Margaret gives the background to her first story for the Literary Society, "A Grave for Frankie." Ku Pru told her the story. It was about her uncle who was a wizard. She told her that when the wizard's uncle died his son sat on his grave for three…
Margaret tells of the compound, housework, market, and sewing. The compound had begun to look like what Margaret had hoped for (it looked like a park). Dan Bovee had done a great deal to bring this about. There was a man for cutting the grass all day…
Margaret was doing the cutting and the seamstress was sewing. She talks about the challenge of making underwear for Peggy that would not sag, solving the problem with a piece of elastic in the middle of the back. Some clothes were coming by mail…
Margaret recalls an article in a local newspaper in which she was misquoted. It was a reunion with Mrs. Boyd, who was visiting in Bangkok and whom Margaret had known since she was a little child. Margaret comments that in many occasion this happened…
Margaret talks about their first three years in Siam and their furlough coming up in just a year. She had just begun to feel that she was of use as a missionary. It was so hard without the language. Sometimes she got blue because of the lack of any…
Margaret wrote of picking a ripe jack fruit that was huge like a watermelon and entirely filled a pail. She briefly describes the fruit, larger than a durian fruit.
Margaret tells about the girls in the school who were rehearsing a play. She was watching one night when suddenly a little girl ran up on stage and began to dance. "I never saw anything funnier." The Siamese dance was very beautiful, but very formal,…
Margaret describes her stove, how slow it is, and the hard work it takes to cook on it. She tells of the market, especially the buying of meat and how she tendered beef before roasting it. Pork was more tender and they had it more often. She would…
Margaret tells the story of her first learning of Anna Leonowens. She tells us that she has often said that when she first read The English Governess in the Siamese Court during that 1930 visit in Nakhon, she really had no sense of a curtain’s going…
Margaret tells of the beautiful place where the McDaniels were planning to build a new house and a hospital. The ground, the trees, and the landscape were just beautiful. Dr. McDaniel is very progressive and energetic, and he was making great…
Margaret remembers a story from the trip of the King of Siam going to the US for an eye operation. After the surgery had been done, no bill was presented, and so the King asked for it. The surgeon said something like, "The King can do no wrong. I…
Margaret remembers the friends of the Landons (Ralph Verhaug, who married Katherine, Joe Wright, Muriel, etc.) The friendship went cold for the most part, though Muriel remained very faithful in writing. Margaret recalls how hard it was to not…
Margaret wrote to Evangeline, who was then living in Minneapolis with her husband Evan Welsh. Margaret speaks of her problems with her cooks. Ah Sim eventually took over. Kru Flora helped Margaret with the shopping.
Margaret says Bill's pet amusement at the moment was pushing Peggy's doll carriage around. One morning, Margaret found him washing Peggy's doll's hair. The two children looked almost like twins now because Bill weighed only one pound less than Peggy.…
Margaret talks about how the farmers cared for their buffalo. They would keep them under the house, perhaps. Groups of men would take their buffalo out to grazing areas to feed. No one milked cows, though they did have female buffalo. When the…
Margaret begins telling "what I call 'The Pakai Affair.'" To tell the story, she gives some background concerning mission history in Siam. Margaret tells of the history of the Presbyterian mission in Siam, the main figures, the mission stations and…
Margaret tells of her trip home from Thailand on the Landon's first furlough, in 1931. While Kenneth traveled around the world one way, so as to visit the Holy Land, she traveled around the world the other way, with Peggy and Bill. Peggy was four,…
When the Japanese invaded Thailand, many Westerners fled. Thomas Byrd, the British Consul General in Chiang Mai at the time, was one of these fleeing. Margaret recalls the story that Byrd was in a car while others were walking, and upon passing a…
Margaret recalls a story of the Well's fine set of sterling silver. When the Japanese invaded Thailand, they had to flee. Wells, at the time, was a headmaster at a boy's school in Chiang Mai. Teachers at the school snuck out and secretly buried the…
Margaret goes over Moroseness family history, telling of her grandfather who emigrated to this country, and of how her father took on the responsibilities for his family when he was twelve. Grandfather had invented, among other things, a…
Margaret finally got a good garden book, a great event. She still has it, A Garden Book for Malaya by Kathleen Gough. Margaret now had 120 house plants. There were ferns, amaryllis, lilys, honolulu creepers, bougainvillea, and other small plants. As…
The College had problems accommodating the growing flow of students, so many stayed off-campus. Kenneth had a roommate, Wesley Ingels, at a house they rented on Main St. Wesley was working at a bakery and had to go to bed early because he would leave…
While at Princeton Seminary Kenneth had trouble with Robert Dick Wilson's daughter, Ann, who kept writing him letters, apparently in need of some type of counseling. Kenneth answered only the first of her letters.
Kenneth and Margaret talk about about their wedding plans. Margaret had hoped that they could go to her parents' cottage at Stony Lake for their honeymoon. They went to Gull Lake instead, where Kenneth's father had rented a cottage. Margaret wanted…
Kenneth tended to have little and get rid of things, but Margaret's habit was to collect and keep. This put the young couple on opposite ends as they entered marriage. Margaret was sometimes hurt by Kenneth throwing away things she would like to…