In the church at Waterford Mrs. House was accepted as the natural leader in the foreign missionary society of the women. She so developed interest in the work that the society maintained a very high standard of giving and of activities for many years. She was particularly interested in cultivating an interest in missions among the children and it was for her own mission band that the series of questions and answers were originally devised. Mrs. House had the joyous satisfaction of seeing Boon Itt ready for work in Siam. But before the time came for his departure she was called upon to take leave of him for eternity. On July 12, 1893, she passed to her rich reward in Heaven.
With return to America, Dr. House continued his activities in behalf of the Gospel at home and of missions abroad. He embraced frequent opportunities to preach, and especially responded with pleasure to invitations for addresses on Siam. He had accumulated a large collection of curios from Siam, China and Japan, which he used with good effect to illustrate his talks and interest his hearers. This collection he left to the people of Waterford, and it is in custody of the Presbyterian Church. In the home church he took an active part, serving for many years as trustee, and also as clerk and treasurer of the board of trustees. He was honoured by the community with election as President of the village, an office which he held at the time of his death.
“ALL THINGS RICHLY TO ENJOY”
When the two missionaries returned from their long period of heavy labours in Siam with impaired health it was with the expectation that the estate which the doctor had received from his father would provide sufficient income for a comfortable living. The salary while on the field had been so small that instead of being able to save from that income, the doctor had to supplement it from his private purse. But with economy, he expected that his patrimony would be ample for the needs of himself and wife. Not long after his return, however, it developed that the investment of his funds was unsound, and he suddenly found his reserves swept away. The two were left largely dependent, though still having their home.
Without a word of complaint they accepted the situation as one of the inexplicable dispensations of God. The many years of sublime but real trust in the care of Providence which they had cultivated in the mission field and which they had often proven to be an unfailing means of blessing, now stood them in good stead. Those who knew them intimately relate instances in which what seemed to be spontaneous gifts of friends and neighbours reached them at the moment when they knew not whence a supply for immediate needs was to come. In a letter to a friend telling of the timely provision of the Lord for his needs, Dr. House wrote that his old friend Kuhn Mote, having learned of his straitened circumstances, had sent him a gift of five hundred dollars. If the record of those later years could be written it would be a continuous testimony to the simple reliance upon the goodness and mercy of God, and to the marvellous justification of the faith of this godly couple.
THE JUBILEE YEAR
When, in 1897, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of permanent work in Siam, the doctor was the only survivor of the group who met together in Bangkok half-a-century before. None of the workers in the field doubtless had greater rejoicing at that jubilee than Dr. House. The following letter of felicitation he wrote on that occasion to the daughter of his fellow missionary, herself born in Siam and from childhood knowing him as “Uncle Samuel”; it was a delicate tribute to the memory of his companions in labours.
“Waterford, New York, March 18, 1897.
“To Miss Mary L. Mattoon: