We catch glimpses of the indefatigable industry of this woman
slightly from her few letters but chiefly from those of Dr. House.
Within a month after landing, before the house was fairly settled,
she began where the first opportunity presented:
“My good wife has already begun her true missionary work,
for she has a Bible class of nine of our young folks, whom
she instructs Sabbath mornings through the English tongue
which they have partially acquired.”
Promptly she took up the important task of learning the language:
“I love the Siamese language very much indeed. The first
month I was here I took no lesson and I have lost two months
since by sickness and absence, but I have read and nearly
translated the gospel of Matthew; and I begin to make myself
understood.”
During the dry season for the first several years Mrs. House made
tours with her husband. One of these was to Prabat, the scene of
the “footstep of Buddha,” where the doctor had experienced rough
treatment on his previous visit; on this occasion, however, no
attention was paid to the presence of foreigners. Mrs. House took
pains to write vivid accounts of many of these tours for the
home Sunday school; these and parts of her letters found their
way into the missionary magazines of the day and afterwards were
incorporated as a part of the volume, _Siam and Laos_.
In the summer of the second year we find her teaching an
hour-and-a-half daily in the mission school and giving two hours
daily to the study of the language beside the domestic cares. She
had already taken under her maternal oversight the native girl
Delia, and also accepted charge of Nancy, whom Mrs. Mattoon had
raised; and while in some ways these wards were an assistance, yet
their care and direction was a great responsibility. Comments upon
her zeal appear frequently in the doctor’s letters, and ten years
after her arrival he continues to mention her diligence:
“Harriette is as industriously engaged as ever. She will
teach three full hours a day, besides what she does for her
girls at home, reading and translating with the Siamese
teacher. Nor can she be persuaded to spare herself. Has just
started under superintendance of Delia and Ooey, alternately,
an infant sewing and singing class.”
Thus by assistance of the girls whom she had already taught she
undertook to extend her reach, training these girls in teaching
under her own direction. After she had fairly mastered the language
she sought further to enlarge her influence by preparing tracts and
translating pamphlets. She is credited with these productions:
_Questions in Gospel History_, 1864; _Stand by the Truth_, 1869
(these two in conjunction with Dr. House); _Catechism in Bible
Truth_, 1870; several juvenile story books.
Concerning the _Catechism_, Dr. House wrote to Mrs. House while
she was in America (1871): “I take great satisfaction in the
circulation of that little tract _Bible Truth_ you toiled on so
faithfully, and I like it better each day. Our whole school recite
their ‘verse a day’ from that now.”