Margaret talks again about the house in Trang. She further describes the house and her work to improve its look. She talks about the interior, her decoration and how she had set things. She began to learn from scratch about flowers.
Margaret often had problems with her servants not being responsible enough. The Chinese servants tended to be noisy, negligent, dirty, and dishonest. But they were tremendously hard workers. The Siamese were quieter, cleaner, and more careful, but…
Margaret tells about Bill as a baby. He was slow but focused and determined. He would crawl around and follow the servant's motions while she was working. One day Bille became so fascinated by the motion of the mop that he wanted to catch it, but the…
Margaret describes a normal day. It begins at 6:00, with breakfast and prayer at 7:00. She had a little time to get things underway before her teacher came at 9:00. She studied until 11:30, had lunch and a little nap, then had Siamese conversation…
Margaret reads about E. P. Dunlap and his work in Siam. His first convert was a devout Buddhist who had turned away from his idols and entrusted his life to the "Great Spirit." He was one day trying to repair a Buddhist idol when all of a sudden it…
Margaret talks about the house in Trang. She explains about property ownership in Trang and the acquisition of the mission compound. She describes the house they lived in and the building style that took into account the monsoon. She explains the…
Margaret remembers the "cats" the Landon had. There was a small "panther" (a cheetah type). At some point the Landons had nine cats, seven dogs and one hornbill.Â
Yin Lang, the cook, borrowed 150 tekals from Margaret. His father was ill and dying, so he wanted a few days off and he requested an advance. He made out a first mortage on his rubber garden to Margaret as security. But Margaret never got her money…
Margaret reads a letter about her time in Chong, her vacation, her impressions and discoveries of the area. It was one of the most beautiful areas she had ever seen. She describes the Thai hierarchy and the power the governor had. She tells of how…
Margaret reads about her work around the house and her having fun doing activities she never did before. That was the beginning of her gardening. Kenneth and Margaret talk about the food in Trang.
Margaret tells of the second time in a year she had to cope in loneliness with what was required of her. She reads about Kenneth's seafaring adventures, the storm, how they waited on the sea for an entire journey for a steamer that wasn't coming.…
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 the story of her Chinese pictures of Christian scenes. It began when the Landons were living in Siam. Margaret received a magazine for women that contained a picture of a Madonna done in the Chinese manner, and she wanted to have the…
Kenneth tells of the Landon's different career spurts. He describes them as quite fortuitous, as Margaret wrote her book, and the war spurred great interest in Southeast Asia. Kenneth was also fortunate in that he was the only one in the Foreign…
Upon being asked about Thailand in the modern day, Kenneth makes his assessment. He reports that they will always survive and be independent, as they really know how to get along.
Kenneth tells of the lak muang. This post was supposed to hold a spirit who would protect the city. Traditionally, someone was crushed or impaled by the lak muang, and their spirit would stay in the area. Kenneth recalls seeing many of these in his…
Kenneth recalls the Siamese wedding he attended. After blessing the hand of the couple, he sat down at the stairs. This caused quite some dilemma, as many of the bigwigs of the town were there. As to not be impolite and through confusion, they ended…
Margaret did not see the play until it had been playing for six weeks, she says. She went up with Kenneth and another couple. Peggy asked her mother what sort of cake she would like, and she answered she wanted a simple cake like the ones her mother…