In 1901, Boon Itt was given a six-months leave of absence for
recuperation. He had planned to spend his furlough in Japan; but
yielding to family interests he got no farther than his old home in
Bangkok. Just before returning to his field, in January, 1902, the
Bangkok Christian community presented an earnest petition to have
Mr. Boon Itt remain in Bangkok and take charge of a new work which
it was proposed to open.
The demand for his services came about as a culmination of
circumstances. The work at Sumray had become too large for the plot
of land laid out nearly forty years before. A new compound had been
procured in the city proper, and the mission Press had already
been moved thither. A campus for a boys’ high school had also been
secured in that locality and buildings were soon to be erected.
On the part of a few there was a desire to establish a church
near the school as a center for work among the students. This led
to a movement among the Siamese Christians to have this church
erected by the Siamese for the Siamese to the honour of Christ.
A Christian nobleman of wealth and influence offered to give the
major part of the cost, and the remainder was to be raised by the
native Christians. This nobleman was Phra Montri, now Phya Sarasin.
As he had a high admiration for Boon Itt and wished his help and
leadership in the project, a conference was called at which it was
unanimously decided to undertake the enterprise and to ask to have
Boon Itt transferred from Pitsanuloke to take charge of the work;
and a committee consisting of Phra Montri, Kru Yuan, pastor of the
First Church of Bangkok, and Boon Itt was appointed to secure a lot
near the proposed high school and to plan for the new structure.
Concerning this project and the peculiar fitness of Boon Itt
for it, Dr. Arthur J. Brown, Secretary of the Board of Foreign
Missions, who at that time was making a visit to the Siam mission,
gave a very vivid survey in his report to the Board. After
describing the respective locations of the three churches in the
capital city and the circumstantial limitation of their reach, he
says:
“Thus there is neither missionary nor church in Bangkok for
the bulk of the population, for the intelligent, well-to-do
classes who are becoming eagerly interested in foreign ideas,
and for the thousands of bright young men who flock to the
metropolis in Siam, as they do in England and America. In
that main part of the city there are scores of young men and
women who were educated at our boarding schools. Many of them
are Christians. I met a big room full of them at a reception
which they very kindly gave in my honour. They were as fine
a looking company of young people as I have met anywhere on
this tour. Properly led they might be a power for Christ.
“But there is absolutely no place in all Bangkok where they
can attend church unless they divide up by sexes and travel
several miles in a boat to Sumray and Wang Lang. This some
of them do, but their parents and friends do not. Every year
our schools are sending out more of these young people, but
we are not following them up, and they are left to drift....
For this great work a man and a church are needed at once.
No other need in Siam is more urgent. The man should be able
to speak the Siamese like a native. He should be conversant
with the intricacies of Siamese customs and etiquette; and so
understand the native mind that he can enter into sympathy
with it and be able to mould it for God.
“There is one man in Siam who meets all these conditions. I
believe that he has ‘come into the kingdom for such a time
as this.’ That man is Rev. Boon Boon Itt ... one of the most
remarkable men I have met in Asia. His station has been
Pitsanuloke, where he has done a fine work in building up
next to the largest boys’ boarding school in the mission.
Another man can do the work at Pitsanuloke equally well, but
no other man in Siam or out of it can reach the young men in
Bangkok as he can. As the head of his ‘clan’ whose family
home is in Bangkok, he is widely and favourably known in the
capital. Young men like him and resort to him for advice
whenever he visits the city.... We can use this man to better
advantage for the cause of Christ. So I proposed to the
missionaries that Mr. Boon Itt be transferred to Bangkok, and
the proposal was unanimously and enthusiastically agreed to.”
So it came about that Boon Itt was unexpectedly but with great
reluctance persuaded to accept the call to Bangkok. In a letter to
a friend in America he wrote:
“Now there comes a call for me to come down to Bangkok and
take up the work here with young men and for young men. This
now seems to be my work. I am drawn to it now. I was not
before; I looked at it from a sheer sense of duty. I want to
put my best work in down here, for it is extremely important
to build up homes if purity is ever to be indigenous. When
I went up to Pitsanuloke I was in doubt about the school
work, so I said to the Lord if He wanted me to start a school
there, would He give the money wherewith to build it. He owns
all the riches of the world and people’s hearts are in his
hands; so I asked Him to influence the people there to give
the money and the materials—and He did, and the school has
been built.
“Well, I learned one other lesson along with that, viz: that
had I asked the Father to give me money for the work in His
own way I would have been spared much unnecessary toil. I am
certain that the Lord will give me the money to carry on this
new work out here. My plan in general is to hire a building
and start a reading room, play room, prayer meeting room,
where we can have classes for Bible studies.”
As the possibilities unfolded themselves to his mind it was not
solely the undertaking to build up a congregation that engaged
his interests. He sketched plans for work in connection with the
church which would make it a center of social activities for the
cultivation of Christian ideals among the young men; and it was
this phase of the work which appealed to him. He studied the needs
both temporal and spiritual. Through his influence the young men
organised an institution known as the Christian United Bank of
Siam; this was the first banking house founded by the Siamese. It
was organised after the manner of the savings banks and proved to
be very helpful to the Christian community of Bangkok. He also
persuaded a small group of Christian Siamese to organise a Steam
Rice Milling Company on a Christian basis, no work to be done on
the Sabbath and a fixed portion of the income to be devoted to
Christian work.
Although Boon Itt had made himself felt among the native Christians
during the few years he had spent in Bangkok directly after return
to Siam, he now came to be recognised and accepted as the leader
of the Siamese Christian Church. He did not aim to be a leader;
his intention was just to put himself behind the work and help
wherever he could. But this very helpfulness caused the people
to look up to him with profound respect. They had appreciation
of his understanding of their needs, of his sympathy with their
aspirations, and of his ability to look at things from their
personal point of view. In a few months his house had become the
headquarters for Siamese Christians on the east side of the river,
and little gatherings of friends were of frequent occurrence. This
gave him a personal influence that he alone failed to perceive.
But scarcely had Boon Itt laid his hands to this great task when
within a year his labours came to a sudden end. He fell a victim
to cholera. After telling of the sudden attack of the disease, Dr.
Eakin recounts the most impressive closing scenes:
“We were with him until late in Friday night, and left to
return to the High School, telling them to call us if there
should be any change. The weather had been hot and dry. No
rain had fallen for about two months. All animate nature
seemed to be suffering and longing for relief from the
drought.
“About midnight we were called. As we went to the house,
we noticed that there was a change coming in the weather.
The wind was rising in fitful gusts, and dark clouds were
scudding across the sky.
“We found that he had passed away without returning to
consciousness. Soon after we entered the house, the monsoon
broke in torrents of rain. The house shook under the fierce
attacks of the raging tempest.... The bereaved wife calmly
gathered the friends together in the little sitting room,
passed around the hymn books among them and asked them all
to sing. Through the long hours of that terrible storm, they
sang those hymns of Christian faith and hope and comfort. In
the interval between these songs of the night, they talked
of the future. One expressed concern about the finishing
of the new church. (A part of his ebbing strength Boon had
spent in explaining the details of the drawings he had made
for the roof of the church.) It would be difficult to find a
contractor who would be willing to take up the work that had
fallen from a dead hand, owing to a superstition that the
building would be haunted. Then Kru Thien Pow, head teacher
in the Boys’ High School and a most devoted friend of the
fallen chief, broke down and wept aloud: ‘I am not thinking
of the new church,’ he said, ‘some one will be found to
complete that work. I am thinking of the Kingdom of Christ
in Siam. Who will take the vacant place in this service?’”
The death of Boon Itt occurred May 8, 1903. Besides his widow, he
left three children, Samuel Buntoon, Eliza Brante and Phreida.