“Almost too good to be true! Are we really then going to obtain what we have been seeking for in vain now these four and one-half years—a place to build a home of our own? A most eligible spot this; none better in all Bangkok.”
Permanency being assured, the missionaries decided to construct houses of brick, making them as durable and as comfortable as possible. The erection of these houses required a constant oversight of the work and attention to details that cannot well be understood by people in America, for all the practical problems that the architect or builder would take care of as a matter of course had to be solved by the missionaries who had no experience in such work. In the midst of the enterprise the masons and carpenters struck and it required much diplomacy to adjust their demands. The first houses were completed and preaching services begun at the new compound in February, 1852. This site continued to be the location of the mission until 1857, when growth of the work necessitated a change.
MISSIONARY LADIES TEACHING IN THE PALACE
The most notable of all the friendly gestures was the royal request to have the ladies of the missions teach English to the ladies of the palace. The significance of this extraordinary move was understood least of all among these ladies themselves. By his manifestation of approval for female education the king swept completely away the argument of age-long custom against the teaching of women. There continued to be practical difficulties but the insurmountable obstacle had been removed by a single gesture of the liberal-minded king. This notable request is recorded in Dr. House’s journal under date of Aug. 13, 1851:
“Dr. Bradley and Mr. Jones received a communication from the grand chamberlain of the royal palace, etc. ‘H. M. had heard from Pya Sisuriwong and Pra Nai Wai that the wives of the missionaries would teach, changing times (i.e. in turn) the royal girls and ladies, if H. M. allow. H. M. wishes to know how you will do, and desires several ladies who live with him to acquire knowledge in English, etc.’
“Dr. Bradley replied that the ladies of the mission had made themselves a board of managers of the affair and were ready to undertake the work. Next morning Dr. Bradley was summoned to the new prime minister’s, and told that H. M. desired the teaching in English to ladies of the palace to begin today—that the astrologer had pronounced it a good day—and requested Mrs. Bradley to go at 9 a. m. She did so, her husband leaving her at the palace gate where the Pra Nai Wai received her and led her to the gate of the woman’s apartments; there a number of women were waiting for her. While waiting outside, the young Princess of Wongna met her, carried in state under a yellow canopy, and shook hands with her. She was led to the hall where nine young ladies from sixteen to twenty (one of thirty)—bright, intelligent and beautiful, she described them—were committed to her as her pupils in charge of the matron of the palace.”
The women of the mission who assumed this task were Mrs. D. B. Bradley, Mrs. Stephen Mattoon and Mrs. J. T. Jones (who later became Mrs. S. I. Smith). This work among the women of the palace Dr. House characterises as the “first zenana work conducted in any foreign lands,” antedating the zenana work in India by some five or six years. The number of pupils at first increased very quickly to twenty-five or thirty, but after the novelty wore off many of the ladies dropped out of the class. A few maintained an interest to the end, and even invited the teachers to visit them in their private apartments for more serious work of conversation.
The visits of the missionary ladies to the palace continued for a little over three years, when they suddenly and without explanation found admission denied to them. Some have surmised that the king became displeased at the religious influence. However the more probable explanation is that suggested by Dr. House’s journal where the change in this order is associated with the temporary displeasure of the king towards the missionaries by reason of a letter calumniating his character, which coincidently appeared in a newspaper of Straits Settlement and which he erroneously attributed to a missionary.
FIRST FRUITS OF THE MISSION
Along with the turn of the tide in the relations of the government there came to the workers the cheer of gathering the first fruits from the seed of their own sowing. Though there was no evidence of the native Siamese being interested in the Gospel, yet the missionaries were not left without a token that their work was honoured of God. Two years after the organisation of the church, a Chinese convert was received. Under date of Oct., 1851, Dr. House wrote to his parents: