“We herewith request you to accept this small sum for your birthday present for the recognition of your Siamese scholars, and we beg to thank you for the knowledgment which we obtained from you when you were with us in our lovely country. And we noted you were the foundation of our knowledgment, and we will place your name on the stone of our hearts as long as we live.
“We pray God to bless you, to comfort and to help you in all circumstances; and we hope to meet you again in the Kingdom of our Father.
“We have the honour to remain, Sir, your affectionate scholars.”
(Signed by twenty-eight former pupils.)
But that birthday never arrived. Only a few days after the receipt of this affectionate token and grateful testimonial, Dr. House took leave forever from his friends of Siam and from his friends of all the world. On the thirteenth day of October, 1898, he reached Home At Last.
His affection for Siam outlived his days; for he had provided a small bequest for the Harriet House school in memory of his wife. Dr. House and his wife lie buried in the Waterford Rural Cemetery.
XIII
BOON TUAN BOON ITT
“One of the most remarkable men I have met in Asia.” Such was the characterisation of Boon Itt given by Dr. Arthur J. Brown, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, after a visit to the Far East. Only when one considers the high quality of the well-educated native leaders in the Christian church in Japan or China will this estimate suggest its full measure. Nor does this evaluation exceed the common esteem in which Boon Itt was held by those who knew him while in America. By all his fellow students and by his teachers he was regarded as a man of exceptionally fine personality, of high moral ideals, and of rare Christian attainments.
