One Sunday evening, October 14, James and Ellen White arrived in Oakland. A little note in the October 18, Signs stated that "Elder White is in poor health, "but had endured the journey well.
Sabbath, the Whites met with the church at Oakland; Ellen White spoke again Sunday evening.
For the readers of the Review and Herald, James White submitted this note:
We are very happy to find ourselves again in beautiful Oakland, with improving health. Mrs. White is very well, and labors with more power and the blessing of God than ever before. We meet the friends in this our former field of labor with great pleasure. The work in the Pacific Coast States and Territories is great and moves forward gloriously.... Truth triumphs in this field. God is with His people.--Ibid., November 1, 1877
After the weekend meetings in Oakland they were off, accompanied by Mary Clough, for a tour among the churches to the north in the Sonoma and Russian River valleys--in this case, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and Healdsburg. They were back again to meet with the Oakland church the first weekend in November (The Signs of the Times, November 1, 1877). The reports of their work frequently mentioned that James White's health was steadily improving (The Review and Herald, November 8, 1877). Actually the recovery was very slow, and a pattern of labor was being established that was reflected in his report of the second weekend spent in Oakland in early November:
Mrs. White and the writer met with the church at Oakland in their house of worship, Sabbath, November 3. We opened the meeting and spoke quite fully upon the progress of the cause. Mrs. White followed with a stirring discourse for one hour. A social meeting followed.
First-day evening Mrs. White addressed a good congregation who would not be deterred from coming out in the heavy rain.--The Signs of the Times, November 8, 1877.
The change of scene and the milder climate of California was no quick remedy. On October 26, after writing of his slow recovery in a letter to Willie and Mary at Battle Creek, Ellen White stated her position:
I will not be impatient. I will hope and trust and pray. We shall see the salvation of God. We have some sweet refreshing seasons from the presence of the Lord. I will not let clouds shadow my mind. "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Not one murmur shall escape my lips or linger about my soul.--Letter 28, 1877.
Plans announced by James White for the winter's work had to be modified--the struggle to regain his overdrawn account in physical resources was long and tedious. Ellen White soon found that his care called for her to even curtail her plans for writing. Soon after their arrival in the West, she told the story in a brief letter to William and Mary in Battle Creek:
Dear Children,
I am tired tonight. I have been trying to get a piece for the [Health] Reformer. It is hard to write much, for Father is so lonesome I have to ride out with him and devote considerable time to keep him company. Father is quite cheerful but talks but little. We have some very precious seasons of prayer. We believe that God will raise him to health. We are of good courage.--Letter 25, 1877.
The modified work program James White was forced to accept, while limiting him in filling speaking engagements, did allow him to do some writing. Even that was limited as it seemed to him, but quite expansive as we review it today. To him the Signs of the Times was a very dear and cherished child. Through 1877 its editorial masthead carried three names: James White, J. N. Andrews, and Uriah Smith. Smith resided in Battle Creek, Andrews in Switzerland, and White divided his time between the West and the East. The rather vital position of managing editor was in the early part of 1877 filled by Mary K. White, Willie's wife, followed by the versatile and talented Lucinda Hall.
Mrs. Hall did so well that James White, shortly after the return to California, wrote commendably:
She is an editor. Writers are plenty, while good editors are scarce. It is in preparing, selecting, and arranging the thoughts of others that editorial talent appears.--The Review and Herald, January 31, 1878.
Making the Signs his prime task, White immediately began furnishing editorials and articles for almost every issue. He described his plans for the new volume of the Signs, soon to begin:
Besides valuable matter such as appeared in volume three, the next volume will contain chapters on the life incidents of the writer, also those remarkable events in the life and experience of Mrs. White, which will reach quite through the volume.--The Signs of the Times, December 20, 1877.
He wrote of the excellent circulation during 1877, standing at an average of eight thousand copies per issue, and of the physical appearance of the paper, "far in advance of papers of its kind"--the Signs being printed on a good white sheet, from "types...nearly new, and press work good" (Ibid.).
Edson, now business manager of the Pacific Press, and his wife, Emma, lived close to the publishing house in a new cottage that they owned. "He does well in the office," Ellen White wrote, and added, "We hope he will have the help of God in all he does."--Letter 26, 1877. The little nieces, Addie and May Walling, for whom James and Ellen White had the care, were in Battle Creek with Willie and Mary. Addie was now 11, and May, 8. "I miss the little girls very much," Ellen White wrote on October 21, "but I believe that they are in the right place. May God bless them."--Letter 27, 1877.
Among the Churches in Northern California
During the closing months of 1877, James and Ellen White, traveling by carriage, continued to minister to the churches in northern California. The back page of the Signs carried notices of appointments, and its columns yielded reports of their work. Ellen's letters to Willie and Mary in Battle Creek filled in the more intimate details. On October 26 she wrote from Healdsburg:
Today we visited the redwoods. Brother Cook accompanied us. Father kept the lines over the highest ascent and down. He seems to feel assurance in driving our gentle and perfectly manageable team. I think ...the best thing Father can do at present is to be out all that he can riding. He walks considerably too....
I get up at four o'clock and do my best at writing and every spare moment I snatch up my pencil and write what I can. The Lord is blessing me with good health, cheerful spirits, and with His grace, which I prize above everything else.--Letter 29, 1877.
Some trips had to be cut short when her husband's health took a turn for the worse. This was so on an extended trip that was to take them to Healdsburg, circle through St. Helena and Napa, and then back to Oakland--but they had to turn back at Healdsburg.
In a letter to Mary White in Battle Creek, she called for her dress patterns; in the next few letters she repeated the request for patterns and materials. She wanted to get on with her sewing.
Ellen White's Fiftieth Birthday
Ellen White's fiftieth birthday fell on Monday, November 26. It came while they were on one of their tours by horse and carriage. She wrote of it to Willie and Mary the next day from Healdsburg:
My birthday is past without commemoration. Father and I went to Green Valley from Healdsburg, fourteen miles and back. The road part of the way was bad. We wandered out of the way some.
We arrived at Brother Ross's. They had nothing in the home to eat. I tended a babe, held it in one arm and prepared my dinner myself. Made a little mush, cooked some eggs, and put on a few cold gems. This composed my dinner, birthday dinner, half a century old! Not much display in this.
But then our birth does not amount to much. It is not of much consequence in regard to our birth--not half as much as in regard to our lives. How do we live? Our daily life will either honor or dishonor the day of our birth.--Letter 39, 1877.
But her husband had not forgotten her birthday. Most likely it was before they set out that Monday morning with the carriage that he wrote a eulogy published on the editorial page of the Signs under the heading of "Half a Century":
Today, November 26, Mrs. White is 50 years old. She became a devoted Christian at the tender age of 12 years, and immediately became a laborer for other youth, and was very successful in winning them to Christ.
At the early age of 17 years she became a powerful public speaker, and was able to hold large audiences an hour or more. She has traveled and spoken to large audiences, some of them reaching as far as twenty thousands, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in eighteen States, besides the Canadas. She has now labored publicly thirty-three years.
Besides this great labor she has written an immense amount. Her books now in print amount to not less than five thousand pages, besides thousands of pages of epistolary matter addressed to churches and individuals.
And notwithstanding this great work, Mrs. White is, at the age of 50 years, as active as at any former time in her life, and more efficient in her labors. Her health is excellent, and during the last season's camp meetings she was able to perform as much labor in speaking, exhorting, and praying as two of our ablest ministers....
Mrs. White enters upon the second half-century of her life, with the confident expectation of spending most of it over on the evergreen shore.--The Signs of the Times, December 6, 1877.
As to James White and his improving health, she testified that the Sabbath before her birthday he addressed the church in Petaluma, speaking for an hour, "as well as he ever spoke in his life" (Letter 39, 1877).
Visit to St. Helena
What they were unable to accomplish the month before, they were now in early December able to do. Driving from Healdsburg, they reached, at about dark, the home of William Pratt, three miles north of St. Helena. Rather ecstatically James White reported in the Signs:
Here we remained as a sort of headquarters, riding out each day over the most circuitous roads we have seen since we left Colorado. Here we find Dr. M. G. Kellogg, very busy in establishing an institution for the cure of the sick [the St. Helena Sanitarium]. The locality is well selected, and the doctor is to be associated with brethren of ability and means. The enterprise will doubtless be a grand success.
We were able to perform this journey of thirty miles over as romantic [a] mountain road as we have seen in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Colorado, or California, with our carriage. As we stopped by the roadside and kindled fire both going and coming, it forcibly reminded us of our Michigan itinerary, when then as now, after providing the faithful horse with a good dinner we partook of our simple repast of bread and fruit.--December 20, 1877.
Sabbath and Sunday they met with the church in St. Helena, with believers coming in from Napa, Yountville, and other places. The Baptist church was secured for the Sabbath services, held both morning and afternoon. Sunday afternoon Ellen White spoke in the theater to a general audience, with all available standing room fully occupied. The weather was delightful; they drove up Howell Mountain and were intrigued by the view of "mountains and valleys," and were impressed with the "stately mountain pines that girt about twenty feet."
But in all of this neither James nor Ellen White could see the recovery they had hoped and prayed for. "Father has improved in many respects," she wrote Willie and Mary from St. Helena, "but he is failing in flesh." He suffered disagreeable sensations and unfavorable symptoms (Letter 40, 1877). Again the outlook was dark, and in pouring out her heart to her children she confided:
There is no soul I can go to for counsel or for help but Jesus. L. M. [Lucinda] Hall is so thoroughly engaged she can do nothing to help me in sharing my burdens. My trouble with Mary [Clough] and her mother has told upon me severely. I am unable to write because of my hand and heart troubles. And Father is the last person in the world to whom I should go with any expectancy that he could get beyond himself sufficiently to appreciate my feelings. I must think and act all for myself. I so much long to have an interested God-fearing friend that I can talk and counsel with.--Ibid.
Then she disclosed what she and James were considering. They remembered the blessing their Greenville farm in Michigan had been to them as he was recovering from the severe stroke that smote him down in 1865. Wrote Ellen White:
We have been to Healdsburg and looked around for a home there. We found a very nice location [on west Dry Creek Road] two miles from Healdsburg in the mountains. There are fifteen acres of land which gives us the scenery of Colorado and the advantages of the Greenville farm Father thought so much of. I never was on a place I was so much pleased with. Madrona and manzanita and beautiful evergreens; living springs--several of them are on the place. The price is $1,400.
We should buy ten acres more, which would carry it up to $1,600. There is only a poor little shanty on the place, but it has a good fireplace, which is all the redeeming feature of the house. We must build a plain, simple house costing about $600, barn, et cetera.
This may look like a wild project to you, but if Father can be called away and out of thinking of himself and can enjoy work out of doors, it will be the best thing he can do and be the best investment of means we can make. We must have a place of retirement where we can step out of doors without being seen by our neighbors. We want a chance to pray in the groves and mountains. We shall have no wood to buy; [there is] plenty on the place. We think for health this location [is] above any that we can find in St. Helena.
Willie, I am satisfied Father should not write much. He must have something to engage his mind besides what he has had. There must be a change.--Ibid.
In his report of the visit to St. Helena, James White wrote of how he longed for retirement, and "rest from perpetual mental strain." He longed to "walk over the mountain sides, to ride on horseback and in our carriage, and to do light work in cultivating vegetables and fruits, and spend much time in reflection and prayer among the evergreens." He added, "God blessed us greatly at a similar home at Greenville, Michigan, and in our mountain retreat in Colorado. We hope to enjoy the same at Healdsburg."--The Signs of the Times, December 20, 1877.
The Healdsburg Hideout
Two weeks later they were on the ferry traveling northward from Oakland, bringing with them all their goods for housekeeping. "We leave Oakland for the present," she wrote to the children in Battle Creek, "to test the retirement of rural life, hoping it will prove a decided advantage to Father." She added:
His mind is exercised upon writing, and he will divide his time between writing and physical exercise. We have just such a place as will please Father, and it gives him something to do.... We shall build us a humble house, convenient with three fireplaces, one in the parlor, one in the sitting room, and one in the bedroom.--Letter 42, 1877.
Again to the children in Battle Creek, she wrote on Christmas Day:
We are in our humble house [the "little shanty"], not half as much of a house as the Walling house under the hill in Colorado. We have four rooms, all small: two bedrooms, small kitchen, and a sitting room which serves for sitting room, parlor and dining room, and sleeping room. It is not quite twelve by twelve.
Our principal work as yet has been taking things up and setting them down again because we know not any place to put them. Sister Clemmens has quite a number of print [cloth] bags hung up above her head on all sides of the kitchen, for she has no pantry boxes, and rude shelves in nooks and corners she puts to best use.
A large box which brought one of our nice lounges from Oakland serves us for wardrobe and bookcase. All our goods we wish for use are here, piled up.... We have an old-fashioned fireplace. We have the great back logs and we will use all the wood we want and not stint ourselves a bit.--Letter 43, 1877.
James White chose to sleep in the living room by the fireplace. The blazing fire cheered his heart. Also sleeping in the living room was Augustus Collins (The Signs of the Times, January 3, 1878). This man was a new convert from the Northwest. Some weeks before, he had been invited to go to a "beast show" (a lecture on the symbolic beasts of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13), where he had learned of the prophecies and the soon coming of Christ. He thought to obtain employment as a ship's cook and to try to keep the Sabbath as best he could. Edson intercepted him, in Oakland, and sent him to Healdsburg to help his parents. Ellen White described him as a man of large general information and of considerable intelligence--earlier he had served General Robert E. Lee as an aide. "Father enjoys his society," she wrote, "for he is a man with a most interesting experience." He proved to be just the kind of help they needed in their new venture, and it was James White's pleasure and privilege to baptize him in a nearby crystal-clear stream shortly after he had joined them on their mountain ranch (Letter 43, 1877).
Light Dawns for Ellen White
That Christmas Day Ellen White was glad to be able to give a favorable report to the children in Battle Creek:
Father is so happy riding his twenty-five-dollar pony, being interested in his little farm, and enjoying his warm, bright fire. He does not feel inclined to leave it for uncertainties of poor beds and perhaps stove heat, and he chooses to stay in his humble little home....
We are seeing already the beneficial effects of this move from Oakland. Father's mind is diverted. He eats more liberally and it does not injure him. He sleeps like a baby from the time he retires till 5:00 or 6:00 A.M. He is cheerful. He is so pleased with his home. He tries to do what he can and is busy from morning till night about something. He spends some time in writing. His mind is very happy dwelling upon Bible subjects. I am glad for every step he advances, climbing the hill of health.--Ibid.
Soon John Griffith, the builder, was on the ground, and the new barn was under construction. The house would follow. Griffith did his work economically and well.
By the end of the second week in January, 1878, the workmen had completed work on the Whites' barn. Work on the house was delayed because of the weather. As is usual for those parts, many of the January and February days were foggy or rainy, and work that James had hoped to do in the garden and fields was delayed as well. But Monday, January 14, was a pleasant day. He felt better and was "cheerful and of good courage," and Ellen White wrote to daughter Mary, "We are planting our garden."--Letter 4c, 1878.
The letter also tells of how, when her husband was discouraged and despondent, they had "praying seasons, three, four, and sometimes five a day" (Ibid.). As he felt able, James pressed on with writing, doing perhaps more than he should have. Ellen White felt burdened to write, but at this time she felt she could do but little. She wrote to the children in Battle Creek:
I will give time and attention to Father. He needs me. He has not society here as he would have at Oakland or Battle Creek. I am his constant companion in riding and by the fireside. Should I go, shut myself up in a room, and leave him sitting alone, he would become nervous and restless.--Letter 4d, 1878.
But she was pleased to state, "Father is patient, kind, not faultfinding. He loves and fears God. This affliction has been a great blessing to him spiritually. We are in perfect harmony. He depends on me and I shall not leave him in his feebleness."--Ibid.
Shuttling, Healdsburg--Oakland
But James and Ellen White could not keep away from Oakland. The Signs of the Times and the Pacific Press were James White's "children." In spite of earnest resolves and bold statements of intention, Oakland with its interests was close to their hearts. During March, April, and May they shuttled between their Healdsburg hideout and Oakland.
James's health was up and down, with little improvement. On the night of April 4 his true condition opened up to Ellen White in a vision. What was presented to her she wrote out the next day and is on file. It comprises a five-page double-spaced letter. It opens:
Dear Husband,
I dreamed last night that a celebrated physician came into the room while we were engaged in prayer for you. Said he, "Praying is well, but living out your prayers is still more essential. Your faith must be sustained by your works, else it is a dead faith. Be careful that your faith is not a dead faith.
"You are not brave in God. If there is any inconvenience, instead of accommodating yourself to circumstances, you will keep the matter, be it ever so small, in your mind until it suits you; therefore, you do not work out your faith. You have no real faith yet. You yearn but for victory. When your faith is made perfect by works, you will cease studying yourself and rest your case in the hands of God, bearing something, enduring something, not exactly in accordance with your feelings.
"All the powers on earth could not help you unless you work in harmony, exercising your reason and your judgment and setting aside your feelings and your inclination. You are in a critical condition. You are establishing a state of things in your system that is not easily subdued."--Letter 22, 1878.
Then the "celebrated physician" took up specific items, particularly in relation to James's eating. Some very close things were said: "'Your own depraved habits are keeping not only you but your wife from the work to which God has called you....
"'You have felt so fearful you would be reduced in strength that you have eaten more than was necessary, placed in your stomach a greater amount of food than the system could take care of well.... Your food should be taken dry and [you should] take a longer time to masticate it. Eat slowly and much less in quantity. Two or three articles at one meal is all that should be placed in the stomach.... You are dying of notions and yet you do not make sufficient efforts to produce a radical change.... Your life would be more secure in self-forgetfulness. God has a work for you and your wife to do. Satan says, "you shall not accomplish the work if I have power to control the mind. I can control everything and bind both as with fetters of iron." ...You can arise. You can throw off this invalidism. Will you be a man and work with the prayers of God's people?'"--Ibid.
Andrew Brorson was brought in to give James White treatments. The two spent several weeks at Litton Springs, five miles from the Whites' mountain farm home. There were reports of improvement. "Father's symptoms are very encouraging," wrote Ellen White on May 5. Then another step was taken: decision was reached that it would be best for him to return to Battle Creek and place himself under the care of Dr. Kellogg and his associates at the Sanitarium. White informed the readers of the Signs:
We give, in this week's Signs, the report of the dedication of our Sanitarium building at Battle Creek, Michigan, and the appropriate address by Elder Canright. We were called to Battle Creek more than one year since to take charge of the general management of the large building. This with other laborious work proved too great a tax upon our strength, and we have been a sufferer for nine months. And not finding all that benefit we hoped by visiting this State, we have determined to return to Battle Creek to be under the skillful treatment of Dr. Kellogg, and his fellow physicians.--The Signs of the Times, May 23, 1878.
The next week the last page carried the notice that "we leave Oakland, California, for Battle Creek, Michigan, Friday, May 31." He added, concerning plans:
We design to spend June and July at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.... We also expect to spend the month of August in the State of Colorado, and return to attend the General Conference and camp meeting in Michigan.
Mrs. White designs to attend the Oregon camp meeting, and if her health will admit, she will join us at General Conference.--Ibid., May 30, 1878