“He sent for his favorite wife whom he introduced as his queen consort, and afterwards sent for her two children; the eldest a boy of about four years, was loaded with chains of gold; the youngest a daughter. Both very handsome. His Majesty was exceedingly affable, speaking English so that with strict attention we could understand. He conversed on various subjects intelligently. Refreshments were served, during which H. M. left us. When he returned he presented to us each, as a memento of our visit, a very heavy gold ring of Siamese manufacture, set with five sapphires. After being shown through some of the apartments, at sundown we took our leave.” A belated sequence of this royal welcome was an invitation to Mrs. House and Mrs. Jonathan Wilson (newly arrived) to dine with the queen and some of her ladies in the palace the following year. AN INDUSTRIOUS WOMAN We catch glimpses of the indefatigable industry of this woman slightly from her few letters but chiefly from those of Dr. House. Within a month after landing, before the house was fairly settled, she began where the first opportunity presented: “My good wife has already begun her true missionary work, for she has a Bible class of nine of our young folks, whom she instructs Sabbath mornings through the English tongue which they have partially acquired.” Promptly she took up the important task of learning the language: “I love the Siamese language very much indeed. The first month I was here I took no lesson and I have lost two months since by sickness and absence, but I have read and nearly translated the gospel of Matthew; and I begin to make myself understood.” During the dry season for the first several years Mrs. House made tours with her husband. One of these was to Prabat, the scene of the “footstep of Buddha,” where the doctor had experienced rough treatment on his previous visit; on this occasion, however, no attention was paid to the presence of foreigners. Mrs. House took pains to write vivid accounts of many of these tours for the home Sunday school; these and parts of her letters found their way into the missionary magazines of the day and afterwards were incorporated as a part of the volume, _Siam and Laos_. In the summer of the second year we find her teaching an hour-and-a-half daily in the mission school and giving two hours daily to the study of the language beside the domestic cares. She had already taken under her maternal oversight the native girl Delia, and also accepted charge of Nancy, whom Mrs. Mattoon had raised; and while in some ways these wards were an assistance, yet their care and direction was a great responsibility. Comments upon her zeal appear frequently in the doctor’s letters, and ten years after her arrival he continues to mention her diligence: