A half century among the Siamese and the Lao : an ... - Khamkoo

PIONEER WORK 87
ment. The title " Maw " (doctor) followed me from
Bangkok, where all missionaries, I believe, are still so
called. This name itself often excited hopes which,
of course, were doomed to disappointment. To the
ignorant all diseases seem equally curable, if only there
be the requisite skill or power. How often during
those first five years I regretted that I was not a
trained physician and surgeon! My only consolation
was that it was not my fault. When my thoughts
were first turned towards missions, I consulted the
officers of our Board on the wisdom of taking at least
a partial course in preparation for my work. But
medical missions had not then assumed the importance
they since have won. In fact, just then they were at a
discount. The Board naturally thought that medical
study would be, for me at least, a waste of time, and
argued besides that in most mission fields there were
English physicians. But it so happened that eleven
years of my missionary life have been spent in stations
from one hundred to five hundred miles distant
from a physician. So, if any physician who reads
this narrative is inclined to criticise me as a quack, I
beg such to remember that I was driven to it—I had
to do whatever I could in the case of illness in my
own family ; and for pity I could not turn away those
who often had nothing but superstitious charms to
rely on. It was a comfort, moreover, to know that
in spite of inevitable disappointments, our practice
of medicine made friends, and possibly enabled us to
maintain the field, at a time when simply as Christian
teachers we could not have done so. Even Prince
Kawilorot himself conceded so much when, after forbidding
us to remain as missionaries, he said we might,
if we wished, remain to treat the sick.