An appeal having been made to the king of Siam by the missionaries to the Laos in behalf of certain oppressed native Christians, he was graciously pleased to issue (Sept. 29, 1878) a proclamation establishing religious toleration in Laos, and by implication throughout all his dominions. Under the direction of the Presbytery of Siam two new churches were organized this year――one at the upper station of Bangkok, the other at Bangkaboon, a fishing-village near Petchaburee. The native Christians at Bangkok by their contributions provided for the erection of a house for the native preacher at Ayuthia, and the entire support of another assistant there. The total church-membership in Siam now was one hundred and thirty-three, and in Laos thirty-one. Miss Mary E. Hartwell, who arrived with the McDonalds early in 1879, assisted Miss Caldwell in the girls’ boarding-school, and Miss Hattie H. McDonald, who was now under appointment as a missionary teacher, taught in the boys’ school, which came under her father’s supervision when the McCauleys, who had been in charge, were compelled to remove to Petchaburee by the departure thence, in consequence of their failing health, of Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap, who had been there of late. The Dunlaps returned to the United States in November. The lady teachers at Petchaburee, Misses Coffman and Cort, had then under their care seven different schools in and near that city, numbering nearly two hundred pupils. At Cheung Mai the new missionary teachers soon had in the school there, which Mrs. McGilvary had commenced, twenty-five girls, eighteen of whom were boarding pupils. Eighteen Laotian converts were reported this year. The Laos king, finding the premises of the mission too limited, bought an adjacent lot and generously presented it to the mission. In February, 1880, Mr. Culbertson was married to Miss Caldwell. In August, Ernest A. Sturge, M. D., sailed for Siam as a medical missionary, to be stationed at Petchaburee, and later in the year the Board sent out to the Siam mission the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. C. S. McClelland, with Miss Laura A. Olmstead. Miss Olmstead became Miss Hartwell’s associate in the girls’ school, and the McClellands went to Petchaburee. Mr. McCauley’s constitution not enduring a tropical climate, he had, with his wife, to be transferred this year to the mission of the Presbyterian Board in Japan. The state of Mrs. McGilvary’s health made a visit to the United States necessary for her, and at the close of the year Mr. and Mrs. Van Dyke and family, all seriously ill, after nearly twelve years’ residence in the tropics, made their first visit home.