The first decade of Dr. House’s service was drawing to a close without any apparent need for a furlough, as need was then understood. He had become acclimated, accustomed to conditions of Siamese life and was apparently contented with his bachelor state. That the tropics had proved to be more friendly than he had expected, is implied in his frequent expressions of surprise at continued good health, even assuring his friends at home that his physical condition was better than before he left America. But this was not the common lot of missionaries in the early days. On the tenth anniversary of his departure from New York he wrote: “Of the company of the _Grafton_ two already are dead and three compelled to return home from broken health. Mr. Mattoon and I alone are left on the field—besides Mrs. Mattoon, the eighth of the party.” The enervating conditions of life in Siam are described with good understanding by Mr. George B. Bacon in his volume on _Siam_: “It is when we remember the enervating influence of the drowsy tropics upon character that we learn fitly to honour the men and women by whom the inauguration of this new era in Siamese history has been brought about. To live for a little while among these sensuous influences without any very serious intellectual work to do or any grave moral responsibility to bear is one thing; but to live a life among them with such a constant strain upon the mind and heart as the laying of the Christian foundations among heathen must necessitate is quite another thing. “This is what the missionaries of Siam have to do. The battle is not with the prejudice of heathenism only, nor with the vices and ignorance of bad men only; it is a battle with nature itself.... The fierce sun wilts the vigour of his mind and scorches up the fresh enthusiasm of his heart.... Therefore I give the greater honour to the earnest men and to the patient women who are labouring and praying for the coming of the Christian day to this people.”