude ladder to the bamboo dwelling of the sick man.

“Returning, invited to see the great man himself. The
audience halls of these great men are after all rather
well-adapted to the climate; immense rooms, lofty ceilings,
furniture of matting, etc. Returning to my place, found a
boatman from the Moorish Madras merchant’s awaiting me.
Accompanied the Hindoo, who had been sent for me, in his
open boat with umbrella over my head; the sun, however, very
hot, though this is our cold season. Some distance down the
river landed at the Nackodah’s commercial establishment, and
found myself in the midst of quite a number of intelligent
looking and polite Mahommedan Hindoo merchants and clerks,
with their picturesque costume; the turban of twisted shawl
and robes of thin white muslin, and sandals. Was received
very courteously, conducted to a bamboo house nearby. The
patient, a fine looking man, swarthy, with aquiline nose and
mustache, lay on a mat bed behind a screen.... And now the
voice of Dit, a servant of Chao Fah Noi, was heard; he had
followed on after me, not finding me at home—the Prince
being very desirous of seeing me. So I stepped into the
handsome boat he had sent, and was soon at the palace. Here
received with a smile of welcome.... Wished me to shew him
how to make chlorine gas. Succeeded well. Gave him a piece of
fluorspar and directions for etching glass. Left several jars
of chlorine. His boat in readiness to take me back.... In the
evening a call from Prince Ammaruk, in his priestly yellow
robes, several priests with him.”

All these interesting scenes and varieties of experience, however,
did not lighten the burden of the heart. When a patient suffered
pain and inflammation after an operation, he cries out:

“How can I go forward in a profession where I may inflict
suffering. If it was only injury to property and not to life
and health and senses! Alas, how hard a destiny, how could I
choose this profession!”

On a Saturday night he sighs:

“And so ends another week during which mercies have been ever
changing, ever new. It has been a week of labors for Christ
... and yet, though my poor head is ready to ache with the
task of deciding, judging, prescribing, I find a sweet kind
of weariness that comes from serving Jesus Christ.”

Such a tender heart and sympathetic nature suffered most where
it could help the least. The obstetrical customs of the country
in particular caused the doctor both distress and irritation on
account of the lamentable ignorance displayed and of the needless
sufferings caused.

CHEER FROM GRATEFUL PATIENTS

The experiences of his professional practise were not all
depressing. Operations were successful in spite of his fears,
and when least expected. Most cheering was the gratitude of the
patients, many of whom acknowledged their lives reclaimed from
death by his hands. The marks of appreciation on the part of some
of these were most touching.

“Have been permitted by a gracious providence this week to
have the happiness of saving the life of a fellow-creature,
which the venom of a poisonous snake was appearing fast to
be destroying. Poor fellow, he was thankful enough. The
first symptom of returning consciousness before he regained
his lost power of speech was his attempt to put his feeble
hands together and raise them to his forehead in token of
his gratitude to his doctor. When three days after, sound in
health and limb, he came to see me. ‘Doctor, you are very,
very good,’ was his very emphatic expression of what filled
his heart. And then he grasped my hand—a liberty men of his
condition in life seldom take—in both his and repeated, ‘You
are very, very good.’”

Dr. House had adopted the policy of gratuitous service. His
motive was to exemplify the Christian spirit by rendering these
inestimable benefits without charge. Perhaps at the time he did not
know the philosophy of the Siamese in the matter of good deeds.

The theory of the Buddhist religion is that a good deed gains merit
for the doer. As a sequence, to be the recipient of a favour is
to assist the other person to earn merit; and since the merit is
ample reward for the good deed it is not necessary to make any
personal return for the favour received. When Dr. House later came
to understand this philosophy he perceived why it was that “of ten
healed only one returned to give thanks.” Yet there were not a few
whose natural sense of gladness was not wholly suppressed by their
religious theories. One day, three or four years after he had been
in Siam, he went out along one of the canals into the country to
a limekiln to get some lime for the new house under construction
at the mission. An old woman came out to wait upon him, and to his
surprise she refused to take pay; and explained that some time
previously the doctor had healed her little girl.

The set policy not to accept fees was not so easily understood by
the Chinese to whom he ministered. Frequently, to avoid offense,
the Doctor found it necessary to compromise by accepting gifts
in lieu of money; and then he would be the recipient of generous
presents of fruit, quantities of rice, numerous cakes of sugar and
small chests of fine tea—gifts in such abundance that he had to
share them with his friends to dispose of all.

But not least of the rewards for professional service did he
esteem the acquaintance and friendships among the patients. These
people came from many parts of the country and there were numerous
representatives from other countries. Sailors from European ports
sought him out for medical treatment, Chinese tradesmen and junk
captains, Malays, Burmese, Peguans, Cambodians, Lao, and the
foreign merchants from India. Then, too, Bangkok the capital
of Siam was visited periodically by officials from the distant
provinces, many of whom came for professional advice to the foreign
physician. The contact established with these various peoples,
and especially with the provincial governors, served to excellent
advantage in after years when the doctor made tours into the far
regions. In particular, the under-Governor of Petchaburi who came
for professional advice, invited the doctor to visit his provincial
capital, and in later years when he had been promoted in office and
rank in Bangkok he remained the steadfast friend of Doctor House.

WITH THE PATIENTS

There were bits of humour now and then amidst the procession of
human tragedies.

“While feeling the pulse of the patient and holding my watch
to count its beat, another man sitting by begged me to feel
his, and after I had counted it he gravely asked me ‘in just
how many years after this he would die.’”

Some of the humour was grim humour indeed; for one day he was
hastily summoned only to find that the supposed patient was a
corpse. Humourous from one point of view but quite perturbing for
a physician was the innocent disregard for the directions left with
medicines; indeed the doctor could never tell whether the failure
of a prescription was due to the ineffectiveness of the drugs or
to the failure of the patient to take the medicine as prescribed,
for he found that the patient was liable to take the whole potion
at once or just as liable to have another member of the family take
the remedy vicariously.

Quite frequently, when the callers from a distance came to see
him, they made the parting request for medicine to take home with
them, and thought it altogether needless for the doctor to know
what disease they expected to use it for. Pathetic was the case of
the cholera patient consumed with fever who begged the doctor to
give “medicine to cure the desire for drinking water.” Even more
simple-minded was the old man who came to inquire if he could be
healed if he “wyed” to Jesus,—that is to make the reverential bow
of worship customarily accorded to the image of Buddha. Then there
was the deaf man who came back to report that he had read “the
Christian book of magic” and that it had failed to cure him.

Not the least perplexing of these absurd situations was the
difficulty of securing necessary permission to administer the
medicines even after the doctor had been especially summoned:

“The poor woman who lay on a mattress bolstered up was in
great distress evidently—and I soon found that no time was
to be lost. I shall never forget how piteously she turned
her anxious eyes towards me as she faintly said, ‘Can you
heal me?’ I recommend certain treatment. Nothing could be
done, however, till the matter had been submitted to the
Praklang. So a messenger was despatched, His Excellency again
aroused from his nap;—and what a message brought back: The
application of hot cloths would be permitted, but the more
effective treatment proposed was something new—he did not
know—he could not consent to it. Thinking then of another
mode of treating the case and not dreaming but that this I
might venture to give—but no; this prescription must be
reported to headquarters before it could be administered.
Again a messenger was despatched. The answer came back: we
must wait to see what a hot fomentation would do; if this did
any good then the prescription might be tried.”

“THE MAN WITH THE GENTLE HEART”

“This day thirteen years ago, while a just-arrived student at
Dartmouth College, it pleased my sovereign Maker to manifest His
everlasting love to me by inclining my heart to choose Him as my
portion, and His service as my reward.”

Such is his salutatory in the service of God, as recorded by Samuel
R. House, in his journal under date of Feb. 22, 1848. He had been
in Siam less than a year; long enough however for the novelty of
his situation to abate a little so that he had time to reflect.
Reflecting, he sees how that youthful dedication was—so far as he
was consciously concerned—the beginning of the lines of life that
led him to Siam.

Four years later, on the anniversary of his arrival in Siam,
contemplating the fruitlessness of those years and ready to
incriminate himself for “a culpable ignorance of the language,” he
again writes:

“How different doubtless am I regarded at home by
over-esteeming friends. How false a biography would that
be, some of them would write.... Let no one eulogise such
a character, such a worthless, unworthy life as mine. If a
Christian hope be the joy of my life, by the grace of God I
am what I am; but my waywardness, my inefficiency is all my
own.”

The cause of this despondency was not within himself. It was the
miasma arising from the spiritual decay around him. But as none
liveth unto himself, so none dieth to himself. The example of such
persistent faith belongs to the church; and it has too great a
value for the living to allow the judgment of a passing despondency
to prevail.

At length comes the valedictory. On the occasion of the fiftieth
anniversary of the beginning of permanent work in Siam by the
Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) in 1897, Dr. House wrote to a friend:

“And now in my eightieth year, sole survivor of that little
band, I feel it a privilege indeed to look back and see what
God hath wrought since that day of small beginnings. Verily
the little one has become a thousand—yes thousands. I am
sure you, my friend, will congratulate me on being yet alive
this blessed day of an abundant ingathering from that long
barren mission field. How the loved ones that have entered
into rest would rejoice if they could see how their patience
of hope and labour and love have not been in vain in the
Lord. There are many in heaven to raise the song of jubilee
with them, even there.”

From that early dedication of self to God while in college,
through the years “cast down but not destroyed,” to the golden
jubilee—what a strain of human effort, what a magnificent
persistence of faith, what a glory of hope realized!

HIS CHARACTER

The man who had this notable experience would not have been singled
out, even by those who knew him intimately in early manhood, as the
one most likely to achieve the results which we are to review. The
qualities casually observed by acquaintances were in his case those
which men do not ordinarily associate with success. A study of his
private journal and letters manifests traits which are corroborated
by many who knew him personally. He was a man of deep piety. He
was scrupulous regarding the outward appearance of religion, yet
more so concerning his inner life. He was verily a man of God. His
mental nature had a strong inclination to introspection, which led
to self-depreciation and self-distrust. He recoiled from a new
venture until he became convinced that it was the will of God;
then, though still distrusting his own ability, he laid hold of the
task with a simplicity of faith and a devotion to duty which made
him invincible. It is an example of how the Holy Spirit, when fully
occupying a man’s heart, enlarges and fortifies his native capacity
until the one who is small in his own esteem becomes a giant.

That habit of introspection may have been due in part to the
austere idea of religion which prevailed at the time; at any rate
it gave him a somber demeanor. The solemn side of life seems
mostly before him, although his associates found a playfulness and
jocularity about him that offset his soberness. Only thirty years
of age when he left home, yet from the first his letters to his
father read more like the letters of a father to a son. But deeper
and stronger than either of these traits was his tender sympathy.
It was more than a sympathy of sentiment; it was a sympathy that
caused him to share the sufferings of others. Concerning his
medical work he said: “When I cannot relieve, I suffer.” This
eagerness to relieve pain led him to a forgetfulness of his own
interests which his physique marvellously endured.

Then, too, he had a timidity which at times amounted to phobism
and made it difficult for him to reach a decision and even caused
him to appear fickle in purpose. But fortunately, along with that
weakness he had a courage which nerved him to face any hostility or
danger with a daring which compelled opposition to give way; and
by that quality he carried through many a venture which for a time
seemed doomed to failure. Humble to a point of self-abnegation,
at times he was as lordly as a monarch in the exercise of the
prerogatives of the liberty of the gospel; and beyond a doubt it
was his refusal to imitate oriental truculence before provincial
officials which inspired that class with respect for the rights
of the foreigner. Among the Siamese who still remember him, he is
spoken of as “_the man with the gentle heart_.”

HIS PARENTAGE

Samuel Reynolds House was born in Waterford, New York, Oct. 16,
1817, being the second child of John and Abby Platt House. His
parents both united with the Presbyterian Church of that village
upon profession of faith, in 1810. At that time the Waterford
congregation was in collegiate relation with the congregation of
Lansingburgh, located eastward across the Hudson River, under the
pastorate of Rev. Samuel Blatchford, D.D. In the next year John
House was elected an elder in the collegiate church; and when the
Waterford congregation became a separate organisation, in 1820, Mr.
and Mrs. House became charter members of the new organisation, and
Mr. House was continued as an elder—an office which he held till
his death, April 27, 1862.

The active interest of Mr. House in the spiritual work of the
church is indicated by the fact that he conducted a Sunday school
for coloured children in a room in a carpenter shop, and when the
young church erected a house of worship, in 1826, this Sunday
school was transferred to the gallery of the church. He is also
recorded as having been the superintendent of the regular Sunday
school of the church after it was established. His interest in the
church continued active up to the close of his life. In his later
years, when the congregation was considering the construction of
a new “session house” for the use of the Sunday school and prayer
meeting, John House sought the privilege of erecting the building
at his own expense; and that fine building, erected in 1859,
remains today as a memorial to his love and zeal for the church.

Abby House was one of the original members of the “Female Cent
Society” of the Waterford church, organised in 1817. The object of
this society was to “afford assistance to poor and pious young men
pursuing their studies in the theological seminary at Princeton.”
The quaint name of this society was double with meaning. Each
member was pledged to contribute one cent a week to the fund, which
was then placed in the hands of the moderator of Presbytery to
dispense. Later the society co-operated with the American Education
Society until the General Assembly forbade that organisation to
operate within the denomination in competition with the new Board
of Ministerial Education. The word “female” suggests that the sex
was about that period emerging into the self-consciousness of a
separate work for religion and was not content to keep its labours
hidden behind the mask of the male portion of the families.

If we were to seek for the motives that led young Samuel to
dedicate himself to foreign missions we would not be surprised to
find that the mother had some of the credit. He says that he was
prompted to become a missionary because his mother dedicated him
to God for foreign missions from his infancy. Out of that maternal
inspiration came also the prayer of his youth:

“Make me a good boy
And a blessing to my parents
And a blessing to all the world.”

The ambition thus early implanted was nurtured during the boyhood
years by stories of missions. When in later years he visited the
Hawaiian Islands on his way to Siam he recalls those stories:

“How little did I dream I was ever to see them, when that
dear mother of mine used to tell me such interesting stories
about the missionaries there and show me, out of her
treasures kept in that always-locked drawer of her bureau,
the precious bit she had of native cloth made of the bark of
a tree. And when she took me to the ‘Monthly Concert,’ as she
always did, how much I used to be interested in news from
those far away isles.”

RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS

Closely associated with the motives to enter the mission field
are a man’s religious convictions. Those earlier missionaries were
conspicuous for their lively sense of peril for impenitent souls.
Dr. House had a spiritual sensitiveness which shared this feeling
to the full. Frequent lamentation is to be found in his journal for
the certain perdition of ones with whom he had been acquainted, and
who died without an evidence of accepting the Christian faith. This
was not merely a professional attitude towards the heathen. Upon
news of the death of an old school mate he exclaims:

“Oh, did he die safely! What would I not give to be assured
he did. But oh, I tremble. Procrastination thou art the thief
of time, the murderer of souls. And conscience reproaches me
with having too long postponed the sending to him that letter
on the subject of the claims of personal religion, a draught
of which has for years been lying in my portfolio. It might,
under the blessing of the Holy One, have done him good—at
any rate it was my duty, my privilege to invite him, to urge
him to walk with me towards heaven. I have sinned. I have
been unfaithful.”

When a Siamese lad who had been connected with the mission for a
few months was suddenly carried off by the cholera, the anguish
of the doctor brought him to tears of self-reproach, not because
his skill had failed but because he had not been more insistent in
urging the gospel upon the boy.

At this distance of time one can see that the failure of some of
the Siamese to be persuaded was due to a want of concatenation in
the heathen mind between the physical facts already familiar to
them but not comprehended, and the spiritual truths of this new
religion. Behind the sublime faith of the missionary there was a
rigidity of logic which failed to take these mental difficulties
into account; as for instance when a young priest proposed this
dilemma: “Who was the mother of Jesus? Mary. Who made Mary? God.
Was Jesus Christ God? Yes. But if Jesus Christ was God, how could
He make Mary his mother before He Himself was born?” Turning from
the disputant, the doctor declined to discuss the problem because
he thought the man was caviling.

At one period the doctor entertained a vivid expectation of the
culmination of the Christian dispensation at an early date. He had
enough of the mystical in his religious nature to look for signs.
Thus he writes in view of the conditions of Europe in 1848:

“All Europe, every kingdom has felt the shock of the
political earthquake in France. Kingdoms, principalities and
powers tremble. These are signs that herald the near approach
of the Coming One. The day of the world’s redemption surely
draweth nigh.”

And again two years later he writes to Dr. D. B. McCartee at Ningpo:

“Surely the world must needs wait for but few of the signs,
that are to herald His coming, to be fulfilled. ‘Wars and
rumors of wars,’ earthquake and pestilence and famine, the
‘running to and fro,’ the gospel preached for a witness
in every nation—what signs of the ‘ends drawing nigh’
is left unfulfilled in our day—unless it be that a few
countries (central Africa, New Guinea, etc.) remain still
unevangelised. The last of God’s elect, however, may be
born—nay, the messenger who is to call him, in Providence
may have started on his errand; and who knows but that
privilege is for you or me.”

But that type of speculation has its own antidote, viz., time. As
his years drew out their number, the visions of youth gave way to
the dreams of old men; and in reviewing what had been achieved
and what remained to be accomplished the doctor displaced these
speculations with the simple faith that the Lord would come again
in His own time, but at a time unrevealed to men. It needs to be
remembered that Dr. House had been trained in medicine, not in
theology. Whatever may have been illogical in his tenets, there was
in his heart the profound conviction not only that Jesus Christ was
the only Saviour of the world, but that the Siamese would accept
the Christian religion, if only they could be induced to examine
fairly its claims.

EDUCATION

Samuel received a careful and thorough education. After elementary
work in the private academy of Waterford, at the early age of
twelve he spent a year or more in the “Washington Academy” of
Cambridge, New York, then under the principalship of Rev. Nathaniel
Scudder Prime. In later years he recalled with pleasure some of his
classmates: “We read Cæsar together; John K. Meyers, David Bullions
(Latin grammarian), E. D. G. Prime (editor of the _New York
Observer_), and I recited to Samuel Irenæus.” In 1833 he entered
the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, five miles from home.

In the winter term 1835 he entered Dartmouth College at Hanover,
New Hampshire, but remained only till the close of that academic
year. It was here that occurred the deeper spiritual experience
which he recalls in the words that open this chapter; a conscious
conversion during a revival which swept through the college that
winter. It was following this experience that in the same year he
united with the Waterford church upon profession of faith. Why
he did not continue at Dartmouth does not appear; probably the
difficulty of access would have been a chief factor. However, in
the fall of that year he entered Union College, at Schenectady,
a few miles from his home. His work at Rensselaer and Dartmouth
qualified him to enter the junior class, so that he graduated
in the year 1837. He received the degree A.B. in course and the
honour of Φ.Β.Κ.; and following three years of post-graduate work
in teaching, he received the degree M.A. from his alma mater.
The three years immediately following graduation from Union were
spent in teaching; one year in Virginia, a year as principal of
Weston (Conn.) Academy and a year as principal of the private
school “Erasmus Hall,” in Brooklyn. He now entered upon his medical
course, spending the year 1841-2 in the University of Pennsylvania,
and the next year in the Albany Medical College. With the lapse
of a year not accounted for in the record,—probably teaching
in Virginia, to which he refers in telling of some chemical
experiments—he graduated from the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of New York with the degree M.D. in 1845.

Upon completion of his medical course he offered himself to the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions (Old School), and was
commissioned in 1846. He was assigned to Siam together with his
college-mate, Rev. Stephen Mattoon, of Sandy Hill, New York, (now
Hudson Falls). Placing himself under the care of the Presbytery of
Troy he was licensed to preach.

III

THE LITTLE CHISEL ATTACKS THE BIG MOUNTAIN

Siam was the first nation of the Far East to make a treaty
voluntarily with Europe. Siam was the first Asiatic power with
which the United States entered into diplomatic relations. Siam was
the first Oriental people to adopt Western customs, upon accession
of King Chulalongkorn, in 1868. Siam was the first non-Christian
land to grant religious liberty to its subjects in relation to
Christian missions, in 1870.

Siam was the first field entered by the Presbyterian Board of
Foreign Missions after its organisation. In Siam was organised the
first Protestant church of Chinese Christians. In Siam the first
zenana mission work was undertaken. Siam is the last independent
state in which Buddhism is the established religion.

Yet Siam is little known to Western people. She is neither
belligerent nor turbulent, therefore offers no military spectacle.
She has no foreign ambitions, therefore arouses no diplomatic
concern. Her trade is largely with China, therefore she makes no
impress upon the commercial mind of the west. She lies off the
beaten path of world traffic, therefore tourists seldom visit the
land.

[Illustration:

Sketch of
SIAM
as of 1847 et seq.

SKETCH MAP OF SIAM]

Siam lies in what was formerly known as “Farther India.” Shaped
somewhat like a long mutton-chop, the northern portion is an
irregular-oval, approximately six hundred by five hundred miles
in reach, from which a long narrow leg extends some five hundred
miles southward down the Malay peninsula. Within the fold of these
two portions lies the Gulf of Siam. The main portion of the land
lies between 12° and 20° 40′ north, and is confined on the east by
French possessions and on the west by British Burmah.

Northern Siam occupies almost the entire drainage system of the
Menam River, and a part of the western watershed of the Mekong
River. The central part abounds with swamps, jungles and briny
wastes, intersected by many branch streams and canals. The bulk
of the population live along these watercourses. Bangkok is the
largest city, and is both the commercial and political capital.
Chiengmai is the principal city of the northern province, which was
formerly known as Laos but is now a political part of the kingdom.

The relations of Siam with the nations of the west date back to
the days of the Portuguese adventurers in the early part of the
sixteenth century; relations which were not diplomatic but purely
commercial. About the middle of the seventeenth century the king of
Siam entered into relations with the English, French and Dutch, but
only to the extent of an exchange of royal courtesies, which after
a time became quiescent. Intercourse with the west was renewed by
Siam when, upon her solicitation, a treaty was made with Great
Britain in 1826. Doubtless fear was the motive which prompted King
Phra Chao Pravat Thong, who reigned from 1824 to 1851, to propose
this treaty, for England had just compelled the neighbouring state
of Burmah to open her doors to trade as the result of war.

The volitional act of the Siamese monarch was apparently a shrewd
stroke of diplomacy, for having granted the right of trade
admission and inland travel, the king adopted a policy of ignoring
the few foreigners within his domains and thereby discouraging
his people from having intercourse with them. At the same time he
held a monopoly of Siamese shipping and levied heavy impost and
expost so that what trade there was served to enrich his private
treasury. In 1833, Honourable Edmund Roberts, who had been sent
by President Andrew Jackson to explore the possibilities of trade
with the native states of Farther India and Cochin China, succeeded
in effecting a treaty only with Siam. The privileges granted
under this treaty were not exercised to any great extent and were
almost allowed to lapse because no consular representative was
appointed. The early American missionaries relied chiefly upon the
privileges kept alive by the “factories,” as the foreign trading
establishments in Bangkok were called.

EARLY MISSIONS

When one of the early missionaries explained to a nobleman that
their purpose in coming to Siam was to supplant the native religion
by Christianity, the nobleman replied: “Do you then with your
little chisel expect to remove this big mountain?”—referring to
Buddhism. How this mountain began to crumble during Dr. House’s
twenty-nine years of service will be best understood by giving a
sketch of the work previous to his arrival.

The early treaty with Great Britain gave first entrance for
Protestant missions. In 1828 Karl Gutzlaff, M.D., of the
Netherlands Missionary Society, and Rev. Jacob Tomlin, of the
London Missionary Society, went up to Bangkok to spy out the
land. Before that date the Siamese had been the distant object
of interest on the part of Ann Judson, of Burmah, who, as early
as 1819, having met some Siamese at Rangoon, became interested
enough to prepare in their language a catechism and the Gospel of
Matthew—the first Christian books in the Siamese language. While
Gutzlaff and Tomlin found the doors of Siam open and discovered
that there was a considerable Chinese population there, they
were not encouraged by their supporters to effect a permanent
occupation. For this reason they issued an appeal to the American
Church then newly awakened to missionary zeal, sending one copy of
the appeal to the American Baptist mission in Burmah and another
to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in the
United States. This message was taken to America in 1829 by Capt.
Coffin, of the American trading vessel which at the same time
brought the famous Siamese Twins.

The A. B. C. F. M. was the first to respond. In 1831 they directed
one of their men located at a Chinese treaty port, Rev. David
Abeel, M.D., to proceed to Siam and make a survey. At Singapore
he was joined by Mr. Tomlin, who had returned thither for
recuperation, and the two reached Bangkok just a few days after Dr.
Gutzlaff, disheartened by the death of his young wife, had sailed
away to China. Mr. Tomlin this time remained only some six months,
but Dr. Abeel continued until November, 1832, when he was forced
to leave on account of health. His survey of the field resulted
in a report to the A. B. C. F. M. which induced them to attempt a
permanent work. In the meantime, in 1833, the Baptist mission in
Burmah responded to the appeal by sending two of their number, Rev.
J. T. Jones and wife, to establish a mission. Two years later Rev.
Wm. Dean was sent out from America by the Baptists as a co-labourer
of Mr. Jones but to devote himself particularly to the Chinese.

In pursuance of Dr. Abeel’s report the A. B. C. F. M. sent out two
men, Rev. Stephen Johnson and Rev. Charles Robinson, who reached
Bangkok July, 1834, and these were joined the next year by David
Bradley, M.D., and wife. Both the Baptists and the A. B. C. F. M.
at this time regarded their work in Siam largely as a point of
vantage for China proper on account of the large number of Chinese
here accessible. The work among the Chinese was so fruitful that in
two years’ time Mr. Dean was able to organise a church among them,
the first church of Protestant Chinese Christians ever gathered in
the Far East.

Siam was the first field to be taken up as a new enterprise by the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions after its establishment by
the General Assembly. Until 1831 the Presbyterians in America had
functioned chiefly through the A. B. C. F. M. in their foreign
work. In that year a few presbyteries west of the Alleghanies
organised the Western Foreign Missionary Society, to conduct their
own foreign work. Beginning with missions to the Indians (then
regarded as “foreign”) they established work in India and Africa in
1833. The direction of its own foreign work by the church was one
of the points involved in the division of the Presbyterian Church
into the New School and the Old School in 1838. The Old School took
over the Western Foreign Mission Society in that year as a nucleus
for a new Board of Foreign Missions which their General Assembly
established; and that Board has been in continuous operation ever
since. In its first year the new Board directed Rev. R. W. Orr
to proceed to Bangkok and report on the eligibility of Siam as
a field for operation. Mr. Orr reported, recommending not only
work among the Chinese but also advocating work for the natives.
Accordingly the Presbyterian Board sent out Rev. Wm. Buell and
wife, who reached Bangkok in August, 1840, the first missionaries
to be sent out by the new organisation. These two remained for some
three years, when on account of ill health of Mrs. Buell they were
obliged to withdraw; and thereupon the mission was suspended for a
time.

When, as a result of the opium war, the doors of China were
opened, in 1846, both the A. B. C. F. M. and the Baptist society
transferred their Chinese workers from Siam to China. The
difficulty of getting response from the Siamese had caused their
workers to devote their energies largely to the Chinese; and now
when this Chinese work was terminated their missions in Siam
were greatly weakened both in numbers and in effectiveness. The
A. B. C. F. M. retained its Siamese workers until 1849, when it
transferred its enterprise to the American Missionary Association,
an organisation distinctly of the Congregational Church; but
this Association abandoned the field in 1874. In 1868 the Baptist
Society gave up all except its work for the Chinese in Bangkok,
leaving the Siamese wholly to the Presbyterian Mission. Thus Siam
was freed from sectarian rivalry long before modern “comity” was
brought into practise.

It was at the juncture of withdrawing the major portion of the
force to China and leaving the Siamese missions undermanned that
the Presbyterian Church undertook to establish anew its mission
in Siam, having the native population as the primary objective.
To that end it sent out Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon who, together
with Mrs. Mattoon, may rightly be regarded as the founders of the
permanent work of the Presbyterian Church in Siam.

THE VOYAGE

In those days of foreign travel it was necessary to await a vessel
that might by chance be sailing in the direction of the desired
destination. Fortunately the ship _Grafton_, Captain Abbott, was
found to be loading for a direct voyage to China, and passage was
obtained for a party of missionaries en route for the Orient,
including the trio for Siam. On July 27, 1846, the _Grafton_ sailed
from New York.

A journey to the Far East then was a matter of time and tedious
delays, as well as of adventure. The course of the _Grafton_ lay
southward through the Atlantic, now near the coast of Africa, now
near the coast of South America, with glimpses of Liberia and
of Brazil; around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian
Ocean, among the East Indies and thence northward to China. The
indirectness of the voyage by which Dr. House reached Siam is
shown by this fact: one hundred days after leaving New York, the
_Grafton_ put in for water at Ampanan on the island of Lombok, one
of the smaller of the East India chain. This port was within four
weeks’ direct sail of the Siamese capital; whereas the _Grafton_
was headed for the port of Canton, to reach which required fifty
days more; thence by another vessel it was necessary to retrace the
course to Singapore and transfer for Bangkok.

Could the missionary have taken passage direct from Ampanan to
Bangkok he would have reached his destination in about two-thirds
the actual time consumed. But even the most direct course to China
could not then be taken because the season had arrived for the
northeast monsoons on the China Sea, which are a peril to sailors.
The _Grafton_ was compelled to pass to the eastward among the Isles
of Spice, past Pelew Island, out into the Pacific, east of the
Philippines, within sight of Formosa and thence westward to Canton.
The doctor writes home to the children of the Sunday school that
“It was a dream of childhood come true to sail among these fabulous
islands.” On the 28th day of December, one hundred and sixty days
from New York, the _Grafton_ arrived at Macao, the Portuguese port
for Canton, which during the stormy days of early foreign relations
with China was a place of safe entry, transfer and retreat for
merchants and missionaries alike.

No vessel was to be found bound towards Siam, so the missionaries
had to wait. The American merchants Olyphant & Co., of Canton, with
hospitality “as generous as it was elegant,” took the doctor into
their home for the sojourn during the delay. Dr. House visited the
mission school of Dr. Happer, located at the port, and also went
up to Canton to visit the hospital conducted by Dr. Parker, who
had been a lecturer in the University of Pennsylvania when he was
a student there. On Feb. 7, the party for Siam took passage on the
_John Bagshaw_, Captain Dare. After a call at Hong Kong they had
a quiet passage southward through the China Sea, and on the 23rd
reached Singapore, the maritime capital of the South China Sea.

Here they were fortunate in finding in the harbour the native-built
trading vessel _Lion_, Captain Dupont, owned by the King of Siam.
Although the ship was modeled after western vessels, it was of the
rudest native workmanship, without conveniences for occidental
travellers; and even the orientals who took passage had only deck
space allotted to them. For these three Westerners one small cabin
was made available and had to serve them day and night for the
twenty-four day voyage, a sail cloth being suspended in the middle
as a concession to foreign ideas of privacy. Provisions had to be
secured at Singapore and the Chinese cook of the vessel paid to
prepare them.

The passage from the South China Sea into the Gulf of Siam proved
to be the climax of the whole trip. A violent and prolonged storm
was encountered which not only added greatly to the misery of the
ship’s company but imperiled their lives:

“For nearly three days,” writes Dr. House, “we have not
had one cheering glimpse of the sun. Squall after squall
of rain has burst in its fury upon us; indeed it has been
almost one incessant rain, and the wind all the time from the
most unfavourable quarter has at last increased to a gale,
driving the ship from her course towards we know not what
islands and rocks.... The waves are rolling wildly, scowling
rain clouds begird the horizon and shut out the sky above
us and the view before us. It is now three days since the
captain has been able to get an observation, and the dead
reckoning is in these seas little to be depended upon, owing
to the strong currents. Our situation is no more safe than
it is agreeable.... Every wave rolls us also to and fro, so
that if one sits or stands he is obliged to be continually
bracing himself, now this way, now that, to keep the center
of gravity; and every now and then is pitched by some sudden
lurch against the nearest object so that sides and arms and
elbows fairly ache with the bruises.... And all this time
there is in your ears the creaking of the rudder chains and
the dismal splashing of the great waves as they surge up
under the stern windows. But a greater annoyance yet remains
to be spoken of. The deck over us (the roof of our cabin)
leaks in a hundred different places upon us, not in drops but
in streams. In my compartment there is but one dry place, and
that is the mattress; and even that is not wholly dry, for
now and then it drops down upon the pillow. The floor is as
wet as if being mopped; wet trunks, wet books, wet baskets
lie around. The chairs are too wet to sit upon, and so the
bed is the only place for rest.”

WELCOMED BY OTHER MISSIONARIES

Fortunately the voyage of twenty-four days was not all like this,
and after the storm had abated there was much to make the days
interesting. At length came the first sight of Siam:

“Friday, March 19. The first sight of Siam. Thy people, O
Siam, shall be my people; _but_ my God shall be their God.
Here would I die and here would I be buried.... Henceforth
I would live for Thee, my God. Thou art a kind Master; and
oh, Thou hast bought me, every power and faculty; Thou hast
bought me by Thy precious blood. Let me henceforth shrink
from nothing—but sin and remissness in Thy blessed service.
With the beginning of my missionary life I give myself anew,
tremblingly but trustingly to do Thy will O God, my Creator,
Guide and Redeemer.”

The following day, Saturday, March 20, 1847, Dr. House landed in
Bangkok. The arrival of the new missionary party met with a most
cordial welcome by the small group of fellow Americans already
engaged in the work. At that time Siam was occupied by two American
missions, besides French Catholic missions. The American Board
was then represented by Rev. Jesse Caswell and Rev. Asa Hemmenway
with their wives; while the Baptist Board was represented by the
following men and their wives: Revs. J. T. Jones, Josiah Goddard,
and E. N. Jenks, and Mr. J. H. Chandler, a lay missionary.

“Early on the morning of the 20th of March, just eight months
to a day from the time of our leaving New York, we found
ourselves at the bar which obstructs the entrance of the
great river of Siam.... I was despatched with the captain in
a swift, but alas open, boat that I might, if the ship was
unable to get over the bar, make arrangements with friends to
send down for Mr. and Mrs. Mattoon. After a rather broiling
row of some twenty miles along a river far more beautiful
than I had been led to suppose, arrived at the outskirts
of this truly great city about sundown. We had still some
three miles or more before we reached the residence of the
missionaries of the A. B. C. F. M., and it was then dark. Was
most kindly welcomed by Mr. Caswell and Mr. Hemmenway, the
only missionaries of that Board now left; and glad indeed
they appeared to see me.”

On Monday the ship came up to the city and by that time plans had
been made to house the newly arrived missionaries in two of the
vacant houses in the mission compound where they had been welcomed.

The relations between the three sets of missionaries were most
cordial. So far as economy of effort made it wise they co-operated
in their undertakings. It was the dispensary of the A. B. C. F. M.
that Dr. House re-opened. The tracts used by the three missions
were printed by the press of the Baptist mission. Members of each
of the missions took turns at the tract house maintained in the
bazaar. Although the Presbyterians had previously been engaged in
work in Bangkok they held no property there; and for the present
it was neither advisable nor possible for the newcomers to obtain
a location for themselves. It was arranged that they should live
in the A. B. C. F. M. compound until there was time to obtain a
desirable site.

The compound contained several houses built after the native
style; set high upon posts, with an open space beneath, a verandah
on all sides, no windows but openings for air. In one of these
houses Dr. House lived for the first two years, having a servant
to take care of the house but taking his meals with the Mattoon
family. This arrangement entered upon temporarily continued by
force of circumstances for three years until the return of Rev.
D. B. Bradley, M.D., with another physician, when a readjustment
of housing was necessary. Thereupon Dr. House moved to one of
the “floating houses” moored in front of the compound, and this
continued to be his abode for more than a year until a permanent
site was secured for the mission.

The members of the three missions held a common service of worship
each Sunday morning and afternoon. At the morning service the
sermon was in Chinese or Siamese, while the afternoon service was
wholly in English. It is interesting to learn that an “original”
sermon was unusual, the preacher of the day commonly reading a
published sermon of some well-known divine. On Wednesdays there was
an informal conference for all workers and servants. On Saturday
evenings there was a prayer meeting for the missionaries only.
Later a “monthly concert of prayer for missions” was established.
When the number of Chinese increased a separate service was held
for them, and likewise a Sunday school for the Siamese pupils of
the day school.

Occasionally there would be in attendance on worship some officers
from any English vessel in port and then in turn one of the
missionaries would visit the vessel and conduct a preaching service
for the crew. After the treaty of Great Britain, in 1855, the
number of English families increased very rapidly, and while at
first many of these attended the services at the mission, their
number soon warranted the erection of a chapel for their own use.

RELATIONS WITH ROYALTY AND OFFICIALS

Soon after their arrival Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon were taken
by their fellow missionaries to call upon two princes who had
manifested a friendly interest in the westerners. The acquaintance
thus formed proved to be of large influence both to the mission and
to the Siamese nation. One of these princes was entitled Chao Fah
Yai, which signifies “The older brother of the king,” while his
brother was entitled Chao Fah Noi, meaning “The younger brother
of the king.” As Chao Fah Yai later became King of Siam and his
brother the Vice-King at the same time and as this new king played
a momentous part in the opening of Siam to intercourse with the
western nations as well as showed much favour to the mission work,
it is essential to give a sketch of that important personage.

When, in 1824, the throne was made vacant by the death of the royal
father of these two men, the older son had expected to succeed to
the throne. Apparently this had been the father’s intention, for
he had given this son the name “Mongkut,” meaning “crown prince.”
Through intrigue, however, the crown went to a half-brother who,
under the title Phra Chao Pravat Thong, was the reigning king
when Dr. House reached Siam. Chao Fah Yai, having been thwarted
in his aspirations towards the throne, entered the priesthood and
retired to a watt, doubtless as the safest way to avoid the royal
displeasure towards a rival,—a course which the custom of the
country made possible for him.

The princely rank of this priest made him the leader of the
Buddhist religion in Siam; and his great wealth enabled him to make
his watt one of the most notable and influential in the country.
He was a man of enlightened mind beyond his generation. In marked
contrast to the king, he was interested in foreign affairs and
amicably disposed towards the few foreigners living in Bangkok,
especially towards the missionaries, because of their education and
culture.

Having already learned Latin from the French priests, in 1845
(then about forty years of age), he invited Rev. Jesse Caswell, a
missionary of the American Board, to become his tutor in English.
To secure the services of Mr. Caswell he offered in return a reward
which he perceived would be more prized than any fee of gold he
could propose. He offered Mr. Caswell the privilege of using a room
in one of the buildings connected with the watt for preaching the
Christian religion and distributing tracts, and granted permission
to the priests of the watt to attend if they wished. Mr. Caswell
accepted the invitation and continued for three years, until his
death, to teach English to the chief Priest of Buddhism in his own
temple, and to preach Christianity to all who cared to listen. The
esteem of the Prince for his tutor is evidenced by the fact that in
1855, when Dr. House was returning to America on furlough, he made
the doctor the bearer of a gift of one thousand dollars to Mr.
Caswell’s widow in token of appreciation of her husband’s services,
and again in 1866, by the same agent, he sent a gift of five
hundred dollars. He also caused a monument to be erected, in memory
of his tutor, at the grave of Mr. Caswell.

The more one contemplates the terms made by Chao Fah Yai with
Mr. Caswell the more astonishing it appears. Here is the
most influential priest in all Siam, the recognised head of
the Buddhistic cult in Indo-China, inviting into his watt an
uncompromising teacher of the Christian religion notwithstanding
the known antipathy of the king to the westerners and their
religion, and in return for instruction in the English language he
grants him freedom to teach the moral and religious doctrines of
Christianity within the precincts of consecrated ground and permits
novitiates and priests under his authority to listen to that
doctrine.

This broadmindedness of Chao Fah Yai is further shown by an
incident which he related to one of the Protestant missionaries.
Sometime previous to the engagement of Mr. Caswell a young priest
of the watt became a Roman Catholic. The prince was urged to
flog the young man for abandoning the religion of his country.
To this suggestion the prince said he replied: “The individual
has committed no crime; it is proper for every one to be left
at liberty to choose his own religion.” On a later occasion the
Governor of Petchaburi, having forbidden the distribution of books
by the Roman Catholic priests in his province because he said
they sought to shield their converts from the authorities when
accused of crime, conferred with Chao Fah Yai as to whether he
should place the same ban on the books of the Protestants; but the
Priest-Prince was able to explain to him the difference of policy
between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants and to dissuade him
from forbidding the distribution of Protestant literature.

From his intercourse with Mr. Caswell, Chao Fah Yai was quickened
with an interest in Western learning, especially the sciences.
By his association with these missionaries and the discussion of
the evidences of Christianity he came to recognise that his own
religion had accumulated a mass of unauthenticated teachings, the
accretion of centuries of priestly fancy; and he perceived that
this accretion must be sloughed off if his religion was to meet
the pressure of foreign civilisation, which he foresaw could not
be forever excluded. Accordingly he became the leader of a new
party in Buddhism which rejected the uncanonical writings which
had accrued to the extent of some eighty-four thousand volumes and
held only to the authentic teachings of Buddha. As the leader of
this new sect the Prince-Priest was doubtless responsible for the
reinvigoration of the religion of Siam, enabling it better to meet
the contest of time.

The interest of Chao Fah Yai in the American missionaries was
more on account of their intellectual culture than on account of
their religion. On one occasion in conversation with Dr. House
he frankly said that while he did not believe in Christianity he
thought much of Western science, especially astronomy, geography
and mathematics. His interest in these subjects was very keen
and practical. From the study of navigation he was led into the
subject of astronomy, and took interest in the calculation of
time, and was especially proud that his own calculation of an
eclipse of the moon was almost identical with the Western almanac.
His conversation showed considerable intelligence of the late
developments in science. He was also a student of languages, and
had a knowledge of several languages of eastern India, such as
Singhalese and Peguan; he was familiar with Sanscrit, which had
been a contributor to the Siamese language, and had studied Latin
because he said he had been told that it was like the Sanscrit;
besides these he was an expert student of the Pali, the sacred
writing of Buddhism. The prince was also the first native prince of
Farther India to procure a printing press, which he obtained from
London, with fonts of English and Siamese type, and an alphabet of
Pali of his own devising.

Apparently Chao Fah Yai approached the subject of Christianity as
a vigourous mind approaches any ponderous subject that presents
itself; he considered it philosophically. Every religion studied
philosophically presents insuperable difficulties; a religion
may be rightly judged only by its practical adaptation to life
and its effects on the human heart. Had he attempted to study
Christianity in a practical manner as he did the science of the
West his conclusions would doubtless have been different. One
evening the prince called at the home of Mr. Caswell just as
the weekly prayer meeting was assembling and, upon invitation,
remained to the meeting. His questions afterwards showed that he
had given attention, for he inquired the meaning of such words as
“redemption” and “Providence,” which he had heard used.

While it is a fact that on several occasions the prince
emphatically disclaimed belief in the Christian doctrines,
nevertheless the arguments of the missionaries were not without
effect upon his mind, for he felt himself called upon to do an
entirely new thing—to publish an apologetic for Buddhism in the
points where the Christian arguments were most aggressive. In
another manner also he gave evidence that the Christian arguments
were pressing upon his conscience. The Baptist mission for some
years had printed an annual almanac filled with Christian truth
and containing, besides other items of civil information, a list
of officials of the government and of the watts. In 1848, for the
first time, Chao Fah Yai took exception to the religious character
of the almanac in which his name appeared as head priest of his
watt. He wrote to the editor of the almanac, expressing a “wish to
have added to the description of myself in the English almanac ‘and
hates the Bible most of all’; we will not embrace Christianity,
because we think it a foolish religion. Though you should baptise
all in Siam I will never be baptised.... You think that we are near
the Christian religion; you will find my disciples will abuse your
God and Jesus.”

Concerning his attitude to Christianity a comment from Mrs.
Leonowens’ book, _An English Governess at the Siamese Court_, casts
a little light:

“He had been a familiar visitor at the houses of American
missionaries, two of whom Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon, were
throughout his reign and life gratefully revered by him for
that pleasant and profitable conversation which helped to
unlock for him the secrets of European vigor and advancement,
and to make straight and easy the paths of knowledge he had
started upon. Not even his Siamese nature could prevent him
from accepting cordially the happy influence these good and
true men inspired. And doubtless he would have gone more than
half way to meet them, but for the dazzle of the throne in
the distance which arrested him midway between Christianity
and Buddhism.”

This was the Priest-Prince upon whom the newcomers made their first
call of respect. The acquaintance formed at this time ripened into
a friendship that continued warm and true to the end. Dr. House, in
his journal, carefully records the details of the call:

“His Royal Highness was somewhat unwell, but he would come
down. A servant was sent to ask if we would not take some
refreshments. Soon a plate of stone-fruit was presented,
resembling in flavour our peach; also a plate of Chinese
cakes, white and thin, with a bowl of dark Chinese jelly and
sugar. Knife, three-pronged fork and teaspoon were brought
and we made an excellent tiffin.

“I looked around the room; Bible from A. B. Society, and
Webster dictionary stood side by side on a shelf of his
secretary, also a Nautical Tables and Navigation. On the
table a diagram of the forthcoming eclipse in pencil with
calculations, and a copy of the printed chart of Mr.
Chandler....

“This man, if his life is spared, is destined to exert an
all-powerful influence upon the destinies of this people. He
must possess a vigour of mind and much energy of purpose thus
to commence the study of a new language at the age of forty.
Indeed he seems Cato-like in other things....

“Soon the Prince-Priest appeared with two or three following,
dressed in yellow silk robes worn as a Roman toga. His
manners were rather awkward at introduction, and his
appearance not prepossessing at first, though we became more
interested in him as we saw him more. He seated himself on a
chair by the center table, and asked our names and ages and
whether married. Wished to know if I could cure sick as Dr.
Bradley did. Whether I could cure the dropsy, for there was
a case in the watt. He understands English when he reads it,
but cannot speak it well yet.

“We asked to see his printing room; several young priests and
servants on bamboo settees folding books. One composing type,
one correcting proof. They gave us a copy of a book published
in the Prince’s new Pali alphabet—it was the Buddhist ten
commandments and comments on them. Mr. Caswell had previously
told him of the present of a keg of printing ink we had for
him from our friend G. W. Eddy, of Waterford. He asked who it
was from, and if ‘they had heard of him in America’; and was
evidently well pleased to find that he was known. Upon taking
leave, he promised to call in return upon his guests in a few
days.”

This call of the new missionaries was returned by the priest,
and on several occasions afterwards he visited the Doctor in his
house. Occasionally he would send notes by his servants requesting
various favours, medical attendance upon inmates of the watt, loan
of books. On a second visit, when Dr. House went to engage the
services of a young priest as instructor in Siamese, the prince
proposed that the Doctor should come over to the watt and make use
of the room which Mr. Caswell occupied for his class in English,
and “there distribute medicines and teach the young men of the
watt how to be doctors.” Among the papers of Dr. House was found
an autograph letter in English written by Chao Fah Yai about this
time inviting him and the other missionaries to attend a cremation
ceremony at watt Thong Bangkoknoi; and offering him the privilege
of distributing religious books among the head priests assembled
there from several watts and to preach to them on the new religion.
On other visits he inquired about the new instrument that “would
send intelligence quickly” (the telegraph), asked why American
vessels so seldom came to Bangkok, and discussed the difference
between the Latin and English Bibles.

In proper sequence of courtesy the new missionaries were taken to
call upon the other prince, Chao Fah Noi. For some reason this
prince had withdrawn from his former intercourse with foreigners,
but he very courteously received the callers and was manifestly
pleased with the attention. He, too, was interested in Western
learning and especially inclined towards the physical sciences. On
the palace grounds he had several shops, one for a forge, one for
iron lathes, one for wood-working. Power for all this machinery
was developed by slave-muscle. In one room was a working model of
a steam engine, two and a half feet long, made entirely by the
prince’s own hands. Being somewhat unwell he consulted Dr. House,
but explained that he was under the King’s physician and to refuse
to take his medicine would be an act of disrespect to His Majesty,
and for that reason would not ask Dr. House to prescribe for him.

The acquaintance thus formed was used, at first, by the prince more
as a means of securing personal instruction on physical sciences.
Frequently servants were sent to Dr. House to borrow books or to
ask for advice on chemistry, electricity, photography, lithography
and kindred subjects; and on various occasions the doctor was
summoned to the prince’s palace only to find that his assistance
or instruction was desired in some experiment. In after years,
however, when Chao Fah Noi had become Vice-King upon the accession
of Mongkut, his intercourse with Dr. House rested more upon the
basis of friendship.

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

The acquaintance thus conventionally begun was quickened in mutual
interest in an unexpected manner. When Dr. House reached Siam
he found that the Baptist Mission press had for some time been
publishing an annual almanac. He perceived that these almanacs
were not only accepted by the ordinary people as they would accept
Scripture tracts, but that they were eagerly sought after by a
small number of nobles who were interested in Western science.
These men were surprised to find that the eclipse for 1847 was
much more accurately forecasted in this almanac than by their
own astrologers, and they were eager to discuss the subject of
astronomy.

This observation together with his own interest in science led him,
in September of his first year, to institute a series of lectures
for the benefit of the servants and employes of the mission
compound “in hopes of waking up their dormant minds and accustom
them to think, and so be a little benefitted by the preaching on
the Sabbaths; as well as to impart useful information and to set
before them the great proof of the existence and wisdom of the
Creator, a fundamental truth all Buddhists deny.” The doctor was to
furnish the outlines and perform the experiments while Mr. Caswell,
experienced in the language, was to do the talking. There was a
fair equipment at hand: chemicals, a magnetic machine, a globe, a
set of physiological and hygienic charts and a skeleton.

The first lecture was on the digestion of food and the effects
of alcohol on the stomach. The audience showed their attention
and interest by responding with questions. After the lectures on
physiology came several on astronomical topics such as the eclipse
of the moon, phases of the moon and relation to the tides; then
followed several on the gases. On the occasion of the first lecture
on the gases, it so happened that Godata, a priest from Chao Fah
Yai’s watt, happened to call on Mr. Caswell and was invited to
witness the experiment. The demonstration opened a new world for
him. What he saw was too wonderful to keep to himself; he spread
abroad his report and the effect was immediate.

The first to respond was Prince Ammaruk, the favourite son of the
king, who requested the privilege of watching the doctor create the
wonderful “winds.” On the day appointed for the special experiment,
Chao Fah Yai sent a request for Dr. House to accompany him that
evening to call upon a brother prince who was quite ill. In reply
the doctor explained his engagement for the evening, but offered
to make the call after the demonstration, and suggested that
the Priest-Prince might himself like to witness the experiment.
To the doctor’s surprise, the Priest-Prince came early in the
afternoon to take the doctor to see the patient, so that they might
have the whole evening free for the experiments. At the palace,
Chao Fah Yai explained the evening’s entertainment to the royal
physician (a brother of the king) who promptly invited himself. By
arrangement with Prince Ammaruk several others were to come, so
that at the appointed time the small house was filled with nobles
and princes, and the verandah with their servants. Fortunately the
experiments went off successfully; oxygen was generated and iron
was burned in the oxygen; hydrogen was generated from water and
exploded in combination with oxygen. Chao Fah Yai was particularly
enthusiastic, and called in from the verandah some of his men to
see the wonders, and himself volunteered to explain the facts to
them.

The series of lectures awakened widespread interest among the
progressive nobles. Dr. House became a notable in their esteem.
Nearly all of the group who were present on that evening were
amateur scientists; they had the air pump, the electric machine
and other physical apparatus, but of chemistry they had no idea.
Shortly after this Chao Fah Noi, who had been keeping aloof
from foreigners, sent a request for Dr. House to spend the
evening at his palace and instruct him in the making of gases.
How long the series of lectures continued is not apparent; the
journal continues reference to them while they are novel, but
they apparently continued throughout that winter. Other subjects
named were “The Weight of the Atmosphere,” “The Barometer,”
“Heat,” “The Oxyhydrogen Blow Pipe,” “Carbon and Carbonic Gas,”
“Electro-magnetic Telegraph,” and “Electricity.” The original
purpose of instruction for the servants was outgrown, and week
after week one or more of the nobles who were dabbling in science
were present with their ubiquitous train of servants. From this
time on the journal indicates that the doctor’s instruction in the
Bible classes took the form of “Evidences of Natural and Revealed
Religion.”

The popular interest, however, was directed towards a particular
subject, the skeleton. Very quickly news of this strange
possession spread abroad, and every few days in season and out
of season visitors would call and, scarcely able to restrain
their inquisitiveness during the preliminary courtesies, hasten
to request a sight of the skeleton. Even some of the ladies
became interested in this curiosity; and one day a woman of rank,
with half a dozen attendants and a train of servants, came with
a request to see the skeleton. Long after local curiosity had
subsided, chance callers from distant provinces would come to see
this object of nation wide gossip.

Very remarkable, the skeleton itself did not seem to make so
profound an impression upon these minds as the “argument from
design” which their instructor deduced from the human anatomy to
prove the existence of a Creator. Female curiosity also called for
demonstrations with the electrical machine. During the reign of the
old king some of the ladies of the palace had a prince arrange for
Dr. House to bring to the prince’s palace the machine which could
make “fi fah” (fire from the sky), that they might see the marvel.
The doctor, of course, was not permitted to enter the presence of
the king’s women, so he had to instruct the prince in the method of
operation.

BOND OF INTEREST

An unexpected result of these lectures was that a bond of mutual
interest was established between Dr. House and this group of
progressive nobles, the very party which in a few years dominated
the new government of Siam. It would be interesting for one who
knew the official entourage of King Mongkut to note how many of his
supporters were included in this number who made Dr. House their
friend because of his interest in science. Since Siamese noblemen
were known by titles rather than by family names and since these
titles change through elevation to higher rank only one acquainted
with a person at a particular rank could identify these men with
accuracy.

However the following are frequently mentioned in Dr. House’s
journal as showing a friendly attitude to him, and most of them
interested in Western science. In the régime which began in 1851
his friends were: the king, the vice-king, the prime minister, the
commander-in-chief, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister
of home affairs, the treasurer of the kingdom. In the régime of
Chulalongkorn, which began 1868, his special friends were: The
second king, the regent, the minister of foreign affairs, the
master of the mint, the commander-in-chief, and the court chaplain.
Besides these were several princes and nobles who did not occupy
particular offices. Several of these men had primitive laboratories
or workshops for experiments.

The series of lectures started such a revival of interest in
scientific matters among them that Dr. House soon found himself the
frequent host of several princes and nobles, seeking instruction
in all sorts of subjects; and he was on various occasions invited
to their shops to inspect their work or elucidate some obscure
difficulty, as though he were a peripatetic professor. He was even
seriously troubled by the borrowing of books and instruments which
they were not all punctilious to return. Moreover, he found himself
an agent of some of these men, ordering machinery and supplies and
tools from America for their use.

Chao Fah Noi said to him confidentially that any one who wanted
to do something new in those days must do it in secret, for if
the king learned of their activities he would call upon them to
work for him so as to keep them from pursuing investigations. This
prince, however, was not altogether secret in his experiments, for
under date of July 4, 1848, Dr. House writes:

“This a. m., we saw something new on the river—a little model
steamboat, not twenty feet long, with smoke-pipe, paddle
wheel, all complete, steaming bravely against the tide, with
H. R. H. Chao Fah Noi sitting at the helm. It was the first
native steamer on the Meinam, entirely his own construction.”

But not for one moment did Dr. House lose sight of his prime
objective. The favour of princes was no reward in itself; he was
always concerned for the influence he might exercise through his
contact with men of power:

“How taken with the new science is the Prince (Chao Fah Noi).
Oh, that acquaintance and opportunity given me with him may
be improved to win and turn him from his trust in false gods
and rites! He has a good mind.”

Not a lecture, scarcely a conversation, on science but Dr. House
sought to point out the unanswerable argument from “design in
nature” as a proof of a Creator and of the truth of Christianity.
To some, the revelations of nature through science became also the
revelations of a Divinity.

“Brother Chandler spoke of a person (Godata) who after
attending the chemical lectures last year, seeing evidence of
wisdom and goodness in the composition of air and water, said
‘There must be a God—there must be.’”

This same Godata it was who became chaplain to the army under King
Chulalongkorn.

A study of Dr. House’s journal seems to justify the assertion that
his most far-reaching influence upon the mission work was through
his relations with these progressive members of the nobility. It is
even within a margin of safety to affirm that his influence was not
exceeded by that of any other man up to the time of his retirement.
This opinion does not underestimate such men as Rev. Jesse Caswell,
Rev. Daniel B. Bradley, M.D., and Rev. Stephen Mattoon, whose
labours also were pivotal in the development of missions in Siam.
It only so happened that the association of Dr. House with the
officials of the new government was more continuous in its bearing
upon the work. Having gained their sympathy through his practise
of medicine, and enlarged their interest through his knowledge
of science, he won their complete confidence by his sterling
character. When later these men, having obtained chief power in
the government, turned to him for counsel in international affairs
or when he went to them in behalf of the mission they knew that
his judgment was fair and free from ulterior motive. During nearly
the entire period of his service he was a valuable friend of the
Siamese government and a wise advocate of the mission at court.

LENGTHENING CORDS AND STRENGTHENING STAKES

A direct effect of this growing interest in science was to show the
value of Western education in such a way as to create a demand for
the educational work of the mission. Not satisfied with their own
enlightenment several of these progressive nobles requested Dr.
House to tutor their sons in English with a view to instruction in
science. As early as 1847, before the doctor himself could devote
time to such work, Mrs. Mattoon had undertaken to tutor Kuhn Gnu,
the son of the Praklang.

While at the tract house one day the doctor caught a glimpse of
the desire and capacity of the common people for learning. A boy
applied for a book. Knowing that the lad had received one the
previous day, the doctor began to catechise him on that volume
before giving him another. He was surprised to find that in a day’s
time the boy had mastered the details of the story of Elijah.
Upon this the doctor observes: “Now this is in effect, as far as
it goes, a school and a Christian school, where more knowledge is
imparted perhaps than would be in a regular school.”

Under the régime of the old king no regular school was possible,
not only because the monarch was antipathetic to western ideas but
because the Siamese had no common desire for education.

“It is next to impossible to interest the native Siamese in
education, because it is the custom for all boys to enter a
watt as novitiates for the priesthood, and as such are taught
to read; but to read is the limit of their ambition.”

The quickening of an interest in science among the upper classes
proved to be the awakening of some of the younger generation to the
desirableness of a broader education than the priests ever thought
of giving.

The first mention of a school as a proposed department of the
mission occurs as an entry in the journal on the first anniversary
of the arrival in Siam, when the doctor records briefly: “Plans for
interesting and instructing the young Siamese were discussed.”

Looking back over the course of affairs it is apparent that the
embryo of the mission school was the receiving of some children
into the homes of the missionaries to be taught, while assisting
in house work. As early as 1848 Mrs. Mattoon, with an eagerness to
do something to elevate the condition of child-life, succeeded in
obtaining two girls for this purpose, one of whom she named Nancy,
after her own mother, and one Abby, after the mother of Dr. House.
Later another was added, whom she named Esther.

In the next year Dr. House had apprenticed to him a Chinese lad of
thirteen named Ati, the nephew of his Hainanese laundryman. The
boy was bound for a period of three years, during which he was to
act as a house servant in return for instruction in English. As a
matter of fact this boy remained in connection with the mission
for a much longer period. The part played by these children was
not simply a demonstration of their capacity for a Western
education but, even more importantly, they formed a nucleus around
which to organise a formal school later. Until time was ripe for
such an undertaking the missionaries could only try in the most
experimental way to develop interest in education among the common
people with whom they came into more intimate contact.

Although Dr. House fitted himself for the medical profession, he
found that by taste and aptitude he was essentially a teacher. His
fixed purpose was to impart to the Siamese the Christian truth
about God and about salvation, confident that this truth would
awaken the sleeping conscience. His discontent with his profession
was to a large extent because it hindered him from the more direct
propagation of the Gospel. Observation early disclosed to him, what
other educators had discerned elsewhere, that the chief obstacle to
the consideration of the spiritual message of Christianity was the
false cosmogony as held by the people.

Their idea of the universe was based upon a total ignorance of many
common facts of nature, an ignorance which completely excluded from
their minds the idea of a spiritual God. They were so obsessed with
fallacies about natural phenomena that there was but small common
basis of physical knowledge upon which the missionaries could build
an argument to dispose of these grotesque ideas. For instance, the
popular explanation of a lunar eclipse was that a great dragon was
trying to swallow the moon. When an eclipse occurred, the people
would set up a din of kettles and drums to scare away the dragon.
Since the moon always escaped, the people were the more confirmed
in their belief. Then there was the old notion of the earth being
flat. In the midst of the earth was a great central mountain,
whence Buddha had come, surrounded by a vast plain; and inasmuch as
Siam occupied the middle of this plain, obviously there could be no
other greater country. Before truth could penetrate such an armour
of ignorance, it was necessary that nature be stripped of these
false ascriptions in order that there might be a common ground upon
which to consider the arguments for the Christian faith.

In the presentation of Dr. House’s message there can be traced an
orderly philosophy which reflects this situation. First he sought
to remove some of these false ideas by pointing out common facts
of nature which the natives had never observed. Next he sought to
explain the conception of God as Creator. From this he led on to
the love and mercy of God as revealed by Jesus. As a practical
sequence he aimed to give an elementary education to the few who
would receive it so as to demonstrate the Christian way of life.
This meant in the course of time the development of a system of
education.

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS

Dr. House was peculiarly fitted for this work, for he had been
providentially prepared to draw upon a wide range of scientific
instruction. His years at Rensselaer Institute had developed his
taste for natural philosophy and had given him a lifelong interest
in the progress of science. His study of medicine had qualified
him in practical chemistry, while his few years of teaching gave
him needed experience in laboratory demonstrations. While trying
some experiments with gas in Siam he recalls “occasions of the same
kind at Rensselaer school and in the Virginia school.” Busy as he
was, he managed to keep abreast of scientific progress through the
journals of science, and was forward to adopt new ideas as he found
them. In March, 1847, he writes:

“In evening read account of inhaling ether as a means of
enabling one to perform surgical operations without pain to
the patient. A wonderful discovery truly—inestimable in its
benefit to the suffering of our race—and the author of it
was an American.”

At the first opportunity he applied the new idea to a patient in
surgery:

“Old woman of eighty-four; piece of bamboo eight inches had
entered her flesh, remaining still unextracted. O, how I
wished I had an apparatus for inhaling ether—I prepared an
extempore one.”

In 1851 he reads of “a new way devised in Paris by suspending a
pendulum from high dome to trace and render visible the motion of
the earth on its axis”; and after a private experiment, straightway
he makes the demonstration for his science-loving Siamese friends.

Like many missionaries, Dr. House was a student of nature,
contributing to other scholars his observations. He was a member
of the “American Oriental Society.” He was a correspondent of the
naturalist, Mr. John C. Bowring, at Hong Kong, son of the diplomat,
for whom he undertook to collect and forward specimens of Siamese
insects and shells; and in this pursuit he became the discoverer
of two varieties of shells previously unknown to naturalists, to
which his name has been given, “Cyclostoria Housei” and “Spiraculum
Housei.” In his volume on Siam, Mr. George B. Bacon, speaking of
the flora and fauna of Siam, remarks:

“The work of scientific observation and classification has
been, as yet, only imperfectly accomplished. Much has been
done by the missionaries, especially by Dr. House, of the
American Presbyterian Mission, who is a competent scientific
observer.”

In his modesty he was surprised to find that his activities in
this line were known in Europe. Dining at the Prussian Embassy at
Bangkok, in 1862, he was introduced to the son of Chevalier Bunsen,
who remarked that “he had heard of Dr. House in Europe; he has
given his name to a new species of shell; he was the first to make
Siamese shells known to the world.” When Dr. Lane left Siam, in
1855, Dr. House took over from him and continued the meteorological
observations because “it may be valuable by-and-by for the
Siamese.” On one occasion he had a bit of amusing chagrin in trying
to determine the elevation of a mountain. He had constructed a
new thermometer for himself and proposed to estimate the altitude
by ascertaining the boiling point. After carefully explaining the
theory to his native companions, placing the kettle on the fire, he
eagerly watched for the first sign of boiling. To his astonishment
the thermometer indicated that the chosen position, instead of
being several hundred feet above the sea, must be many feet down
below the earth’s surface—and then he discovered that there was a
fault in his thermometer.

EARLY TOURS

For his eagerness to lengthen the reach of his arm and to extend
the range of his voice, Dr. House found some satisfaction in
occasional tours into the surrounding country. These were at
once a relief from the exacting daily routine of the dispensary,
a physical recreation, and an exploration of the regions seldom
visited by Europeans. The first trip of any distance was made in
company with Rev. Jesse Caswell during February, 1848, when the two
took a ten day trip through the canals eastward to Petrui on the
Bang Pakong River. In the next November, with Rev. Asa Hemmenway,
he toured for a week to the west up the Meklong, with Rapri as the
turning point.

These early journeys were veritable explorations. The boatmen
seldom knew the country more than two days’ distance from the
capital. The doctor, in real explorer fashion, picked up in advance
what little information he could, sketched rude maps and then on
the journey directed or verified the course of the boat with a
pocket compass. His technical knowledge served to great advantage.
For future use, he records the directions by compass reading, the
rate of speed and the distances as shown by the log, and notes
natural objects which serve as landmarks. His skill at map making
having been disclosed, some of the state officials requested him
to draw, for their use, maps of the regions explored; and in
discussing these with them he found that the officials were almost
totally ignorant of the topography of the king’s domain away from
the main water courses.

As these tours were all conducted on the same general plan, the
description of one will suffice for all. A native long-boat was
used, having a low cylindrical canopy of matting at the center
to afford some protection from the sun. A crew of six or eight
men would man the oars, or push with poles in shallow canals
or in the rapids. The travelling ordinarily would begin before
daybreak; during the heat of the day the party would stop for
meals and for rest; then late in the afternoon the voyage would be
resumed, continuing till dark. If out over Sunday the travellers
were scrupulous to observe the day; seeking, if possible, a
desirable location for the day of rest, but sometimes tying up in
disagreeable places rather than push on in the early hours of the
Sabbath.

The watts, or temple grounds, ubiquitous in the country, serve
as caravansaries for travellers; their roofs and trees offering
free shelter for wayfarers. As these watts were also the seats of
learning, the missionaries always found an opportunity to present
their printed page and to engage in conversation on religion.
Books were offered to all met with along the way; to the fishermen
seeking their game in the early morning hours, to the women working
in the rice fields, to the labourers at the sugar presses, to the
farmers in their garden patches, to the villagers in the hamlets
through which they so frequently passed, and to the priests and
novitiates at the watts. Some were too busy to bother with the
proffered gift; some would accept with passive interest; some
would accept with marked interest and open a fire of questions.
Still others, after discovering the nature of the gift received
by their friends would pursue the voyagers, and swim out to the
boat in eagerness for a book. Time did not suffice to enter into
conversation, for the purpose was to scatter the seed as far as
possible, so the boat would keep under way while packages were
cast out on the land or into passing boats. At the noon stop, if
natives did not gather around as usual, the doctor would start off
to the nearest hamlet with a bag of books, sheltering himself under
a large umbrella. Then would ensue the familiar yet ever different
conversation about the Gospel.

TO PETCHABURI

After he became familiar with the methods, the doctor was ready
to make long tours, once freed from the restricting cares of the
dispensary. The married men did not find it convenient to leave
their wives and young children for a long period so that this
work was largely taken up by the doctor, who gained a keen relish
for it. In December, 1848, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Mattoon,
Dr. House set out with two boats for Petchaburi, the capital of
the province by that name on the western peninsula. The trip had
several points of interest.

In the first place the Lieutenant-Governor of the province had come
to Dr. House for medical treatment a few months after his arrival;
and being pleased with his treatment, invited the doctor to come to
Petchaburi. Upon his recommendation the Governor of the province
also, while in Bangkok, came to the mission house, curious to see
the skeleton which the doctor had. The Governor manifested such
an interest and friendliness that Dr. House resolved to visit the
provincial capital and discover the possibilities of mission work.
Arriving at Petchaburi, they called upon the two officials and
offered to them gifts of foreign articles. When they were about
to leave for home, the officials in return sent very generous
presents of fruit and sugar to their boats. In later years the
under-governor, having been promoted, made earnest solicitation
for the missionaries to teach English in his capital, and as an
inducement offered freedom to teach religion.

Another item of interest was of a different sort. Having learned
that the original home of the Siamese twins was in the village of
Meklong, near the head of the Gulf of Siam, the Americans sought
out the family. They found only one brother living there, and
learned that a sister was living in Bangkok, while the mother had
died a year previously. The brother expressed a longing to see
his brothers again or to hear from them; and at the doctor’s own
suggestion he wrote a letter to the absent twins, dictated by the
brother. It told of the pious wish of the dying mother for them
“to do merit for her spirit.” Some years later, when Rev. Daniel
McGilvary visited the twins in their home in South Carolina, they
spoke of receiving this letter.

TO PRABAT

In the winter of 1849 Dr. House and Mr. Hemmenway made a trip to
Prabat, about one hundred miles to the northeast of the capital.
This place is the site of a watt erected over an imprint in the
rock, reputed to have been made by the footstep of Buddha. At that
particular season of the year multitudes come from all parts of the
kingdom to do homage to this “shadow” of Buddha. The doctor gives
quite a detailed description of his experiences:

“A rocky mount, covered with a pagoda, rose before us to the
height of three hundred to four hundred feet. On a lower
elevation in front of this peak is the famous foot print;
over which stands a very beautiful tho excessively ornamented
structure, with elegant pillars on a side supporting
a pagoda-like gilded roof, towering up seven stories,
gracefully diminishing till they terminated in a handsome
golden spire. On a rocky summit on the left stood a small
pagoda, and on the right a higher eminence was crowned with
a similar sightly structure. Before it was a long flight of
stone steps leading up to the platform on which it stood. We
ascended these steps, crossed a little court, entered another
a little higher—and without ceremony entered the half-open
door of the sanctuary before we were forbidden. Had we
delayed a moment perhaps we should have lost the opportunity
and had the gates closed against us. But we were in and made
as good use of our eyes as we could during the few moments
we were allowed to continue. More than one voice was raised
in the silence that had prevailed within, saying to us we
must go out, go out, or else kneel down and worship. One man
with an air of authority came up and took us by the shoulder,
ordering us roughly to take off our hats and shoes. So we
went out.

“But we had seen the grave-like opening at the bottom of
which the sacred footstep is said to be, though covered as
it was with broad pieces of gold leaf and cloth of gold,
and women kneeling low before it in an attitude of profound
homage. The pavement of the room is of solid silver, the
square blocks smoothly polished by the votaries as they
pass in and out on knees. The footstep is said to receive
annually a great amount of gold, while offerings of rings
and other articles of value are thrown into the opening not
infrequently.”

Leaving the sanctuary the visitors climbed on up to the top of the
hill to survey the country. Returning, Dr. House became separated
from his companion; and as he approached the scene of the fabled
footprint, he stopped to look at the elegant pagoda. Soon a crowd
gathered around him, and in answer to a priest he explained why
they had not worshiped before the footprint. Some were wondering
at his garments; others were wondering at the unheard-of boldness
in resolutely keeping on a hat while on holy ground. While he
was talking, a rude push from someone behind and then yells from
a hundred throats gave a threatening aspect to the situation.
Fortunately, at that critical moment, a Bangkok priest, an old
acquaintance, recognised him and was not afraid to come to the
rescue. He then withdrew in safety, and finding Mr. Hemmenway, the
two returned to their elephants and took up the journey to the
boats. In the narrative of this trip Dr. House records having come
upon a boy of about fourteen years, born without arms or legs, but
perfect in other respects. The arm-bone was projected about four
inches, covered with skin, calloused at the end from use. The boy
could not raise or feed himself, but could make slight change of
position by rotating alternately on each thigh.

A number of tours were taken in the dry seasons of ’49 and ’50.
One through inland waterways to the Bang Pakong River and thence
northward above Nakonnayok, meeting many Lao people living on the
river-bottom farm lands. Another to a point some two hundred miles
up the Meinam, and a year later yet another trip was made as far as
Paknampo, some three hundred miles up the same stream, and thence
two days’ journey up the right fork of the Meinam.

CHOLERA COMES BUT THE DOCTOR CARRIES ON

The first recruits for the Presbyterian work came in 1849, when
Rev. Stephen Bush and his wife arrived. Mr. Bush had been a college
mate of Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon, and he came from Sandy Hill
(now Hudson Falls), N. Y., the home town of the Mattoons. This
little company of Christian men and women now decided to organise a
church as a bond of fellowship and for the orderly administration
of the sacraments. When it is considered that they had not yet won
a single convert from either the natives or the Chinese, it is a
remarkable testimony to their faith that they should have taken
this step in anticipation of the future harvest. Dr. House records
this action in his journal under date of Aug. 31, 1849:

“After tea we had a meeting of the members of the mission,
and with all due solemnity organised a Presbyterian church
in Bangkok, by the election of Rev. Stephen Mattoon as our
pastor, and S. R. H. [Doctor House] as ruling elder. Brother
Mattoon as senior member of the mission presided, reading at
the opening of the meeting the first chapter of Revelation,
that introduces the address to the seven churches of Asia by
their Glorious Head.

“In the name of the Great Head of the Church we, a little
band of five, united together in a separate church
organization, the beginning of great things we hope—the germ
of the tree that shall overshadow the land. The lay members
of this infant church were S. R. House, Mrs. Stephen Mattoon,
and Mrs. Stephen Bush.” [Mr. Mattoon and Mr. Bush being
clergymen were not eligible to membership in a local church.]

At the first communion of the new church, held on Sept. 30, a
Chinese Christian was received:

“In the evening at a meeting of the Church Session Quasien
Kieng, the native member of the A. B. C. F. M. mission church
(received by Messrs. Johnson and Peet on January 7, 1844) was
received into our membership on certificate of recommendation
from the pastor, Rev. A. Hemmenway. An interesting occasion
to us. A worthy brother, this Chinese disciple; may his wife
and many others come in with and through him.”

This Chinese Christian, whose name is spelled variously in the
doctor’s journal and elsewhere, was Kee-Eng Sinsay Quasien, who
served as the first Chinese teacher in the boys’ school and who
became the grandfather of Boon Itt, concerning whom more notice
will appear later. Up to this time, so far as records show, there
had been no genuine converts from among the Siamese in any of the
missions. There had, however, been several from among the Chinese.
Indeed when the king was urged to take action against the first
missionaries he replied: “Let them alone; no one will give heed to
them except the Chinese.” The first convert from among the Chinese
sojourners in Siam was Boon Tai, who had come under the personal
influence of Dr. Gutzlaff previous to 1831. A few others were
converted under the teaching of transient missionaries, and then
came Mr. Dean, who established the first church of Chinese.

THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC OF 1849

One day, in 1849, the startling news reached the mission compound
that cholera had appeared in Bangkok. The plague spread very
rapidly; almost simultaneously it appeared everywhere in the city.
The very first notice of the presence of the pestilence that came
to the doctor was the news that the Siamese printer connected with
the Baptist mission had been stricken without any premonitory
symptoms and died within a few hours.

“As may be imagined consternation seized upon all classes.
The native doctors fled from their patients. Everywhere
propitiatory offerings were made to the spirits, the people
generally believing the pestilence to be caused by the
invasion of an army of cruel malicious demons who had come
invisibly to seize mankind and make them their slaves. And
in accordance with this theory the preventative most relied
on was a strand of cotton yarns, blessed by the Buddhist
priests, which, tied about the necks or wrists, it was
thought the invisible army could not pass. A cordon of such
yarn hung looped from battlement to battlement entirely
around the royal palace, a mile in circumference....

“Awakened at day break by a Chinaman in a floating house
across the river firing off crackers to propitiate his god.
Met a Chinaman well-dressed, carrying a square frame on
which little banners, red and white, some rice and fruit,
little new-made clay images of men and animals, with little
rags around them, red peppers, betel leaf and nuts ready
for chewing, the end of an old torch—all laid down at a
place where a dozen other such offerings to the spirits were
placed.”

With such preventives as the sole protection against the cholera
it is no wonder that the plague spread like wildfire. It was
no respecter of persons—a dowager in the palace, a prince of
Cambodia, a wealthy Hindu merchant were victims like the most
wretched natives. The mortality was so inclusive that in many a
house there were more dead than living; and in some instances the
remnant of a family would abandon the house with its horde of
corpses. Many of the mission servants and members of their families
were attacked, and some of these sent in great haste for Dr. House.
From early morning, all through the day, far into the night he
visited the sick.

Terrifying as the plague itself was, the fear of death was almost
eclipsed by the revolting disposal of the dead:

“You know it is the Siamese custom to burn their dead, but
so fearfully did deaths multiply that a shorter mode of
disposal was resorted to, and multitudes of corpses were
thrown without ceremony, as you would throw the carcass of a
dog into the river. These dead bodies could be seen any day
floating back and forth with the tide before our doors, in
all stages of putrefaction—on some of them crows perched,
picking away at their horrid feast.

“Go where you would through the streets, we would meet men
bearing away the dead, hastily tied up in a coarse mat. The
Siamese make loud lamentation at the moment of the death of
friends, and as one would pass along it was no uncommon thing
to hear the voice of wailing from this house and that. Once
on my way to see a patient, the voice of one crying in great
distress induced me to enter the little bamboo dwelling,
whence the cry proceeded; and there on the mat-covered
platform of a gambler’s shop (for such it was) sat a
middle-aged Chinaman with his head against the wall, sobbing
at a piteous rate. He took no notice of my entrance; but,
telling his only comrade that I was a doctor, I stepped up
to him to feel his pulse, but he was pulseless and his limbs
cold as stone—the hand of death was upon him. And I went on
my way leaving him all heedless of my coming, crying bitterly
as before.

“The most revolting spectacles were at the watts where
Siamese custom requires the dead to be brought for burning or
interment till burning is possible.... I have seen in one of
these gehennas hundreds of loathsome corpses in every stage
of putrefaction lying around unburied, unburned just where
the hirelings that brought them or their friends, too poor to
pay the expense of their burning, might throw them down—the
hot sun and the rain doing its work awfully.... My own eyes
have seen of such human carcasses, sixty thrown together in
one huge pile with sufficiency of wood and over thirty in a
smaller one near, all roasting, frying and burning to ashes
with a thick black smoke going up from the dreadful pyre;
with skull bones, legs half consumed, arms stiff in death
projecting on this side and that as the pile settled down,
till the men in charge with long poles would thrust and twist
them back into the blazing heap. All day long, from an area
of nearly an acre covered with the ashes of other freshly
burned victims of the pestilence, would be continually going
up the flames of scores of individual funeral piles; and this
not on the grounds of one temple only, but from a dozen here
and there about the city. And then when evening came, with
the night air would be wafted to us such an unmistakable odor
of burning flesh and singeing hair and bones.”

In the midst of his heroic labours, Dr. House awoke one morning
with what he felt to be the symptoms of the cholera, and for a
time he had dire thoughts of a certain and speedy death; but
instant resort to his effective prescription and a quiet rest in
bed for two days averted the threatened disease. Then he promptly
resumed attendance upon patients. When it is considered that
his professional services were sought in only a few instances,
chiefly among the friends of the mission servants, and that his
own aggressive zeal increased the number of patients treated by
him, the heroism of his conduct stands out in bold relief. Even
though there was no place of refuge for the missionaries, had it
been possible for them to flee, yet their greatest security was to
remain in such isolation as possible within their premises. But Dr.
House’s eagerness to save the lives of men that they might have a
further chance to hear the Gospel impelled him to risk his own life
to minister to every victim who would receive his services.

Concerning the prescription used during this epidemic, Dr. House
published a report of his experiments, while in America in 1865,
when there was prospect of an outbreak of Asiatic cholera in the
United States. At first he began with the common prescription
of the medical books of that date; then he turned to the use of
calomel in very large doses, with better results; later he says
that he hit upon the use of a mixture of spirits of camphor and
water taken every few minutes and found this to be a specific for
the disease, losing no patients under this treatment provided the
attack was taken in time.

In general, however, he was handicapped by two difficulties. The
disease made its attack so suddenly and developed so rapidly that
unless remedies were applied at the earliest possible moment
the end was fatal; but to many of the cases to which he came,
the summons of the physician had been delayed until there was
no hope of saving life. The other difficulty was equally fatal;
utter heedlessness to the directions. No amount of caution seemed
sufficient to secure the imperative attention to the prescription.
One patient, with a mild attack, he found to be dying when he
called later; and upon investigation found that she had taken the
medicine once when she should have taken it twenty times, but in
the meantime had resorted to the powders of a native doctor. But
in spite of these obstacles, Dr. House reported that of eight or
ten really severe cases in the households of the missionaries, none
died, and that he had records of seventy or more cures of persons
elsewhere dangerously attacked.

The mortality of this plague of ’49 was frightful. During the
climax of the epidemic deaths were occurring at the rate of fifteen
hundred a day in Bangkok. The river was thick with floating bodies,
and vessels coming in reported that they had counted hundreds of
corpses floated by the tide seven days out to sea. When the plague
had at last abated the official estimate of the number of deaths
in Bangkok and vicinity during the seven months was not fewer than
forty thousand.

A CURIOUS MARK OF ROYAL GRATITUDE

The episode of the plague had rather a curious conclusion. When the
pestilence had spent its force, King Phra Chao Pravat Thong decided
that he would perform an “act of merit” in honour of Buddha for the
cessation of the epidemic. Since the religion of Buddha requires
great veneration for the life of animals one of the surest means
to merit is to grant freedom to animals that are in captivity.
Accordingly a levy was made upon every citizen to bring to the
palace ground a stated number of animals or birds during a fixed
period, and upon a given day these were all to be liberated at
the king’s command. To the surprise of the foreigners residing in
Bangkok, they in common with the citizens received a demand for a
gift of pigs and fowls and ducks in varying numbers and assortments.

The members of the Presbyterian Mission, assuming that this
liberating of the animals was a religious rite, declined to make
the requested present upon the ground that they could not “consent
in any way to have anything to do with the system of idolatry in
the land”; but, to avoid the appearance of offense, added that
if the gift were a mere matter of custom, they would offer the
required present as a compliment to the king. On the following day
they received word from the Pra Nai Wai, who had charge of the
levy, that the desired present had nothing to do with the religion
of the country but was merely intended as a token of congratulation
to the king on the occasion of the abatement of the pestilence. In
view of this explanation, Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon reconsidered
their decision; and accordingly the required donation was sent,
accompanied by a letter of congratulation with an expression of
thanks to God and of a Christian prayer for His Majesty’s welfare.

For three days the river was alive with craft bringing the gifts
to the landing at the king’s palace, where the donor was credited.
Then the gifts were taken to the depot where the aggregation
was being fed by proper officers till the day of liberation
arrived. It was estimated that more than two hundred pails of rice
were necessary each day for feed. Then on the great day a river
procession took place, a gala affair such as the Siamese frequently
held on festal occasions:

“The river at one time this morning, as far as eye could
see around the bend and to the palace, had a procession of
boats with banners, white and red, with music and beating of
cymbals, with cages of all colours and sizes and shapes—some
one, two or four stories high, some like beautiful pagodas,
some shaped like vases; some with flowers, some with banners
representing by picture the animals or birds contained in the
cages.”

All proceeded to the river landing at the palace, where the
captives were set free. It was estimated officially that nearly
one hundred thousand fowls and ducks, some five hundred pigs and
numerous boat-loads of live fish were included in the donations and
were set free.

The incident, however, did not end here. A like request had gone to
the French priests and the members of their parishes. At first the
Bishop gave permission for the making of the present to the king;
but later when it was rumoured that the king would liberate the
captives to “gain merit,” the bishop not only declined himself to
make the gift but withdrew his permission previously granted to his
people. This reversal caused great indignation among the officials
responsible for gathering the presents. After a conference in which
the bishop was informed, as the other foreigners had been, that the
gift was not regarded as a participation in a religious rite but
only as a customary token of congratulation, the bishop returned
to his original attitude, restored permission to his people and
offered a gift in his own behalf.

But thereupon a new turn in the affair developed; the eight French
priests conferred together and concluded that the explanation
was only a subterfuge, the real object of the gift being an act
of worship; and they decided not to participate for themselves,
notwithstanding the bishop’s permission. This course had the
disadvantage of placing them in the position of disrespect to the
government, since their superior had approved of the participation.
Accordingly the eight priests were admonished by the government
that if they refused to acquiesce in the royal request they must
leave the country. Remaining inexorable, the order was given for
their banishment, but the bishop was permitted to remain because he
had complied with the request. This decree remained in force until
revoked by King Mongkut in 1851.

Some months later the foreign residents of Bangkok were surprised
to read in an English paper of Singapore a statement that the
deported priests, on their passage through Singapore, had given;—a
version of the affair in which they appeared as heroes who had
chosen expulsion rather than participation in pagan rites while the
Protestant missionaries had purchased exemption by acquiescence.
Unfortunately this interpretation of the incident to the glory of
the eight priests placed their own bishop in an unfavourable light.

ABANDONING THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

The distress of mind which Dr. House felt so keenly over the
perplexities of his profession, coupled with eagerness for work
that would give more direct propagation of the Gospel, caused him
to determine that as soon as another medical man should come out
to Siam he would abandon medical work. When at length Rev. D. B.
Bradley, M.D., returned after a sojourn of three years in America
and brought with him yet another doctor, Rev. L. B. Lane, M.D., Dr.
House supposed that his longed-for time of release had arrived. In
that expectation he wrote:

“After all, now that my looked-for medical helper has come,
I do not find myself so inclined to give up the practise of
medicine and surgery as I expected to. Indeed, I believe I
verily love my profession more, now the time has come which
I so long ago fixed as the time when I should most certainly
renounce it. It is not such a burden to me as it once was....
And yet I must have time granted me for study. My heart is
quite set on fitting myself to preach the gospel from house
to house as a colporteur. Have I not the right to take
time for the study of the language in which I am so sadly
deficient!”

This reaction from his former depression is natural under the
circumstances. Remembering that Dr. House had had no independent
practise before going to Siam, not even having performed a surgical
operation alone, it is no wonder that the large and varied number
of cases which presented themselves to his untested skill should
challenge his small degree of self-confidence. But the instant
other physicians are at hand, that mental burden seems to find a
measure of support in their presence.

In the entry of the journal just quoted, however, there appears in
the open what hitherto he had not even written in privacy—another
and controlling reason for giving up his profession, viz.: the
desire to give his whole time to direct dissemination of the
Gospel. First he would devote himself to gaining proficiency in
the language, for the chief purpose of evangelising. All through
his journal in these early years it appears that his heart was
more occupied with the healing of souls than of bodies. To him the
hospital was a means of gaining intimate contact with people that
he might tell them about Jesus.

Great was his chagrin, therefore, when he found that the arrival
of two physicians was to give no immediate release. Dr. Bradley
had returned with the intention of devoting himself to unattached
practise, the A. B. C. F. M. having withdrawn its mission. Dr.
Lane, who went out under the American Missionary Association, which
for a time became the successor of the A. B. C. F. M., would not
consent to take charge of the dispensary until he could command the
language. There was nothing for Dr. House to do but to meet the
exigency of the situation, and this he did by consenting to hold
fixed hours at the floating dispensary but leaving to Dr. Bradley
all outside calls. This arrangement allowed Dr. House half his time
for the study of the language.

During this period of his connection with the hospital, in 1851,
the smallpox broke out in Bangkok. Dr. House sent to Singapore for
vaccine virus and at once began vaccinating any child whose parents
he could induce to submit. For weeks he roamed about the city in
his free hours soliciting patients for vaccination, explaining,
entreating, warning, and almost hiring parents to permit him to
inoculate their children. As one reads through the daily entries
of the journal at this time, he receives an odd impression of
this foreign doctor going about the city begging permission to
administer an ounce of prevention. Back of this he had two very
earnest desires. The first and immediate purpose, of course, was
to save life and to prevent the dire results of the disease,
evidences of which he saw everywhere. But the deeper motive was,
by the demonstrated advantage of vaccination, to induce confidence
in Western sciences in general and in the good motives of the
missionaries in particular, so that the people would be ready to
give more serious attention to the gospel message.

After eighteen months of this arrangement, Dr. Lane took charge of
the dispensary and Dr. House formally abandoned his profession.
During the four and a half years he had a record of seven thousand
three hundred and two patients. With characteristic unselfishness,
however, he consented for a time to substitute when the other
physicians could not respond to calls; but soon he found that old
patients were taking advantage of this consent by expressing a
preference for him, so that the cases were gradually increasing.
Finally he took a firm stand and declined to do any professional
work, except to assist in surgery.

After Dr. House had altogether retired from his profession there
appears in his journal a soliloquy which indicates that another
motive had been subconsciously urging him to this course which,
only after he had some months’ retrospect, had been permitted to
come to expression:

“April 17, 1853. Is it not my duty to write a full expression
of my feeling of my lost confidence in the healing art to
the executive committee. I fear my parents would be tried
when the faculty cast me off as I do their traditionary
notions. Peace with them is better than war, perhaps. And yet
perhaps I am doing very wrong by standing in the way of some
other medical missionary who would be sent out if I was not
believed to be a regular practitioner.

“But the last consideration does but little trouble my
conscience, believing as I do from the bottom of my heart,
that the more medicine given the worse the patient is off;
and the less, the better.”

When once this idea gained the strength of expression he freely
declared his opinion to his fellow missionaries. Then we find the
curious anomaly of a graduate in medicine arguing against the use
of drugs and his patients contending for them. However this was
only a passing phase of “unbelief” in an extreme degree, and his
seeming trend towards faith cure had its own reaction when, a few
years later, we find him having recourse to physicians and drugs
when unaided nature did not bring relief for a wife’s constantly
aching head.

The change from the medical to the evangelistic and educational
form of mission work had an effect upon Dr. House of which perhaps
he was not quite conscious, but which is quite evident to one
who reviews his life in the foreshortened perspective afforded
by the journal. As manifest in the quotations already given, the
medical profession proved to be depressing to him because the
sense of responsibility in decisions coincided too closely with
his natural diffidence; and there was a slow but constant ebbing
of self-confidence. Continuance in the medical work was liable
to have lessened his general effectiveness for missions for this
reason. But the more direct Gospel work of colportage, touring
and teaching seemed to harmonise better with his mind so that he
was buoyed up with hope and inspired with a courage that knew no
obstacles. He had a greater faith in God than in himself, and the
evangelistic work gave the fullest range to that faith, impelling
him to attempt whatever he believed to be his duty without fear of
failure.

AT THE TRACT HOUSE

The larger object which Dr. House had in view in abandoning his
profession was to devote himself more directly to the propagation
of the Gospel. His observation of the physical ailments of the
people disclosed that a large portion of the cases was attributable
to sensualism, brutality or ignorance. This brought him to the
conviction that however merciful and needful was the work of
healing, the Gospel was of primary importance to remove the
infection of sin which was largely responsible for the bodily
sufferings. When others arrived who with greater relish took over
the medical work, he was eager to give himself to the Gospel.

But he found himself sorely handicapped for this work. The urgency
for opening up the dispensary had allowed him no time for careful
study of the language. After two years of constant practical use
of Siamese he was afraid to undertake public address, for fear his
blunders would bring ridicule upon his purpose. When he terminated
his medical work entirely at the end of four and-a-half years he
was inclined to reproach himself for his defective pronunciation
and faulty diction, a shortcoming which he never wholly remedied
because the tongue had acquired its tricks through lack of early
discipline. During these years the Gospel fervour in his heart
consumed him with a fury because he could not give vent to his
passion for evangelising. In the arguments with himself concerning
the relinquishment of medical practise, he always came back to the
imperative need for time to gain facility in the language. So, as
soon as Dr. Lane took over the work of the dispensary, Dr. House
gave himself to a diligent course of study under the tutorship of
Kru Gnu.

The three missions maintained jointly a Tract House in the bazaar.
Upon arrival of Drs. Bradley and Lane, Dr. House was sufficiently
relieved from the stress of medical work so that he promptly took
his turn at the tract house.

“Today I commenced going over to the tract house in the
bazaar to distribute books. It will be long before I shall
feel at ease in this necessarily hurried, confused mode of
trying to do good, but I trust to be enabled to go through
with it. The crowd not particularly unruly, but Satan put it
into the heart of one of them to attempt to impose upon the
newcomer again and again; now as a Siamese, now as a Chinese,
now with and now without a hat,—to see how many books he
could get from me. This is disheartening.”

An example of another kind of trial in this street work, Dr. House
relates concerning Dr. Bradley:

“A Siamese nobleman told Dr. B. that he had watched him these
many years, had seen him imposed upon every way by the
Siamese, yet he did not get angry; ‘there must be something
in your religion different from ours.’”

The distribution of books in the bazaar had a manifold value. It
not only put the printed word in the hands of those who did not
come to the mission compound, but it also served to advertise
the mission, resulting in daily calls of a score or more seeking
additional books. The free distribution of tracts in the bazaar had
the advantage of opening the way at once for a public explanation
of the contents of the tracts; and as these conversations were
carried on in the hearing of a large circle, the propagation of the
word was multiplied beyond the readers.

The men of the mission had devised a unique method of economising
and at the same time assuring that the distribution should be as
effective as possible. The printed matter was arranged in series.
When any one applied for a book, he was asked if he had previously
had one. If he had not, he was given the first in the series, but
if he had, he would be catechised to see whether he had read it.
If he showed that he was familiar with the contents, he was given
the next in the series; but if he had not, he was advised to read
the one he had. In many cases the applicant was able to give a very
detailed account of the Bible story he had read, and frequently
asked questions. This scheme made sure that the printed matter was
being judiciously distributed and that there was being slowly but
surely implanted in the minds of many people the simple facts of
the Bible, preparing them for fruitful attention to preaching in
after years. Just recently a missionary magazine told the story
of a woman of Bangkok who made a profession of Christian faith;
and upon being asked where she first heard the Gospel story,
replied that she first heard of Jesus from a street preacher in her
childhood in the early fifties. The reach of faith in which those
early missionaries sowed beside all waters was greater than the
reach of our imagination to estimate the harvest.

Dr. House enters in his journal the story of several conversions
which illustrate the extraordinary fruitage from these tracts
carried away by visitors to the capital. The first of these cases
came under his own personal notice, and the other was related to
him by Mr. Jones, of the Baptist mission:

“A copy of the Chinese gospel of Mark had been given months
ago to a boy in one of the Chinese schools. He took the book
home; it was given to the children to play with, till only a
few leaves remained. A relative of the man who had married
this boy’s sister came from China, and was visiting in the
home of this boy when he chanced to pick up the tattered
book. Reading, he became interested, and wished to know if he
could get more. The next morning the brother of the boy fell
in with the native assistant of the mission on his rounds
distributing tracts, and invited him home with him to see the
visitor. The inquirer was supplied with the book he wished
and invited to come to the preaching at the station. He came,
grew deeply interested, attended regularly and two weeks ago
was judged a fit subject for Christian baptism, and received
into the Church [Baptist]....

“At the Baptist mission there appeared one day a man of sixty
years. He had come a six-day journey from the north. He had
never seen a Christian missionary, but five years ago he
came upon a Christian book. Becoming interested he gathered
here and there several parts of the Old and New Testaments.
From these alone he was led to forsake idols, and became
well versed in scripture—better even than the servants in
the mission compound. He came to Bangkok and sought the
missionaries for further instruction. When asked, ‘Who has
been your teacher?’ he replied: ‘Jesus; He has said, Ask and
ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find.’ Within ten days
after his appearance at the Baptist mission, he fell a victim
of cholera.”

CANVASSING THE CITY

Dr. House devoted a part of each day to street work. He had
previously in his walks about the city prepared an accurate map.
He now laid this off in districts and entered upon a plan of
systematic visitation to every house in the capital. This plan
afforded unusual opportunity to see the people in their homes and
to engage them in religious conversation.

“At 1 p. m. went out for a couple of hours distribution of
books. Met at a watt gate two old men. To one gave books;
the other said he was an old man (seventy-four); his ears
were deaf—he could scarcely hear; his eyes had become
dark—he could not see to read; and what should he do? He
seemed to wish to be instructed in the way of happiness, and
I stopped to tell him of the love of God. Then we walked
on together.... I could not part from him with Christ yet
unspoken of, and so in the road I stopped again, sheltered by
my umbrella only, till I had given him the idea of the Son of
God dying in the sinner’s place. I did not know or care what
passers-by might think, I only thought of the poor old man’s
need of the Saviour.

“My first visit was to a floating house where a Siamese lady
was sitting in the shade of the veranda.... She was glad to
get books—read fluently; said she already held to our way
of worship, and gave a specimen of chanting some part of the
Roman ritual.

“Next was sent for by a young prince to whose intelligent
family I had given books last week. He gave me tea, etc. The
woman at the next house said ‘Oh, yes, I would like books,’
and an interesting conversation ensued. She at once assented
to there being a Creator, and though probably had never heard
of one before, asked for His name. How happy I feel when
coming to one such I tell of the God of creation, and unfold
the wondrous story of redemption.

“At the next house found a clay modeler at work. He had a
book, and brought it to me—proved to be an English speller.
It had a hymn in praise of mother-love, also a church—, and
a Watt’s catechism. The latter I translated to him, giving me
an opportunity to give much religious instruction.”

This type of evangelistic work Dr. House very soon found to be
much to his liking, and was surprised at his own versatility in
religious conversation:

“I ought to bless God for giving me, as I believe I have,
some talent for entering into conversation with strangers,
introducing the great subject to those casually met. I was in
early youth sensible of a great lack of talent of this kind,
but cultivated it and now I am not the same I once was.... O,
Master, fill my heart with Thy love, and then my lips must
always and to all speak forth Thy praise.”

Occasionally he writes out an abstract of the conversation,
especially if it had shown particular thought on the part of the
interlocutor. A transcription of one of these entries will give a
good idea of how the missionary “preaches”:

“Going over into the palace of our prince, found several
Nai, intelligent headmen—one a Khun—gathered on the porch
of the audience hall. They invited me to sit down and answer
questions, ‘talk about religion’ they said.... Our religion
differs in this, for one thing; whereas your god Buddha was
originally a man who by merit attained to divinity, ours was
originally God, who took on him the nature of man. ‘But what
did he do that he might become God?’ they asked. So I told
of eternity and Jehovah. They asked if we were hired to come
over here; surprised we had no temple with idols; never was a
more excellent opportunity to make known God’s blessed truth,
or more respectful attention—all friendly, civil. And to
many, what I said had all the interest of novelty.... What
were God’s commandments? Is Jesus then the Son of God? Can
a Siamese man, if he repent, be saved? Can you become God,
will you become a God at last? Why did not God create all
men alike? Why must he needs try us on probation? In what
direction is hell?—these and innumerable similar questions
were proposed mostly in good faith. And grace was given me
and utterance to give what seemed a satisfactory answer to
most of them.”

On another day, passing through the grounds of a watt, he was
invited by a priest of his acquaintance to stop for a call. Tea
was made ready and a pleasant discussion of religion ensued in the
presence of several young priests:

“One thing he could not get over, we killed animals. Yes,
so do you, I told him; and explained about animalculæ in
water—promised to let him see them through my microscope
when it came.

“Transmigration endless! He told me that Buddha taught
that if any one took a needle and thrust it into the earth
anywhere in the wide world, and was to ask his teacher if
he had ever been there,—Yes, he had some time or other been
buried there! So of any given place on the earth’s surface.
(This beats geology for stupendous periods of time.)

“Buddha taught that time passed very slowly in hell; and he
illustrated it thus: Now 2,395 years since Gotama Buddha
died—all that time but as half an hour to those in hell.

“‘Let me see your god and I will believe,’ said some
onlooker. I asked him if he could see his own god? ‘Yes,’ he
replied. ‘Stop,’ said my host, ‘you had better say nothing of
that.’ But I went on to ask him if he worshipped brick and
mortar which could not lift its hand, nor see nor hear.

“They all thought Nippant (nirvana) preferable to
heaven—till I told of the assurance we had that ‘they go no
more out.’”

VISIONS OF THE REGIONS BEYOND

During this systematic visitation, Dr. House obtained glimpses of
“the regions beyond.” Medical work had already brought him into
contact with the aliens in Bangkok. As he became acquainted with
these groups by his travels throughout the city he became deeply
interested in their home lands. Small as the mission force in
Bangkok was, he began to meditate whether their efforts should be
confined to the Siamese to the exclusion of all these other peoples.

At that time it was estimated that the strangers within the gates
were equal to the native population of Bangkok. Chief among these
immigrants were the Chinese. The Chinese held nearly all the
trading in Bangkok. The semi-annual trade winds brought numerous
junks from China laded with Chinese products; and each of these
junks had its cargo of human freight also. Sometimes a single
junk would bring as many as three hundred; and the average annual
immigration was estimated at one thousand. These people came
largely from the Island of Hainan, and nine-tenths of those who
sent their boys to the mission school were from this province.

There were but few Burmese in Bangkok; but of their old enemies,
the Peguans, there was a large village on the west bank of
the river. These people had originally sought refuge from the
Burmese by taking service under the king of Siam, but in time had
practically become his serfs. It was in their village that Mrs.
Mattoon began her class of children which later was transferred
to the mission compound. The Malays, few in number, could not
be reached for want of acquaintance with their language. Dr.
House records an anecdote which had come to his ears showing the
shrewdness of these people in their native country:

“The chiefs obtained some Christian tracts. Whenever a
trading vessel arrived, they showed these tracts to the
captain. If the captain swore at the tracts, they concluded
that he was not a Christian, and would have nothing to do
with him. But if he displayed an interest and inquired about
the tracts, they judged that he was sympathetic with religion
and that they could trust him.”

During the cholera epidemic Dr. House was called to see the
servant of a Cambodian prince living in Bangkok, and the visit
resulted in an enduring friendship. The prince, the son of the
king of Cambodia, was living in a grand palace provided by the
king of Siam; and Dr. House was led to suspect that he was held
as hostage for the good behaviour of his father, over whom Siam
claimed suzerainty. The prince urged the doctor to go to Cambodia,
assuring him that he would be welcomed with open arms by the king;
and that the people did not approve of the worship of images, for
the Cambodians held that “God made man, and man cannot make God.”
The information gained from the prince prompted Dr. House and Mr.
Mattoon to plan a trip into that country. They entered upon the
study of the language for that purpose, but the death of the old
king of Siam arrested these plans. However, the interest awakened
in Dr. House led eventually to his notable trip to Korat.

But perhaps the most important of these chance relations was with
the Lao. The doctor had early learned of the frequent trips of
boatmen from the Lao land. With ears open for useful information,
he gathered from a Siamo-Portuguese doctor, who had accompanied a
Catholic priest to Chieng Mai, information concerning the route,
knowledge of the receptive character of the people and of the
deceptive nature of the reigning prince. His interest in the Lao
grew until he felt prompted to leave the Siamese to his fellow
missionaries and betake himself to the Lao country. A particular
day of indifference to his message in the streets of Bangkok sent
him to bed with a heavy heart:

“But ere midnight,” he writes, “my sorrow was turned into
joy as the privilege was presented to my view of yet going a
messenger of the glad tidings to the tribes of the Laos to
the north. To them shall my thoughts be given and my future
life, if Providence but opens the way.”

And again when he was depressed by the fruitlessness of the early
labours he meditates:

“I believe all the past of my strange history has been for a
purpose—yet all unrevealed—and I will not trouble myself
about it. May I ever be ready to serve my Master, anywhere
at all times. But should I be permitted in his Providence
to carry his blessed gospel to the Laos some future day,
then I can read and understand the why of some things. To
be thus privileged were better than to visit the home of my
childhood, my aged parents, my brother, again—’twere better
than to be blessed with houses or lands or wife or children
of my own.”

To him the mission in Bangkok at that time was like a candle in a
starless night, very faint to be sure, but making more dense the
surrounding darkness that seemed to confine its light. His eyes
strained to look into the regions beyond and his heart beat with
passionate desire to evangelise the unknown peoples.

VII

PROVIDENCE CHANGES PERIL INTO PRIVILEGE

In 1850 the United States sent Honourable James Ballestier, with a
small suite including Rev. William Dean, a former missionary, as
his secretary, to seek a more generous commercial treaty with Siam.
After three months of bickering with officials he was constrained
to withdraw from the fruitless effort. The king refused to give
a personal audience to the envoy, whereas the envoy refused to
deliver the letter from the President to any but the king. This
point of etiquette was of vital importance. By refusing to give
audience to the representative of another nation, the oriental
monarch was signifying that he did not regard the other nation on
an equality with Siam. It will be recalled that Commodore Perry,
in seeking a treaty with Japan, met this same presumption. Even as
late as 1868 China would not admit the equality of other nations
by allowing their envoys to personal interview with the emperor.
Acknowledging himself vanquished in this point of procedure, Mr.
Ballestier withdrew.

Scarcely had the Americans departed when news was received that a
British squadron was on its way, bringing an embassy to request
a new treaty. The belligerent character of Great Britain at that
time was known in Siam, so that this report sent a tremor of fear
through the body politic. With a large suite and a great display
of naval force the British envoy Sir James Brookes met no greater
success than the American. He left in high indignation at the
treatment accorded him, threatening vengeance for the discourtesy
shown to Her Majesty’s communication. Upon his withdrawal the
fear which preceded his arrival increased to a panic among the
officials, who were terrified at the prospects of war as a result
of the king’s stubborn adherence to custom.

Hand-in-hand with the crisis in the international relations the
affairs of the missions were fast drifting towards probable
extinction. As the intercourse between the Siamese and Sir
James Brookes became strained, the Siamese began to cut off
communications with the foreign residents. This was only the shadow
of what was to come. As soon as the British fleet left, a sudden
wave of arrests gathered in all who were employed as teachers at
the missions. Upon inquiry as to the reason, the missionaries were
informed that the teachers were to be punished for breaking the
law in teaching the sacred language Pali to foreigners. The only
plausible ground for this charge was that the Baptist press had,
at the request of a high official, undertaken to print the laws of
Siam which were in that language. Next the house servants withdrew
from the homes of the foreigners.

Another mark of increased hostility was in connection with
negotiations for a piece of land for the Presbyterian Mission.
Attempts had been made several times, but the transaction had been
adroitly blocked. Since permission must be obtained for tenure of
land by foreigners, applications were met with procrastination
which meant denial, or alternative locations were offered which
were totally unfit for the needs. Just before the arrival of the
two embassies, a friendly Siamese was found who was willing to
lease a desirable piece of land; official permission was secured,
the money paid over and the Mattoon family had actually caused
their floating house to be towed to the new location preliminary
to the erection of a building. Just at this juncture occurred
the abortive negotiations for a revision of treaties. Without
explanation or warning, a peremptory order came from a higher
official, revoking the permit and requiring the missionary to
return to the old location.

Under these circumstances Dr. House wrote home (Sept., 1850):

“It becomes a serious question what, as a mission, is our
duty—it now being settled that no change for the better is
to be hoped for. Three and-a-half years we have been seeking
for a place where we could locate our mission, and in our
own way aid in bringing this heathen people to Christ. But
a separate home among them has been denied and we baffled
in every attempt to secure premises on which we might build
houses, gather a school and lay foundations for those that
come after us. Thus far we have had no local habitation or
name of our own—being merged in other societies, living by
suffrance on their premises.... And now our teachers are
taken from us; no one daring (with imprisonment hanging over
them) to become teacher of the proscribed foreigner.”

The status of the mission was deemed so critical that Dr. House
was authorised to report the situation to the mission office in
New York and to ask permission for the missionaries to quit Siam
as the last resort and to attach themselves to missions in other
lands. The reply, received nine months later, gave full authority
to the missionaries in the matter, and provisionally assigned Dr.
House as assistant to Dr. Happer in China. This assignment had
been suggested by Dr. House in his letter to the Board because Dr.
Happer, knowing of the crisis in Siam, had written him to come to
China, adding that he “always thought Siam an unpromising field;
and that after the Board gets out of it they might as well keep
clear of it.” While waiting for the desired authority to quit the
field the missionaries kept an eye open for a favourable chance to
get away in safety, deeming themselves warranted in escaping with
their lives in any vessel that could be found to take them away.
Thus did the Mission come very close to an untimely end.

DEATH OF THE OLD KING

The serious foreboding of the natives and foreigners alike was
greatly intensified by the rumour that the king had shut himself
up in his palace and would have no communication with his nobles.
Daily the court assembled according to custom but the king took no
counsel with them concerning public affairs. So few were permitted
to enter the royal presence that it was difficult to ascertain
whether he was sick or only in a pet as on a previous occasion.
It was, however, a case of serious illness from a chronic disease
which had rapidly become critical.

About the middle of February of that notable year, 1851, the king
sent a document to the assembled nobles, briefly stating that
he despaired of recovery, and left to the council of princes and
three chief ministers the selection of a successor; and at the
same time turned over the reins of government to these three
ministers. Although the king at this time refrained from nominating
a successor, he had some months previously expressed a preference
for a favourite son, but the nobles would not confirm his wish.
Besides this son there were two other aggressive aspirants for the
throne; all three candidates being conservatives. While both Chao
Fah Yai and Chao Fah Noi had legitimate claims to the throne there
was no apparent prospect that either would be chosen, for the other
three claimants were strongly united in their opposition especially
to the former because of his known friendliness towards the English.

As the situation grew ominous of civil strife, the Pra Klang, the
strongest of the nobles and the leader of the situation, proposed
the name of Chao Fah Yai, having already taken precautions to win
to his support the commander of the army; and let it be known that
any of the pretenders who did not acquiesce would have to contest
their claim with him. By such bold measures he carried the day,
even the rivals reluctantly giving in their adherence; and on the
following day the decision of the council was communicated to the
Prince-Priest, who gave his acceptance on the 18th of March. The
king-elect remained in his watt till the death of the king on April
3; he then was brought to the palace grounds in state and lodged in
a house especially built for a temporary sojourn, and changed his
yellow priestly robes for the ceremonial dress suitable to be worn
until the coronation.

Before being brought to the royal premises, the king-elect
graciously received three of the missionaries who called upon him,
Dr. Bradley, Mr. Jones and Professor Silsby. No doubt it was to
this occasion that Mrs. Leonowens refers in her book _An English
Governess_ (p. 242):

“Nor did the newly-crowned sovereign forget his friends
and teachers the American missionaries. He sent for them
and thanked them cordially for all they had taught him,
assuring them that it was his earnest desire to administer
the government after the model of the limited monarchy
of England and to introduce schools where the Siamese
youth might be well taught in the English language and
literature and sciences of Europe.... In this connection
Rev. Messrs. Bradley, Caswell, House, Mattoon and Dean are
entitled to special mention. To their united influence Siam
unquestionably owes much if not all her present advancement
and prosperity.”

He authorised Mr. Jones to state that “should the English or
American government send an embassy to Siam now he thought they
would be kindly and favourably received.” He also received the
Roman Catholic bishop, requested him to have prayers offered in
his church for the peace of the country and consented to have the
priests, banished by his predecessor, recalled.

No believer in Providence can fail to recognise the hand of God
directing the course of affairs in Siam at this crisis. Had the old
king continued to live, war with Great Britain was inevitable. Had
either of the reactionary candidates been chosen civil strife would
have been precipitated. In either case the foundation stones of
the mission would have been widely scattered.

CHANGED ATTITUDE TOWARDS FOREIGNERS

In May, 1851, the king was formally inducted into his regal office
under the title Prabat Somdetch Pra Paramender Maha Mongkut.
The accession was celebrated with prolonged festivities. The
coronation was private, witnessed only by the princes and nobles.
After an interval of a few days came the more public ceremony of
enthronement, and to this the Europeans were invited:

“We all (except of course the ladies) had the honour of
being present by his own invitation. Indeed we had a
regular audience from His Majesty; a strange and not a
little imposing scene it was in that audience hall of the
palace. A dinner was prepared for us after the European
style, and though ‘he could not shake hands with us as he
desired—Siamese custom not allowing it,’ yet he sent some
substantial proof of his regard in the shape of a gold
flower and one of silver, together with a gold salung (value
one-fourth eagle) and other specimens of the coinage of the
new reign.

“You will understand how marked are these attentions when you
are told that no missionary was ever before on any occasion
admitted within the walls of the palace, much less allowed to
have an audience.... We were told from the throne in a public
audience by the King himself (who perfectly understands our
object in coming to his land) that he wished us to find
ourselves pleasantly situated in his country and to go on
with our pursuits as we have been doing—‘Fear not!’ he
added. That was the purport of what he said, and though he
was addressing merchants as well as ourselves we knew he must
have had us in mind as much as them.”

Then came the spectacular procession of the king and nobles around
the walls of the palace:

“According to immemorial custom on coronation occasions,
H. M., with his nobles and princes in grand procession,
marched around the walls of the royal palace, a mile in
circumference. We missionaries with the other Europeans
received special invitations to be present.... As the King
came along, with pomp and glitter and display of wealth,
sitting high on his throne carried by thirty-two men, he was
distributing right and left to the crowds showers of silver
coins. When he saw us he stopped to rain silver upon us with
a right good will.”

A month later occurred the inauguration of Chao Fah Noi as Second
or Vice-King. A public pageant only slightly less magnificent
was given, and again the missionaries with the Europeans were
personally invited and honoured with special attention.

With the accession of King Mongkut a complete change of attitude
towards the missionaries was instant. The new men appointed to
high office were from the group of progressives. Those who were
carried over from the old régime changed their attitude with
facility, for after all they only reflected the royal mind. Princes
who had eschewed intercourse with foreigners now courted their
acquaintance, frankly declaring that fear of disfavour with the old
king had formerly held them aloof. Teachers and servants eagerly
returned to their posts. The people in the streets manifested a new
respect for the foreigners. With great joy Dr. House records the
change:

“A new era with us—at least the dawn of a brighter day.
We have a home at last promised us, and on a really
pleasant spot of ground they are going to allow us to
build. With brothers Mattoon and Bush, went up to visit the
ex-prince-physician (now foreign minister) at his new palace
he falls heir to. Were graciously received. ‘I have laid the
matter of which you spoke, before the King. He said he gives
his permission for you to come here (i. e., to site nearby)
to live; desires me to give you any assistance; permits you
to build for yourselves; can have the whole vacant space to
the canal bank, if needed; wishes you to build many houses;
about a thousand missionaries may come if they wish.’

“Almost too good to be true! Are we really then going to
obtain what we have been seeking for in vain now these four
and one-half years—a place to build a home of our own? A
most eligible spot this; none better in all Bangkok.”

Permanency being assured, the missionaries decided to construct
houses of brick, making them as durable and as comfortable as
possible. The erection of these houses required a constant
oversight of the work and attention to details that cannot well be
understood by people in America, for all the practical problems
that the architect or builder would take care of as a matter of
course had to be solved by the missionaries who had no experience
in such work. In the midst of the enterprise the masons and
carpenters struck and it required much diplomacy to adjust their
demands. The first houses were completed and preaching services
begun at the new compound in February, 1852. This site continued to
be the location of the mission until 1857, when growth of the work
necessitated a change.

MISSIONARY LADIES TEACHING IN THE PALACE

The most notable of all the friendly gestures was the royal
request to have the ladies of the missions teach English to the
ladies of the palace. The significance of this extraordinary
move was understood least of all among these ladies themselves.
By his manifestation of approval for female education the king
swept completely away the argument of age-long custom against the
teaching of women. There continued to be practical difficulties but
the insurmountable obstacle had been removed by a single gesture of
the liberal-minded king. This notable request is recorded in Dr.
House’s journal under date of Aug. 13, 1851:

“Dr. Bradley and Mr. Jones received a communication from the
grand chamberlain of the royal palace, etc. ‘H. M. had heard
from Pya Sisuriwong and Pra Nai Wai that the wives of the
missionaries would teach, changing times (i.e. in turn) the
royal girls and ladies, if H. M. allow. H. M. wishes to know
how you will do, and desires several ladies who live with him
to acquire knowledge in English, etc.’

“Dr. Bradley replied that the ladies of the mission had
made themselves a board of managers of the affair and were
ready to undertake the work. Next morning Dr. Bradley was
summoned to the new prime minister’s, and told that H. M.
desired the teaching in English to ladies of the palace to
begin today—that the astrologer had pronounced it a good
day—and requested Mrs. Bradley to go at 9 a. m. She did so,
her husband leaving her at the palace gate where the Pra
Nai Wai received her and led her to the gate of the woman’s
apartments; there a number of women were waiting for her.
While waiting outside, the young Princess of Wongna met her,
carried in state under a yellow canopy, and shook hands with
her. She was led to the hall where nine young ladies from
sixteen to twenty (one of thirty)—bright, intelligent and
beautiful, she described them—were committed to her as her
pupils in charge of the matron of the palace.”

The women of the mission who assumed this task were Mrs. D. B.
Bradley, Mrs. Stephen Mattoon and Mrs. J. T. Jones (who later
became Mrs. S. I. Smith). This work among the women of the palace
Dr. House characterises as the “first zenana work conducted in any
foreign lands,” antedating the zenana work in India by some five
or six years. The number of pupils at first increased very quickly
to twenty-five or thirty, but after the novelty wore off many of
the ladies dropped out of the class. A few maintained an interest
to the end, and even invited the teachers to visit them in their
private apartments for more serious work of conversation.

The visits of the missionary ladies to the palace continued for a
little over three years, when they suddenly and without explanation
found admission denied to them. Some have surmised that the king
became displeased at the religious influence. However the more
probable explanation is that suggested by Dr. House’s journal
where the change in this order is associated with the temporary
displeasure of the king towards the missionaries by reason of a
letter calumniating his character, which coincidently appeared in a
newspaper of Straits Settlement and which he erroneously attributed
to a missionary.

FIRST FRUITS OF THE MISSION

Along with the turn of the tide in the relations of the government
there came to the workers the cheer of gathering the first fruits
from the seed of their own sowing. Though there was no evidence
of the native Siamese being interested in the Gospel, yet the
missionaries were not left without a token that their work was
honoured of God. Two years after the organisation of the church, a
Chinese convert was received. Under date of Oct., 1851, Dr. House
wrote to his parents:

“It is at last our privilege to write to you of one who, once
a worshipper of idols, is now a worshipper of Jehovah.... His
name is Ooan Si Teng, a Chinese twenty-four years old, born
on the Island of Hainan, has been here some six years, speaks
and reads Siamese and also reads his native language. He has
been living in the family of Mr. Mattoon for the past two
or three years. From his first acquaintance with us he has
been convinced of the folly of idol worship and has renounced
it.... He accompanied Mrs. Mattoon to Singapore as bearer
for little Lowrie; and Dr. Lane, with whom Mrs. Mattoon
resided while there, says of him that had he already been a
professing Christian, his conduct could not have been more
exemplary.

“So it was with great joy that at our last communion October
5, we received him to the ordinance of the Lord’s appointing.
The eyes of more than one of us were filled with tears of joy
as we looked on this interesting scene.... In all probability
he was the first native of that Island to be converted to
protestant Christianity.”

While there was bright hope of the immediate prospects on the
field, from the Mission Board there came the discouraging reply,
“No money, no men,” in response to pleas for recruits. The reports
of the dire situation under the old king had not yet been
overtaken at home by the news of the marvellous change under the
new government.

PERSONAL RELATIONS WITH KING MONGKUT

As he had intimated, the king could not continue familiar
intercourse with the westerners because none but the nobles might
enter his presence, except by particular request. There was some
speculation, therefore, as to the attitude he would assume towards
the missionaries after the coronation ceremonies were over. Any
misgivings they may have had were soon dispelled. For some years
it had been the custom of the Prince-Priest to celebrate his
birthday—“the day like that on which I was born,” as he termed
it—by inviting his foreign friends to a feast. The missionaries
awaited the royal birthday with some interest, agreeing among
themselves that his future attitude towards them would be more
truly forecast by his treatment of his former custom. When the day
approached the king sent an autograph letter “to all the white
strangers,” inviting them to the palace.

Concerning this event Dr. House wrote (Oct. 18, 1851):

“This day twelve-month, how different we were situated: our
teachers arrested and in irons; our servants panic struck or
in prison; and we seriously agitating the question of seeking
a more open field to labor in.

“Now we are the invited guests of the King himself, on the
occasion of his forty-seventh birthday, to dine at the royal
palace with other Europeans. His Majesty’s eldest son is
deputed to do the honours of the feast, and we receiving a
present of gold from the sovereign of the land as a token
of his favour; and nobles and princes courting rather than
shunning our acquaintance.”

King Mongkut entertained a particularly high esteem for Dr. Bradley
and Dr. House. This admiration manifested itself not merely by
including them under the bestowal of general favours but by marks
of personal consideration. It was no small honour which the king
conferred upon Dr. House by this request (July, 1852):

“Honoured today by the first personal summons I (or indeed
any of us missionaries) have received to the royal presence.
Nai Poon called to say that he was ordered some days ago
to take me for conversation in English as His Majesty was
‘losing all his English.’”

Frequently the king sent to Dr. House requesting him to translate
for him items of political or scientific interest in English
journals or to report news from the doctor’s foreign mail. Before
the king engaged Mrs. Leonowens, the English governess, who served
also as his amanuensis, he occasionally would summon Dr. House to
transcribe in a familiar hand letters in English to the king or to
write for him letters to foreign rulers, including Queen Victoria
and the President of the United States.

In his capacity as a surgeon, after he had given up the general
practise, Dr. House was on two occasions summoned to assist Dr.
Bradley at the king’s palace. In January of 1852 he records his
first attendance:

“At His Majesty’s request—the prince physician desiring
it, Dr. Bradley was summoned to take charge of one of the
royal ladies who had been confined but a few days before
of a princess—His Majesty’s first begotten since his
accession.... Never before had any foreign physician been
within the forbidden precincts of the harem of the royal
palace. His Majesty, like a good husband anxious for his
young wife, desired Dr. Bradley to invite me to accompany him
as counsel in the case. So in the evening I went expecting to
return by twelve o’clock. Parleying at the inner gate, women
servants opened the gates and escorted us to the palace. Dr.
Bradley had got the fire by which she was lying extinguished
(custom required ‘lying by the fire’), had put her on a close
diet and other treatment. An old lady of rank waited to carry
up my opinion of the case to the ‘Sacred Feet.’ At midnight,
finding our patient had no new paroxysms, as we feared she
might, we proposed going home. ‘Go, how can you; you must
stay till morning, you are locked in and the key sent to the
king, so stay you must; no one goes out till daylight!’”

Some days after Dr. Bradley received from the king the following
letter of appreciation:

“MY DEAR SIR:

“My mind is indeed full of much gratitude to you for your
skill and some expense of medicine in most valuable favour to
my dear lady, the mother of my infant daughter, by saving her
life from approaching death. I cannot hesitate longer than
perceiving that she was undoubtedly saved.

“I beg therefore your kind acceptance of two hundred ticals
for Dr. Bradley, who was the curer of her, and forty ticals
for Dr. S. R. House, who had some trouble in his assistance,
for being your grateful reward.

“I trust(ed) previously the manner of curing in the obstetric
of America and Europe, but sorry to say I could not get the
same lady to believe before her approaching (threatening)
death, because her kindred were many more who lead her
according to their custom. Your present curing, however, was
just now most wonderful in this palace.

“I beg to remain your friend and well-wisher,
“S. P. P. M. MONGKUT, _the King of Siam_.”

In September of the same year the two doctors were again called to
the palace to attend upon the queen-consort. A still-birth had left
the queen in a precarious condition, so that for more than a month
Dr. Bradley was in almost continuous attendance throughout the
day, while Dr. House took his place during the night. During this
occasion it was necessary for them to remain in the palace on the
Sabbath, and on that day the two missionaries availed themselves
of a privilege accorded by the king, who agreed that when it was
necessary for them to remain during Sunday they should have freedom
to conduct worship in the palace.

“There in that hall of the queen’s apartments in the inner
palace, to the interesting group around, Dr. Bradley read the
scriptures ... his auditors occasionally asking questions,
sometimes for information, sometimes in a carping way.”

But the queen was not improving; and at her request the foreign
doctors were permitted to leave and the Siamese court physicians
restored to their functions, administering their medicines prepared
from “sapanwood shavings, rhinoceros’ blood and the cast-off skins
of spiders.” After a day the American physicians were again called
in attendance, and although they judged the cause to be beyond
help, continued in constant attendance.

“September 25. For first time without exception since Monday,
September 13, am to sleep in my own bed at home—having
all other nights slept in my clothes at the royal palace,
relieving Dr. B. who has charge of the queen in his
attendance at night, his family requiring his presence then.”

The death of the queen occurred on the tenth of October. On this
occasion Dr. House was requested by the king to write a detailed
account of the late illness and death of the queen; and this,
together with matter of his own composition, the king had printed
for distribution.

A MISSION SCHOOL ORGANIZED

Having obtained a permanent location, the Presbyterian missionaries
advanced to the long-cherished project of a school. Under date of
August, 1852, Dr. House makes entry:

“In evening we talked over plans for doing good, laying out
mission work, schools, bazaar schools, a Chinese teacher.
Will go to Rapri to visit our brother Quakieng.”

This last sentence refers to the Chinese who had been received into
the young church upon certificate. He lived at Rapri (Ratburi), a
few days’ journey northwest of Bangkok, where he conducted a school
for Chinese children. A week later the journal records: “On next
Sabbath (15th) Quakieng will begin to explain the Scripture to the
Chinese.” This indicates the first step forward, a teacher of the
Chinese language introduced as a means of gaining pupils from
among the Siamo-Chinese children. From this time until his death he
was fully associated with the school; and in November he removed
his family to live near the mission compound.

At the annual meeting of the Mission, Oct. 4, 1852, the journal
says:

“A superintendent of mission schools appointed; and myself
appointed to that office. Shall have new responsibilities and
important ones; would shrink, but dare not, cannot—must go
forward. Perhaps will find what I have been waiting for yet.
Talked over openings for starting schools. We all feel as if
we are but just organized—as it were, commencing.”

This appointment was after the doctor had fully abandoned medical
practise. The new school started off with good prospects. In
October Mrs. Mattoon began to give instruction in Siamese language
to the eight boys. The annual report to the Board, prepared perhaps
two months later, gives the enrollment at twenty-seven, including
the four girls in the families and day pupils; while in January the
doctor comments:

“Our schools are doing well, but too few pupils. Geography
and arithmetic in the boarding school (twelve pupils) now
fall to me.”

The use of the word “schools” in the plural is accounted for by the
fact that Mrs. Mattoon had succeeded about this time in organising
a class in the Peguan village, across the river. But the period
of daily instruction was manifestly not enough to counteract the
influence of the community. Having through a number of months
succeeded in winning the confidence of the parents, at length,
in February, 1853, she induced them to let their children (mostly
girls) go to live in the mission compound:

“February 9. Tomorrow we expect to have quite an accession
to the number of our boarding pupils—the whole (almost) of
the scholars at the Peguan village, where Mrs. Mattoon has
won the confidence of the parents as well as the love of
the children. Teacher Kieng reports that their mothers were
washing and scrubbing them as clean as possible today, and
their teeth have all got quite white, so long have they left
off chewing betel.

“February 10. And they have indeed come, the little ones whom
Mrs. Mattoon has allured from their mothers, to take up their
home with us. They hardly slept last night their mothers
said and were up early—and yet some tears were shed.... The
mothers came with them; showed them our school rooms, the new
bamboo bedsteads, the maps—China, Burmah, Ceylon, England,
America. Speaking of my mother—‘Is she yet alive?’ said one
of them, ‘now why did you leave your mother and come to live
in Siam.’... Ploi is engaged by Mrs. Mattoon to prepare their
food and to go to bathe with them.”

Thus began the first boarding school for girls at the Presbyterian
Mission in Siam.

DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING PUPILS

One of the difficulties encountered was to secure pupils for a
period sufficiently long to make the work worth while. So little
did the Siamese parents value the opportunities offered that they
even wanted to be paid to send their children. A custom of the
country afforded a practical means to obtain and hold pupils for a
period of years.

“February 14, 1853. Today an addition to my family and to my
responsibilities. A bright little Taichen Chinese boy, eleven
years old, son of the old Chinese teacher of Mr. Gutzlaff.
The old man is in trouble—a debt with interest. So he came
to us offering to sell the lad, knowing that the boy would
be educated and in good hands. It is so difficult to secure
any other way but by buying them, boys for any length of time
for schools in Siam, that the end would almost justify the
means, were we to actually buy them, as Siamese masters do.
As it was I had a paper drawn up in which I was to have a boy
for seven years for eight dollars, after which he was to be
restored to the father free—a kind of apprenticeship.”

The father was one of the cholera patients whom Dr. House saved
from death. This lad’s name was Naah. Some nine months later the
father, upon his death bed, gave the boy to Dr. House.

A year or more later, commenting upon this practise of obtaining
boys for the school, the doctor said:

“This we find is the best, if not the only way we can secure
the keeping of these native children in our boarding school.
And I do not hesitate to do it when we have the money to
spare. At present have outstanding one hundred and nine
dollars, invested in seven children.”

And then he slyly wonders what the abolitionists at home would say
if they heard of this plan of “buying children” to educate them.
In the course of a few years the boarding schools grew to fill
the capacity of the mission. From the beginning the curriculum
included the principles of domestic economy and manual training in
a practical form. The girls shared in the house work; the older
ones also assisted in teaching the younger ones. The boys had their
allotment of work, so that the expense of the school was kept at a
minimum; for the first full year the cost was only two hundred and
eighty-one dollars, exclusive of Kee-Eng’s salary.

TO KORAT

Tired from his confining labours, in December, 1853, Dr. House set
out for a tour to the distant city of Korat, some two hundred miles
in a northeast radius from the capital, but involving nearly twice
that distance of travel. The undertaking had the approval of King
Mongkut, who not only issued the usual passport but sent a letter
commanding all officials to afford assistance and protection,
and directing the governor of Korat to give supplies and other
facilities as might be required. The journey occupied fifty-eight
days and was made partly by boat, partly by elephant train and
partly by buffalo cart. A party of five trusty natives accompanied
him, including Ati, his faithful teacher.

Korat, the capital of the province of the same name, had a
population of some thirty thousand. Dr. House was the first white
person to visit the city, at least in modern times. The out journey
was made by boat up the Meinam to Salaburi on an east branch of the
stream two days above Ayuthia. There elephants were hired to carry
the party with their burden of books and supplies. The course lay
across country through the jungle and over the mountains, requiring
seventeen days from Bangkok. In reporting home his safe return he
wrote briefly:

“I have not had time since my return to draw up a detailed
account of all that befell me on the road, but I think I can
promise you an interesting letter next time—that is, if a
traveller’s tale of life in the woods, riding on elephants
(being thrown from the back of one and lying at the mercy
of the huge creature—with those great feet pawing the air
six inches from my head), riding in buffalo carts, footing
it, roughing it; now shooting deer or peacock, now entirely
out of provisions and making a meal of rice and burnt coarse
sugar; seeing great tiger tracks and hearing their cry,
sleeping in the open air by the watch fire, three nights
and four days without seeing human habitation—with divers
other adventures, will interest you; or if accounts of the
glad reception my books and gospel message seemed to receive
in the many villages and hamlets and in the city, where no
messenger with glad tidings had ever gone before.”

He was well received by the governor of the province, whom he
had previously met in Bangkok. Intercourse with the governor
proved that the doctor could not only show him wonders of western
knowledge but could discover to him facts in his own realm of
interests. Salt being a rare commodity and the local product
being coarse and black, Dr. House showed him how to purify it,
greatly to his delight. As a mark of appreciation the governor
had brought in from the country three unusually large elephants
for the visitor to see; while reviewing them, the doctor called
his attention to a fact of nature concerning elephants, viz.:
that the height of an elephant is equal to just twice the girth
of its foot. His host would not believe this until he had his men
try the experiment on several animals. The doctor had also found
that the elephant provides a reliable pedometer; as its walking
gait is quite uniform, it is necessary only to measure the step
of the particular beast (usually forty to forty-two inches) and
then counting the number of paces per minute (usually seventy) the
distance covered in a given time is easily calculated.

An amusing incident occurred while the stranger was exploring the
city, and Dr. House relates the story with an evident sense of
humour:

“Sallied forth at noon to take a walk east of town. In east
gate got into conversation with some citizens; others came
out to gaze at the stranger till soon had a fair audience
to listen as I opened to them the great truth of the Being
of God. An old man sat down on a stone in the gateway to
listen—all was news to him and others—when a drunken
fellow, sent of Satan as it were, came up and soon became
very noisy, till I could only talk in snatches. Gentle means
nor threatenings availed, but I gave some books.

“Leaving I was going quietly on the way to a watt outside
the walls when my troubler came following after, noisy and
cursing. I gave him that road and took another in another
direction. He returned to follow me, when I thought I was
justified in teaching him that there was a limit to even
Christian patience. So I tripped up his heels, hoping to walk
off out of his way before he could get to his legs again.
But he was only drunk enough to be impudent, and now angrily
followed after me. I picked up a broken limb and turned to
meet my adversary. Brandishing my rather formidable weapon in
the air over the fellow’s head, I ordered him to wheel about
and march back to the city gate. Many had gathered in the
meantime to see what would happen. The fellow was frightened
at my earnestness, quailed and marched; soon stopped to
plead that he intended no harm, when I punched him with my
umbrella with one hand to quicken his steps and flourished
the sledgehammer-like limb in the other, and off he marched
again as bid. This I repeated till getting tired, I tripped
up his heels again and left him sprawling while I went on my
way unmolested.... I cannot even now help laughing at the
figure I must have made with my shillalah swinging over his
head, and his mortal terror at the same.”

Royal passports were not always honoured at face value by distant
under governors. Dr. House found that while the king had commanded,
the command was not much more than warrant for him to demand.
After waiting some days for the governor to engage elephants
for the return trip there was little hope of having his desire
granted unless he took up the task himself. Vigourous action and
persistence overcame the inhospitality which was displayed. The
return trip was laid out through the western part of ancient
Cambodia, through the Chong To’ko pass, thence to the headwaters of
the Bang Pakong River, and home by way of Kabin and Patchin.

Through this region he met with even great indifference to the
king’s commands:

“On the long roundabout journey home from Korat, the person
of whom I engaged my elephants took me for purposes of his
own far round to the southeast of Kabin, the point I wished
to reach at the head of navigation on the Bang Pakong River.
Not unwilling to see the country, I put up with a good
deal of imposition on the part of my guide ... one of the
greatest rogues I ever met. At the village where he resided I
consented to proceed with buffalo carts instead of elephants
at his urgency. We had travelled on with them some days when,
one afternoon walking in advance of my party, I entered the
little Cambodian village of Sakao, three miles east of Kabin
on the military road to the capital of Cambodia.

“Here was an officer of the customs who was on the lookout
for some Cochin Chinese soldiers who had deserted from the
king’s service; and they being unaccustomed to a white face
and I doubtless rather travel worn, and my appearance there
unattended being decidedly suspicious, they were on the point
of arresting me as a “deserter,” when first the name and then
the presence of my guide (who after awhile came along with my
outfit) made all right, for the custom officer and my guide
were old friends.

“Expecting to get away after an early breakfast next morning,
I slept in one of the carts.... Next morning I tried in vain
to purchase a fowl; went over to the headman to beg him help
me. “He had no fowls, he did not think he could procure any
in the village”; but while he was speaking I actually saw
some running about under the house. I was beginning to think
rather hard of Cambodian hospitality when, induced by triple
price, a man slyly brought me a chicken.

“While I was eating my breakfast, the custom house officer
came over to visit his friend, my guide. Soon a neighbour
brought in a large brass dish, and from the liquor in it
the three quaffed and quaffed again, till they became very
chatty and good humoured. I had finished my breakfast and the
cart drivers were waiting for their master. But he was too
pleasantly engaged to leave the jovial company he was in. In
vain I called on him to eat his breakfast that we might be
off, for the sun was high, and still three days remained of
our journey and we had already lost much time on his account.
“Not yet, not yet,” he answered, and kept on sipping from the
bowl of arrack.

“Time passed. At 10:30 they were still at their cups. My
patience was now clear gone. To go on I was resolved and no
longer to be defrauded of my time by a knave. I told him ‘go
he must’ or I should go on without him and he should not
receive a penny of the half-hire to be paid at the journey’s
end, and I should report him to the governor of Korat, who
had put me in his care. ‘And how will you go on without the
buffalo carts?’ he impudently asked. ‘Do as I did when I
went on to Korat; I will hire carriers here in the village
and walk on.’ ‘Not a man shall leave this place to help
you’—put in the custom house officer, ‘he would forbid their
going.’

“I had said nothing to him before, but now I spoke: ‘Mr.
Officer, last night you heard my passport read and the
peremptory order of the viceroy of Korat that I be not
detained a single day on my mission’—and I took him by the
arm as I spoke and looked him in the face—‘You dare not stop
me. Is his excellency the governor of Korat nobody? I have
the royal seal, too—do you not dread that? Keep me here
one-half day more and you will repent of it.’

“His anger that was written on every line of his knavish face
sobered him. The villagers around looked on astonished at
my audacity, bearding this great man in his den, and he did
not know what to make of it. Just then, my guide seeing that
I was resolute in the matter, gave in, ordered the buffalos
to be yoked and told his servants to drive ahead, he would
follow. I took a formal but civil leave of the worthy; we
were off, and my guide, running after, soon overtook us.
Would you believe it, we proceeded but three quarters of
an hour, when he drove off the highway to the shelter of
some trees by the side of a swamp and there came to a halt,
pretending it was necessary to feed the buffalos and that
there was no suitable place beyond. So there two or more
hours were lost—and this while one of my servants was very
ill, our stock of provisions all low, and already seventeen
days on a journey that should have taken but seven.”

The river was finally reached; the buffalo caravan dismissed and
boats engaged to carry the party to Bangkok, where they arrived
after nineteen days’ travel from Korat.

Two lesser trips were made in 1854, which were of some interest.
In June, he accompanied the Baptist missionaries on a trip to
Bangplasoi on the gulf:

“I had long been promising myself a visit to my old patient,
Chek Chong, the Chinese fisherman whose arm I amputated
five or six years ago to save his life, threatened by
mortification resulting from an alligator bite that had
nearly severed the poor man’s wrist. The loss of his arm
seems to have been under Providence the means of saving his
soul, for the religious impression he received while in the
hospital never left him; he then expressed himself willing to
make our God his God. Being unable to read and not being able
to speak Siamese at all ... we referred him to our brethren
of the Baptist mission with some of whose church members he
was already acquainted.... After a due season of instruction
and probation they received him to church membership about a
year ago.

“Living some sixty to seventy miles from Bangkok he cannot
often see his spiritual teachers, and would be quite shut out
from religious privilege, were it not that Bangplasoi has
been made a kind of an outstation by the Baptist mission....
So when I was invited to accompany Mr. Ashmore to that
mission, I readily accepted....

“While there, Chek Chong told me that ever since he had
lived with us at the hospital he had observed the Sabbath,
refraining from labour. Looking around at the evidence of
thrift about him, I replied: ‘I do not believe you are the
poorer for losing one day’s work in seven.’ ‘Yes,’ he said,
‘while the fish business has turned out poorly this season,
out of thirty engaged in it of my neighbours, only four have
succeeded at all, and I am one.’

“We attended morning and evening worship with the family and
such of their neighbours as chose to come in and listen....
Chek Chong being called on to lead in prayer, offered up
thanks most devoutly that ‘the redheaded (_i. e._, not black
like Chinese) foreign teachers had come to visit him.’ He
seems to have much influence for Christ; he is not ashamed of
our Christ; two of his nephews are inquirers; the wife puts
no hindrance in his way.”

The other trip was made in November, when the doctor explored the
Meinam “farthest north” up to that date, reaching Pitsanuloke and
Pichit and occupying thirty-three days. Some sixty to seventy
villages were visited along the way and more than thirteen hundred
tracts given only to those who could read.

CLOUDED FRIENDSHIPS

The favour of the king was for a time withdrawn by reason of an
incident the character of which was vague to the missionaries at
the time. Later the cause of the estrangement was discovered to be
a letter which appeared in an English journal at Straits Settlement
in October, 1854. The offending letter not only misrepresented some
acts of the government but calumniated the character of the king,
and insinuated that he was held in low esteem by the missionaries
as well as by other foreigners. For some reason the king ascribed
the authorship of this letter to a missionary who had recently
passed through Singapore; and among his officials, as learned
later, he threatened to expel the missionaries except Dr. Bradley
and Dr. House.

The first warning of royal displeasure was the arrest of the
Siamese teachers on the fictitious charge of teaching the sacred
language to foreigners. Then the missionary ladies, presenting
themselves at the palace gate as usual for admission to teach
their classes, were ignored. The missionaries, essaying to go out
to the sea coast for recuperation learned that a decree had been
issued to limit their movements; but inquiry received only evasive
explanations. Finally the king sent a demand that the missionaries
collectively should sign a paper disclaiming authorship of the
letter and denying in toto its imputation; this demand was made
before they had seen the letter, but it gave them an understanding
of the trouble.

After consultation they declined to assent to this demand,
partly because it might be construed as an acknowledgment of
responsibility, and partly because they considered it impolitic
to make a general defense of the government, some of whose
affairs they did not fully approve. However, they drew up a paper
denying their complicity in the publication and reaffirming their
friendship towards the king. After several months the teachers were
allowed to return to the mission, but with an admonition against
giving out “false information lest the missionaries put it in their
letters and send it out of the country”; the decree of restriction,
however, continued in force for some time. The servants, returning
to the mission compound, reported the nature of the examination to
which they had been subjected by the king, and Dr. House records
the following: “Being asked which missionaries he visited in his
work, one replied ‘Maw House.’ ‘Well,’ said the king, ‘Maw House is
good hearted, affable and good humoured,’ and thus was evidently
satisfied that the unfavourable reports could not be laid to the
teachers.”

Dr. House quietly pursued an inquiry into this matter, and after
some months came to the conclusion that the instigator, if not
the actual writer of the letter, was a certain Captain Trail,
commander of one of the king’s trading vessels. It seems that while
in Singapore port, one night at eleven o’clock the captain fired a
salute in honour of a ball on shore given by a friend. The British
consul complained to his superior against the alarm caused by the
firing, and his government forwarded the complaint to Bangkok. The
captain was arrested and cast into a native gaol, which was crowded
with low class prisoners, and was there for several days before his
friends learned of the case. Some of the missionaries interceded
for him and secured his release. When he left Bangkok he threatened
to get even with the government for his treatment, and there was
good reason to suppose that the letter was the means of revenge he
took.

This entry in Dr. House’s journal was annotated in pencil several
years afterwards, adding “the letter was doubtless gotten up
between Josephs (the Armenian merchant) and Capt. Eames, a friend
of Captain Trail, with the knowledge of the prime minister, who
was piqued at the king, and whose knowledge of the state affairs
had given the insinuations in the letter which aroused the king’s
hostility.” Fortunately, time convinced the king of the total
innocence of all the missionaries and in due time the cloud of
disfavour vanished.

VIII

SIAM OPENS HER DOORS—MORE WORKERS ENTER

The accession of King Mongkut so completely changed the attitude
of the government towards foreign nations that the danger of a
clash with England disappeared over night. In due course of time
Queen Victoria sent a note of congratulations to the new Siamese
sovereign and expressed her desire to send an envoy for the purpose
of revising the existing treaty. Upon receipt of this letter the
king despatched it to Dr. House with the request to “transcribe
it in a plain, legible hand”; for though the king could read and
write English fairly, he preferred to have letters from abroad
transcribed in a handwriting with which he was familiar, to avoid
misunderstanding. In this connection, Mrs. Leonowens, who acted as
his English secretary some years later, says that at times the king
would insist upon his own diction in English in spite of warning of
its turgidity, and when his communications of this character were
misinterpreted he would lay the blame on his amanuensis.

In March, 1855, the English embassy arrived. The special envoy was
Sir John Bowring, Vice-Admiral and Governor of the English colony
at Hong Kong. Dr. House had, some years before, received a friendly
letter from Sir John through his son John C. Bowring, for whom Dr.
House was collecting specimens of Siamese insects; and he looked
forward with great pleasure to a personal meeting with the noted
English diplomat. Again the king sent to the doctor a succession of
notes received from Sir John announcing his arrival, requesting a
private audience, etc., desiring these notes to be transcribed; by
which means Dr. House was kept informed of the progress of affairs.

The reception of this embassy was in marked contrast with the
treatment of Sir James Brookes. The ceremonies were aglow with
friendliness, and the negotiations were undertaken with the least
possible delay contingent upon the courtesies of the occasion.
The prince who was chief commissioner for the Siamese sent for
Dr. House for an interview; he said that the Siamese had proposed
the missionaries as interpreters on their side, but this had been
declined by the ambassador on the ground that the missionaries were
Americans.

“Soon after [the prince] sent for me, to accompany him to the
conference of the commissioners with Sir John to discuss the
treaty. Found the prime minister there, who joined in urging
me. But I felt constrained to decline the honour they would
do me, feeling my incompetence to do justice in interpreting
such important matters as might come up; then—‘Mr. Mattoon
must go’—so the prince himself went over for him and
carried him off as a ‘kind of companion,’ he said, not as
translator;—as he did not trust in ** but in the missionary
he did trust. ‘He must be as ears for him’—I understood him
that the king said this last night.”

While negotiations were under way both Mr. Mattoon and Dr. House
were frequently summoned to assist the Siamese in the official
translation of their counter proposals into English, even working
all night on the final draft.

DR. HOUSE AND SIR JOHN BOWRING

The confidences were not all from the Siamese side. Sir John
Bowring told Dr. House privately that he had “come with an
olive branch in my hand, but behind me—!” and that he had been
reluctant to undertake the mission but had received letters from
the king urging him to come. The Siamese officials were so ready
for negotiations that they readily acquiesced in the English
proposals; and, apart from the preliminary ceremonies, the complete
negotiations were accomplished within a week.

In his book, _The Kingdom and People of Siam_, which gives a
detailed account of his mission, Sir John includes several lengthy
memoranda which he attributes to a “certain foreign gentleman long
resident in Siam.” Many of these are to be found recorded in Dr.
House’s private journal at various dates preceding the arrival of
the British envoy. His narrative of the scenes attendant upon the
choice of Mongkut is almost verbatim from the doctor’s account.
He highly praises the progressive spirit and the keen mind of the
prime minister, contrasting him with the usual Oriental diplomat,
and adds:

“I learned that on one occasion he sent for a foreign
gentleman whose opinion he greatly valued, and in the
presence of many persons entered upon a dialogue in which
the foreign gentleman was to impersonate J. Bowring in a
discussion of the expected proposals.”

Thereupon follows the dialogue in full. The original of this
unique rehearsal in diplomatic combat is found in the doctor’s
journal as a record of his interview with the prime minister after
it was learned that England was to send a mission. Sir John also
accredits the minister with a confession of belief in one supreme
Divine Being, ascribing his information to a “certain gentleman”;
this confession, Dr. House says, was made to him personally and
acknowledges in a letter that he had reported it to the British
envoy. The number and extent of these and still other quotations
shows that Sir John Bowring had gleaned much of his knowledge of
the Siamese from Dr. House.

* * * * *

During his sojourn in Bangkok Sir John Bowring attended service at
the mission one Sunday. Dr. House records the visit, noting that in
alphabetical order it was his turn to preach, and confesses that
he felt a little secret trembling in the presence of the august
visitor. Sir John, in his account of the visit, adds that the
“congregation very sweetly sang one of my hymns”—for he is the
same Sir John Bowring whose name ranks high in hymnology, being
the author of these hymns, among others: “_God is Love, His Mercy
Brightens_,” “_Watchman, Tell Us of the Night_,” and “_In the Cross
of Christ I Glory_.”

As a broad and deep student of human affairs and one obviously
sympathetic with missions, Sir John’s estimate of the work in Siam
at that period and of the peculiarly obstinate nature of Buddhism
is noteworthy. Concerning Buddhism he says:

“Buddhism by habit and education is become almost a part
of Siamese nature; and that nature will not bend to foreign
influence. The Siamese, whether or not they have religious
convictions, have habits which the teaching of strangers will
not easily change.”

Concerning the influence of the missionaries he says:

“Much influence is really possessed by the missionaries. They
have rendered eminent services in the medical and chirurgical
fields; they have lent great assistance to the spirit of
philosophical inquiry; many of them have been councillors
and favourites of king and nobles, admitted to intimate
intercourse and treated with a deference which could not but
elevate them in the eyes of a prostrate, reverential and
despotically governed people.”

But concerning the prospects of success for the Gospel the diplomat
is not so optimistic:

“I know not what is to impede religious teachings in Siam,
but at the same time I fear there is little ground to
expect a change in the national faith. Neither Catholic nor
Protestant speaks hopefully on the subject.”

The significance of that statement, written for the year 1855, lies
chiefly in its contrast with the fact of the certain if slow growth
of Christianity in Siam and the record of attainment to date.
Even the keenest human observer cannot forecast the fruits of the
Spirit’s work.

TREATIES WITH OTHER NATIONS

In 1856 a diplomatic mission from the United States reached
Bangkok, seeking a revision of the existing treaty. The mission
was headed by Hon. Townsend Harris, who, it is interesting to
note, came from Sandy Hill, New York, the home of Mr. Mattoon and
Mr. Bush. The Siamese government was quite ready to negotiate, for
they had the recent experience to guide them and the English treaty
for a model; and a new treaty was speedily effected. Had Dr. House
been in Bangkok at this time, the Foreign Minister assured him
later that the Siamese government would have asked to have had him
appointed first consul under the new treaty.

In the same year a French embassy negotiated a treaty similar to
that of the English and American. In one point, however, the French
advanced a step. Sir John Bowring could secure the right for the
English to own lands or build houses only within twenty-four hours
of Bangkok (a very extensible limit, as time has shown), and Mr.
Harris accepted the same provision. The French, however, demanded
and secured the provision that “French missionaries may travel
to any part of the kingdom and build houses, churches, schools,
hospitals, etc.”; a privilege which immediately accrued to the
Americans by reason of the “favoured nation” clause in their treaty.

When the ratifications of the American treaty were exchanged, a
year later, King Mongkut issued the following memorandum:

“We now have embraced the best opportunity to have made and
exchanged the treaty of friendship and commerce with the
United States of America, and we shall be very glad to esteem
the President of the United States at present and in the
future as our respected friend, and esteem the United States
as united in close friendship, as we know that the government
of the United States must ever act with justice, and is not
often embroiled in difficulties with other nations.

“And if the treaty of friendship between the United States
and Siam has been (shall be?) long preserved in harmony and
peaceful manner it will ever be the occasion of the highest
praise among the Siamese people.

“(Signed) SUPREMUS REX SIAMENSIIUM,
“S. P. P. MONGKUT.”

The influence of the missionaries in bringing about the treaty
relation of Siam with the Western world has been testified by
several. The king himself sanctioned the following statement of
esteem towards the missionaries for their influence on the country:

“Many years ago the American missionaries came here. They
came before any Europeans, and they taught the Siamese
to speak and read the English language. The American
missionaries have always been just and upright men. They
have never meddled in the affairs of government, nor created
any difficulties with the Siamese. They have lived with
the Siamese just as if they belonged to the nation. The
government of Siam has great love and respect for them and
has no fear whatever concerning them. When there has been
a difficulty of any kind, the missionaries have many times
rendered valuable assistance. For this reason the Siamese
have loved and respected them for a long time. The Americans
have also taught the Siamese many things.”

In the same line spoke the Regent, during the regency over
Chulalonkorn, to United States Consul General Hon. George F. Seward:

“Siam has not been disciplined by English and French guns as
China has, but the country has been opened by missionaries.”

The recognition of the indirect influence of the missionaries in
facilitating the treaties was acknowledged by Dr. Wm. M. Wood, late
surgeon-general in the United States Navy, who accompanied Mr.
Harris on his diplomatic mission; stating in his book, _Fankwei_,
that the

“... unselfish kindness of the American missionaries, their
patience, sincerity and truthfulness, have won the confidence
and esteem of the natives, and in some degree transferred
those sentiments to the nation represented by the missions,
and prepared the way for the free intercourse now commencing.
It was very evident that much of the apprehension they felt
in taking upon themselves the responsibilities of a treaty
with us would be diminished if they could have the Rev. Mr.
Mattoon as the first United States Consul to set the treaty
in motion.”

A VISIT HOME

The first decade of Dr. House’s service was drawing to a close
without any apparent need for a furlough, as need was then
understood. He had become acclimated, accustomed to conditions
of Siamese life and was apparently contented with his bachelor
state. That the tropics had proved to be more friendly than he had
expected, is implied in his frequent expressions of surprise at
continued good health, even assuring his friends at home that his
physical condition was better than before he left America. But this
was not the common lot of missionaries in the early days. On the
tenth anniversary of his departure from New York he wrote:

“Of the company of the _Grafton_ two already are dead and
three compelled to return home from broken health. Mr.
Mattoon and I alone are left on the field—besides Mrs.
Mattoon, the eighth of the party.”

The enervating conditions of life in Siam are described with good
understanding by Mr. George B. Bacon in his volume on _Siam_:

“It is when we remember the enervating influence of the
drowsy tropics upon character that we learn fitly to honour
the men and women by whom the inauguration of this new era
in Siamese history has been brought about. To live for a
little while among these sensuous influences without any
very serious intellectual work to do or any grave moral
responsibility to bear is one thing; but to live a life among
them with such a constant strain upon the mind and heart as
the laying of the Christian foundations among heathen must
necessitate is quite another thing.

“This is what the missionaries of Siam have to do. The battle
is not with the prejudice of heathenism only, nor with the
vices and ignorance of bad men only; it is a battle with
nature itself.... The fierce sun wilts the vigour of his
mind and scorches up the fresh enthusiasm of his heart....
Therefore I give the greater honour to the earnest men and
to the patient women who are labouring and praying for the
coming of the Christian day to this people.”

When Dr. House parted with his parents in the New York harbour, it
was with the mutual expectation of never seeing each other again.
The separation was intensified in its realism by the slowness of
communication. His message announcing safe arrival in Siam did not
reach his parents until thirteen months after his departure. Their
response to this message was one which stirred his emotions to the
depths and made him oblivious of all around him; it told of his
father and mother and cousins kneeling together upon receipt of the
news and offering thanksgiving for the beginning of his missionary
work. The many friends who wrote letters to him doubtless never
understood what joy they gave him by their messages. After
receiving a consignment of mail he writes: “Their letters do cheer,
do strengthen, do inspire new resolves, and make me ashamed of my
unworthy service.” He records with expressions of esteem the names
of those from whom he receives communications by each mail; and to
one who knows something of the home church these names stand as a
roster of zealous workers, names of families that continue to the
present day.

The affectionate interest of the people was more than individual;
it came to be almost a community interest. The “monthly concert
of missions” saw the old session house filled with people eager
to hear the latest letter from their own foreign missionary. On
his part he kept in mind the day of these church gatherings and,
allowing for the difference of time, he estimated that his Monday
morning hour of devotions corresponded with the Sunday evening at
home, and surmised “in our little session room at Waterford many
a fervent prayer was going up for me and my fellow labourers from
those whose prayers will prevail at the throne of grace.”

It is not surprising that the home church grew mightily in
the grace of giving and developed a generosity which, long
before forward movements, attained a standard of giving more to
beneficence than to their own work and led the Presbytery in their
gifts to the foreign work. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D., who served the
church as pastor 1863-9 and later became one of the most powerful
public advocates of missions, bore this testimony to their zeal, on
the occasion of the church’s centennial in 1904:

“I owe much of my own enthusiasm for missions to my six
years in this church. It was most active and aggressive in
this department of service. It had its own missionary in the
field, and kept in living contact with him by correspondence,
gifts and prayer. This missionary atmosphere I breathed
with immense profit, and I was compelled either to lead my
people in missionary work or to resign my pastorate. My real
missionary education began here in a church far ahead of me
in intelligence and enthusiasm for God’s work.”

No mention of home-going appears in Dr. House’s journal or
correspondence till a letter from his mother, in 1852, shows her
sternly-repressed desire to see her son:

“The Lord has a work for you to do in Siam, and much as I
long to see you I would not call you home from it. But if
health or benefit of mission require it, I would say ‘Come at
once—come home that we may embrace you once more; and then
return with new vigour to help forward that glorious work
which is yet to be accomplished in Siam.’”

More than a year later a joint letter from the parents enlarges
upon the subject. First the father writes:

“When your health should make necessary that you should have
the invigourating influence of a sea voyage and our climate,
you may tax me for the expense, if I should be spared. If
not, I hope to leave sufficient at your disposal to relieve
your mind from any anxiety on the subject. I am anxious only
for you to be wise and to adopt the course most likely to
prolong your life and to serve your Master as a missionary.
Whether we shall be permitted to meet again on earth is a
small matter (although there is nothing here that would offer
me more happiness) when compared with the magnitude of the
work in which you are engaged. Therefore I can say with your
dear mother that I cheerfully submit to the disposal of Him
who has crowned our lives with loving-kindness and who will
order all that concerns our children and ourselves for His
own glory.”

His mother then adds:

“I hope that you will not think because I do not ask you to
come home that we do not desire to see you—we do indeed long
for your return that we may see you in the flesh. But we
cannot, dare not ask you to desert your post which we feel is
one of great honour and responsibility; and we trust you may
be made an instrument in the hand of God for doing much for
the interest of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

Just at this juncture occurred the beclouding of friendship on the
part of King Mongkut. As the mission work came to a standstill,
the missionaries held a conference to determine their course of
procedure. Dr. House was ready to carry out his long-cherished plan
to transfer his labours to Lao, but the decree forbidding travel
rendered this impossible. The letter of his parents had insinuated
into his mind the alternative of a visit to America. When he
casually mentioned this to his fellow missionaries they gave
cordial and earnest approval. The expectation of the early arrival
of a recruit to their force removed the objection of leaving the
Mattoons alone. Then came the visit of Sir John Bowring, with his
eventual offer of a free passage to Singapore. Availing himself
of this offer, Dr. House left Siam in April, 1855, and sailed for
America _via_ England, reaching home in midsummer.

WELCOME HOME

It was indeed a joyous homecoming. The son had come again to the
embrace of loving parents after an absence of nine years. He had
returned to his native land after many adventures in a strange
country, little known to the Western world. He had returned to a
church that keenly felt the solemnity of her commission to preach
the Gospel and had high reverence for her servants that carried the
banner. He had brought back first hand knowledge of pagan lands and
vivid memories of personal experiences and observations. Then a
returned missionary was more rare than even a departing missionary.
The Church at large was eager to see through the missionary’s eyes
the strange peoples to whom they were sending the Gospel message.

Numerous opportunities came to Dr. House to tell his story. Large
audiences greeted him wherever he appeared. These opportunities
he used especially to awaken the Church to the importance of the
work in Siam. The periods of obstruction were past. The treaty with
England had just been completed, and the American government was
about to send an envoy to ask for a treaty. The glowing promise of
the sunrise inspired the hearts of people at home to listen with
a ready mind to his appeal. With great joy he secured two ready
recruits to go back with him, Rev. and Mrs. A. B. Morse. Following
this visitation to the churches a new interest in Siam is manifest
through the reports, and there began a series of reinforcements
checked only by the Civil War.

BELATED MARRIAGE

During this sojourn in America Dr. House was married on November
27, 1855, to Miss Harriet Maria Pettit, formerly of Waterford.
The marriage came as a surprise to most of his friends. He had so
frequently declared that he would never marry that his change of
mind came without warning. His missionary friends had frequently
twitted him on this subject, but in good part he defended his
position. Usually after these banterings he would enter in his
journal the reason why he chose to go out single and why he thought
best to remain unmarried.

His argument was that it would have been an imposition upon a
woman to have led her into a strange world, into a primitive state
of civilisation, afar from kin and friends. He persuaded himself
that the care of a wife, the anxiety for her safety and the
responsibility of rearing children would seriously interfere with
his one great purpose, an undivided attention to the propagation of
the Gospel. The Siamese, among whom polygamy was practised, could
not understand why this one missionary had no wife. Several of the
princes suggested that he take a Siamese woman in marriage, and one
nobleman even offered to provide a wife for him.

However, there are indications that his arguments were as much to
repress his own idea as to confute the bantering. During those
years he was a permanent guest at the family of the Mattoons. He
frequently expresses generous appreciation of sharing the home
comforts of his friends, and confesses that he did not know how he
could have gotten along without this domestic care of Mrs. Mattoon.
Thus while stoically denying the need of a wife he gratefully
accepts the ministrations of the wife of his colleague.

Then, after having married and having fully settled in a home of
his own, his real feelings assert themselves, for he writes, upon
return to Siam:

“And mine, too, is a pleasant home, the one to which four
weary months voyaging have brought me, a pleasanter home
than once—for it has a new inmate. Taking such a partner
into the concern is indeed a great addition to a bachelor
establishment.”

And a year later:

“You don’t know how nicely we are jogging on in the good old
road of domestic felicity. And when you hear me say at the
end of fourteen months that I am more fully than ever of the
opinion that I have as my companion in my journey the most
suitable one for me that could have been found had I tarried
seven months or seven years longer in the States, you will
allow that, at least, I am contented with my choice.”

He shows the reversal of mind on this subject complete when, in
1871, he writes:

“I must confess that I feel this wholesale sending out of
unmarried women into the field just now so in vogue in our
church is an experiment.... And I do not think much better
of the sending unmarried young men to some fields. ’Tis a
pity the secretaries of our Board who ought to know the
wisest way do not guide opinion on this subject and more
strongly impress upon candidates who apply to them the
desirableness of making their arrangements before they leave
home—not but what Providence may bless some favoured mortals
more than they deserve.”

ORDINATION AND RETURN

Another event of personal moment to the doctor was his ordination
to the Christian ministry. Before his first departure for Siam
he had been licensed to preach, a Presbyterial authorisation
necessary to give the seal of approval to the preaching which it
was expected would be incidental to the medical profession. But
now, having given himself exclusively to the Gospel work he sought
full ordination with its authority to administer the sacraments
and perform the rites of the church. In January, 1856, he was duly
ordained by the Presbytery of Troy.

Accompanied by the new recruits, Rev. and Mrs. A. B. Morse, Dr.
House and his bride sailed in March, 1856, by way of England and
Singapore, and arrived at Bangkok in July. The reception accorded
Dr. and Mrs. House was an evidence of the position which the
missionary had attained in the esteem of the Siamese. He was the
recipient of many gifts from the Chinese and Siamese servants and
attendants at the mission; while a period of two weeks was largely
occupied with calls from the prime minister, the minister of
foreign affairs, several of the princes, many of the old friends
among the nobles, the old teachers and a multitude of native
friends at large. The welcome was so spontaneous that it gave
evidence of a genuine honour, and of an appreciation of the years
of service rendered by the doctor higher than he had imagined the
people felt.

But perhaps the most signal token of esteem on this occasion was
shown by King Mongkut. No advance notice of the arrival of Dr.
House and party having been received, their appearance at the
customs house some miles below the city was a surprise, which in
some manner was quickly heralded to the king, so that when the
party approached the city, officials were waiting to receive them:

“Before we got to our own landing our friendly neighbour,
H. R. H. Prince Kromma Luang Wongsa, hailed us, and we must
needs land at his place. Shaking of hands was not enough, but
his arm was offered in English fashion ... and thus escorted
by the leading prince of the kingdom was Harriette conducted
to her future mission home, Mr. Mattoon and I following....
And soon our native church members and teachers and the
school children came flocking around.

“But the king had heard of my arrival and the prince had a
message from him for me that he was waiting to see me at
the palace. So, thither I must go—the prince took me in
his own boat. Some public ceremony was going on, and the
whole court was assembled at the river house in front of
the palace. The king, on a lofty platform handsomely roofed
over, by the water edge; while yet at a distance he saw me
and called out my name, inviting me to ascend the steps that
led to his pavilioned seat, when he shook hands cordially.
His Majesty spoke of the letter he had received from me while
away. Then he said, ‘Your wife has come with you!’—and then
turning to his courtiers added, ‘Formerly Maw House declared
he would not have a wife, and now he has taken one.’ ‘Oh,
your majesty,’ I replied, ‘wisdom has come to me and I have
changed my heart in that matter,’ which made them all smile.

“He then said my wife must come and visit the royal palace.
He had missed me very much. I must come and live near him.
Turning to one of his ministers he said, ‘He guessed they
must build a house over there’ (pointing out a spot near the
palace). I must take an office under the government. The
prime minister told me I must become a Siamese nobleman.”

Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon were sent for again by the king a few
days later, and availed themselves of this occasion to present to
His Majesty several useful presents sent out by American admirers.

TOURS WITH MRS. HOUSE

While in America, in 1855, the Sunday school of his home church
provided funds for the purchase and outfitting of a boat for
touring. The result was a boat equipped for the work, affording
more comfort than possible in the native boats. Along the side
of the small cabin, lockers were fitted, serving both as seats
and place for storage. A removable table between afforded space
for writing or eating. For the night an extension bridged the
space between the lockers, and this, covered with cushions, made
a comfortable double bed. In December of 1856 Dr. House made the
first tour with Mrs. House. Customs, and scenes in Siam had by this
time grown so familiar to him that his letters home do not contain
details as did his earlier letters. Their first tour together, in
company with some of the other missionaries, was up the Meklong
River in western Siam as far as the town of Kanburi amidst some
fine mountain scenery. Several other trips occurred; one of them
to Petrui:

“A fortnight or more,” he writes, “exploring some of the
totally unvisited districts of the eastern portion of the
plain which constitutes central Siam—you know my passion for
penetrating into remote and unexplored regions and out of the
way places.”

If perchance this enthusiasm conveys the impression that these
journeys were of unmingled pleasure and simple romance it is well
to have that fancy checked by some material facts; for, continuing
the narrative of this trip, the doctor writes:

“Upon review of the tour I can recall but few that I remember
with more satisfaction. But for pleasure—I cannot say much
for a tour. Our confined quarters (cabin five by seven),
the rocking of the boat with every movement of ours or of
the boatmen, the hot sun upon the roof and sides by day and
the myriads of mosquitos as the evening comes on (and such
ravenous merciless mosquitos, too), the monotony of the
scenery on the lower stream and absence of all that is pretty
or picturesque in the villages and houses of the natives, and
last but not least the universal uproar among all the dogs
whenever one steps ashore anywhere in their villages—all
detract largely from the romance and not a little from the
comfort of a mission tour in this country.”

MARKS OF GROWTH

Dr. House continued to be superintendent of the mission school
after his return in 1856, and although he makes very few references
to this work in his journal from now on, yet there are occasional
items which mark the growth. From this period Mrs. House appears
as a factor in the educational work, but her achievements will
occupy a separate chapter. In August after the return the doctor
writes:

“Our school is much enlarged—many applicants to learn
English. The eldest child of the son of the Prime Minister
now comes regularly to Mrs. Mattoon, a very bright lad of
seven. At the request of the king I am teaching two princes;
one of sixteen, his grandson, the other a grandson of the
late king, a boy of eleven. And by order of H. M. a dozen
of the sons of his servants are now learning English in our
school as day scholars.... There is a spacious bamboo school
house going up in the back part of our lot.”

This growth, however, was in the educational work. While the
workers did not belittle the importance of the school, they were
well-nigh sick of heart with deferred hopes, a feeling that is
reflected in their report to the Board for the year 1856:

“It requires no little faith to conduct, day after day and
year after year, these patient labours; especially as they
have not resulted in the conversion of those on whom time,
talents and prayers of the missionaries are spent.”

This increase in school was so rapid that shortly after they
had established themselves on the site granted by the king it
became evident that this lot in the city would not allow for the
expansion commensurate with the growth. With the awakening of a
desire for education and of an interest in the foreign religion
the earlier necessity of having a location within the city itself
had passed, for what the mission had to offer was being sought
after. Accordingly, a parcel of ground, the gift of Mr. D. O. King,
was obtained on the west bank of the river in the lower suburbs
known as Sumray. There new buildings were erected, and in November,
1857, the transfer of the mission was effected to that site, which
became the scene of the most notable achievements of the mission in
Bangkok and continues to the present day the center of a pervasive
Christian influence.

At the end of the first year in the new location, Dr. House wrote
home: “School occupies me much of the time. We have a new Siamese
teacher, a most respectable old gentleman; may he get good from us,
saving good.” This teacher was Nai Chune, who, a year later, became
the first Siamese convert. The significance of this addition to
the teaching force is that the pupils are no longer predominantly
Chinese lads, but that the demand for teaching the Siamese language
requires a native teacher.

The winter season, being free from rains, was the time best suited
for touring in the country. In February of 1858 Dr. and Mrs. House
started up the Meinam to revisit the scenes of their former tour.
Finding the river alive with pilgrims going to Prabat for the
annual veneration of Buddha’s footprint, they decided to join the
pilgrimage as affording an excellent opportunity for distributing
tracts. On this visit to the shrine the visitors did not experience
the same opposition to entering the sanctum as Dr. House had on his
first visit.

A PRESBYTERY ORGANISED

The recruits to the mission force so far had been temporary
additions only. Owing to the death of his wife, followed by the
failure of his own health, Mr. Bush was compelled to resign after
four years. Mr. Morse, who went out upon Dr. House’s return, was
forced to give up within two years by reason of health. At the end
of ten years there had been only one net increase in the mission
force, Mrs. House. In 1858 two men arrived who became important
factors in the work, Rev. Daniel McGilvary and Rev. Jonathan
Wilson, with his wife. When the announcement was received that
these two men had been commissioned, Dr. House wrote home:

“These two friends became interested in Siam mission at the
time of my visit to Princeton. If they reach us, I shall have
new reason to bless the heavenly Guide who led me almost
unwillingly back to my native land.”

The doctor’s estimate of the reflex benefit to Siam from that trip
to America was all too modest; for that visit was the beginning
of an ever increasing interest in that country on the part of the
church and of a constantly enlarging supply of men and money.
Concerning this visit to Princeton, Dr. McGilvary says in his
Autobiography:

“I was entering upon my senior year when it was announced
that Dr. S. R. House, of Siam, would address the students.
Expectation was on tip-toe to hear from this new kingdom of
Siam. The address was a revelation to me.... My hesitation
was ended....

“The call found Jonathan Wilson and myself in much the same
state of expectancy, awaiting for a clear revelation of duty.
After anxious consultation and prayer together and with Dr.
House, we promised him that we would give the matter our
serious thought; and that if the Lord should lead us thither
we would go.”

With the increase of ordained men on the field, the time seemed
ripe to associate themselves together in the official relationship
of a Presbytery. At an informal meeting in the summer of 1858 the
following call was issued:

“Whereas, in the providence of God there are now in the
mission a sufficient number of ordained ministers to
constitute a Presbytery and as it seems expedient that we,
cut off as we are from the privileges and oversight of our
respective Presbyteries, should meet together from time to
time in a formal public capacity as a judicatory of the
Church of Christ to consult for her best interests in this
our field of labour; and hoping that it may be beneficial to
ourselves and the Church at large,

“Therefore, Resolved, That in accordance with the resolutions
of the General Assembly held in Baltimore in May, 1848,
making provision for ‘the formation of Presbyteries by the
action of missionaries in foreign fields’ a Presbytery be
constituted at Bangkok on the first day of September next, to
be called the Presbytery of Siam and to be composed of the
following persons, viz.: Rev. Stephen Mattoon and Rev. S. R.
House, of the Presbytery of Troy, New York; Rev. J. Wilson,
of the Presbytery of Beaver, Pennsylvania, and Rev. Daniel
McGilvary, of the Presbytery of Orange, North Carolina;
and that said Presbytery be opened by a sermon by Rev. S.
Mattoon, the oldest of the ministers of the mission; and

“Resolved, second, That the day of the opening of the
Presbytery be observed by the members of the mission as a day
of special prayer for the blessing of the Spirit of God upon
us, and that a special meeting for prayer be held at 9 A. M.”

At the appointed time the Presbytery of Siam was formally
organised, Rev. Samuel R. House being chosen first Moderator and
Rev. Daniel McGilvary being elected Stated Clerk. Mr. Mattoon, who
was about to take a furlough in America, was appointed the first
commissioner to the General Assembly, to meet in Indianapolis the
following spring. Here, again, as in the organisation of the first
church, the missionaries were taking a step in anticipation of the
fruit of faith more than in actual need. Two of the very important
functions of a Presbytery are to oversee the churches and to ordain
candidates for the ministry. But there was only one church in
Siam at the time and there were only two “native” members on the
roll; and a Presbytery could add little to the fellowship of the
missionaries except the formalities. However, the workers in the
field were certain of the harvest and in simple faith they went
about setting up the organisation for the proper care and nurture
of the native churches that were yet to be established.

In December of 1858, when the dry season had returned, Dr. House,
accompanied by Mr. McGilvary, made a twelve-day tour up the Meinam,
commencing labours at Angtong and continuing as far as Bansaket.
The results of the tour were unusually hopeful:

“In two or three instances it did seem as if the Spirit
had prepared their hearts to welcome the doctrine of
Christianity.... I could not but say to my good Brother
McGilvary, who as well as myself was struck with the deep
interest manifested, ‘Surely there must be much prayer going
up for us here in Siam.’ Tears would come in my eyes as I
solemnly urged them to leave their refuge of lies and trust
in a living Saviour, ready and mighty to save. And on their
part they desired to know, not how they might make merit
(the usual question of Siamese), but what they were to do to
secure the salvation, the news of which then for the first
time reached their ears. It seemed like the dawning of a
better day.”

FIRST THE DAWN, THEN THE DAYLIGHT

In the annals of missions much has been made of the long years of
patient labour before a first convert was gained in other lands.
It is written of Judson that he preached the Gospel six years in
Burma before a native made confession of the Christian faith.
Morrison patiently taught the Gospel seven years in China before
he was rewarded with one disciple. The Telegu mission in India is
described as one of the most remarkable in the history of missions
in the contrast between the first long fruitless period and then
the rapid growth; and in confirmation it is cited that “at the end
of two decades only one native assistant could be reported, one
church with nine members and two schools with sixty-three pupils.”

But in Siam, from the time Dr. Gutzlaff arrived until the first
enduring convert from among the Siamese was gained, thirty-one
years elapsed. It is true that during those years much of the
energy of the other missions had been directed toward the
conversion of the ex-patriate Chinese, from whom there had been
an encouraging response; none the less, the Siamese were also
the object of constant prayer and faithful wooing. From the time
that Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon reached Siam to devote themselves
particularly to the winning of the Siamese, twelve years and
six months passed before one lone Siamese renounced the faith of
his fathers and acknowledged the Christian religion to be the
truth. These wearisome years of waiting were lengthened in their
tediousness by the chagrin of having impostors simulate conversion
for iniquitous ends.

The story of this remarkable first native convert is best given by
Dr. House in his own way. First under date of March 6, 1859, he
writes home of the promise of the first-fruit:

“I have had a long talk with Nai Chune. Since the fourth
month of last year he has been convinced of the truth of
Christianity. He has broken the necks of his household gods
and melted them. ‘If I think he venerates the gods still he
will go into the temple and do the same.’ Those stories in
their sacred books about its raining diamonds and gold he
regards not like the beneficent miracles of Christ which I
told him.

“I was going to give him some idea of the historical
evidences when he cut me short by saying, ‘I have _tried_
Buddhism—and what benefit has it been to me? I have thrown
away a large part of my life in studying it. But I was a
child then—God must forgive me.’ He has ceased to gamble
and to drink spirits, to both of which he formerly was
addicted. He says that he sometimes weeps with joy when he
thinks of God’s goodness to him. He prays to Jehovah, keeps
the Sabbath, and for months has been a faithful attendant
on preaching, to which he often invites his acquaintances,
bringing them with him.

“He is an educated man of about forty years, has a wife but
no living children. He was once a priest, in the king’s own
watt for some eight years. At one time he used to call upon
me often and learned several chemical experiments. Since the
mission moved to its new location in his neighbourhood (where
he has a small property) he called to renew acquaintance.
I had much conversation with him formerly about religion;
but he seemed almost too willing to believe. I mistrusted
his motives, past experience having made me too cautious
perhaps. When he called subsequently I had no confidence in
his sincerity. Mr. Mattoon, however, thought somewhat better
of him.

“He is now the Siamese teacher of our school, and is very
faithful to his duties. The most interesting feature of his
case and what, with other things, has removed my doubts, is
the true moral courage with which he avows his change of
his belief to his countrymen and relatives. I do not think
anything but the grace of God could make a Siamese brave
enough to do this.”

Five months later, the doctor records the reception of the convert
into the Mission Church on Aug. 7, 1859:

“My eyes have at length been permitted to see what has long
been my heart’s desire and prayer to God, the baptism of a
Siamese. Nay, to my unworthy hands has this privilege fallen,
to receive into the visible fold of Christ by the ordinance
of His appointing this new member of the flock.

“For over twelve years of hope deferred has this great
blessing been sought and prayed for, but ‘sought and never
found’ till now. Blessed be the name of Him who in His mercy
and sovereign grace has been pleased to visit us with His
favour and make the teaching and preaching of His servants
here the means at last of bringing one heathen soul out of
nature’s darkness into the light and peace of His kingdom.

“Nai Chune, a Siamese, an educated man of nearly forty years
of age, after a satisfactory examination on his views and
experience was today received to our fellowship by baptism
in the sacred name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost. May he walk worthily of the name he has named today,
and be a witness for Christ his God and Saviour among his
countrymen. He appears remarkably well. He is courteous
and intelligent, a true Siamese gentleman in manners; is
serious-minded, sedate, seems to realise the goodness of his
Heavenly Father to him.”

The joy of this conversion was soon followed by a shadow of sorrow.
For a little more than three months later occurred the death of
faithful Quakieng. Fortunately the work among the Siamese had
developed so favourably that less emphasis was being placed on the
instruction in Chinese; and in a sense Nai Chune took the place of
Quakieng, but with a transfer of the major effort to the teaching
of the Siamese language.

During this year King Mongkut had finished a new grand audience
hall in connection with the palace, fashioned partly in European
style. At the opening of the hall the king gave a feast to which
many of the European and American sojourners were invited, among
whom were Mr. and Mrs. House. In a letter to his father the doctor
tells privately of a proffer of honour and service made to him by
the king: “H. M. said, ‘You with your wife must come and live here
[at the palace] and have the young princes, my children, for your
pupils.’ I excused myself, my hands being already full.” With the
cessation of teaching by the missionary ladies in the palace, the
king had engaged an English lady, Mrs. Leonowens, as a tutor for
some of the inmates of the palace, including his sons. Apparently,
however, her teaching duties diminished after a time and she was
occupied chiefly as an amanuensis for the king, and she was still
connected with the palace at the time the king made this request
of Dr. House.

Whether the king had serious intent in this proposition it is
difficult to judge; but the suggestion does indicate that he still
held Dr. House in high regard and that his estimation for Western
education had not waned. The mission school by this time had become
a well-established, well-organised institution, the management
of which required the full attention of the doctor. His original
term of service as Superintendent continued until 1861, when
relinquishment of the office was apparently due to the fact that he
was appointed to open a new mission station at Petchaburi.

NEW STATION AT PETCHABURI

Although the work at Bangkok had been steadily growing, no
extension of the field was undertaken until 1861, when a station
was opened at Petchaburi, where Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon had
made several visits. In that year two new missionaries with their
wives had come out in company with Rev. and Mrs. Mattoon on their
return from furlough in America; these were Rev. S. G. McFarland
and Rev. N. A. McDonald. Of the many places where the missionaries
had visited with the hopes of one day establishing a local work,
Petchaburi then seemed the most favourable because the acting
governor had personally solicited the missionaries to provide
teaching of English; and had offered, on condition that they would
teach his son the language, to provide a place for their school.

The Mission had voted to assign Dr. and Mrs. House to establish the
new station. The doctor visited the field, procured a lot and made
ready for the work, and then returned to bring his wife. But the
day before their departure, the doctor had the misfortune to fall
from a horse, sustaining injuries which, at the time, it was feared
would prove to be permanent. Under these circumstances the mission
changed the appointment, and sent instead Revs. Daniel McGilvary
and S. G. McFarland with their wives, who thus became the first
occupants of the new mission.

At this point it will be interesting to note that in his journal,
in 1861, Dr. House records that the missionaries had felt
constrained to ask the Board for an increase in salary from the
prevailing six hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars, giving
as a reason that the cost of living had greatly increased since
the country had been opened to Western commerce, so that articles
of provisions had in some cases increased as much as one hundred
per cent. Dr. House himself had received a patrimony at the death
of his father, which he used not only to supplement his salary
for living expenses, but very generously for assisting in the
work of the mission. Entries in the journal indicate that he had
undertaken, at his own expense, repairs and enlargement of the
mission house in which he lived.

THE REMARKABLE STORY OF NAI KAWN

Within a month after the new station at Petchaburi was opened,
the missionaries reported the extraordinary case of a Siamese who
had come to believe upon God and Christ through portions of the
Scripture that had come into his hands, although he had never
seen a missionary and had never met a Christian. The name of this
man was Nai Kawn. Writing to his family in America under date of
July 17, 1861, Dr. House quotes in part from a letter which Mrs.
McFarland had written to Mrs. House giving the story; and in part
from Mr. McGilvary:

“I wish Dr. H. could be here to examine a ‘diamond’ we have
found here (_i. e._, a native of Petchaburi, which name
means ‘city of diamonds’). We do believe it a true, genuine
diamond, and though it needs to be polished it will one
day shine in our Saviour’s diadem in glory. It seems an
extraordinary case in many respects. The man is a middle aged
Siamese, resides about five miles from Petchaburi capital;
had never seen a missionary, but some of our Christian tracts
and portions of the Scripture—which he had got from his
neighbours—appears to have been the means of enlightening
his mind and converting his heart. He had taught his little
boy the Lord’s prayer and the ten commandments.”

“Mr. McG. writes: He certainly has the clearest idea of
the Scripture of any heathen convert I have met with. He
literally knows John, Acts, Romans (all the Bible he has yet
seen) by heart; can repeat whole chapters without missing
a word. He evidently studied for months and years....
Seems delighted to find us, as if his highest wish had
been realised. Wishes to come and live with us at once to
learn more perfectly the Gospel, and to assist to teach and
distribute books. To try his sincerity, no encouragement
was offered him, fearing he might wish support from the
missionary. ‘Oh, no,—he wished no compensation, as he had
enough to live on.’ He has a few hundred ticals and wants
no more. He has settled one son with three hundred ticals,
and the other son he has just left with us where he can be
taught the Christian religion. Says he would not give up the
new religion for the offer of being king of Siam. Comes to
worship, walking five miles over muddy roads. Longs to see
another Siamese Christian—has hunted all over to find one.”

In the fall of that year Dr. and Mrs. House were obliged to spend
several months in Petchaburi to relieve the McFarlands, who went to
Bangkok for medical attendance. During that sojourn the doctor had
several conversations with Nai Kawn; and in letters to his brother
in America narrates the confession of that remarkable convert:

“Doctor, the Siamese think only of getting a living. That
they must have nor always are they very scrupulous as to the
means they resort to. Before—in the days of my sinfulness—I
was so too. Then I had not reflected upon, was not attentive
to my condition. I saw myself a sinner; when I became
conscious of this, the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to
forgive me.

“My wife formerly—when I began to talk in the house with
those that came to see me about the religion of Jesus—would
go away, stop her ears, would say ‘I won’t hear it,’ and off
she would go. Now she says nothing, listens, sometimes says
there is good in it; will hear me when I pray in the room at
night.

“I remonstrated with my neighbours but, Doctor, they are
wilfully set in their wickedness. But, Doctor, we cannot make
them repent. It is only those whom God pleases to choose.

“They tell me that when the king hears that I have become
a disciple of Jesus I shall be whipped. I tell them, if he
kills me I care not. If the Lord gives me to die, I must die
as the Lord willeth. But while I live, I must bring forth
fruits to offer Him.”

Nai Kawn was never formally enrolled in the Church. He had found
the acme of joy and of liberty in the Gospel before he knew of
the church as an organisation. The witness of his conduct, the
testimony of his lips and the evidence of his fellowship with
Christians was more vital and compelling than a formal profession
of ecclesiastical relationship. The honour of having been the first
native at Petchaburi to become a member of the Church was gained
two years later by Nai Kao.

Another honour of primacy in the profession of religion was
attained at Bangkok in 1861, when Maa Esther became the first
Siamese woman to unite with the Church of Christ. She had been
given, a poor sick child, to Mrs. Mattoon by her father at an early
age; and had been adopted and reared by Mrs. Mattoon. She had
accompanied her foster mother to America in this same year. Maa
Esther has continued a faithful, consistent Christian all these
remaining years, and has been a zealous worker for the cause of
Christ.

What was the final evangelising tour by Dr. House was taken in
1862, when, accompanied by Rev. N. A. McDonald, who had lately
joined the mission, and Rev. Robert Telford, who was maintaining
the Baptist work among the Chinese in Siam, he made a trip
along the eastern coast of the gulf as far as Chantaboon. The
responsibility for the school, together with the condition of Mrs.
House’s health, made it inconvenient for him to continue this phase
of the work which he greatly enjoyed.

PERIOD OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

During the Civil War in the United States the mission was not very
seriously affected by the conditions of the home church. Except
for the first injunction from the Board against enlargement of the
work and for the exceeding high rate of bank exchange, Dr. House
gives no indications of adverse results on the field. Although the
missionaries then in Siam were from both sections of the divided
fatherland, they continued to live in cordial relations. During
this period several reinforcements reached Siam, showing that
the church at home had not allowed the war to curtail their work
entirely. These additions were: Rev. and Mrs. C. S. George (1862),
Mrs. F. F. Odell (1863), Rev. and Mrs. P. L. Carden (1866). On the
other hand, the mission suffered the serious loss of Rev. Mr. and
Mrs. Mattoon, who were constrained to resign in 1865 on account of
Mrs. Mattoon’s continued ill health.

SECOND FURLOUGH

Dr. House left Siam only twice during his twenty-nine years of
service. After a second period of seven-and-a-half years of labour,
he sailed for America on a furlough in February, 1864. Even then
the leave was taken not so much on his own account as because of
Mrs. House’s urgent need of recuperation. Since they left America,
both of Dr. House’s parents had died. He made the second journey
at his own expense. At this time the Civil War in America caused
the rates of exchange to be very high; to avoid this high rate,
Dr. House accepted a loan of one thousand dollars from the king’s
private treasury, giving only his personal note as security; and of
this sum the king authorised Dr. House to pay over to the widow of
Rev. Jesse Caswell, in America, five hundred dollars as a further
token of appreciation of his former tutor.

The journey home was made by way of the Red Sea, Palestine, Egypt,
Paris and England. Inclusive of the travel, their absence from
Siam covered two years and ten months. The return trip was made by
way of the Pacific, leaving San Francisco Sept. 9, 1866, thus for
the first time completing for these two the circumnavigation of the
globe. On the way out a stop was made at the Hawaiian Islands. The
travelers reached Hong Kong Nov. 4, and while waiting for a vessel
to continue their voyage they went up to Canton, where they were
most friendly received and hospitably entertained by the family of
Mr. S. E. Burrows, the head of a great commercial and shipping firm
of that place. The Burrows extended to Dr. and Mrs. House a free
passage in one of their own vessels which was sailing direct for
Bangkok, and there they arrived Dec. 16, 1866.

Again the returning missionaries received a warm welcome on the
part of their many native friends.

“We were warmly welcomed by the missionary circle and old
friends out of it, native and foreign. Wish you could have
seen the congratulatory presents our native friends and
neighbours brought to shew their gladness at our return.

“The king (being ill at the time) said ‘He was glad the old
missionaries had returned; he had been very sorry that Maw
House and Maw Mattoon were gone.’”

A few weeks later, when the king was able, he sent for Dr. House
and gave a private audience.

“On presenting myself at the palace gate when my name was
announced the king said (so I was told by some around him)
‘Dr. H. is not like other foreigners; let him come to me at
once.’ I was ushered into the royal palace ere he had left
the grand audience hall—his courtiers and pages waiting
upon him. I was received with the cordiality and familiarity
of an old acquaintance.

“He asked me how I came? Did Mrs. H. come with me; what
countries I had seen? Mentioning Egypt, he asked me if the
canal across the isthmus of Suez would succeed. Saying I had
now gone around the world, returning to Siam by crossing the
Pacific Ocean to China, he quickly interrupted, ‘Then you
lost a day!’ and explained to his attendants how it was....

“It was time for him now to make his evening visit to the
vast and lofty structure they were rearing for the funeral
solemnities of the late second king. Inviting me to follow,
he went down to his sedan and, preceded by soldiers and
followed by a crowd of attendants, was borne away. Following,
I found him seated in a temporary pavilion erected where he
could overlook the work. He soon called me to his side—I,
alone, of the hundreds around him, stood upright. He made
inquiries concerning Mrs. Caswell, and as he looked again
at her picture, turning to the princess royal acting as his
sword bearer, said, ‘This was the wife of the teacher that
I revered.’ It was gratifying and interesting to see these
pleasant memories of persons and events passed away eighteen
years before, stealing over him.

“Having intimated to the king my wish to take up my note for
one thousand dollars in his treasurer’s hands and saying
that I should, of course, expect to pay interest on the
balance of five hundred dollars—after deducting five hundred
dollars paid to Mrs. C. on his majesty’s behalf—in a few
days his majesty’s private treasurer paid me a visit, having
had the king’s instruction to receive from me simply five
hundred dollars, and to surrender to me the note on which was
endorsed these words in the king’s own handwriting:

“‘S. P. P. M. Mongkut, the King, does not wish to have
interest from the loan to his good friend Doctor Samuel R.
House—wishing but some useful books, etc., according to the
pleasure of said doctor, with stating of price of article.
This testimony given 1st January, 1867, the seventeenth year
of our reign.’”

THE AWAKENING OF 1866–7

Doubtless the greatest joy upon return to Siam was to find that a
great spiritual awakening had taken place in the mission school. If
the fruits of labour seem sparse so far it must be considered that
the most favourable soil had scarcely time to produce its harvest.
The boys and girls who had been under the intimate influence of Dr.
and Mrs. House in the school were just approaching the adolescent
age when, in 1866, a spiritual awakening manifested itself. News
of this work of grace had reached Dr. House at Hong Kong, and upon
arrival at Bangkok he rejoiced to learn that the facts more than
confirmed the report.

“Found all well and the very best of good news awaiting us,
confirming the hopes I have felt all along that a better day
was about to dawn on us in Siam. Two of our oldest and most
promising pupils (Hee, the writer of that interesting letter
to me, published in the _Foreign Missionary_ last year, being
one of them), and a native teacher in our employ (a man of
some education) were baptised a few weeks ago as converts
from heathenism; and another native teacher, Naah (Esther’s
husband), with others of the pupils in the mission school
are desirous of Christian baptism. These new converts with
the older church members sustain semi-weekly prayer-meetings
among themselves with warm interest.”

The convert named in this letter was Tien Hee, who, a few years
later, went to America to seek a higher education. Graduating in
medicine at the New York University in 1871, he returned to Siam,
where he became the first native physician practising the Western
system of medicine. He became eminently successful in his practise,
amassed considerable wealth, received the title of Phra Montri and
lately has been elevated to a higher rank of nobility, as Phya
Sarasin. In grateful recognition of what Christianity has done
for him he has made generous contributions toward the work of the
mission.

Two months later Dr. House reported further confessions:

“It was my privilege and joy last Sabbath to receive to our
little mission church in the ordinance of baptism three
Christian converts, all connected or once connected with our
mission boarding school; and one of these my dear old pupil
Naah (Esther’s husband), the boy especially given me by his
Chinese father on his dying bed. The others were Dik and
Ting.... You do not know how many fold I felt repaid by the
privilege I enjoyed that Sabbath.”

In August of that year (1867) he writes further:

“We are permitted to report the admission by baptism to our
native church at this station at our last communion of five
new members. Two of them girls that have been long under
instruction in the missionary families; two others, elder
pupils in the mission school for boys; and the fifth, one
more advanced in years.

“Among the four young persons who kneeled one after another
to receive the solemn ordinance which made them church
members was our dear Ooey, who has long in her heart been
persuaded of the truth of our religion and the importance of
attendance to it, and who a few weeks before came out bright
and clear and decided, in her determination to serve the
Saviour. Again it fell to my lot to administer the ordinance;
and a privilege unspeakable it was to stand up and in the
name of the Lord to apply the seal of the covenant to the
dusky brow of that child of many prayers, and to others I had
helped teach the way to heaven.

“That Sabbath evening Ooey told me with beaming eyes that her
heart was full of happiness. And yet only the day before the
poor child had been told by her heathen father—who was angry
with her for forsaking the old religion—that she ‘must never
call him father, nor her mother, mother again’....

“The fifth is Ah Keo, for over twenty years a servant in the
different mission families. I recollect talking and praying
with him the first year I was in Siam. But his besetting sin,
intemperance, made all exhortation lost on him till this
spring—a miracle of grace has been wrought.”

This religious interest increased with the days, so that the
semi-weekly meeting for prayer gave way to a daily meeting, in
which the young Christians exhorted their fellow students and
friends to believe on Christ, and their hearts were poured out in
intercession for the conversion of their families and of Siam.
Then, in September, Dr. House records another confession from among
the student group:

“Delia made our hearts very glad the other day by coming to
us and saying her mind was made up to become a Christian,
and wished to be baptised. Her mother and brother would be
very angry with her, but she felt she must take up her cross.
She is a girl of a great deal of decision and energy of
character.”

The fall meeting of the Presbytery of Siam for 1867 was marked by
items of unusual interest. Dr. House was installed pastor of the
church, as a successor to Mr. Mattoon. The formal call for his
pastoral services (signed by thirteen members), the charge to
the pastor and people, the prayers and the sermon were all in the
Siamese language—an index of the development of self-government
in the native church. At the same meeting A. Klai, of Petchaburi,
was licensed as a native local preacher, apparently the first to
be fitted for that rank. Dr. House jocularly refers to him as a
“graduate of the McFarland Theological Seminary of Petchaburi,”
as he had been under the instruction of Mr. McFarland. At the
communion in the Bangkok church this same autumn occurred the
ordination of the first native elder of the local church, the
congregation having elected the young man Naah already mentioned.

THE NOTABLE TRIP TO LAO

One notable trip of Dr. House remains to be narrated, a journey
into the land of the Lao—notable because of the accident which
nearly closed the career of the doctor. The trip occurred in 1868.
The previous year was signalised in the annals of missions in
Siam by the establishment of a station at Chiengmai among the Lao
people in what is now known as North Siam. It is curious to note
that while Dr. House himself had been among the first to become
interested in these people as he came into contact with the Lao
boatmen at Bangkok and although he once seriously contemplated
leaving the Mattoons alone at Bangkok while he should carry the
Gospel into the unexplored northland, yet when the proposition was
being discussed by the mission to open a station there the doctor
enters a record of his judgment that the time is premature.

However, additions to the corps of workers having made it possible
to establish another station, the mission decided to send Messrs.
McGilvary and Wilson, who had made an exploratory trip the previous
season, to open work among the Lao tribes. In January of 1867 the
McGilvary family set out in small boats, making the journey all the
way up the Meinam. In the next December the Wilsons followed along
the same route. It was a three-months’ journey up Siam’s great
river, whose name means “mother of waters.” Above Raheng the stream
forces its way through a narrow gap in the mountain chain, forming
a long series of perilous rapids and affording scenery which is
described by voyagers as of surpassing beauty.

Dr. House wrote concerning the reason for his own trip:

“And here I must let you into a little secret. Mrs. Wilson,
it seems, will require the attendance of a physician about
the first of March, and so also will Mrs. McGilvary. So much
the worse for both of them, you will say—seeing they are
five hundred miles from medical aid. Must they, then, be
abandoned to their fate? You must not, then, dear brother, be
much surprised to learn that this double call of Providence
has proved too strong for me. Much as I dislike the practise
of my profession, much as I dread the long, tedious journey,
much as I desire just now to stay with my interesting and
most dearly loved flock [the church over which the doctor had
just been made pastor] I have felt it would be wrong for me
to decline the invitation I have received to visit Chiengmai
at the critical time.

“But I cannot afford to waste three months on the journey
there, when by boat to Raheng in twenty-three days Chiengmai
from there can be reached by elephant in eight to ten days
more.”

Accordingly, the doctor determined to take the quicker route, and
by February 13, he had reached Raheng. There he was delayed five
days waiting for elephants to be provided for him. The company then
set out over the mountains, expecting to reach their destination
nearly on schedule time. Then came the accident, the story of
which is most vividly set forth in the letter written by Dr. House
himself on that same day.

“Ban Hong North Laos,
“Monday, March 2, 1868.

“REV. MR. AND MRS. MCGILVARY.

“Dear Brother and Sister:

“So near and yet unable to get farther. Is it not a strange
Providence? When I started this morning strong and well,
refreshed by a Sabbath’s day rest at the little hamlet of
Wong Luang I was rejoicing in the thought that I was almost
at the end of this tedious and almost endless journey through
the sultry wilderness and would soon receive the welcome
which such friends as you will give, when about eight or nine
A. M. my elephant by whose side I was walking, suddenly and
without provocation turned upon me and pushed me over with
his trunk and, when lying on the ground, thrust one of those
huge tusks at me and into my poor body—how deep I know not,
but ripping up my abdomen two and one-half inches just below
the umbillicus. It was a strange sensation I assure you. I
was expecting another thrust which I could not escape, for I
was jammed in by the side of a tree. By this time, however,
his driver had got his head turned into the road again.

“And there I was in the far woods with very probably a fatal
wound and none but servants and Laos elephant drivers. As
my men came up poor Beo, who is most faithful and much
attached, burst into tears. And now thoughts of Harriette and
home rushed over me. But God my Saviour, God to whom only
yesterday I had renewed my consecration of myself as His
servant in a sweet retired spot on the beautiful mountain
stream where we were camped, has permitted—nay ordered—this
unlooked-for calamity; and in God I trust, blessed be His
Name for sustaining me through the hours of this sad day.

“Such wound, of course, must be sewed up, and at once, and
I must do it, for I could trust none of those with me,
new men all but good Beo. It was curious business, this
sewing up one’s own abdomen; but it must be done, and it
was done—four stitches. By this time my men had contrived
a very comfortable litter with an awning from the bamboos
growing near at hand. Of course climbing upon an elephant
and enduring the merciless rocking motion was out of the
question. So borne by four men on the litter we slowly
journeyed on through the dry, parched woods, over mountains
and across the dry water brooks from eleven or twelve to five
P. M., when we reached this village on the Maa Li River,
on the route from Muang Tern and Muang Li to Lampoon. And
I am writing this by candlelight in the Sala Klang of the
place lying on my back. It is wearisome work to write and I
must stop soon. The people here seem kind. I have engaged
a messenger to take this announcement of my misfortune to
Chiengmai.

“And now, my dear brother and dear sister (and if Brother
Wilson and his dear wife have arrived, I include them also),
I need not say to you how serious is the injury I have
received. The first thought was that the omentum or caul had
protruded; it may have been lacerated fat under the skin.
It was replaced, of course. But whether the cavity of the
peritoneum was pierced or not, (and my symptoms would have
been more severe if it had been, I think), still there must
have been much contusion of the bowels, and of course great
danger of peritonitis, the gravest of all diseases. I must
lie perfectly still for days and days to have a chance of
getting well. Another day of such jolting as today would be
fatal. My only hope is in absolute rest. My bowels are very
sore, of course; but God will not forsake His child and I
will try to bear all that is appointed me. I write to notify
you that you, too, may trust your dear Sophia, and brother W.
his dear Kate, in the same ever gracious hands. His angel has
laid his hands upon me and stopped me here.

“I write also to say that neither of you must think of coming
over (from Chiengmai it is three days on elephant) to visit
me. You can do me no manner of good and your wives absolutely
require you both at home just now. It would be positively
wrong for you to leave them. I have good, kind servants,
medicines, books, and best of all my Saviour’s presence, and
I am resigned to His will. But, Oh, poor Harriette—pray for
her. We will pray for each other, and God bless you and yours
till we meet.

“Affectionately,
“S. R. HOUSE.

“P. S. If I get well, I—or if not, my four men—will proceed
to Chiengmai and deliver to you there six hundred ticals I am
bringing to your mission.”

This letter records a story of nerve and fortitude seldom equalled
in the annals of travel and exploration. One must pause after
reading it to take in the whole situation. The note itself was
written at the close of the day of shock and pain and suffering.
It was written while the sufferer was lying flat on his back,
scarcely able to move without agitating the wound; and written then
lest a night’s delay might find him unable to write. But as you
read the letter you are conscious that he writes not because he is
thinking of his own need, but because he knows that his friends
will be greatly alarmed by his failure to appear. The trip itself
had been undertaken in a spirit of self-abnegation solely for the
welfare of his fellow missionaries. And the necessity of the trip
casts a vivid light upon the deprivations and hardships of those
pioneer missionaries. There are those who will exclaim, “Fools! why
did they go so far from contact with civilisation and under such
circumstances,—five hundred miles from the nearest physician!”
Yes, fools! but fools for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
“of whom the world was not worthy.”

Further details of this marvellous adventure are given in a letter
written two weeks later from the same place, the original of which
is still preserved.

“I wonder if any surgeon was ever before called upon to sew
up his own abdomen! Somehow nerve was given me to put in the
four stitches without shrinking, though it was a work of no
little difficulty, as I had to be guided by the reflection
in a looking-glass—the wound not being in direct line of
vision—as I lay on my back too weak to sit up. All the water
I had was in a small porous drinking vessel—not over a pint,
and no other supply for miles....

“That evening I arranged for a messenger to carry the tidings
of my injury to the mission at Chiengmai. On the evening
of the third day they returned, and with them a servant of
Mr. McGilvary came along, and also our faithful Christian
Siamese brother, Nai Chune, who had gone up in charge of
Mr. Wilson’s household goods to Chiengmai.... Had my letter
reached Chiengmai a few hours later it would have found Nai
Chune gone, for his passage was taken and his things aboard
the boat to start that day for Bangkok....

“I am lost in wonder when I think of the Providence by which
I escaped seemingly inevitable death. Who ever heard of one
being impaled on an elephant’s tusk and yet living to tell
the tale. God’s merciful Providence ordered that when I was
unexpectedly felled to the ground I was thrown—not flat
on my back, in which case I had been pierced through and
through; but on my right side, hence his tusk which was aimed
at the middle line of my body glanced and so did not enter
deep enough to inflict a mortal wound. Had it pierced but
the thickness of this paper deeper than it did, peritoneal
inflammation would have ensued and speedy death....

(Later.) “The afternoon of the day I wrote the foregoing
letter a loaded elephant came to the sala where I am lying,
and the one riding it began to hand down various baskets and
bundles as if they had reached their destination. It proved
to have been sent by my good brethren of Chiengmai, who had
forwarded supplies of everything that could be thought of to
make a sick man comfortable....

“With wise forethought they had arranged that a boat should
be awaiting me at the nearest landing place on the river
to take me to Chiengmai. I was too weak then and the wound
was not in a state to allow of my leaving the sala; but the
next Monday (just two weeks from the date of the injury)
I ventured to try the litter again. So with a new set of
elephants for my luggage and bearers for myself hired in
the village, that afternoon at 3 o’clock we started, but
found no camping place till 11 P. M.—a weary journey! But
all forgotten next morning when my eyes rested again on the
Meinam River and I was transferred to the boat. Two days
of vigourous poling up the river brought me to my friends’
landing about five P. M. Wednesday, March 18.”

By Nai Chune the doctor was able to send to his wife the news of
the misfortune, though it was two months after the accident before
she received the message. Trusty servants were then sent up to
meet him at Raheng, where his boats were awaiting his return.
The complete healing of the wound and recuperation of strength
required more time than he had anticipated so that he was compelled
to remain at Chiengmai six weeks. During this enforced delay he
had the privilege of assisting in organising the first church at
Chiengmai, a little gratification to his old and ardent desire for
the evangelisation of the Lao. The return was made all the way by
water. From Chiengmai to Raheng the voyage required eighteen days,
and thence his own boats carried him the remainder of the way to
Bangkok in twelve days.

It is probable that Dr. House accomplished more touring in Siam
than any other missionary. During the first ten years, within which
most of the exploring was done, he was more free than Mr. Mattoon
to be absent for long periods and distant journeys. While the other
missions were restricting their work Dr. House had visions of
enlarging the range of Presbyterian activities. All the fields of
present mission stations in central Siam had been explored by Dr.
House and seed sown long before permanent work was undertaken. Love
of pioneering and zeal for the Gospel united to impel him to search
out the land with a view to ultimate conquest for Christ.

NEW KING, NEW CUSTOMS, NEW FAVOURS

It is a noteworthy testimony to the influence of the American
missionaries that through their instruction in modern science the
most enlightened monarch of the Orient should have come to his
death as a result of his zeal in behalf of astronomy. Although
since he had ascended the throne King Mongkut had not been able
to devote time to pursuit of the sciences as he had done while
a priest in the watt, yet he maintained a real interest. His
requests to Dr. House for translations from foreign journals
included items of scientific interest. His patronage of the mission
school in favour of the sons of nobles was not merely to have them
taught English, but that through that language they might obtain
instruction in the sciences.

When circumstances brought it within his power to lend assistance
to the scientific world he seized the opportunity with a royal
will. Astronomers had predicted a total eclipse of the sun for
the year 1868, and indicated that the southern peninsula of Siam
would be the sole place on the globe where the eclipse would appear
in totality. In his great enthusiasm, desiring to be a patron of
science, the king determined to lead an expedition to witness the
phenomena. Dr. House describes the preparations in a letter (Aug.,
1868):

“The gulf of Siam lay in the greatest duration of the solar
eclipse since the sun began to shine, as some say; attracting
to these realms astronomers from Western Europe. Great
preparations were made to receive them with all honor and
to join them in witnessing the solar phenomena, on the part
of our science-loving king and his government. Large levies
of men were made to put up at the spot fixed by the French
astronomical expedition suitable buildings for all who were
present. No expense was spared in the way of entertaining
the numerous guests. It is said that two thousand catties
of silver ($96,000.) were expended upon the affair by our
public spirited king. A free ticket on a beautiful ship
of war, and entertainment while there, to all us foreign
residents. But as Mr. McDonald (now acting consul) desires
to go and both could not well be absent so long from the
station, I did not go down; and then, too, we were sure of a
very respectable eclipse here in Bangkok, which I wished to
improve for the benefit of the pupils in our school and our
native friends.... Here we saw stars distinctly in the day
time during the greatest obscuration.”

The site chosen by the astronomers was in the jungle, in which
the king caused a clearing to be made and temporary huts to be
constructed. During the brief sojourn in this unhealthy spot, the
king contracted a fever. The disease proved fatal, death occurring
shortly after the king returned to the royal palace.

The death of the king was a sore loss to the world. Dr. House wrote:

“The missionaries lost, some of them a kind personal friend
and a ‘well-wisher’ as he used to sign himself, and all
a friendly-disposed liberal-minded sovereign, who put no
obstacle in the way of their evangelising his people.”

Western nations lost a royal friend who had opened the gates of
his kingdom for intercourse. But Siam herself, while mourning the
death of an enlightened sovereign, had gained so much through the
seventeen years of his felicitous reign that his death could not
stop her progress in the paths he had opened for her. The light
which had found its way into the jungle of human notions through
the clearing Mongkut had made was never again to pass into eclipse.

KING CHULALONGKORN

With the death of King Mongkut the personal relations of the
pioneer missionaries with the reigning monarch were terminated.
Concerning the successor, Chulalongkorn, Dr. House wrote:

“I have not seen much of the young prince in childhood; he
had been under the tutorship of the English governess Mrs.
Leonowens and, later, of Mr. Chandler (formerly a lay Baptist
missionary).... He had grown to maturity during the nearly
three years of my absence in America.”

As second or vice-king there had been chosen Prince George
Washington, with whom Dr. House was better acquainted.

The missionaries were eager to learn whether the new government
was to be as progressive as the old, and especially to know the
attitude to be assumed towards their work. Signs that progression
was to be the order of the reign were not long wanting. Custom
hitherto required that the coronation should be in the presence of
the princes only. At the coronation of Chulalongkorn an innovation
was introduced by invitations to the official representatives of
other nations resident in Bangkok to attend. Shortly after the
coronation the missionaries arranged, through the United States
consul, to pay their respects to the new king. They were graciously
received, and although the young king was suffering from effects
of a fever contracted on the ill-fated astronomical expedition, he
gave them an audience and conversed with them a few minutes. When
the consul was arranging for his official visit of congratulations
upon the vice-king, that personage requested as a personal favour
that the consul be accompanied by Dr. House. The king was but
fifteen years of age when he came to the throne, and during his
minority the government was under the regency of Somdetch Chao Phya
Boromaha Sri Suriwongse, an able and upright statesman.

With rapid succession came decrees changing age-long customs and
bringing Siamese social and civil institutions into line with
Western civilisation. The most radical and noteworthy of these
changes were: the abolition of the practice of prostration by which
everyone, of whatsoever rank, had been obliged to prostrate himself
on the ground, face downwards, in the presence of any who had a
superior rank in the social scale; the introduction at court and
in the army of a modified European dress to cover the near-nudity
which formerly prevailed; the prohibition of enslavement for
debt, a pernicious custom by which parents could sell their
children, husbands their wives, and anyone himself into servitude
to discharge a ruinous debt, resulting in a state of peonage from
which the hopeless victim could scarce escape; reformation of
unjust political practises; and the initiation of a state system of
schools, telegraphs and posts.

Concerning two of these reforms interesting sidelights have been
cast by writers. Mrs. Leonowens, by whom the prince had been
tutored in English, relates that when he heard of the death of
Abraham Lincoln he declared that “if he ever lived to reign over
Siam he would reign over a free and not an enslaved nation, and
that he would restore the ancient constitutional government and
make Siam a kingdom of the free.” Mr. J. G. D. Campbell, in his
volume _Siam in the Twentieth Century_, sketches the court-scene
when the ancient custom of prostration was abolished:

“In 1874,” he writes, “King Chulalongkorn assembled his
ministers and nobles and, having ascended the throne,
promulgated a decree emancipating them and all subjects
from the degrading custom of crawling on their knees in the
presence of a superior; after which, at his command the whole
assembly arose from their prostrate position on their hands
and knees and stood erect for the first time in the presence
of their sovereign.”

Though his personal relation with the occupant of the throne was
terminated, Dr. House found that the new government included many
of his old-time friends from the days of his lectures on science.
Among these were the regent himself, the minister of foreign
affairs, the master of the new mint and the commander-in-chief of
the army. A new office also had been established, and the doctor
found his friend Godata, formerly a priest in Chao Fah Yai’s watt,
appointed as court preacher with the duty of preaching on the
Christian Sabbath a moral lecture to the soldiers and cadets, by
the king’s orders.

NEW FAVOURS

The mission workers hoped that a change in sovereigns would mean
no reaction; they scarcely expected more. But while King Mongkut
had “put no obstacle in the way,” King Chulalongkorn soon removed
the remaining obstacles by making effective the treaty provisions
even in the dependency of Lao. For it was the rapid development
of the work in that new station that precipitated a condition in
which the good offices of the new government alone saved the day.
Within two years of the beginning of work at Chiengmai the first
convert made a confession of faith, Nan Inta; and in seven months
more six others had received baptism. Then suddenly the virulence
of the king of Lao was manifested by the martyrdom of two of these
converts, put to death on his orders.

As the Lao state was subject to the king of Siam, and as the
government had given permission for the missionaries to work in
that dependency, appeal was taken promptly to the regent for
protection of the Lao missionaries whose lives were in danger.
The regent sent a commissioner with all dispatch to Chiengmai
with stringent orders to the Lao ruler that the missionaries
must receive the full protection guaranteed by the treaty
between Siam and the United States. Enraged by this invocation
of a higher authority, the Lao king declared that while the
missionaries might remain as the Siamese government had ordered,
yet they must not teach religion or make Christians; and openly
vowed his purpose to kill any of his people who should become
converts to the new religion. The situation had apparently become
impossible; and to gain time while deciding what course was best
under the circumstances, the work was suspended, and the workers
had virtually decided to leave in the spring. About that time,
however, the tyrant with a large suite left for Bangkok to attend
the cremation ceremonies of his late suzerain. While there he fell
sick, and before he could reach his Chiengmai capital he died. Upon
his death the supreme power within the province passed to the hands
of one kindly disposed to the missionaries.

In the same year as the death of the Lao king, 1870, a royal
proclamation was issued which appeared in part in the Bangkok
Calendar for the next year. This proclamation was a decree of
religious liberty. Apparently, although not of a certainty, it had
some connection with the recent affair among the Lao. A paragraph
from this proclamation shows the broadmindedness of the government
at that period:

“In regard to the concern of seeking and holding a religion
that shall be a refuge to yourself in this life, it is a
good concern and exceedingly appropriate and suitable that
you all—every individual of you—should investigate and
judge for himself according to his own wisdom. And when you
see any religion whatever, or any company of religionists
whatever, likely to be of advantage to yourself, a refuge in
accord with your own wisdom, hold to that religion with all
your heart. Hold it not with a shallow mind, with mere guess
work or merely because of its general popularity or from
mere traditional saying that it is the custom held from time
immemorial. And do not hold a religion that you have not good
evidence is true and then frighten men’s fears and flatter
their hopes thereby. Do not be frightened and astonished at
diverse fictitious events and hold to and follow them. When
you shall have obtained a refuge, a religious faith that
is good and beautiful and suitable, hold to it with great
joy and follow its teachings, and it will be a cause of
prosperity to each one of you.... It is our will that our
subjects of whatever race, nation or creed live freely and
happily in the kingdom, no man despising or molesting another
on account of religious difference, or any other difference
of opinion, custom or manners.”

Oddly enough, Dr. House, who seemed always to make mention of the
innovations of the progressive government under the new king, makes
no reference to this proclamation in his letters, nor does he
mention it in his chapter on the history of missions in _Siam and
Laos_. In this last named work, however, he states that on Sept.
29, 1878, the king of Siam issued “a proclamation establishing
religious toleration in Laos and by implication throughout all his
dominions.”

Early in 1871 an incident occurred which was fraught with great
consequence for native Christians, and one in which Dr. House’s
friendly intimacy with the high officials enabled him to render a
service of far-reaching consequence to the young native church.
One of the girls of the school, Ooey, shortly after she had made a
confession of faith, was called as a witness in court upon a suit
in behalf of another member of the church. It was then the custom
to allow the Chinese to take oath according to their religion;
but there was no provision in the law for the Christian oath.
When this young girl was asked to take the native oath, she told
the court boldly that she was a Christian and that she could not
take an oath based on the native religion; and she demanded to be
sworn upon her Christian faith. The court tried to induce her to
accede to custom, assuring her that it was but a harmless formula.
But she steadily refused, although she was an important witness,
the lack of whose testimony was greatly to the disadvantage of a
fellow-Christian. In consequence the case was suspended, in hopes
that she would change her attitude.

The matter was at once brought to the attention of Dr. House, who
recognised that the situation involved elements which were of
serious consequence to the religious rights of native Christians.
If compelled to take oath, it would infringe upon their conscience.
If not permitted to substitute the Christian oath, they would have
to forfeit their standing in the court in all cases. The doctor at
once sought an interview with the minister of foreign affairs, his
old friend and former Lieutenant-Governor of Petchaburi, and also
with the regent, an old-time friend. After laying before them the
nature of the case, an order was issued directing that a witness be
sworn by the faith to which he claimed allegiance. This action, so
far as appears, was the first step in the legal recognition of the
Christian faith on the part of the government.

PROGRESS

During the last decade of Dr. House’s services there were many
recruits to the force of workers. But these additions were not a
net gain, for in the meantime there were numerous withdrawals on
account of health. In 1869 came Revs. J. W. Van Dyke and John
Carrington with their wives. Two years later were added Rev. and
Mrs. R. Arthur, Rev. J. N. Culbertson and Miss E. S. Dickey. Miss
Arabella Anderson came in 1872 to assist in the new boarding school
for girls. The year 1874 saw the arrival of an unusual number of
unmarried women missionaries. They were Misses S. M. Coffman, M.
L. Cort and E. D. Grimshaw. Then, in 1875, Rev. and Mrs. Eugene P.
Dunlop reached Bangkok and began a very long period of valuable
service.

Increase of workers meant not diminution but rather increase of
work. This is typified in the case of Dr. House himself, who
jocularly wrote to his brother that “Satan will not likely find
mischief for my hands to do,” and then recounts the duties that
devolve upon him. The varied activities that he mentions not only
show the versatility required of a missionary but indicate the
manifold duties that each missionary has to perform. He writes:

“I have recently become a theological professor, four
evenings of the week gathering around me in my study the more
advanced and promising of the native church members ... and
try to pilot them through the leading principles of a system
of divinity.”

One of these men, Ooan Si Tieng, was ordained in 1872. He had been
the first Chinese convert in the mission and now became the first
to receive this full authority from the Presbytery. As pastor of
the native church Dr. House had a full measure of sorrows as well
as joys, for there is a tide in spiritual affairs that has its
ebb as well as its flow, and the years of spiritual awaking were
followed by periods of depression. Thus at the beginning of 1869 he
writes:

“Our spiritual prospects at the opening of the year are not
as bright as last new year—one or two sad and unexpected
fallings away from the faith have greatly tried and pained
our hearts.”

But this reaction was transient, for two years later, in telling of
the week of prayer in January, he writes:

“Our native Christians are quite interested, sustaining the
meetings nobly. Indeed I have thrown the meetings upon them
altogether and they take turns in leading them. You do not
know what comfort it is to have in my little flock enough
able and willing to carry on these meetings.... It would do
you good to witness the spirit of faithfulness on their part
to the souls of their impenitent friends and neighbours.”

In addition to his duties as pastor of the mission church, Dr.
House was appointed superintendent of the mission press in 1870,
and for that year also was elected secretary of the mission in
charge of the records and correspondence. At the same time he was
offered a royal appointment:

“Projects are now on foot in both kings’ palaces for schools
for the instruction of the young nobility of Siam in English
and the sciences. I have been earnestly solicited by the
Second King George to aid in establishing the one he is
planning. Happy would I be to lend a helping hand if other
duties would allow.”

After two years the doctor was relieved of the charge of the Press
and appointed again to the more congenial task of supervising the
mission school, a position which he continued to fill until his
final withdrawal from the field.

In the midst of these incidents the actual growth of the Mission
must not be overlooked. It has to be recorded that in spite of
arduous and faithful labours of the increasing corps of workers
and in the face of all the encouraging marks of advance in Western
civilisation, Siam responded very slowly to the spiritual appeal
of the Gospel. While she gladly recognised and sought after the
material benefits of Christianity she continued to manifest
her characteristic indifference to its more vital message. Mr.
McDonald, in his book on _Siam, Its Government, Manners and
Customs_, says that when he arrived in Siam in 1861 there was but
one native convert in connection with the mission, whereas ten
years later there was a church in Bangkok with only twenty members
and another in Petchaburi with a like number. He then adds:

“It is just to state that there is scarcely any other field
in which modern missions have been established where the
introduction of the gospel has met with so little opposition
as in Siam proper.... It is equally just to say that there is
scarcely any other field which has been so barren of results.
Pure Buddhism seems to yield more slowly to the power of the
gospel than any other false system.”

The reason for this unyielding nature of Buddhism seems to lie in
its ethical theories which are the result of its philosophy of
life. In some measure, too, this indifference of Buddhism to a
spiritual interpretation of life accounts for its non-resistance
towards the preaching of an antagonistic religion. The primary
fallacies of Buddhism from the Christian point of view are:

“1. No Creator and no Creating: Things just happened. This
conception leads to indifference to nature and to a belief
that the body is vile, to be despised and disregarded.

“2. No idea of a Spiritual Personality, whether human or
divine. Emphasis is placed on mind and intellect to the
exclusion of will and feeling. Hence Buddhism is a philosophy
rather than a religion, a theory of existence rather than a
motive force.

“3. No true sense of relationship of man to man or of man
to God, in the absence of spiritual personality. Everything
is ego-centric, each for himself. Hence incomplete ideas of
love, faith, sin, holiness, suffering; in the absence of hope
fear dominates life.

“4. The greatest fundamental error is the assertion of the
Karma law as the sole principle that explains all (the law
of ethical causation, by which the merit or demerit of every
act in this life effects the future life). This leads to
a denial of personality and to fatalism, formality, trust
in the individual’s merit, denial of forgiveness and self
satisfaction.”

But if the work at that stage had few numerical results to display,
yet a keen discernment would show that other larger results were
being accomplished. Mr. George B. Bacon, in his volume on Siam,
shows a true appreciation of what missions had accomplished up to
that time:

“At first sight their efforts, if measured by count of
converts, might seem to have resulted in failure.... But
really the success of these efforts has been extraordinary,
although the history of them exhibits an order of results
almost without precedent. Ordinarily the religious
enlightenment of a people comes first and the civilization
follows as a thing of course. But here the Christianisation
of the nation has scarcely begun, but its civilisation has
made much more than a beginning. For it is to the labours
of the Christian missionaries in Siam that the remarkable
advancement of the kings and nobles, and even of the common
people in general is owing....

“When Sir John Bowring came in 1855 to negotiate his treaty
... he found the fruit was ripe before he plucked it. And it
was by the patient and persistent labours of the missionaries
for twenty years that the results which he achieved were made
not only possible but easy.”

But there is evidence of even more subtle effect of the gospel.
No one who reads of the notable changes in the social customs and
political institutions introduced by the young King Chulalongkorn
can resist the conclusion that it was the religious support of
these ancient practises that had given way under the disintegrating
light of the Christian Gospel. Even that earlier attempt of Chao
Fah Yai to modernise the religious teachings among his followers
shows that the religious philosophy of Buddhism could not stand
before the truth of Jesus.

LITERARY WORK

In the literary field Dr. House was receptive rather than creative.
He was a lover of books but not of writing:

“How irksome and difficult the labour of composition has been
to me,” he says, “I’d rather be a ditch digger and shovel
mud. The getting of a certain amount of writing done by a
given time is out of the question in my case.”

He was appointed the first “librarian” of the Mission back in the
early days when the library consisted of two shelves of books
and some unbound magazines, besides “some Malay, Tamul, Bengali,
Portuguese and Indo-Portuguese books for a long time handed down
in the mission.” His reluctance at the pen partly accounts for
the sparsity of matter published under his name in the missionary
magazines. But the refusal on his part to appear in print in
this fashion was due perhaps more to his fear that journals or
newspapers containing articles on missions would find their way
into the hands of the Siamese government, which might be displeased
with any frank narrative of observations. For this reason he
frequently admonished the recipients of his letters that they
should not take advantage of his absence to publish his comments.

When it came to the needs of the mission, however, he lent his hand
and brain to supply the requirements. The following tracts are
ascribed to him:

_Scripture Facts_, 1848.

_Watt’s Catechism_, bound with The Speller, 1853.

_Child’s Catechism with Commandments and Lord’s Prayer_, 1854.

_Questions in Gospel History_, 1864.

_Stand by the Truth_, 1869.

These last two in conjunction with Mrs. House.

After return to America he wrote a pamphlet, _Notes on Obstetric
Practises in Siam_, (Putnam, 1897). In the volume, _Siam and Laos_
(Presbyterian Board, 1884), several chapters were contributed by
Dr. House, including the very comprehensive and accurate chapter on
_History of Missions in Siam_; but so impersonally did he write the
record that it would be almost impossible for the reader to detect
that a good part of the story had been created in action as well as
recounted by the writer.

The school for boys which Dr. House fostered almost continuously
from its beginning was merged into the Boys’ Christian High School
in 1889. This institution in turn developed in scope until it was
enlarged into the “Bangkok Christian College,” which was organised
in 1915.

HARRIET PETTIT HOUSE

In former years a missionary’s wife was not under commission of the
Board. Her status was similar to that of the pastor’s wife at home.
It is not infrequent that the work of the wife is just as vital
to the development of the church as that of her husband, but she
receives no recognition in the official records of the church. Her
honour is emblazoned where the eye cannot see it—in the hearts of
the people. The wife of the pioneer missionary went out, not at the
call of the Church, but at the call of the husband, with no promise
of remuneration aside from the fabulous bridal endowment which the
groom made at marriage “with all his worldly goods” and with no
official rank to assure the preservation of her name on the roll of
honour.

So it happens that the scanty reports from the early Siam mission
seldom mentioned the name of Mrs. House. Yet one cannot read the
letters of her husband without perceiving that she supplemented
his educational work in a manner and to a degree that is worthy of
special recognition. But apart from that, she succeeded finally in
so organising and establishing female education in Siam that she
has come to be regarded as the founder of permanent educational
work for women in that country.

HER FAMILY AND EDUCATION

Harriet Pettit House was born in Waterford, New York, Dec. 23,
1820. Her ancestry was Scotch and English. On the mother’s side the
line goes back to William Mitchell and his wife, Agnes Buchanan,
who emigrated from Glasgow to New England in 1755. The male line
in America began with the Englishman Abraham Waterhouse, who came
to New England, 1729, and “who sleeps with the pilgrim settlers
at Saybrook, Conn.” Her paternal grandfather, John Pettit, one of
the original settlers of Waterford and a member of the first board
of village trustees, came from Chester, Conn., whence a few years
later he brought his bride, Rebecca Waterhouse.

[Illustration: HARRIET PETTIT HOUSE]

Their son, John, is said to have been the first child born in the
new settlement. He became a cabinet maker. Following his father’s
example, he sought a wife in Chester and married Sarah Parmelee
Mitchell, who was his “second cousin, once removed.” Of this
ancestry and marriage was born the future woman missionary. The
family comprised Mary Jane (dying in infancy), Eliza Ann, Mary
Jane, Harriet Maria, John Mitchell, William Frederic and Sarah
Frances, all of whom were born at Waterford except the last. The
mother was a member of the Waterford Presbyterian Church, and the
two older daughters united at an early age. In 1832 the family
moved to Sandy Hill, New York, where resided an uncle, General
Micajah Pettit. While living there Harriet made a profession of her
faith at the age of seventeen. During residence in that village
she became acquainted with Stephen Mattoon and the young woman who
later became his wife, with both of whom she was destined to be
associated in Siam. The first appearance of her name in the journal
of Dr. House is a casual entry that Mrs. Mattoon had received
(1851) a letter from her friend Harriet Pettit. After nine years
the family returned to Waterford in 1841.

Harriet’s elementary education was the best afforded by the private
school system of the period. In 1840 she entered the Emma Willard
Female Seminary at Troy, New York. There she studied for a year,
and then entered upon what proved to be her life work of female
education. Her first year of teaching was in a young ladies’ school
in New York City. For two years she served as governess for a
family in Charleston, South Carolina. It was while there that she
wrote to her youngest sister a most remarkable letter of religious
importunity. In the winter of 1843 a great revival had aroused the
little church at Waterford under the pastor, Rev. Reuben Smith, in
which sixty-nine were converted. Among these were her father and
two brothers, all of whom united with the church. Having received
news of this awakening, Harriet sent to her sister, the only member
of the family not yet in the Church, a letter carefully printed so
as to be legible to the girl of ten years. It was a letter with a
purpose. It was an affectionate entreaty for the sister to become
a Christian. Concisely but clearly she explained what it meant to
be a Christian, and then gently and with fervour urged a prompt
decision for Christ. That letter was not void of its purpose, and
all these eighty years since it has been treasured by the recipient
as a memento of a loving, consecrated sister.

The Pettit family did not remain long in Waterford after their
return. In 1844 they moved to Newark, New Jersey, and there became
identified with the Second Presbyterian Church, of which at the
time the pastor was a relative, the Rev. Ebenezer Cheever, who had
formerly been their pastor also at Waterford. Thereupon, Harriet
came to Newark and set up a small school for girls in her home.
In 1848 she was called to be assistant in the female seminary at
Steubenville, Ohio. In the fall of 1851 she returned to Newark
and opened, under her own management, a “Select School for Young
Ladies,” which she continued up to the time of her marriage. During
these later years she was active in the work of the Second Church,
serving as joint superintendent of the Sunday school. On Oct. 24,
1855, her father died, leaving Harriet alone with their mother and
her youngest sister.

MARRIAGE

It was at this juncture of the family affairs, two days after the
father’s death, that Harriet received an unexpected call from her
friend of former years, Dr. S. R. House, then home on a furlough
from Siam. Writing later to a friend she comments:

“It is but two years this morning since my good husband
called at 373 Broad Street, Newark, to see a lady on very
particular business. Only two years,—and fifteen months of
that time I have been in the city of Bangkok. Does not this
speak well for Samuel’s despatch of business sometimes? (Then
quoting a bit of doggerel which he had once written:)

‘I haven’t the slightest notion
Of launching on the stormy ocean
Where family cares and troubles rise
Heaping their billows to the skies
A wife’s complaint, the young one’s cries
Wont suit me.’

“How entirely we sometimes change our minds! On the morning
of the 26th, the ‘batch’ who once thus sung had not the
slightest, but the strongest notion—and launching forth soon
followed.”

Having changed his mind the suitor allowed little time to slip by
till he had won the object of his heart’s desire. A month and a day
after the engagement, on Nov. 27, 1855, the marriage occurred.

The bridal couple sailed for Siam in the spring of 1856, arriving
at Bangkok in July. On the part of the natives connected with the
mission the bride was received with a quiet curiosity, for these
people were slow to receive newcomers into their affections. But
King Mongkut, having first given a private audience to Dr. House,
requested particularly that the bride might come to the palace to
receive his congratulations. Mrs. House describes the call:

“A few weeks afterwards a note came from him inviting the
ladies who, as he expressed it, ‘had not yet been to pay
their personal interview to H. M.,’ and saying he would send
a boat for us. About 2 p. m., the boat came with one of the
ladies of the king’s household and a train of servants; and
Mrs. Morse and I went.... Passing through a gate in the wall
of the palace we were conducted through paved streets on
each side of which are the brick dwellings of the various
inmates. As we passed along we attracted the attention of the
residents who crowded about the doors, curious to see the
foreign ladies.

“At length we arrived at a large building on the portico of
which were chairs, and here we were invited to sit to await
summons into the royal presence.... After an hour or more a
message came from H. M. announcing his readiness to receive
us. We entered a door guarded by several female soldiers; and
here stood the king to meet us; dressed in a mouse colored,
figured silk sacque, over a white garment—a large diamond
on his breast, a number of very brilliant rings and a gold
watch, and sandals on feet. He extended his right hand very
graciously to us and led the way to a spacious hall, hung
round with mirrors, where we were seated.

“He sent for his favorite wife whom he introduced as his
queen consort, and afterwards sent for her two children; the
eldest a boy of about four years, was loaded with chains
of gold; the youngest a daughter. Both very handsome. His
Majesty was exceedingly affable, speaking English so that
with strict attention we could understand. He conversed on
various subjects intelligently. Refreshments were served,
during which H. M. left us. When he returned he presented to
us each, as a memento of our visit, a very heavy gold ring
of Siamese manufacture, set with five sapphires. After being
shown through some of the apartments, at sundown we took our
leave.”

A belated sequence of this royal welcome was an invitation to Mrs.
House and Mrs. Jonathan Wilson (newly arrived) to dine with the
queen and some of her ladies in the palace the following year.

AN INDUSTRIOUS WOMAN

We catch glimpses of the indefatigable industry of this woman
slightly from her few letters but chiefly from those of Dr. House.
Within a month after landing, before the house was fairly settled,
she began where the first opportunity presented:

“My good wife has already begun her true missionary work,
for she has a Bible class of nine of our young folks, whom
she instructs Sabbath mornings through the English tongue
which they have partially acquired.”

Promptly she took up the important task of learning the language:

“I love the Siamese language very much indeed. The first
month I was here I took no lesson and I have lost two months
since by sickness and absence, but I have read and nearly
translated the gospel of Matthew; and I begin to make myself
understood.”

During the dry season for the first several years Mrs. House made
tours with her husband. One of these was to Prabat, the scene of
the “footstep of Buddha,” where the doctor had experienced rough
treatment on his previous visit; on this occasion, however, no
attention was paid to the presence of foreigners. Mrs. House took
pains to write vivid accounts of many of these tours for the
home Sunday school; these and parts of her letters found their
way into the missionary magazines of the day and afterwards were
incorporated as a part of the volume, _Siam and Laos_.

In the summer of the second year we find her teaching an
hour-and-a-half daily in the mission school and giving two hours
daily to the study of the language beside the domestic cares. She
had already taken under her maternal oversight the native girl
Delia, and also accepted charge of Nancy, whom Mrs. Mattoon had
raised; and while in some ways these wards were an assistance, yet
their care and direction was a great responsibility. Comments upon
her zeal appear frequently in the doctor’s letters, and ten years
after her arrival he continues to mention her diligence:

“Harriette is as industriously engaged as ever. She will
teach three full hours a day, besides what she does for her
girls at home, reading and translating with the Siamese
teacher. Nor can she be persuaded to spare herself. Has just
started under superintendance of Delia and Ooey, alternately,
an infant sewing and singing class.”

Thus by assistance of the girls whom she had already taught she
undertook to extend her reach, training these girls in teaching
under her own direction. After she had fairly mastered the language
she sought further to enlarge her influence by preparing tracts and
translating pamphlets. She is credited with these productions:

_Questions in Gospel History_, 1864; _Stand by the Truth_, 1869
(these two in conjunction with Dr. House); _Catechism in Bible
Truth_, 1870; several juvenile story books.

Concerning the _Catechism_, Dr. House wrote to Mrs. House while
she was in America (1871): “I take great satisfaction in the
circulation of that little tract _Bible Truth_ you toiled on so
faithfully, and I like it better each day. Our whole school recite
their ‘verse a day’ from that now.”

PRECARIOUS HEALTH

While admiring her industry. Dr. House expressed foreboding very
early, writing six months after her arrival: “H. is really very
well now, but is far too industrious. I am curious to know the
effect a Siamese sun will have on such habits of diligence as she
has brought from the United States.”

That the tropical rays were not to be ignored, even by consecrated
diligence, early became manifested by a strange “burning sensation
in the top of the head,” from which Mrs. House began to suffer
within a year and which continued, sometimes with alarming
discomfort, throughout her residence in Siam. As the pain increased
rather than abated after seven years in the tropics, her physician
recommended a sojourn in her native climate in hopes of gaining
permanent relief. Accordingly Dr. and Mrs. House left Bangkok in
February, 1864, and spent two full years in America. The change
brought relief which at the time it was hoped would be permanent.

BEGINNINGS OF FEMALE EDUCATION IN SIAM

It is not possible to ascribe to Mrs. House the beginnings of
education of women in Siam. Even apart from the efforts of the
women of the other missions to teach the Chinese women, Mrs.
Mattoon had at the outset of her career taken native girls into
her home with a view to educating them. Later she succeeded in
gathering a class of little girls in the Peguan village across the
river from the capital. When Mrs. House came, in 1856, Mrs. Mattoon
was conducting a class of six or seven married women whom she
taught to read while at the same time giving religious instruction.
Shortly after the coming of Mrs. House, Mrs. Mattoon seems to have
withdrawn from such work in her favour, as her own time was then
largely occupied with her domestic duties.

Modern female education in Siam may be said to have begun when the
newly crowned King Mongkut, in August, 1851, requested the ladies
of the several missions to come to the palace in turns for the
purpose of instructing some of the royal ladies. This was five
years before Mrs. House reached Siam. The intention of the king,
as he expressed it, was to qualify the ladies of the palace to
converse with him in English. The effect of this royal patronage of
female education was not only to break the bondage of custom which
held women in perpetual ignorance but to quicken popular interest
in the mission school.

Though Mrs. House promptly enlisted in assisting her husband in
the school for boys, her greatest sympathy was with the girls of
Siam. From the first she sought to reach out toward them, making
her first point of contact by a class in English Bible. As she came
to perceive the age-long inheritance of ignorance that impoverished
the successive generations of Siamese women she was kindled with
a desire to share with them the heritage of Christian women. This
lack of education she pictures:

“When we first went to Siam not one woman or little girl
in ten could read, although all the boys are taught by the
priests in the temples to read and write. One day a very
bright interesting little girl, twelve years old perhaps,
came to our boat to see the strangers. When asked if she
could read, she did not answer yes or no, but with surprise
exclaimed, ‘Why, I am a girl’—as if we ought to have known
better than to ask a girl such a question.”

The chief obstacle to education was the notion that education
had no value for them. Woman’s place was to serve and please man.
So long as she could cook rice, take care of the children and do
necessary work without knowing books, why learn? Perhaps Mrs. House
did not have a vision of making education an established factor in
the customs of Siam; that possibility was too vast and too remote
to conceive under the circumstances. But she did have a clear
vision that education was indispensable to the amelioration of
womankind.

Her first step was taken in 1858, concerning which the doctor
wrote: “Daily now Harriette has four female pupils about her,
and the first day they were present, she came to me looking so
happy, saying: ‘O, I have been in my element today—teaching girls
again.’” This step was of importance chiefly as the beginning of
her definite work in female education. Otherwise it was rather
commonplace. These girls were just the girls whom the missionaries
had taken into their homes primarily to influence for Christ. All
the missionary families have done this and are doing so today. Mrs.
House gathered them into a class in order that they might have more
regular school training, and as other families came and other girls
were taken into the homes the number in her class increased. This
class was partly industrial, for besides instruction in reading the
Bible and other elementary subjects, the girls were taught to sew.
With the aid of an American sewing-machine their skill was utilised
to make garments for the boys of the boarding school; showing their
work could be of value. About this time Mrs. House also succeeded
in winning the confidence of a group of older women whom she
instructed in an informal manner in domestic economy.

Along with indifference there was a more concrete obstacle to
progress in education of girls—the economic factor. Time spent
in class was time lost from labour in the house or in the field;
and this was a serious matter. While Mrs. House had demonstrated
the economic value of domestic training for girls by the saving in
expense for the boys’ school through their sewing, it remained for
Mrs. S. G. McFarland, at Petchaburi, in 1865, to apply this fact
in such a manner as to draw women into her classes. She offered
prospective pupils employment at a wage equal to that they could
earn elsewhere. So long as they brought in earnings their fathers,
or husbands in some cases, were not particular how they worked;
and if foreigners were foolish enough to pay them to learn, the
returns were a little more certain than in other markets. One of
the conditions of the school was that each pupil would devote a
part of the time to learning to read. The skill of hands which they
acquired by training enabled them to earn their wage and still
leave a good margin of time for this instruction. The result was
a demonstration that trained hands could do more and better work,
and that trained minds made those hands more thrifty. Here was the
answer to the economic objection to female education.

When Mrs. House returned from America, in 1866, she took up her
work with women again. Reporting home, the doctor wrote: “Harriette
is greatly engaged in her labours of teaching etc., going out to
the school room and calling to her at home the women about us of
whom she has a class now morning and afternoon, learning to read.”
This is only a glimpse, but it shows that she returns with her
purpose steady in mind. While Dr. House was on his ill-fated trip
to Chiengmai Mrs. House assumed full charge of the boys’ school and
boarding department, and at the same time continued her classes for
women. Perhaps it should be explained that while the term women is
most commonly used in the doctor’s references to her work, the word
really refers to the young married women for the most part, girls
whom we would class as of the high school ages or just above.

At length Mrs. House introduced the plan which Mrs. McFarland had
tested at Petchaburi, paying women for their work which in turn
was disposed of to advantage, but on condition that part of their
time should be devoted to general instruction in the rudiments
of learning, always including the Bible. With this advance her
work for women passed from the stage of voluntary classes to a
recognised established school. Writing in 1868, Dr. House reported
home:

“Harriette is greatly engaged in her new industrial
school for women. A busy scene on our back verandah every
morning,—eight sewers.... Harriette’s class of women in her
industrial school for women is a success and promises great
good, though it keeps her busy in season and out of season.”

Mrs. House was able to use in this work some of the older girls who
had been under her motherly care for some years. When, in 1871, she
spent a year in America, her industrial school was continued under
the direction of Maa Kate and Maa Esther, who took full charge.

FURLOUGHS FOR HEALTH

The three years’ absence from Siam proved to have only a temporary
benefit for Mrs. House’s health. The burning sensation in her
head soon set in anew. She worked under constant pain; at times
her head was swathed in wet cloths to mitigate the pain so that
she could discharge her duties. Work and suffering together were
exhausting, and after another three years period she was forced
to seek a respite. To this end, in 1869, she gladly accepted the
invitation of the Burrows, of Canton, that family of good friends
to missionaries, who offered a free passage in one of their ships
and kind hospitality in their home.

This voyage to China proved to be perilous and alarming reports
of a foundered ship reached Dr. House at Bangkok. Fortunately the
ship’s encounter was not fatal.

“When twenty-eight days out the ship sprang a leak, made
eleven inches of water an hour, eight feet a day. Men kept
constantly at pumps; had to lighten the ship by throwing over
some one thousand sacks of rice, one-tenth the cargo, and
undergird the ship with a large sail—‘thrumming’ they call
it. Spoke a ship which promised to keep company and to come
and help if at night a certain lantern signal was hoisted.
Lost sight of her however. Were indeed in great peril. But a
gracious Providence brought them in safety.”

A visit of three months away from the tropics gave renewed vigour
and again Mrs. House returned to Bangkok with buoyant hopes of a
measure of comfort for her work. But as soon as the dry season had
passed the pain renewed its malign attack. At this perspective of
time the wonder is that she persisted in hope of being able even
to remain, much less labour in the tropics. Her persistence is a
silent testimony to her earnest desire to do something for the
Siamese women. After another twelve-month she was again compelled
to seek relief. Desiring to see once more her mother, then eighty
years of age, she sailed alone for America, arriving in the summer
of 1871.

APPEAL TO THE WOMEN OF AMERICA

Return to the temperate climate promptly brought relief and
restored her health. Her demonstrated success in the industrial
school had enlarged her hopes and clarified her vision of the
possibilities of female education; while the rapid modernisation
of Siam under the young King Chulalongkorn quickened her sense of
necessity to place that education upon a broader and more permanent
foundation. Both success and the opportunity impelled her to lay
the burden of responsibility upon the women of the Presbyterian
Church in America. This year in America we find her accepting
invitations to speak in Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Albany,
Troy and other places, telling her story and pleading for the
womanhood of Siam.

Just here it is both interesting and amusing to look back to the
attitude of mind towards women speaking in the Church. The doctor
writes to his brother counseling concerning his wife’s deportment
in this matter:

“Keep her if possible out of the pulpit—where I understand
the zeal of some returned missionary ladies carries them in
these days of women’s movement in mission work.”

This would almost be interpreted as a bit of jocular admonition to
a brother’s responsibility, were it not that we find these cautions
direct to the wife:

“Don’t step out of your sphere into the pulpit. If you
unsex yourself, I am not sure you will be welcome back as
warmly.... O don’t let anything tempt you to go beyond your
proper sphere as a woman; you cannot count upon a blessing
there and you will certainly grieve many that you love.”

Nor is the doctor quite as sanguine as his wife over this project
for a general advance in work for women even in Siam where he knows
the situation intimately:

“I sympathise with you heartily in your wish to accomplish
much for Siam before our stay here ... is over. And it may
be that the privilege will be given you of working more for
the women of the land. But there are great difficulties
in the way of this and there will be great trials and
disappointments awaiting you. I fear your distance from
Siam lends ‘enchantment to the view,’ and makes you forget
what the people are—heathen in heart and custom of life.
You ought to know that not a few here are opposed to the
principle of female industrial schools.... It is a very
serious question you propose with reference to bringing a
young lady out with you to reside in your family.”

THE “TROY BRANCH” INSTITUTES THE PROJECT

Mrs. House’s plea for the women of Siam found a response very near
home. It so happened that in the spring of 1872 Secretaries Irving
and Ellinwood, of the Foreign Board, addressed a meeting of the
Synod of Albany, held at Troy, New York. The Woman’s Presbyterian
Board of Foreign Missions of the Synod of Albany met at the same
place, and united with the Synod to hear the addresses. The result
was the organisation of a branch of the Women’s Board to cover the
Troy Presbytery, whence the name “Troy Branch.” The organising
group not only undertook to establish auxiliaries in their
respective churches but resolved as a Branch to assume as their
first and special object a boarding school for girls in Bangkok;
and to inaugurate this project they commissioned Mrs. House, who
was known personally to many of the women of the new organisation.
To begin the work the Branch agreed to provide three thousand
dollars; and for the next four years they raised some one thousand
four hundred and forty dollars. So it happened that Mrs. House
became the official head of the projected boarding school for girls.

The enterprise which was now committed to her was much larger in
scope than the work she already had under way; and even with small
beginnings there was need of an assistant to share the burden,
lighten the responsibility and aid in council. While Mrs. House
was in correspondence with several young women whose interests had
been turned towards Siam by her addresses a young woman of her own
church at Waterford, Arabella Anderson, offered herself.

ARABELLA ANDERSON-NOYES

Arabella Anderson was the daughter of James McL. and Arabella
Moreland Anderson, who emigrated from Belfast about 1847. They
settled at Waterford, New York, and promptly identified themselves
with the Presbyterian Church. They brought an infant son with them;
another son and three daughters were born to them in their new
home. Arabella was the eldest daughter, having been born Nov. 26,
1848. After elementary instruction in the local school she spent
a year in a nearby academy. At the age of twelve she united with
the Church. Her desire to become a foreign missionary was largely
the fruit of home influence. Both parents were devoted to the
cause of missions. Her father never forgot to intercede for the
work at family prayers. Her mother had been quickened in zeal for
the work in youth by hearing a missionary to Russia; and it was
her hope that her first born son might become a missionary, though
circumstances prevented this.

In the summer of 1872 Mrs. S. R. House was at her old home in
Waterford planning to return to Siam for the new enterprise which
had been entrusted to her by the “Troy Branch.” The pastor of the
local church, Rev. R. P. H. Vail, preached a missionary sermon
making a strong appeal for a volunteer to accompany Mrs. House as a
missionary-teacher. This came to the heart of Miss Anderson as the
Master’s call for enlistment in the work she had long contemplated.
After counsel with her mother she offered her services to Mrs.
House and was accepted. Two months later, in September, the two
sailed for Siam, reaching Bangkok late in the autumn. It was two
years before the new boarding school for girls could be housed. In
the meantime Miss Anderson took charge of the younger children in
the day school of the mission.

After the girls’ school was under way, by a happy inspiration
Miss Anderson hit upon an idea that brought the new school to the
attention of the young King Chulalongkorn. The sewing class was
sewing patches to make a quilt cover. It occurred to her that a
specimen of their product brought to the attention of the king
might demonstrate to him the practical character of their school.
Accordingly she had the girls make a quilt from pieces of silk she
had brought from China, with the intention of presenting this to
the king on his birthday. Arrangements having been made through
the Foreign Office, Dr. and Mrs. House, Miss Anderson and Miss
Grimstead (another assistant) were received by the king. After an
address of congratulations they presented the silk quilt to him.
His Majesty expressed his pleasure at the compliment, and his
gratification at having such a specimen of the work being done by
the girls of the school. Droll as this incident may seem now—the
formal reception at royal court and the presentation, to such an
august personage, of a patch-work quilt made by girls of a sewing
class—yet the demonstration made a favourable impression upon
the progressive ruler and won his sympathetic interest in the
educational work for girls newly undertaken by the mission.

After learning the language Miss Anderson translated several of Dr.
Richard Newton’s addresses for the young, under the title _Bible
Blessings_. Mrs. House and Miss Anderson went to Canton in 1875
for recuperation. There Miss Anderson met Rev. Henry V. Noyes, a
missionary under the Presbyterian Board. The acquaintance led to an
engagement, and the two were married at Bangkok, Jan. 29, 1876.
Two years were spent in America in work for the Chinese on the
Pacific Coast, and then the couple returned to China, where Mrs.
Noyes co-operated with her husband, especially conducting Bible
schools for women.

After the death of her husband, in 1914, she continued to labour
in China in a non-official capacity until 1922, when she returned
to America, having served in the foreign mission work fifty years.
One son, Richard V. Noyes, died as he was about to enter upon a
missionary career; the other son, Rev. Wm. D. Noyes, was for some
years a missionary in China under the Presbyterian Board. A sister
of Mrs. Noyes, Sarah Jean (1854-1902), graduated in 1875 from the
Women’s Medical College of New York and in 1877 sailed for China
as a medical missionary under the Presbyterian Board. Ill health
compelled her to resign two years later. Afterwards she married
Mr. Richard C. Brown and resided in England, where she rendered
valuable services for the cause of temperance.

BOARDING SCHOOL ESTABLISHED AT WANG LANG

The first step necessary to establish the new boarding school was
to procure a suitable building. Space at the mission compound
did not permit of a new building with room for future expansion.
It so happened that the mission had already purchased a piece of
land with the intention of opening a second station. A residence
had been begun but remained unfinished for lack of funds. It was
decided to turn this property over to the school and complete the
building with funds provided by the Troy Branch. The locality was
known as Wang Lang, a name which attached itself to the school for
several years. Concerning this site Dr. House wrote:

“The location of the school is a fine one. It is central,
healthy and breezy; on the west bank of the noble river
Meinam, which rolls through the great city; opposite to,
but a quarter of a mile above, the Royal Palace, where its
buildings such as they are cannot but testify to prince,
noble and peasant as they pass by in their boats of state
or barges what Western Christian nations think of female
education. They also testify to the generosity and friendship
of the American church people.”

As soon as the building could be made ready Dr. and Mrs. House
and Miss Anderson moved to the new location. On May 13, 1874,
this first boarding school for girls in Siam was opened with six
boarders and one day pupil. The building, originally intended only
for a residence, was none too commodious. The basement contained
kitchen, dining room and servants’ quarters; the first floor had a
suite of three rooms for Dr. and Mrs. House and one common living
room; on the second floor was one small sleeping room for Miss
Anderson and two large rooms which served as school rooms by day
and as dormitories for the girls by night. Within a year a second
helper was added in the person of Miss Susie D. Grimstead. By the
second year twenty girls had enrolled, living in these two rooms,
rather small quarters by American standards but ample according to
native custom.

In one regard Mrs. House was disappointed in her expectation. It
had been her confident hope to attract to this school daughters of
some of the nobles and princes. A few of this class came at first
but soon the school was left to the girls of the common class. The
value of an education was not yet as highly valued among the higher
classes as among the lowly; for the women of the upper grades not
only had no need to read but no need to work; while on the other
hand the practical nature of the training given in the school
did not meet the requirements of their social position. In later
years, however, there was a decided change, and with the growing
popularity of education nearly half of the pupils in the school
were from the noble families.

LEAVING SIAM

It was the lot of Mrs. House to do little more than to inaugurate
the new school, for her health rendered a long period of service
impossible. But in even initiating the movement she did far more
than she realised at the time, for she was investing in the
enterprise an accumulation of experience and a wealth of influence
among the women of Bangkok such as no one else possessed, and
which gave the institution a capital from which it began to draw
immediate returns. Such a school could not have been organised by
a new leader, however skilled in educational matters, without long
years of cultivation of personal relations with the mothers and
girls. One can see now that Mrs. House’s return to Siam for another
trial of health had a higher wisdom than even she could perceive;
for while it seemed a daring of Providence, it was in fact the
wisdom of the great Teacher for her to expend the final momentum
of her personal prestige and thereby buy up a decade of time or
more at the expenditure of her last four years of effort.

The return to Siam in 1872 found the climate less kindly to her.
Then came a new development, an attack of asthma which lasted for
nearly eight months, so debilitating her as to render it necessary
for her to relinquish the cherished work into other hands. In
March, 1876, after twenty years of faithful, zealous and labourious
work for the Kingdom of God among the women of Siam, she bade
farewell to her friends there and returned to America with her
husband.

“Need I tell you that I left Siam with a sad, sad heart?
At the monthly concert this month my feelings overcame me
so that I felt as if I could not attend another till I
became more reconciled to the thought that I can never again
labour among the heathen. I think many of the Siamese truly
regretted our leaving. The dear school girls followed us
weeping to the landing, and we could hear their sobs as long
as we could see them waving goodbye.

“Had I not felt it a case of life and death, I could not
have torn myself away. It was plain duty but it seemed to me
a dark providence that I should so soon be obliged to leave
this dear school, the result of so much labour and prayer and
of so many trials.”

AN ESTIMATE OF HER WORK

Mrs. House was so modest in the estimate of her own work for women
that she failed to appraise fully what she had done. No doubt
the meagerness of results up to the time of her resignation and
the smallness of the achievement in comparison with her hopes
caused the whole to appear insignificant. None of her letters give
expression to the feeling of accomplishment but dwell largely upon
the great need and the unappropriated opportunity. However, a
careful review of the development of education for women in Siam
gives to Mrs. House a very high place among all the consecrated
women who contributed the labours of hand and head and heart to
that object. Without detracting one iota from the praise that
belongs to others, but rather reflecting light upon their measure
of honour, it may be said that to Mrs. House belongs the credit
for certain important steps which marked the development and
contributed to the permanent establishment of female education in
Siam.

In the early attempts at educating girls in the homes of the
missionaries the aim in view was the conversion of the girls,
to which the education in reading was incidental. Without
minimising the value of education as an agency for religion Mrs.
House viewed education as an object greatly to be desired in
itself with manifold advantages issuing from it, but especially
having an influence upon the whole social status of womankind. A
second factor utilised by her for the development of her object
was domestic and manual training as a part of the broad policy
of education. Previously the few girls in the homes of the
missionaries had been trained in ways of work to make them more
efficient servants for the earning of their keep, but there was no
attempt to give instruction of this character to others. Mrs. House
included domestic training in the scope of education. Moreover,
she showed herself ready to appropriate valuable ideas wherever she
found them, and when she saw that Mrs. McFarland later utilised
this economic factor to draw girls into her school at Petchaburi,
she readily adopted the same method.

But if the efforts of several missionary women to teach small
groups of girls may be likened to the foundations of female
education in Siam, then the boarding school which Mrs. House
established must be likened to the corner-stone of the structure
which has since grown into a beautiful and impressive temple of
learning. Hitherto classes had been the voluntary undertaking
of individuals in their eagerness to help their sisters out of
darkness; but in each case the undertaking was not a permanent
project but subject to termination with the removal of the
particular teacher. Mrs. House’s achievement at Wang Lang was the
establishment of an institution with a support and a directorate
that insured permanency.

In the voluntary classes the girls were in contact with the
teachers for a few hours at the most and then returned to native
environment to which they were subject for the greater part of the
time. It was like taking one step forward and then stepping back.
The influence of the home and of the city largely obstructed the
good impulses received by the girls while with their teachers. The
advance feature of the Wang Lang school was that the girls were
to remain under constant Christian influence, in frequent contact
with the teachers and subject to the daily discipline of an ideal
Christian home. While the girls were devoting their full mental
energy to study, the Christian religion had the fairest chance to
bear its fruit in ennobled character, free from the blighting
influence of pagan customs and morals.

As indicative of what this school meant for the future educational
program in Siam it is worthy of note that twenty-five years after
the establishment of the Wang Lang school, the entire female
teaching force in the government public schools in Bangkok were
graduates of this school, thirteen in number, all but one of
whom were professing Christians. It is no wonder, then, that the
Minister of Education in Siam, at a commencement of the school,
said:

“The Siamese formerly had a proverb which was in every man’s
mouth: ‘Woman is a buffalo; only man is human.’ Through the
influence of your school and the teaching of the American
Missionary women, we have thrown that old proverb away, and
our own government is founding schools for the education of
girls.”

As a mark of honour to the founder this school was named “The
Harriet House School for Girls,” a name which it retained until
successful growth made it necessary to divide the school and seek
new quarters; the higher grades of which are now known as “Wattana
Wittaya Academy,” while the older name still clings to the old
school in its old location.

XII

HOME AGAIN, AND “HOME AT LAST”

The living pageant, “The Big Mountain and the Little Chisel,” had
not ended, but some of the actors had to retire. Dr. House, who had
been in the leading rôle for twenty-nine years, and Mrs. House,
who had been his loyal understudy for twenty, handed their lines
to other willing players and took their seats on the dais of time
to watch the Divine plot unfold. Repeated efforts on the part of
Mrs. House to recuperate her health only confirmed the physician’s
surmise that the immediate cause of her suffering was the tropical
climate. There was no alternative of wisdom but to return to her
native clime. So it came about that Dr. and Mrs. House resigned.

Their leave-taking was almost like laying down life itself, for
their hearts had become intimately entwined with the lives of the
Siamese people. In March, 1876, the two sailed for “home again.”
But to return to America was not to abandon their zeal for Siam;
they made themselves ambassadors at large to the Church in the
United States in behalf of the Kingdom of Christ in that land.

REARING TWO SIAMESE LADS

Most notable and doubtless most valuable of their services for Siam
after their retirement was the rearing and educating of two lads
whom they had brought from that country, Boon Itt and Nai Kawn.
These lads are still remembered by the people of Waterford who were
associated with them in their earlier years in America. The story
is told of the two boys having their first experience with snow.
One autumn morning, finding that a light snow had fallen during
the night, the two went out into the back yard, dropped down on
their knees and began to feel the snow; and then getting down on
all fours touched it with their tongues again and again. Among Mrs.
House’s letters was a copy of a letter which Kawn wrote to a boy
friend in Siam, in which he labours to explain how the water of the
river had become hard so that he could walk on it with skates.

Boon Itt was the son of Maa Tuan, the matron of the girls’ boarding
school under Mrs. House. Dr. and Mrs. House chose him to be the
subject of a Western education partly because he had shown himself
to be a bright pupil in the boys’ school, and partly because he was
one of the few children of second generation Christian Siamese.
After the completion of his elementary education at Waterford,
Boon was sent to Williston Academy, Williams College, and Auburn
Theological Seminary. This long course of education occupied
seventeen years. In 1893 he returned to Siam as a Christian
missionary to his own people. His life and work, worthy of an
extended account, will occupy a separate chapter.

The other lad, known familiarly as Nai Kawn in America, was Kawn
Amatyakul, born 1865, the son of a nobleman Pra Pre Chah; and the
grandson of Kuhn Mote, one of the progressive nobles who early
formed a lasting friendship with Dr. House because of their mutual
interest in science. Before the boys’ boarding school had been
fairly established, Kuhn Mote placed his son under the tutorship
of Dr. House to learn English and chemistry. It was this son who,
as Pra Pre Chah, learning that his former tutor was retiring to
America, solicited Dr. House to take his son Nai Kawn along and
supervise his education in Western science. To this Dr. House
consented, with the understanding that the son of the nobleman was
to be reared in a democratic fashion as a companion with the son
of a plebeian, and that he would be subject to intensive religious
training according to the Christian faith.

After his preparatory education, Kawn entered Lafayette College
for a four years’ course in mining engineering, though not as
a candidate for a degree. Finishing there in 1888, he returned
to Siam early the next year. His life work was devoted to the
educational program of the government, his professorial labours
being chiefly in chemistry and physics in various schools and
colleges of the government. At length he became chief of the
examination division of the department of education. He was given
the title of Luang Vinich Vidyakarn in 1902; and some years later
was elevated to a higher rank with the title Phya Vinich Vidyakarn.

Kawn united with the Presbyterian Church of Waterford upon
profession of faith in 1879. Although he gave evidence of sincerity
in making this profession and in other ways manifested an earnest
purpose to live according to the teaching of Jesus, yet it must
be acknowledged that upon return to his native land he did not
identify himself with the native church and eventually held himself
altogether aloof from fellowship with the Christians. No doubt one
cause for this course was the barrier of social rank. His education
and culture led him to prefer his own class. On the other hand,
it must be recorded that he never made open repudiation of his
profession, at least in any formal manner, neither did he manifest
any antipathy to the Christian faith. His death occurred April,
1922.

ABUNDANT IN LABOURS TO THE END

After her return to the United States, Mrs. House became the center
of a strong influence in behalf of Siam among the women of the
Church at home, especially as an advocate for female education. In
1878 she was elected president of the Woman’s Presbyterian Board
of Foreign Missions of the Synod of Albany and served five years
in that capacity. When the several small synods within New York
were united into the present Synod of New York, in 1883, Mrs. House
was a member of the committee that planned for the consolidation
of the several women’s societies into the Woman’s Presbyterian
Foreign Missionary Society of New York Synod, and became the first
president of the consolidated organisation. As a motto for the
united society she proposed the ideal “Every Woman in Every Church
Working for Jesus”—a motto that reads quite fresh to date. To Mrs.
House is due the credit of originating the series of “Questions and
Answers in Mission Fields,” beginning with a catechism on the work
in Siam for children’s mission bands. This method of disseminating
missionary information may possibly be the germ from which has
developed the current system of mission study.

In the church at Waterford Mrs. House was accepted as the natural
leader in the foreign missionary society of the women. She so
developed interest in the work that the society maintained a very
high standard of giving and of activities for many years. She was
particularly interested in cultivating an interest in missions
among the children and it was for her own mission band that the
series of questions and answers were originally devised. Mrs. House
had the joyous satisfaction of seeing Boon Itt ready for work in
Siam. But before the time came for his departure she was called
upon to take leave of him for eternity. On July 12, 1893, she
passed to her rich reward in Heaven.

With return to America, Dr. House continued his activities in
behalf of the Gospel at home and of missions abroad. He embraced
frequent opportunities to preach, and especially responded with
pleasure to invitations for addresses on Siam. He had accumulated
a large collection of curios from Siam, China and Japan, which he
used with good effect to illustrate his talks and interest his
hearers. This collection he left to the people of Waterford, and
it is in custody of the Presbyterian Church. In the home church he
took an active part, serving for many years as trustee, and also as
clerk and treasurer of the board of trustees. He was honoured by
the community with election as President of the village, an office
which he held at the time of his death.

“ALL THINGS RICHLY TO ENJOY”

When the two missionaries returned from their long period of heavy
labours in Siam with impaired health it was with the expectation
that the estate which the doctor had received from his father would
provide sufficient income for a comfortable living. The salary
while on the field had been so small that instead of being able to
save from that income, the doctor had to supplement it from his
private purse. But with economy, he expected that his patrimony
would be ample for the needs of himself and wife. Not long after
his return, however, it developed that the investment of his funds
was unsound, and he suddenly found his reserves swept away. The two
were left largely dependent, though still having their home.

Without a word of complaint they accepted the situation as one of
the inexplicable dispensations of God. The many years of sublime
but real trust in the care of Providence which they had cultivated
in the mission field and which they had often proven to be an
unfailing means of blessing, now stood them in good stead. Those
who knew them intimately relate instances in which what seemed to
be spontaneous gifts of friends and neighbours reached them at the
moment when they knew not whence a supply for immediate needs was
to come. In a letter to a friend telling of the timely provision of
the Lord for his needs, Dr. House wrote that his old friend Kuhn
Mote, having learned of his straitened circumstances, had sent him
a gift of five hundred dollars. If the record of those later years
could be written it would be a continuous testimony to the simple
reliance upon the goodness and mercy of God, and to the marvellous
justification of the faith of this godly couple.

THE JUBILEE YEAR

When, in 1897, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of permanent
work in Siam, the doctor was the only survivor of the group who
met together in Bangkok half-a-century before. None of the workers
in the field doubtless had greater rejoicing at that jubilee than
Dr. House. The following letter of felicitation he wrote on that
occasion to the daughter of his fellow missionary, herself born in
Siam and from childhood knowing him as “Uncle Samuel”; it was a
delicate tribute to the memory of his companions in labours.

“WATERFORD, NEW YORK, March 18, 1897.

“_To Miss Mary L. Mattoon_:

“MY DEAR MARY:

“You will excuse the familiarity of my address when you learn
why my heart just now goes out to you with affectionate
interest. You are the child, the Siam-born child of the
honoured, now sainted missionary couple who with my unworthy
self just fifty years ago, March 22, 1847, after eight months
of weary voyage, landed in Bangkok and founded the present
prosperous mission of the Presbyterian Board in the Kingdom
of Siam. Yes, the coming Monday, the 22nd, will be the
fiftieth birthday of that mission, and 1897 is its jubilee
year.

“How vivid are the memories of that never-to-be-forgotten
day of our arrival, our welcome from the old missionaries
of the other Boards, our first impressions of our strange
yet interesting surroundings; and of the busy week and month
and years that followed; and of work for the Master, with
our full share of the peculiar joys and sorrows, trials and
disappointments of mission life! How all the mercies come
thronging into my mind.

“And what cause for gratitude that God has so honoured the
humble beginning with such glorious results in these later
days. ‘The little one has indeed become a thousand’; yes,
thousands now of baptised converts from heathenism are
rejoicing in Siam and Laos in the knowledge and the love of
Christ who, had that mission not been begun and watched over
and prayed over by those godly devoted parents of yours and
their associate (would he had been a wiser and better man),
would have lived and died without God and without hope, in
the darkness of Buddhistic idolatry and atheism.

“To God be all glory given! Well may a jubilee be kept by all
who know of the contrast between that day in Siam and the
present. What wonders God hath wrought.

“Sincerely yours,
“S. R. HOUSE.”

Perhaps it was the celebration of this jubilee in Siam that
reminded former pupils of the Bangkok boys’ school of how much they
were indebted to Dr. House for the immeasurable difference between
their Christian enlightenment and the paganism around them. At any
rate in the following summer Dr. House received from a group of
his former pupils a gift of one hundred and twenty-five dollars,
accompanied by this letter:

“SUMRAY, BANGKOK, June 15, 1898.

“_The Rev. S. R. House, M.D._:

“SIR: We have learned that your old age coming to eighty-one
on the 16th of October next. On the occasion we are glad to
subscribe among your oriental scholars of Siam to offer you
a small present, which we obtained for your birthday.

“We herewith request you to accept this small sum for
your birthday present for the recognition of your Siamese
scholars, and we beg to thank you for the knowledgment
which we obtained from you when you were with us in our
lovely country. And we noted you were the foundation of our
knowledgment, and we will place your name on the stone of our
hearts as long as we live.

“We pray God to bless you, to comfort and to help you in all
circumstances; and we hope to meet you again in the Kingdom
of our Father.

“We have the honour to remain, Sir, your affectionate
scholars.”

(Signed by twenty-eight former pupils.)

But that birthday never arrived. Only a few days after the receipt
of this affectionate token and grateful testimonial, Dr. House took
leave forever from his friends of Siam and from his friends of all
the world. On the thirteenth day of October, 1898, he reached _Home
At Last_.

His affection for Siam outlived his days; for he had provided a
small bequest for the Harriet House school in memory of his wife.
Dr. House and his wife lie buried in the Waterford Rural Cemetery.

XIII

BOON TUAN BOON ITT

“One of the most remarkable men I have met in Asia.” Such was
the characterisation of Boon Itt given by Dr. Arthur J. Brown,
Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, after a
visit to the Far East. Only when one considers the high quality of
the well-educated native leaders in the Christian church in Japan
or China will this estimate suggest its full measure. Nor does this
evaluation exceed the common esteem in which Boon Itt was held by
those who knew him while in America. By all his fellow students
and by his teachers he was regarded as a man of exceptionally
fine personality, of high moral ideals, and of rare Christian
attainments.

[Illustration: REV. BOON TUAN BOON ITT]

In physique he was of medium stature, well proportioned, lithe of
limb and agile in action. He was fond of athletics, and showed
a preference for the more active sports. He loved games for the
sake of sport rather than for the winning chance. His features
were distinctly Asiatic. Yet there was a total absence of that
mysteriousness in countenance which we usually associate with the
Oriental. Americans quickly lost sight of the difference of race,
and received him as one of their own. His voice was low, mellow and
gently modulated, imparting a feeling of confidence by its quiet
yet positive strength.

The most casual acquaintance discovered in him a winsomeness of
manners. Simple, courteous, modest, responsive, he had all the
marks of a Christian gentleman. He was friendly but free from
effusiveness; hospitable yet without aggressiveness in urging
attentions. He had a warm sympathy but never bestowed the pity of
superiority nor the flattery of patronage. His love of companions
made him a leader among young men. In his nature the æsthetic had
its proper balance. He possessed a love of the beautiful both in
art and in nature, and in this love he found a constant inspiration
to purity and nobleness. The best in literature and in art and
in music found a response in his heart. Without doubt, however,
to those who knew Boon Itt best, it was the spiritual quality
that gave richness to his character. He was deeply religious; he
had a religiousness of soul rather than of mind, free from the
sentimental, the spectacular or the trivial. Faith with him was
not a matter of creed but of simple, profound trust in a God whose
goodness he had proven.

“THE FAITH THAT DWELT IN THY GRANDFATHER”

Boon Itt was one of the earliest of the second generation
Christians of Siam. His maternal grandfather was Kee-Eng Sinsay
Quasien. This name appears in various abbreviations and spellings
in Dr. House’s journal, but here it is given in the form approved
by one of his grandsons, who explains that the first two syllables
constitute the name, while the remainder is the title. It will
not lessen the honour to correct several traditions that have
attached themselves to his story in America. Kee-Eng was not the
first Protestant Christian in Siam, nor the first convert of
the Presbyterian Mission; his wife did not make a profession of
Christian faith; his daughter Maa Tuan was not the first Siamese
woman to unite with the Christian church. His primacy was only that
he was the first “native” to be received into the Presbyterian
Church of Bangkok after its organisation.

Kee-Eng was baptised Jan. 7, 1844, by Rev. Stephen Johnston, of the
A. B. C. F. M., having been the Chinese tutor to Mr. Johnston for
several years; but there had been other converts previously. When
the A. B. C. F. M. abandoned Siam and turned their work over to the
Presbyterians, Kee-Eng was the only one of their converts still in
Siam in good standing; and he was transferred to the Presbyterian
Church. On this occasion Dr. House reported:

“Kwa Kieng is a native of middle age (about forty-five),
good education, was formerly Mr. Johnston’s teacher, of
respectable appearance, amiable character and appears for
five years back to have led a faithful and exemplary life
as a disciple of Christ. He has a wife (a Cambodian woman)
and three children—two sons and a daughter [another son and
daughter were born later]—now living at Rapri, one hundred
miles west of Bangkok. Though he speaks Siamese imperfectly,
we can communicate tolerably well with him, and we feel that
Providence may make him the instrument of great good to many
of his countrymen. He would be well equipped in many respects
for a native assistant, and we have confidence in him.”

In his _Journal_ at this time Dr. House states that Kee-Eng was a
Hakien Chinaman from Amoy. The reference to Cambodia in connection
with his wife must be taken to indicate only that she came from
there. Her name was Maa Hey and, according to her son Kru Tien Soo,
she was the daughter of a Chinese, born in Cambodia. Although,
according to her son, Maa Hey never made a profession of the
Christian faith; yet she did manifest a sympathy with the work of
the mission. All the children of the family were baptised at the
request of the father.

As early as 1848 Dr. House mentions that Kee-Eng conducted a school
for Chinese boys at Ratburi, or Rapri, as he spells it. When the
boys’ boarding school was established in Bangkok he was chosen
as the teacher of Chinese. For this reason he removed his family
to Bangkok and came to live in the compound. Besides teaching
he conducted weekly worship for his fellow countrymen, served
as interpreter for Dr. House while he taught the Bible class of
Chinese, and still later had charge of a mission chapel for the
Chinese. Kee-Eng died Nov. 23, 1858, a victim of the cholera.

“AND IN THY MOTHER TUAN”

Maa Tuan was the elder daughter of Kee-Eng. At the time the family
moved to Bangkok she was about five years old, according to Dr.
House. She early became a member of the girls’ class in the home of
Mrs. Stephen Mattoon, and was intimately associated with the girls
whom Mrs. Mattoon had adopted. After the father died the family
returned to their former home at Bangpa near Ratburi, where they
were separated from Christian influences except for an occasional
visit of a missionary. Here Maa Tuan married Chin Boon Sooie.
To this marriage three children were born, Boon Itt, Boon Yee,
and Prasert, a daughter who died in infancy. Concerning Chin Boon
Sooie little is to be found recorded, aside from what Dr. House
states in the letter quoted below. His nationality is there given
as Siamo-Chinese, and this is confirmed by his son, who also is
the authority that his father never made a profession of Christian
faith. Chin Boon Sooie died in 1873.

Concerning Maa Tuan the first important mention by Dr. House was in
a letter to Mrs. House in 1872, who was then in America:

“Among those present [i.e., at the communion service] were
some of your old pupils: one, speaks of you with much
affection, Tuan the eldest daughter of Sinsay and Maa Hey,
her mother. Tuan is now making her first visit to Bangkok
since she left our command. She evidently has made an
efficient and intelligent woman; reads English quite well
yet; has rather a superior husband, a kind of a headman (man
of property at least) at Bangpa—unfortunate in business of
late but credit unimpaired.

“Poor Tuan since her last babe was born has been running
down and is poor and sallow just now—she always was short
in stature.... Had not Tuan married a well-to-do trader her
knowledge of books, arithmetic and sewing might be utilised
to the good of the cause. She might be hired to get up in her
native village a day school.”

In the following year, probably after the death of her husband,
we find her moving with her children to Sumray, near Bangkok,
where the mission school was located, in order that she might
have educational advantages for her children, for at that period
the mission school was the only means to a modern education. In
November of 1873 she united with the Church upon profession of
faith.

When Mrs. House opened the girls’ boarding school at Wang Lang, Maa
Tuan was engaged as matron and teacher. Concerning her work in this
school Miss M. L. Cort writes in her book on Siam:

“This school has had the advantage of the faithful and
constant services of Maa Tuan who is an exceptional Siamese
woman and was educated and trained for her position by Mrs.
House.... She has been the chief native teacher and matron
for the school ever since it began, and the interpreter
between the new missionaries and the old pupils, as she
understands English very well. It is through her influence
that many of the pupils have been secured and retained. She
is dignified and kind; and each year adds to her wisdom and
usefulness.”

Maa Tuan spent the summer of 1880 teaching women in the royal
palace by request. For some years she conducted a private school
at Wang Lang, and so far as records show she was the first Siamese
woman to conduct such a school.

While her son was in America, Maa Tuan wrote to Mrs. House that
she often rose at midnight to pray that Boon might become a good
Christian and become a preacher to his own people. When the news
came to her that her son had been converted and had united with the
church in far away America, her cup was overrunning with joy. She
died in 1899.

THE BOY BOON ITT

Boon Tuan Boon Itt was born February 15, 1865, in the village of
Bangpa, which was a Chinese settlement near Ratburi. After his
mother removed to Bangkok with her children, Boon Itt and his
younger brother Boon Yee entered the mission school and there
began their primary education. Only three years after that, Dr.
and Mrs. House resigned. When they were about to return home they
arranged to take Boon with them and undertook to have him educated
in America. At the same time the retiring missionaries agreed to
supervise the education of another Siamese boy, Nai Kawn, at the
request of his father.

Rev. J. A. Eakin, D.D., in his sketch of Boon Itt, gives this
touching picture of the night before his departure:

“The warm clothing, so different from anything that he had
been accustomed to wear, was all made and packed in his
little box. He had taken leave of his teacher and the school.
On the morrow he was to leave his native land. On that last
night his mother visited him, and sitting together in their
favorite place by the riverside, they talked long of the
future. Years afterward, when he was a student of Theology,
in a letter to his mother he referred to that night, and said
that her farewell words of counsel had always remained in his
mind, and had been a great help to him.”

The home of Dr. and Mrs. House was to be in Waterford, New York,
and thither they brought their young charges. Boon early became
imbued with the American idea of self-dependence. He sought to
learn to do as American boys do. In vacation time he looked for
jobs to earn money towards his own support. When Dr. and Mrs.
House assumed the responsibility for his education, they supposed
that their income would be sufficient to bear the expense; but
with the failure of their investments a serious problem confronted
them. Fortunately, Boon won his way into the hearts of the people,
so that the Presbyterian Sunday school of Waterford undertook to
make an annual contribution of seventy-five dollars, and continued
this amount until his full course was finished. Individuals also
assisted privately.

EDUCATION

The barrier of language of course had first to be removed. For this
reason his studies were begun with private teaching. In the course
of her visits to missionary societies, Mrs. House made an address
at North Granville, New York, and there told of the boys they had
brought to America to educate. This address, as will be observed in
a letter of Boon’s that follows later, prompted a generous offer
on the part of Mr. Wallace C. Willcox, principal of the military
academy at that place, to give free tuition to Boon Itt, provided
friends would care for his needs. This offer was gladly accepted,
and in January, 1880, Boon and Kawn entered the academy.

In the fall, Mr. Willcox transferred his relations to the military
school at Mohegan Lake, New York, and his personal interest in the
two boys carried them with him, so that for that academic year
Boon was at Mohegan. In the fall of 1881, he was sent to Williston
Seminary, Northampton, Massachusetts, to prepare for college. There
he distinguished himself for brightness of mind and fondness of
athletics, particularly swimming—in which art every normal boy of
Bangkok is an adept from childhood. Graduating at Williston, in the
fall of 1885 he matriculated at Williams College. There he spent
four years, pursuing the classical course, and graduated with the
degree A.B. in 1889.

The college course finished, there came to him one of those severe
tests of his consecration and high sense of duty that marked his
life at intervals. Between medicine and the ministry he hesitated,
but only to weigh in his mind which of the two professions would be
the one in which he could render the greatest good to his native
land. Of the need of medicine there could be no doubt; even a
young man could perceive the advantage of modern medical science
for a land where ignorance of the body and superstition were the
allies to cause suffering, contagion and pestilence. He could well
appreciate also the value of the gentle art of healing as a means
of winning the people’s attention while others might preach the
Gospel to them. It was no small tribute to the greater power of the
ministry in his judgment, therefore, that he resolved to prepare
himself for that profession because he deemed the Gospel itself the
greatest need for his countrymen.

Having decided for the ministry he entered the Theological Seminary
at Auburn, New York. There his grace of meekness, coupled with
sterling worth, won for him a high place in the esteem of both
his fellow students and the faculty. He had no ambition to be a
popular leader, and yet in spite of his retiring disposition he
was the center of a warm fellowship because of his high ideals.
During the summer vacation of 1890 he served a parish at Bad Axe,
Michigan, and in the next summer was the acting pastor at Bergen,
New York. He graduated from the seminary in May, 1892, and on the
eleventh of the same month was ordained to the Gospel ministry by
the Presbytery of Rochester. In that year also he acquired American
citizenship. While awaiting the matter of appointment to the
field, he took a post-graduate course at Auburn, at the same time
supplying the Presbyterian Church at Manlius, N. Y.

HIS SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

The spiritual development of Boon Itt, including both the
obstacles surmounted and the high attainments, will not be rightly
appreciated until one considers the environment of his early
childhood. Maa Tuan left the mission compound at Bangkok upon the
death of her father, and returned to Bangpa with the family. She
was then about fifteen years old and had not yet taken a public
stand for Christianity, although there is every evidence that
the period of her Christian training at the mission more than
counterbalanced the pagan influence of the years that immediately
followed. None of the family were Christians, and the constraint
of custom would involve them in religious practises in common
with the neighbourhood. Then marrying an unbelieving husband, the
young woman could not effectually exclude those influences from
the life of her own children, even though her husband might have
been tolerant of the Christian faith. Like children the world over,
hers were susceptible to the subtle influences of the religion
that prevailed in the village. So it happened that during the
first eight years of his life, the most impressionable period of
childhood, Boon observed the religious customs of Buddhism, the
festivals, the parades, the birthday celebrations, the funerals,
and at the same time would unconsciously absorb the ideas of this
religious environment. It will not be surprising, therefore, if we
find later that some of these ideas had taken deep root in his mind.

Upon entering the mission school he came under a more exclusively
Christian atmosphere. Concerning his reaction to this condition,
Dr. Eakin writes:

“The religious side of his nature developed slowly. The seed
sown by his mother’s teaching had not yet taken root in his
heart.... He was regular in attendance in Sunday school and
church. He went to the midweek meeting as the boys of the
school were expected to do. His lessons were well learned
because he delighted in study and he would not disappoint his
mother; but his soul was still in the dark.”

At once upon reaching Waterford, Boon enrolled in the Sunday
school and continued faithful in attendance until he left for
boarding school. On his return home during vacations he resumed his
accustomed place in the village church with Dr. and Mrs. House.
During this earlier period he united with the Presbyterian Church
Dec. 7, 1879, under the pastorate of Rev. A. B. Riggs, D.D. The
following letter, written by Boon to his mother at that time, has
recently come to light:

“WATERFORD, Jan. 5, 1880.

“DEAR MOTHER:

“It is a long time before we get letters from each other. I
hope you are getting along nicely in the school. I am well
and happy.

“I have something to tell you. I think God has answered your
prayers for my conversion. I have given my heart to Christ,
and own Him to be my God and Redeemer forevermore. I have
joined the Presbyterian Church. Pray for me to be obedient
and faithful to what I have promised. At first I dreaded to
join before so many people, but when I had done it I felt
a great deal happier. When church was out some folks shook
hands with me and said they were very glad to have me join.
I hope I will see grandmother, uncles, aunts, my brother and
all the folks become Christians; then if we do not meet each
other here on earth we would meet in the other world....

“A gentleman by the name of Willcox has a military school
at Granville, about sixty miles north of Waterford, and the
board and schooling is four hundred dollars a year. He made
a great offer to Mrs. House to take me free, if she would
provide my clothes and books and expenses in vacation from
June to September. And now in about two days more Kawn and I
are going up there.

“The folks in Dr. House’s family say that they will miss us
very much, and we are sorry to leave them. Is this not a
wonderful thing that the Lord brought about for us to go to
this school? It all came about in this way. Mrs. House went
and talked to the ladies of Granville and told them about
Siam, and told them about us. No other boys ever had such an
offer as this. Then a few kind ladies of Waterford gave us
sheets, pillowcases, towels and other things that we will
need.

“It all came of the Lord, so blessed be His name forever.
Give my love to all.

“Your affectionate son,
“BOON ITT.”

In spite of the devout expressions in this youthful letter, Boon
privately intimated to friends that he had not altogether given
up the religion of his native land. One who knew him well recalls
that Boon said he still believed Buddhism in his heart and that he
would return to it when he went back to Siam. Upon being asked
why he then had made a profession of Christianity he said it was
because Dr. Houses’ life was “so terrible”—by which he explained
that the godly character of Dr. House overcame all his arguments
against Christianity. He could not contemplate all that Dr. House
was doing for him in the name of Christ and at the same time deny
the Christian religion. His love for the doctor impelled him to
declare for Christ.

Recalling now the influences of his early childhood, it will be
evident that his private expression did not signify duplicity but
rather indicated the presence of vague but unsolved problems. When
a child who has been reared in a wholly Christian environment
becomes converted, that process is chiefly a spiritual change. But
for one brought up in the midst of pagan influences to change his
religion means to change his entire character, ethical principles
and even his theory of existence. Somewhere between these two
extremes was the condition of Boon at the time of his joining
the Church. His conviction concerning the Christian religion,
encouraged by the influence of his dearest friends, enabled him to
make a confession of faith. But his heart outran his head. In his
mind there were still unexpressed but perplexing questions.

The nature of one of these questions is shown by an incident quoted
by Dr. Eakins:

“At one time, in his sophomore year, if my memory serves me
correctly, he went to call upon the minister who served as
pastor to the students, and the minister asked him to tell
of any special difficulties he found in the way of becoming a
professor of religion. After a thoughtful pause Mr. Boon Itt
said that his chief difficulty was that he could not see that
there was a personal God. The minister thought that he was
caviling, and he reproved him for trifling with the truth.
From that time on the minister had lost his opportunity to
do the young student any good in a spiritual way. Sometime
afterward, through the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit
in his heart, he was brought to see that truth, to recognise
the love of God in Christ, and to accept salvation through
the Cross. It had been a long slow process, as it is usually
with the Siamese, but it was complete. He was convinced
beyond the possibility of a doubt, and he made a full
surrender of himself to do his Master’s will.”

Perhaps the incident referred to occurred during the period of
religious awakening among the students of Williams College, which
took place while Boon was there. The common spiritual invigoration
reacted with unusual power upon the individual whose mind was
seeking light. That revival served to quicken his spiritual life
and enabled him to make safely the transition from the youthful
stage of habit and training, across the frail bridge of doubt
that spanned the chasm of unbelief. By it he entered into a
conscious experience of grace and assumed a volitioned course
of life directed by personal devotion to Jesus Christ. The seed
of the Gospel planted by maternal teaching and nurtured by the
affectionate training of foster parents now, under the warmth of
the Spirit and the dew of holy emotions, flowered into a full-blown
religious character of rare beauty and fragrance. How real that
conversion was is indicated by the reply which Boon gave to a
fellow-student in the seminary who, interested to know what might
be the sense of sin for a man while still in paganism, inquired of
him what his experience had been; to which he replied, “I did not
know that I had sin until I became a Christian.”

APPOINTMENT TO THE FIELD

Having made ready for return to Siam, Boon Itt met another severe
test of his consecration in the question of appointment by the
Foreign Board. Unfortunately the problem was made more difficult
for him by the very kindly intentions of his friends in America who
apparently did not recognise the fundamental principle involved. As
the work in foreign lands had developed it had become the policy
of mission Boards to magnify the native church, and to place
upon it as rapidly as possible the increasing responsibility for
managing its own affairs, as distinguished from the affairs of the
missions. The development of a strong native church in each country
necessitated that ordained natives should share, not the supposed
advantages of foreign missionaries, but the actual conditions of
their fellow native Christians. For this reason, along with others
of a kindred nature, the Board had arrived at the policy not to
commission as a missionary any native, however well qualified.
Provision was made that the mission in the field might employ such
workers according to their judgment.

While, therefore, the Board declined to issue a “commission” to
Boon Itt they heartily recommended him to the mission in Siam for
appointment on equality with his fellow Siamese Christian workers.
That the principle involved is wise finds testimony in the words
of Boon Itt himself who, when he reached a position of leadership,
said: “To make Siam completely Christian must be ultimately
the work of the Siamese Christian Church, self-supporting,
self-directing and responsible to God—not dependent always on
foreign missions.”

RETURN TO SIAM

The matter of appointment having been adjusted, Boon Itt returned
to his native land in the summer of 1893. Upon return it was
necessary for him first to qualify himself in his native language.
Not only had it been seventeen years—the major part of his
life—since he had withdrawn from the daily use of his mother
tongue, but his training in that language had been arrested when
he was a lad of eleven. His higher education had been in a foreign
language so that his religious conceptions were framed in words
that must find an equivalent in the Siamese. During this period
of language study he was occupied in many ways in the work of the
mission, assisting with the literary work of the mission press,
accompanying others on mission tours, and temporarily having charge
of stations while missionaries were on vacations. On September
20, 1897, he married his cousin, Maa Kim Hock, a graduate of the
Harriet House School.

It was shortly after his engagement that a flattering offer came
to him to turn aside from religious work and enter business. Dr.
House, writing to a friend under date of Nov. 25, 1896, says: “A
letter from Boon tells me of his having declined an engagement of
five hundred dollars a month (he now has only five hundred dollars
a year from the mission), as he prefers his present work, which he
loves and enjoys and has been blessed in.”

The proffer of so large a salary might well have been sufficient
inducement to a young man to abandon the less lucrative business of
preaching. But upon consulting his fiancée she replied: “I think
we would be far happier doing the Lord’s work on a little money
than to leave it for so large a sum.” But that was not the only
tempting offer that came to him. After Boon’s death the Minister
of the Interior disclosed that he himself had offered to Boon Itt
“a position which would have led to high titles of nobility from
the King of Siam, to the governorship of a province and to a large
increase in income.”

Compared with these offers, a salary of five hundred dollars was
indeed a pittance for a college graduate, even with the extra
allowances. The larger salary of eight hundred and fifty dollars
which he was receiving at the time of his death was an economic
injustice compared with commercial salaries. But it needs only
be observed that all missionaries suffered the same injustice.
An American missionary in the same country at the same time was
receiving only one thousand one hundred and thirty dollars,
although he had a family and had served more than twice as long
as Boon Itt. Since then the scale of salaries has been raised,
and graduated according to the length of service; but it is still
true that a missionary receives barely enough for a living. But
the marvel of this comparison is not the disparity of pay but the
readiness of Boon Itt to renounce such dazzling offers and to hold
himself true to the work of preaching the Gospel to which he had
devoted himself.

PITSANULOKE

Shortly after marriage the young couple were assigned with W. B.
Toy, M.D., and family to open a new field at Pitsanuloke, some two
hundred and fifty miles up the Meinam River. While Dr. Toy was to
establish a hospital, funds for which were to be provided by the
Board, Boon Itt was to open a school. Through the good offices of
public officials he secured the temporary use of some government
building.

Concerning this enterprise Dr. Eakin writes vividly:

“He began work in a small way, but he did it thoroughly. In
a few months he had attracted attention of the government
authorities. They began to send their sons to the school....
It was a slow process of growth but it was indigenous from
the start. In this respect it was typical of all Boon
Itt’s work. He tried to work with the Siamese people from
the inside out, instead of following the common method of
applying something foreign largely on the outside.

“It required rare self-sacrifice in Mr. Boon Itt to labour
on, teaching the rudiments of learning in that little school
when he felt that he was capable of doing a work that would
loom larger in the public view.... But there was a subtler
temptation in the opportunity to do a work that would make a
greater show before the world. He had warm friends at home
[America] who were rising in business and professional life.
An appeal to them would have enabled him to make his school a
more immediate and manifest success.... He felt the cost in
his very soul, when he turned his back upon that temptation;
but he decided that the slow indigenous work was the only
way to secure permanence.

“The work has gone forward in Pitsanuloke since those days.
A church has been organised there which promises well; but
the present prosperity owes much to the patient digging and
laying foundations out of sight, which was done by Mr. Boon
Itt.”

After a time the government had use for the building and it became
necessary to seek other quarters for the school. Boon Itt leased a
new site of about ten acres on the west bank of the river adjacent
to the barracks, at a nominal price. As the Board had no funds
available for a building he personally secured subscriptions from
local merchants and officials amounting to four thousand ticals
(two thousand dollars), besides lumber and building materials. A
plain but substantial two-story school building of teak wood was
erected under his personal supervision and partly by the labour of
his own hands.

The enrollment of the first year was forty boys, of whom twenty-six
were boarders. The average attendance for that year was ninety-five
per cent. In the competitive examinations later the boys of this
school gained the highest standing over the boys of the government
public school and the Royal Survey school. One of the notable
features of his work was the influence he exerted over the young
men personally. No doubt that influence in a measure was due to
the manner of his religious teaching. He himself has described his
method:

“As I have men who study Christianity I have to spend a good
deal of time formulating what are the fundamental doctrines
of Christianity. We can use phrases in the States and be
understood.... Here it is _de novo_. I use no text-book. I
do not know of any. I endeavour to analyse as honestly as I
know how myself and use my experience as a guide—not as an
infallible guide, but only as a working basis.”

This plan which he adopted was essentially the apostolic method.
In our emphasis on the inspiration of the letters written by
the apostles we are likely to overlook the fact that they are
discussing spiritual truths out of their own lives; their epistles
are “text books” written out of experience under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit. Boon Itt was following the same method so far as
he could.

In addition to being superintendent of the school, he regularly
conducted the Sabbath preaching service, worked in the Sunday
school, and made a tour of exploration as far north as the Lao
border. His wife had charge of a girls’ school which she had
organised. Pitsanuloke was formally organised and recognised as a
regular station in 1899.

TRANSFER TO BANGKOK

In 1901, Boon Itt was given a six-months leave of absence for
recuperation. He had planned to spend his furlough in Japan; but
yielding to family interests he got no farther than his old home in
Bangkok. Just before returning to his field, in January, 1902, the
Bangkok Christian community presented an earnest petition to have
Mr. Boon Itt remain in Bangkok and take charge of a new work which
it was proposed to open.

The demand for his services came about as a culmination of
circumstances. The work at Sumray had become too large for the plot
of land laid out nearly forty years before. A new compound had been
procured in the city proper, and the mission Press had already
been moved thither. A campus for a boys’ high school had also been
secured in that locality and buildings were soon to be erected.
On the part of a few there was a desire to establish a church
near the school as a center for work among the students. This led
to a movement among the Siamese Christians to have this church
erected by the Siamese for the Siamese to the honour of Christ.
A Christian nobleman of wealth and influence offered to give the
major part of the cost, and the remainder was to be raised by the
native Christians. This nobleman was Phra Montri, now Phya Sarasin.
As he had a high admiration for Boon Itt and wished his help and
leadership in the project, a conference was called at which it was
unanimously decided to undertake the enterprise and to ask to have
Boon Itt transferred from Pitsanuloke to take charge of the work;
and a committee consisting of Phra Montri, Kru Yuan, pastor of the
First Church of Bangkok, and Boon Itt was appointed to secure a lot
near the proposed high school and to plan for the new structure.

Concerning this project and the peculiar fitness of Boon Itt
for it, Dr. Arthur J. Brown, Secretary of the Board of Foreign
Missions, who at that time was making a visit to the Siam mission,
gave a very vivid survey in his report to the Board. After
describing the respective locations of the three churches in the
capital city and the circumstantial limitation of their reach, he
says:

“Thus there is neither missionary nor church in Bangkok for
the bulk of the population, for the intelligent, well-to-do
classes who are becoming eagerly interested in foreign ideas,
and for the thousands of bright young men who flock to the
metropolis in Siam, as they do in England and America. In
that main part of the city there are scores of young men and
women who were educated at our boarding schools. Many of them
are Christians. I met a big room full of them at a reception
which they very kindly gave in my honour. They were as fine
a looking company of young people as I have met anywhere on
this tour. Properly led they might be a power for Christ.

“But there is absolutely no place in all Bangkok where they
can attend church unless they divide up by sexes and travel
several miles in a boat to Sumray and Wang Lang. This some
of them do, but their parents and friends do not. Every year
our schools are sending out more of these young people, but
we are not following them up, and they are left to drift....
For this great work a man and a church are needed at once.
No other need in Siam is more urgent. The man should be able
to speak the Siamese like a native. He should be conversant
with the intricacies of Siamese customs and etiquette; and so
understand the native mind that he can enter into sympathy
with it and be able to mould it for God.

“There is one man in Siam who meets all these conditions. I
believe that he has ‘come into the kingdom for such a time
as this.’ That man is Rev. Boon Boon Itt ... one of the most
remarkable men I have met in Asia. His station has been
Pitsanuloke, where he has done a fine work in building up
next to the largest boys’ boarding school in the mission.
Another man can do the work at Pitsanuloke equally well, but
no other man in Siam or out of it can reach the young men in
Bangkok as he can. As the head of his ‘clan’ whose family
home is in Bangkok, he is widely and favourably known in the
capital. Young men like him and resort to him for advice
whenever he visits the city.... We can use this man to better
advantage for the cause of Christ. So I proposed to the
missionaries that Mr. Boon Itt be transferred to Bangkok, and
the proposal was unanimously and enthusiastically agreed to.”

So it came about that Boon Itt was unexpectedly but with great
reluctance persuaded to accept the call to Bangkok. In a letter to
a friend in America he wrote:

“Now there comes a call for me to come down to Bangkok and
take up the work here with young men and for young men. This
now seems to be my work. I am drawn to it now. I was not
before; I looked at it from a sheer sense of duty. I want to
put my best work in down here, for it is extremely important
to build up homes if purity is ever to be indigenous. When
I went up to Pitsanuloke I was in doubt about the school
work, so I said to the Lord if He wanted me to start a school
there, would He give the money wherewith to build it. He owns
all the riches of the world and people’s hearts are in his
hands; so I asked Him to influence the people there to give
the money and the materials—and He did, and the school has
been built.

“Well, I learned one other lesson along with that, viz: that
had I asked the Father to give me money for the work in His
own way I would have been spared much unnecessary toil. I am
certain that the Lord will give me the money to carry on this
new work out here. My plan in general is to hire a building
and start a reading room, play room, prayer meeting room,
where we can have classes for Bible studies.”

As the possibilities unfolded themselves to his mind it was not
solely the undertaking to build up a congregation that engaged
his interests. He sketched plans for work in connection with the
church which would make it a center of social activities for the
cultivation of Christian ideals among the young men; and it was
this phase of the work which appealed to him. He studied the needs
both temporal and spiritual. Through his influence the young men
organised an institution known as the Christian United Bank of
Siam; this was the first banking house founded by the Siamese. It
was organised after the manner of the savings banks and proved to
be very helpful to the Christian community of Bangkok. He also
persuaded a small group of Christian Siamese to organise a Steam
Rice Milling Company on a Christian basis, no work to be done on
the Sabbath and a fixed portion of the income to be devoted to
Christian work.

Although Boon Itt had made himself felt among the native Christians
during the few years he had spent in Bangkok directly after return
to Siam, he now came to be recognised and accepted as the leader
of the Siamese Christian Church. He did not aim to be a leader;
his intention was just to put himself behind the work and help
wherever he could. But this very helpfulness caused the people
to look up to him with profound respect. They had appreciation
of his understanding of their needs, of his sympathy with their
aspirations, and of his ability to look at things from their
personal point of view. In a few months his house had become the
headquarters for Siamese Christians on the east side of the river,
and little gatherings of friends were of frequent occurrence. This
gave him a personal influence that he alone failed to perceive.

But scarcely had Boon Itt laid his hands to this great task when
within a year his labours came to a sudden end. He fell a victim
to cholera. After telling of the sudden attack of the disease, Dr.
Eakin recounts the most impressive closing scenes:

“We were with him until late in Friday night, and left to
return to the High School, telling them to call us if there
should be any change. The weather had been hot and dry. No
rain had fallen for about two months. All animate nature
seemed to be suffering and longing for relief from the
drought.

“About midnight we were called. As we went to the house,
we noticed that there was a change coming in the weather.
The wind was rising in fitful gusts, and dark clouds were
scudding across the sky.

“We found that he had passed away without returning to
consciousness. Soon after we entered the house, the monsoon
broke in torrents of rain. The house shook under the fierce
attacks of the raging tempest.... The bereaved wife calmly
gathered the friends together in the little sitting room,
passed around the hymn books among them and asked them all
to sing. Through the long hours of that terrible storm, they
sang those hymns of Christian faith and hope and comfort. In
the interval between these songs of the night, they talked
of the future. One expressed concern about the finishing
of the new church. (A part of his ebbing strength Boon had
spent in explaining the details of the drawings he had made
for the roof of the church.) It would be difficult to find a
contractor who would be willing to take up the work that had
fallen from a dead hand, owing to a superstition that the
building would be haunted. Then Kru Thien Pow, head teacher
in the Boys’ High School and a most devoted friend of the
fallen chief, broke down and wept aloud: ‘I am not thinking
of the new church,’ he said, ‘some one will be found to
complete that work. I am thinking of the Kingdom of Christ
in Siam. Who will take the vacant place in this service?’”

The death of Boon Itt occurred May 8, 1903. Besides his widow, he
left three children, Samuel Buntoon, Eliza Brante and Phreida.

AN APPRECIATION

The death of Boon Itt caused inexpressible sorrow and dismay among
all who knew him, both in Siam and America. It brought forth
universal testimonies of esteem for the man; friends seemed to vie
with each other in veneration of his memory. Almost spontaneously
there arose the suggestion to erect as a memorial to him a building
that would provide facilities for the social work among young men
which he had inaugurated. Committees both in Siam and in the United
States met with cordial response to the proposal. The Crown Prince
esteemed it a pleasure to make the first contribution for Siam
towards the proposed building, while members of the government
gladly participated in the fund. The king of Siam, who was absent
at the time, expressed his intention to assist when he learned of
the project after his return.

Prince Damrong, Minister of the Interior, when invited to
contribute to the fund, replied: “I am glad to help in a memorial
to that splendid man. You may not know that I offered him a
position which would have led to high titles of nobility from
the king of Siam, to the governorship of a large province and to
a large increase of income. Yet he declined these high honours
and financial benefits that he might continue in the service of
Jesus Christ. Boon Itt was a true Christian.” As a result of the
movement, the “Boon Itt Memorial Building” now stands as a visible
testimonial to all Bangkok in behalf of the noble character of
this Christian Siamese, and perpetuates the heart’s desire of this
servant of Christ for the young men of Siam.

Boon Itt gave only ten rapid but full years to the Gospel ministry
for his countrymen, but he set in motion spiritual influences that
will persist many times that brief decade. The marvel is that he
laid the foundations so deep in the hearts of the people and built
so lofty in their aspirations in so short a time. Yet the higher
achievement was not what he did but rather the Christian character
which, by the grace of Jesus Christ, he developed in beautiful
symmetry and completeness. In his life the Spirit manifestly bore
its full fruition of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” But the unique significance
of his life lies neither in what he did nor what he was; rather
it lies in the notable demonstration that the religion of Jesus
Christ can take a man of any race or religion, completely transform
his mind and heart, engraft in him the Christian culture, and yet
leave him true to his own people. His life is a testimony that the
Christian religion is a universal religion, for all races, for all
lands and for all ages.

THE END

=TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE=

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the
text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when
a predominant preference was found in the original book.

‘A.M., a.m., P.M., p.m.’ replaced by ‘A. M., a. m., P. M., p. m.’.

Pg 22: ‘His Excellancy again’ replaced by ‘His Excellency again’.

Pg 32: ‘Φ Β.Κ.’ replaced by ‘Φ.Β.Κ.’.

Pg 45: ‘and Mr. Hemmingway’ replaced by ‘and Mr. Hemmenway’.

Pg 59: ‘fi fi’ replaced by ‘fi fah’.

Pg 72: ‘McGilvray visited the’ replaced by ‘McGilvary visited the’.

Pg 136: ‘Ministed assured him’ replaced by ‘Minister assured him’.

Pg 141: ‘inteligence and enthusiasm’ replaced by ‘intelligence and
enthusiasm’.

Pg 142: ‘lovingkindness and who’ replaced by ‘loving-kindness and
who’.

Pg 143: ‘first hand knowldge’ replaced by ‘first hand knowledge’.

Pg 210: ‘upon a blesssing’ replaced by ‘upon a blessing’.

Pg 213: ‘by a happy inpiration’ replaced by ‘by a happy
inspiration’.

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Samuel Reynolds house of Siam: Pioneer medical missionary 1847-1876" ***

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