Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/388

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the Rev. Daniel McGilvary arrived. Messrs. W. and McG. had been room-mates at Princeton Seminary; while there had both felt the claims upon them of missionary work, and had become much interested in Siam; but after graduating Mr. McGilvary was called to become pastor over a church in North Carolina, and Mr. Wilson had gone out as a missionary to the Choctaw Indians. Years passed, and each had been led by the pressing needs of the field to offer himself to the Board for service there, and most gratifying was it to find that they were to be sent out together.

The number of ordained ministers now warranted the formation of a Presbytery, and the Presbytery of Siam was duly constituted September 1, 1858.

In the study of the language, aiding in the instruction of the pupils in the boarding-school and in tract-distribution the new brethren found enough to busy them.

In January, 1859, the Rev. S. Mattoon, who had then for some twelve years without intermission borne the burden and heat of the day, returned to the United States for the much-needed change, rejoining his family there.

Signs of more than usual religious interest appeared about this time, and one of the native teachers, Nai Chune, applied for Christian baptism. So deep, however, was the duplicity of this people generally, and so many who professed