The king was called Chon Chewitt (“lord of life”), and woe betide the one who would dare to cross his will! One day I was conversing with these young wives, when one of them whispered, “Hush! hush!” I inquired the reason, and she significantly pointed toward the king’s quarters and drew her hand across her neck, as much as to say, “To converse on such a subject might displease His Majesty, and he could take off our heads.” I was credibly informed that he ordered one of his wives to be put in chains and in prison for forgetting to wear a certain ring which he had ordered to be worn on a certain day. One of our pupils, a sweet-faced young girl, stole the king’s spectacles, and sold them—to increase her spending-money, I suppose. I asked to be led to her quarters, thinking I might be of some service to her. I went, and upon arriving at the place, a sort of enclosed court with open rooms, I inquired for her, and her pleasant face peeped out from behind a screen, where she was confined, and returned my salutations. She seemed totally untroubled by her situation; its commonness made the disgrace unfelt, I suppose. Presently a female officer passed and turned a stern eye upon me, and I quietly left, seeing that I could be of no service there.
The king we seldom saw. There was to be a procession on the river one day, and His Majesty, with the ladies of the court, was to go to the river’s edge to view it. The ladies invited me to accompany them, and I did so, and sat with them at some distance from the king. His Majesty recognized me among them, and called me to him. I approached him as I would approach the President of the United States. He received me with politeness and pleasant salutations, and handed me the glass with which he was viewing the procession. I received it from his hand, and with it watched for a while the pageant as it slowly moved over the river. I then returned the glass, bade His Majesty adieu and returned to my seat among the princesses. For their sakes I was glad of this little episode, for in those days Siamese etiquette required inferiors to prostrate themselves upon hands and knees, with faces to the earth, before superiors. In this position their salutation was to place their hands together, touch them to the forehead and bow to the floor or earth. In this painful attitude even the princes and nobles always appeared before His Majesty, and the custom prevailed throughout all the ranks. The elbows and knees of the king’s courtiers were hard and callous, as they were obliged so often to be in attendance upon His Majesty.
One day I was visiting a very friendly princess, a daughter of the late king. She was delighted with our calls. On this occasion I found her lame and sore. It was at the time when the young queen was sick unto death. Under such circumstances the king deigns to be present in the sick chamber, and this princess was one among the number called to wait upon His Majesty. In carrying out his orders they were obliged to crawl upon their hands and knees, and her knees were all blistered by the day’s waiting. I could not refrain from saying, “Why, we are not made like cats and dogs! We are made to walk upright.” This remark pleased her, and after thinking a few moments she said, “How true! and how much easier and nicer to walk upright!” But, thinking a few moments more, she said, “But, ah, it cannot be done here.” Sure enough, such is the power of custom that it could not be done then and there, but influences were at work which would gradually undo those hard, servile customs. When those princesses saw me walk upright in the presence of the king they would naturally think, “Why are we not permitted to do the same?” and thus one little step is taken to remove the shackles.
One day, as our attendant was leading me to our teaching-hall, we were near meeting a lady of high rank with her long train of servants. Now, I did not require my attendant to crouch before me, and she would naturally infer that with her I would prostrate myself in the presence of this lady of rank. So, touching my arm, she warned me of the approach of the royal personage, expecting me to meet her as an inferior and prostrate myself before her. “Oh,” I said, “I am an American; our customs are different from yours.” I had met this lady before, and she knew me and met me with a pleasant salutation, while my attendant and all the train of maidens were down to the earth in a moment. Now, the natural thought among these prostrate ones would be, “Here is a person who stands on a footing with our great ones, yet she does not require us to prostrate ourselves before her.” Little by little are such miserable customs worn away by persistent Christian effort.
Our visits to the houses of the different ladies of the palace became more and more extended. These houses were not the clean, sweet, pleasant homes of an intelligent Christianity. Only a few of them had much that was attractive about them. In many of them flowers were cultivated, and they wrought in fancy-work. For their gala-days their servants would bring in large quantities of flowers, which they would turn into fanciful forms to grace the festive occasions.
One day I was seated with a princess upon an elevated platform in her court. She and her maidens were at work with artificial flowers, and a cup of paste and vessels with the parts of the flowers and leaves were scattered here and there among them. All at once a pet monkey which had become loose marched to the stage and suddenly appeared among us. Undaunted, he walked about, put his nose into the cup of paste and tipped it over, passed his paws over the delicate parts prepared for the complete flowers and made himself master of the situation. I sat in mute consternation, while the princess and her maidens seemed as quiet as if no monkey were there. By and by he marched around to a place where a servant could secure him, and she made him fast. I asked why they allowed him to march around their work and commit such depredations. “Ah,” said one of them, “if we had attempted to take him then, he would have bitten us and would have made greater havoc among our flowers; better to wait till he works himself into a place where he can be secured without danger.”
I have kept one of the sisters of the king very pleasantly in memory. Her bearing was noble and lady-like, and with a fair opportunity she would have graced the palace of any king. She read our Christian books, and seemed interested in them. One day we had a long conversation upon the Christian religion. She remarked that my religion was good and that her religion was good, and she spoke of the deeds of merit she had done. “Yes,” I replied, “wherein they agree they are both alike good, but in some things they do not at all agree. In the Christian religion we believe in one God, the great Jehovah, who created all things and who is from everlasting to everlasting. In the Buddhist religion you have made a human philosopher a god. The great Jehovah has forbidden the worship of idols, but your country is full of them, and the name of the true God is taken in vain. The great Jehovah has commanded us to set apart one day in seven for his worship, but in your religion this is not observed. We believe in the great eternal One described in our Bible, who made these beautiful flowers and made our wonderful bodies with their spirit-life—who created the heavens above us and the earth beneath us and all things. This great eternal One has given his Son to be a Redeemer to all who will come to him and repent of sin. These things make the Christian religion different from yours.” The dear lady thoughtfully replied, “These things I must look into; I have not thought of them before.” I sincerely hope she did look into them, and was brought to reverence and adore the great Jehovah through the merits of Jesus Christ.
We did not rudely intrude the tenets of our religion upon them, but always answered kind inquiries and freely gave our opinions. In this way they would frequently be led to acknowledge the superiority of our customs over theirs. In the matter of polygamy many high in station in their quiet moments, in private conversation, would acknowledge it to be a very bad thing, and the king seemed happy in saying that he had fewer wives than any of his predecessors. When Christianity reigns in full power this giant evil will be for ever banished from our world. By persistent Christian effort, with law on its side, may we not hope that it will be speedily driven from our own dear country for ever?
After three years, during which time our visits to the palace were kept up quite regularly, they came to a close. One day Mrs. Smith started for her day at the palace. Our attendant was not at the river-house to meet her; but at other times she had not been there, and we found our own way in the palace-grounds; so Mrs. Smith proceeded to the palace-gate. But the gatekeeper was not to be seen, nor any of her company, and Mrs. Smith left. We all felt that this probably meant that our teaching in the palace must cease. But as it seemed possible that the gate-women might be away attending some festival for the time, I went the next day, to make sure. There was no attendant at the river-house, and as I passed up the avenue for the palace-gate a Siamese woman stepped into the avenue from a side gate just before me. The moment she saw me she darted back, plainly showing that an order had been given, and that it was understood. I proceeded to the gate where we had so often passed in and out. As I drew near there was a rustle and a rush to hide from my presence. I called out pleasantly in Siamese, asking if they would not open the gate for me, but no answer came excepting the suppressed laughter of some young girls hiding behind the screens. We quietly accepted the evident intention of the king, and our teaching in the palace ceased.
It was thought that some of the ladies were becoming interested in Christianity, but of this we could not be sure. Some years after this time His Majesty advertised for an English teacher for his children, with the strict proviso that the Christian religion should have no place in the teaching. To break from settled customs might cost him his throne. Worldly policy! How many with high Christian intelligence it has kept from the right and true! Need we wonder at this heathen king? With great infirmities he had some noble traits. He owed more to the Christian religion than he would be willing to allow. When Mr. Mattoon was about leaving Siam he went to the palace to bid the king adieu. In the interview His Majesty acknowledged his belief in the true God—the “Supreme Agency,” as he termed it. He has passed away since then, and his son is now on the throne. Many happy changes have been wrought out, and we constantly pray that the great and best change may come—that every idol may be cast away and loyalty to the great Jehovah may be written upon every heart in Siam.