The most notable of all the friendly gestures was the royal
request to have the ladies of the missions teach English to the
ladies of the palace. The significance of this extraordinary
move was understood least of all among these ladies themselves.
By his manifestation of approval for female education the king
swept completely away the argument of age-long custom against the
teaching of women. There continued to be practical difficulties but
the insurmountable obstacle had been removed by a single gesture of
the liberal-minded king. This notable request is recorded in Dr.
House’s journal under date of Aug. 13, 1851:
“Dr. Bradley and Mr. Jones received a communication from the
grand chamberlain of the royal palace, etc. ‘H. M. had heard
from Pya Sisuriwong and Pra Nai Wai that the wives of the
missionaries would teach, changing times (i.e. in turn) the
royal girls and ladies, if H. M. allow. H. M. wishes to know
how you will do, and desires several ladies who live with him
to acquire knowledge in English, etc.’
“Dr. Bradley replied that the ladies of the mission had
made themselves a board of managers of the affair and were
ready to undertake the work. Next morning Dr. Bradley was
summoned to the new prime minister’s, and told that H. M.
desired the teaching in English to ladies of the palace to
begin today—that the astrologer had pronounced it a good
day—and requested Mrs. Bradley to go at 9 a. m. She did so,
her husband leaving her at the palace gate where the Pra
Nai Wai received her and led her to the gate of the woman’s
apartments; there a number of women were waiting for her.
While waiting outside, the young Princess of Wongna met her,
carried in state under a yellow canopy, and shook hands with
her. She was led to the hall where nine young ladies from
sixteen to twenty (one of thirty)—bright, intelligent and
beautiful, she described them—were committed to her as her
pupils in charge of the matron of the palace.”
The women of the mission who assumed this task were Mrs. D. B.
Bradley, Mrs. Stephen Mattoon and Mrs. J. T. Jones (who later
became Mrs. S. I. Smith). This work among the women of the palace
Dr. House characterises as the “first zenana work conducted in any
foreign lands,” antedating the zenana work in India by some five
or six years. The number of pupils at first increased very quickly
to twenty-five or thirty, but after the novelty wore off many of
the ladies dropped out of the class. A few maintained an interest
to the end, and even invited the teachers to visit them in their
private apartments for more serious work of conversation.
The visits of the missionary ladies to the palace continued for a
little over three years, when they suddenly and without explanation
found admission denied to them. Some have surmised that the king
became displeased at the religious influence. However the more
probable explanation is that suggested by Dr. House’s journal
where the change in this order is associated with the temporary
displeasure of the king towards the missionaries by reason of a
letter calumniating his character, which coincidently appeared in a
newspaper of Straits Settlement and which he erroneously attributed
to a missionary.