Chapter II: Part 2

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.

IV

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.

V

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.