“He then said my wife must come and visit the royal palace. He had missed me very much. I must come and live near him. Turning to one of his ministers he said, ‘He guessed they must build a house over there’ (pointing out a spot near the palace). I must take an office under the government. The prime minister told me I must become a Siamese nobleman.” Dr. House and Mr. Mattoon were sent for again by the king a few days later, and availed themselves of this occasion to present to His Majesty several useful presents sent out by American admirers. TOURS WITH MRS. HOUSE While in America, in 1855, the Sunday school of his home church provided funds for the purchase and outfitting of a boat for touring. The result was a boat equipped for the work, affording more comfort than possible in the native boats. Along the side of the small cabin, lockers were fitted, serving both as seats and place for storage. A removable table between afforded space for writing or eating. For the night an extension bridged the space between the lockers, and this, covered with cushions, made a comfortable double bed. In December of 1856 Dr. House made the first tour with Mrs. House. Customs, and scenes in Siam had by this time grown so familiar to him that his letters home do not contain details as did his earlier letters. Their first tour together, in company with some of the other missionaries, was up the Meklong River in western Siam as far as the town of Kanburi amidst some fine mountain scenery. Several other trips occurred; one of them to Petrui: “A fortnight or more,” he writes, “exploring some of the totally unvisited districts of the eastern portion of the plain which constitutes central Siam—you know my passion for penetrating into remote and unexplored regions and out of the way places.” If perchance this enthusiasm conveys the impression that these journeys were of unmingled pleasure and simple romance it is well to have that fancy checked by some material facts; for, continuing the narrative of this trip, the doctor writes: “Upon review of the tour I can recall but few that I remember with more satisfaction. But for pleasure—I cannot say much for a tour. Our confined quarters (cabin five by seven), the rocking of the boat with every movement of ours or of the boatmen, the hot sun upon the roof and sides by day and the myriads of mosquitos as the evening comes on (and such ravenous merciless mosquitos, too), the monotony of the scenery on the lower stream and absence of all that is pretty or picturesque in the villages and houses of the natives, and last but not least the universal uproar among all the dogs whenever one steps ashore anywhere in their villages—all detract largely from the romance and not a little from the comfort of a mission tour in this country.” MARKS OF GROWTH