Mr. McGilvary, in his labors for their spiritual good, had become so much interested in the Laos people settled near him in Petchaburee that he was anxious to learn if something could not be done for the evangelization of the hundreds of thousands of Laos in the tributary states to the north, as yet unreached by the gospel. Accordingly, with the consent of the mission, he made in that cool season, with Mr. Wilson, an exploring-tour to the hitherto unvisited North Laos country, journeying partly by boat, partly on elephants, as far as Cheung Mai, the capital. The travelers were well received by the authorities, and after an absence of eleven weeks returned strongly impressed with the practicability and desirableness of establishing a mission among that interesting people.
The varied work of the mission at the two stations was carried on as in former years, some engaged in the boys’ school, others having charge of the printing-press or translating the Scriptures or preparing tracts and catechisms, maintaining the preaching-services, conversing with visitors, distributing tracts or medicines, vaccinating native children, studying the language with native teachers, or conducting the daily morning service, which all on the mission premises or in mission employ were required to attend, and when, with the brief exposition of the Scripture read, much religious instruction was given. The wives of the missionaries also did much for the instruction of the native females in their families and neighborhoods in reading and sewing and in Bible-classes on the Sabbath.
In February, 1864, Dr. and Mrs. House left on a visit to the United States, the state of Mrs. House’s health requiring it; and a few months later Mrs. Mattoon, whose asthmatic trouble had returned, was compelled to take her final leave of Siam. Her husband remained to finish the important work on which he had long been engaged of making a revised translation of the New Testament into Siamese. Mr. Wilson, whose health had become impaired, accompanied Mrs. Mattoon and her children to America.
In December, 1864, the Rev. Dr. Dean, whose shattered constitution had been restored by eleven years’ sojourn in his native land, gladly returned (with Mrs. Dean, Miss F. Dean and the Rev. C. H. Chilcott) to take charge again of the Baptist Board’s mission-work for the Chinese and of the Chinese church in Bangkok, which he had founded. Mr. Chilcott was removed by death before he had entered on the second year of his missionary life.
In December, 1865, the Rev. S. Mattoon took his final and regretful leave of the land and the people for whose good he had labored so long and so faithfully—a loss to the community as well as to the mission. From the date of his embarkation for the field to that of his arrival in the United States on his return was just twenty years.
April 4, 1866, the Rev. P. L. Carden and wife arrived to join the Presbyterian mission, and in July the Rev. J. Wilson returned with Mrs. Kate M. Wilson. In July also came Miss A. M. Fielde, to be connected with the Chinese department of the Baptist mission. Dr. and Mrs. House returned in December from their visit home, with health renewed.
The industrial school for girls in Petchaburee, which has since brought so many of the women and girls of that city under daily Christian instruction and training in habits of neatness and industry, commenced by Mrs. McFarland the year previous, was now an established success. The boys’ boarding-school at Bangkok prospered under Mr. George’s superintendence. The fall of 1866 was a season of marked religious interest at the Bangkok station; there were several decided cases of conversion, and a daily prayer-meeting instituted by the converts was well sustained.
In 1867 (October 1) the missionaries write: “During the past twelve months more additions have been made to the native church than in all the previous years of its history.” Eleven had been received at Bangkok and four at Petchaburee—nine of the number pupils of the mission-schools.
This year (1867) was memorable as witnessing the commencement of the Presbyterian mission in North Laos. On the 3d of January its pioneer missionary, the Rev. Daniel McGilvary, with his family, embarked on what was to prove a three months’ voyage up the Menam. Having, besides the strong current of the river, no less than thirty-two decided rapids to surmount in their boats, it was not till the 1st of April that Cheung Mai, their destination, was reached. The king gave them a friendly reception and provided them with a temporary home. Numbers visited them daily, and gradually they acquired the confidence of the people, who heard them gladly. The year following the Rev. Jonathan Wilson and wife undertook the formidable journey, and left Bangkok to join the McGilvarys at Cheung Mai. Not long after their arrival, during a visit of Dr. House to the new mission, a church was organized in that remote heathen city, with many an earnest prayer that the “little one might become a thousand.” On his way thither over the Laos Mountains, Dr. House had a narrow escape from death. The elephant on which he had been riding unexpectedly turned upon him, struck him down with its trunk and then wounded him severely whilst attempting to transfix him with its tusks.
In May, 1868, the Rev. P. L. Carden, who had lastly been stationed at Petchaburee, was obliged to withdraw from the field on account of the serious illness of his wife. This year the Rev. Samuel J. Smith and wife (formerly Mrs. Dr. Jones), who had been so long connected with the American Baptist Board, became self-supporting, Mr. Smith having charge of a large printing-establishment and a weekly English newspaper, but maintaining Sabbath preaching and other services in Siamese, and Mrs. Smith, able and indefatigable as a teacher and writer, doing much in the work of instruction and in other ways for the good of Siam.