Margaret reads her first letter from Trang. She recalls their arrival and beginning in Trang, the girl that traveled with them, and talks about slavery in that part of the world.Â
Margaret tells about the missionaries she describes as giants with extraordinary abilities. Dr. McCain and Dr. McDaniel were pioneers in setting up asylums for the lepers who were just ignored by society. They had wonderful ministries and were…
On February 26 Margaret wrote of Billy, who weighed almost fourteen pounds: "Beautiful baby, so strong and well formed." He had discovered his feet and was looking at them in wonderment.
Mrs. Snyder had a tendency to make it clear that she thought things were better when she did them. Margaret tells about yard work with the coolies, and the young man who came for the book of Daniel.Â
Margaret reads about the time she was left alone. Kenneth was on an evangelistic tour and Miss. McCague had suddenly left for Bangkok with a girl who was having problems with one of her eyes. Margaret was getting used to being left alone.
Margaret recalls so many wandering animals in the town and how annoying and at times dangerous they were. The Buddhist culture saw the taking of life as sin, so these animals were all around in the town. Dr. McDaniel shot down so many of them.
Margaret was trying to train Nai Dit to cook. She tells of the teaching process, Nai Dit's own cooking styles, and how he was learning. He was especially good at making chicken gravy.
Margaret tells of the reasons that led her and Kenneth to decide not to go back to the mission field. One reason was the children. The Landons had seen the havoc that mission work had on the children of some of their colleagues. There was also the…
The Landons lived on the Tajin road, held a mile outside the town. The main Christian community lived about three miles away. The general pattern was that people lived in villages for safety reasons. Ku Pru was a teacher at the school and her brother…
Kenneth wrote to Margaret's mother about their vacation. He talks about Margaret and what a clean person she is. Margaret comments on her concern for the health of the children in a place where death was so quick. She remembers skin and instestinal…
Margaret recalls her visit to the prison with Kenneth. She describes the inside of the prison, the people they saw and the conditions in which the prisonners lived.
Miss McCague, who ran the school in the basement at the house where the Landons lived, was apparently suffering from colitis and appendicitis. Dr. McDaniel was away, so she had to go to Bangkok.
Insane people in Siam were not confined; they freely wandered in the town. There was a woman who had gone insane and used to dress at times like a Siamese and at other times like a foreigner. She insisted Margaret was her daughter and she would come…
Margaret reads a letter giving her first impressions of Nakhon. She recalls the temples, the prison, and returns to their first morning in the town, spending time with all the missionaries. In many ways the area reminded the Landons of Michigan.…
The McDaniels began to care for a large number of lepers at a leprosy asylum outside the town of Nakhon. Lepers were excluded from society and so he could not get a piece of land close by. Dr. McCain, another missionary, had successfully done a…
The whole year in Siam was filled with holidays, to the amazement of the Landons. The Thai enjoyed holidays and had incorporated foreign holidays into their calendar. They could stop working and have a wonderful time. They just loved Christmas, not…
There were several New Year celebration in Siam. First the foreign New Year on January 1, then the Chinese New Year in February, and finally the Indian New Year celebration in March. The Indians had a grand time with their celebration. It lasted two…
Margaret finds her record of the story of McKenzie wanting to serve Prince Damrong the # 1 tea. She gives the exact prices for each kind of tea that McKenzie's boy had found. In the end McKenzie bought a half pound of the best tea that was available.…
Margaret reads a letter in which she tells about Ah Chuan's baby, who seemed ill at the time when a baby in the same home had just died. Ah Chuan was concerned that his own baby might die of the same illness as the other baby. She also tells of Ah…
John Eakin asked the king to give a speech in English, and he replied that he could do so if Eakin would give a speech in the Siamese langugae. Eakin was just beginning his time in Siam, but he managed to have a speech written in perfect Siamese. At…
Margaret rehearses the dates of the Landons' journey to Siam. They left Wheaton May 16, 1927, and arrived in Bangkok July 4, 1927. She gave dates, times, and places they traveled through between Wheaton and Bangkok.
Margaret reads a letter to her mother telling her that Kenneth's visit to the passport office was not fruitful because her birth certificate wasn't worth anything. The letter explains to her mother what needed to be done so that she can get proper…
Margaret's birth certificate came and was wrong about her date of birth and her name. Adelle had to provide an affidavit about the right information. The passport office kept the original documents.
Kenneth had a tailor in town making clothes for him. He needed suits for every day of the week in Siam. The tailor was a Jew, and so was Kenneth when it comes to byuing cothes, says Margaret, so the two of them got along fine. Margaret reads about…