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 yearsand 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 havetriedBuddhism—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 smallproperty) 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.”
“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 havetriedBuddhism—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 smallproperty) 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 ofthe 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.”
“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 ofthe 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 connectedwith 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.
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 thework, 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.
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 tohis 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.”
“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.”
“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 aformal 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.
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 thefield. 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.
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. Inclusiveof 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.’”
“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—hiscourtiers 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 ofprice of article. This testimony given 1st January, 1867, the seventeenth year of our reign.’”
“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—hiscourtiers 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 ofprice of article. This testimony given 1st January, 1867, the seventeenth year of our reign.’”
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 theForeign Missionarylast 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.”
“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 theForeign Missionarylast 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, wherehe 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.”
“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 privilegeunspeakable 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.”
“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 privilegeunspeakable 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.”
“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 pastoralservices (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.
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.”
“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 hadrenewed 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 arevery 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.”
“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 hadrenewed 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 arevery 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 hisfellow 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 whichcase 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 11P. 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 fiveP. M.Wednesday, March 18.”
“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 whichcase 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 11P. 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 fiveP. 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 Chiengmaisix 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.