We have started on our journey to Colorado," wrote James White from their camp to children William and Mary. They were midway between Denison and the Red River, which separated Texas from the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). It was Sabbath, April 26, and the campers had been reading the Review, Good Health, and the Youth's Instructor. The Review, which reported the General Conference session and the dedication of the Tabernacle, he commented, "is excellent." In a Sabbath morning walk with John Corliss they came across ripe wild strawberries, and the quails around them were chirping, "Good-to-eat" or "Bobwhite." White explained their encampment:
Rains have detained us in getting off, and now the river is so high that we have to wait here till Monday the twenty-seventh. Elder Corliss, Brother Bears and daughter, Dr. Hardin, M. A. [Marian] Davis, and your parents came out here last evening, and just before the Sabbath were pitched in two tents. We have four heavy mules on two wagons, and a fine span of smaller ones on our two-seated spring carriage.--JW to WCW, April 26, 1879.
Concerning the same camp Ellen White wrote in her diary:
We remained until [Wednesday] April 30 in a waiting position, for the sick to be able to travel [W. H. Moore, from food poisoning, having eaten some partly decomposed bear meat, and James Cornell. Moore was desperately ill, and even when well enough to travel at all, did so for some days on a mattress in one of the covered wagons.] and the ferry so that we could cross. We then started on our way with eight covered wagons and one covered spring wagon with two seats. Thirty composed our party. About noon we crossed the ferry with special instruction to drive quickly as soon as off the boat because of danger through quicksands.--Manuscript 4, 1879.
The caravan pushed north into Indian Territory for five miles; as night came on, they made camp in the open prairie. Besides the covered wagons their equipment included three tents, two cookstoves, and a sheet-iron camp stove.
Camping in Indian Territory
The circumstances called for special precautions against Indian raiders, either on the Indians' own initiative or inspired by lawless white settlers. Tents were pitched, but before they were fully prepared, a severe storm struck. Ellen White described the experience in a letter to the children in Battle Creek:
Before the tent was trenched, the beds were made on the ground and on the bedstead. When the storm struck us we were found unprepared and in ten minutes there were several inches of water in the tent. We got the two girls up and placed the bed and bedding on our own bedstead, and such a mess as we were in.
After a time we decided, all four of us--Marian [Davis], Adelia Cole, Etta Bears, and myself--to sleep crossways on the bed and [that] Father [would] lodge with the doctor in the wagon, Corliss in our carriage. Thus we returned to rest.... The next night we lodged the same way.--Letter 20a, 1879.
Their route took them through heavy woods. Observed Ellen White in her diary:
It seemed very lonesome journeying in the thick forest. We thought what might be if robbers or horse thieves--Indians or white men--should molest us, but we had a vigilant watch guarding the animals.--Manuscript 4, 1879.
The precautions they took were in line with what was generally followed in like circumstances. The wagons were placed in a circle surrounding the horses and mules; two men carrying guns stood guard in two-hour shifts (Letter 20, 1879). Friday they reached Johnson Ranch and had ample time to prepare for the Sabbath. There was plenty of grass for the horses, and at the farmhouse they purchased "good milk, butter, and eggs" (Manuscript 4, 1879). They could also catch up with the washing--Ellen White did thirteen towels while Marian prepared the food for the Sabbath (Letter 20, 1879). She commented:
We were having our first experience of overland journeying in transporting our sick and those too poor to pay car [railway] expenses, but the Lord cared for us.--Manuscript 4, 1879.
Sunday morning they were on their way again. As they camped for the night at a place referred to as Stone Wall, she reported to the children at Battle Creek:
We have reached thus far on our journey to Colorado. We have traveled four days. Rested yesterday. Spoke under our tent to our party of thirty-one. Was very free in speaking. Today we picked nearly a quart of strawberries. I have just gathered a large bundle of greens to cook for our breakfast. While Father is buying water buckets and cornmeal, I am writing.
Father rides horseback a considerable part of the time. He is enjoying the journey much.... We are in sight of a meetinghouse. We are now being urged to speak in the Indian Territory. We shall ride out, camp, and then return to meet with the people. We will thus work our way along, preaching as we go. I will finish this tomorrow morning.... Last night I spoke to one hundred people assembled in a respectable meetinghouse. We find here an excellent class of people....
I had great freedom in presenting before them the love of God evidenced to man in the gift of His Son. All listened with the deepest interest. The Baptist minister arose and said we had heard the gospel that night and he hoped all would heed the words spoken.--Letter 36, 1879.
James White also spoke a short time, and the Whites were urged to remain and hold more meetings, but this could not be, for they needed to press on. It was a mile and a half back to the camp, but the success of the meeting warmed their hearts.
The Caravan Divides
At some point as they journeyed north, the Whites, accompanied by eight or ten of the group, broke away from the caravan to hasten on to Emporia, Kansas, for the camp meeting they had promised to attend; the rest turned west en route to Boulder.
While James White reveled in the venture, Ellen did not. She and Marian carried the burden of housekeeping and of providing the meals for their part of the traveling group, Marian often working late into the night with inconvenient camping equipment. There was another point that perplexed Ellen White--was all this necessary and in the line of duty? No doubt it was with some hyperbole that she wrote to the children in Battle Creek:
I had rather attend twenty camp meetings with all their wear, knowing I was doing good to souls, than to be here traveling through the country. The scenery is beautiful, the changes and variety enjoyable; but I have so many fears that I am not in the line of my duty. Oh, when will this fearful perplexity end? ...God hangs a mist over my eyes.--Letter 20a, 1879.
Erratic Movements and Shifting Plans
While she did not mention it in her correspondence or diary, the rather erratic movements of her husband in shifting his plans relating to the special session of the General Conference and the dedication of the Tabernacle unquestionably added to her perplexity.
White had called the session through the Review of March 6. Two weeks later, March 20, S. N. Haskell, who resided in Battle Creek and was one of the three members of the General Conference Committee, had presented to the readers of the Review the several compelling reasons for the special session. He noted that "there has been no time within the past twenty-five years when it could be more truthfully said than now that 'we have reached a very interesting and important period in the history of the third angel's message.' ...The object of the coming conference is to consider what steps should be taken to cooperate with the providence of God as it leads the way before His people."--The Review and Herald, March 20, 1879.
But then James White had decided not to attend the session because he and his wife could not be there at the time appointed. He had followed that with a message in the Review that in the interests of "growing old gracefully" and the fear of impairment of health and the possibility of another stroke of paralysis, they must be excused from going to Battle Creek--and all of this before ever leaving Texas.
This was indeed most perplexing to Ellen, to Willie and Mary in Battle Creek, and to the people generally. His unusual and out-of-character concern for his well-being apparently had led to his sudden change of plans. He pointed out that men who carry heavy burdens come to a time when they must transfer these to the shoulders of others. He stated:
To Grow Old Gracefully
Here comes in the careful study of every discreet man when to begin to lay off the burdens, and how fast; or, to learn to grow old gracefully.
The writer has been studying this matter several years. At the age of 20 we put the armor on, and for thirty-eight years ours has been a life of toil, care, perplexity, and sickness much of the time. Our nervous system has been shocked three times with paralysis, and three times the arm that traces these lines has fallen, for a time to be raised and moved only by the other.
These dangerous attacks have usually occurred after severe mental strain, such as has ever been our portion at General Conference. We were reported absent from the late conference in consequence of ill health. Thanks to that worthy body for the vote of sympathy. It is our duty, however, to state that our absence was through fear of another breakdown.
Both Mrs. White and the writer have important writing to do, books to complete which should be in the hands of the people. If we attend the conferences and camp meetings at the call of our people, we shall never do this work, which is not second to any other.... Thus retired, with the blessing of God, we hope to restore that "lost art" in this fretting generation, of growing old gracefully.--Ibid., May 20, 1878
But these words, written in sincerity, were soon forgotten.
Still on the Caravan Trail
The journey from Texas to Colorado by covered wagon seemed to be exhilarating and eminently beneficial. We pick up the account as those in the group heading for the camp meeting at Emporia, Kansas, reached Okmulgee, Indian Territory, on Friday, May 9. They had logged 160 miles since leaving Denison, and were two hundred miles from Emporia. That evening James White was invited to speak in the Indian council house; Ellen White addressed the people the following evening (JW to WCW, May 10, 1879).
He described Okmulgee as the capital of the Creek Nation of Indians and told of how they had "just passed the council building which exceeds most of the county houses of any of the new Western States," and of the people governed by "one hundred councilmen who meet at certain periods." James White outlined his plans:
Here we shall take in some supplies. We shall not go to Coffeyville [Kansas], but keep up to Newton with the teams, then Elder Corliss, Mother, and I will take the cars east to Emporia. Then at the close of the meetings we will take the cars west to meet the train [caravan bound for Colorado].--Ibid., May 11, 1879
It was not easy for James to recognize that changes in the leadership of the church were inevitable and that others must take on responsibilities as the church grew and his health and strength declined. But he pondered these things as he rode horseback or jogged along in the covered wagon. He felt the need for competent secretarial assistance. "If we have help, we can do our writing and also attend General Conferences and some of the most important camp meetings."--Ibid. He added:
We cannot work as we once could, and shall not undertake it. We have deprived ourselves of being at Battle Creek at General Conference and [Tabernacle] dedication, and take this long, slow journey to save a breakdown and improve in health.... I design to take a humble and more quiet position among my brethren, and move out as the providence of God and my brethren call me out. There was a time, he said, when it was his place to lead, and, where necessary, to storm it through, but now the time had come for him to retire and let younger men come to the front.
The Special Session in Battle Creek
The special session of the General Conference, held without the presence of James and Ellen White, went off well. D. M. Canright, one of the three members of the General Conference Committee, was chosen to serve as chairman of the five-day meeting.
At the session the interests of the broadening work of the church were considered, and sound progressive actions were taken. Among these were resolutions calling for developments in the newly introduced health and temperance thrust; encouragement in ascertaining the tithe based on income rather than property holdings; the provision for the appointment of a man to deal with foreign mission interests--and the election of W. C. White to so serve; the usual allocation of ministerial help; broader distribution of the E. G. White books; and provision to republish Ellen White's first book, Experience and Views.
No nominating committee was appointed, because this was not a regular session.
Although the contributions James and Ellen White could make in counsel, advice, and leadership were greatly appreciated by laymen and workers alike, the experience in holding an important conference in which the Whites were not present was constructive and no doubt helped to pave the way for changes that were to come in the next few years.
On to Emporia
By the third Sabbath on their trek, the Whites had reached southeastern Kansas, and Ellen White spoke Sabbath afternoon and evening in a schoolhouse close to where they camped. The meetings were well attended, and she pressed home the subject of temperance and the necessity of self-denial and self-sacrifice in order to preserve physical, mental, and moral health. "I had special freedom in speaking to the people," she noted in her diary. "The Lord indeed gave me His Spirit and power in speaking the truth and all seemed interested."--Manuscript 4, 1879.
Sunday night there was a downpour, but their tent was "staked and thoroughly ditched." The next morning the women in the party washed their clothes in the trenches about the tents. In her diary she wrote:
It is a beautiful morning. The sun is shining and all in camp are astir for breakfast, while some are packing the wagons for another move.
We are on the way again, slowly making our way over the broad prairies of Kansas. At nine o'clock we turned out to let the horses feed on grass. At noon we all drew up upon the broad prairie to take our dinner.... Teams are now being prepared for another move, while Marian and I, Adelia and Etta, are gathering up, washing the dishes, and putting the food in baskets. The order comes, "Move on." In one hour and a half we shall be at Brother Glover's.--Ibid.
James White had called for the postponement of the Kansas camp meeting for a week beyond the time first announced in the Review, but they found the Glovers had left for Emporia, for they had not received the word. This led to a rapid change in plans. With less than an hour's time, the Whites took their two trunks and, without changing from their camping attire, caught the train for Emporia, leaving the rest of the party to continue the journey with the wagons. Ellen White records in her diary the story of arriving in Emporia and driving onto the campground Tuesday morning "in style" (Letter 20, 1879):
We arrived at Emporia about seven o'clock [in the morning]. We engaged an omnibus to take us to the campground, about two miles. Four powerful horses were put before the bus and we were carried speedily to camp. All seemed glad to meet us. We pitched our tent and one and another brought us a piece of bedding, so we had a passably comfortable bed.--Manuscript 4, 1879.
They found mail awaiting them there. One letter was from Mary White, to whom the next day her mother-in-law bared her soul:
I have just read your letters and cried like a child.... I suppose I was babyish, but I have been sick the entire journey. Lost twelve pounds. No rest, not a bit of it, for poor Marian and me. We have worked like slaves. We cooked repeatedly half the night. Marian, the entire night....
I have spoken every Sabbath to our camp because no one else seemed to feel the burden, and every Sabbath evening or Sunday in towns and villages. I am worn and feel as though I was about 100 years old.... My ambition is gone; my strength is gone, but this will not last....
I hope that by the cheering light of the countenance of my Saviour, I shall have the springback power.... I have not had even time to keep a diary or write a letter. Unpack and pack, hurry, cook, set table, has been the order of the day.... Marian astonishes us all. She is really forgetting herself and is efficient help. What I could have done unless she had taken the burden is more than I can tell.--Letter 20, 1879.
Writing to the children on the same day, James White reported that his health was the best it had been in four years (JW to WCW, May 20, 1879).
The Kansas Camp Meeting
The camp meeting opened on Thursday, May 22, and was attended by about three hundred believers (Manuscript 5, 1879), some thirty of whom drove two hundred miles in their wagons to attend. That day the wagons in the White caravan also drove onto the grounds. The weather was good, and there was a reasonably good attendance of the citizens of Emporia. Ellen White began her ministry the first day, joining her husband and J. O. Corliss. At the request of the General Conference, G. I. Butler was there, and on Friday reinforcements were present from Battle Creek. W. C. White was there in the interests of the Sabbath school work being developed in the State conferences, and Dr. J. H. Kellogg came, representing the health and temperance work and to assist in organizing a Health and Temperance Society in Kansas.
The American Health and Temperance Association had been formed in Battle Creek in January, with the intention of drawing Seventh-day Adventists together in an effective organization promoting both health and temperance. The Kansas camp meeting offered the first opportunity to launch the program in the field.
In his Review report, Butler noted that "Sister White bore a very plain testimony to the people, especially on the great subject of health reform, which is regarded so lightly by many. Her instruction was excellent."--The Review and Herald, June 12, 1879. A week later Dr. Kellogg also referred to the start made in Kansas:
At the recent camp meeting in Kansas, the subject of health and temperance reform was presented so forcibly by Brother and Sister White that a great interest was aroused, which resulted in the formation of a State temperance society there, 109 names being taken on the ground.--Ibid., June 19, 1879
For two years or more, Ellen White's addresses to the Sunday afternoon crowds at camp meetings were along temperance lines. What took place in Kansas and then throughout the land in the formation of health and temperance societies through the camp meeting season of 1879 were but a natural development. The camp meeting held in southern Missouri followed immediately the Kansas meeting, with much the same staff of workers leading out. Dr. Kellogg gave this report in the Review:
At the Missouri meeting, the subject was again presented, and with still greater success.... A society of 132 members being organized, including two thirds of all the persons on the ground, and nearly all the adults.
Kellogg added that plans for the formation of State and local organizations were now perfected, and he expected that soon every State would have its health and temperance society, and every church its health and temperance club.
In his report Butler told of the Sunday morning meeting, when a strong effort was made in behalf of the health reform and the temperance cause. He noted:
Sister White had pointed reproofs for us because of our backslidden condition on this subject. She spoke very solemnly, and represented our condition as being grievous in the sight of God, because we have not made better use of the light we have had.--Ibid.
The next morning those attending the camp meeting formed the temperance association. "A precious meeting," Butler wrote of it, a meeting in which "the Lord's Spirit was present, and many were deeply affected."
James White had planned that, after spending a few days at the Kansas camp meeting, he and his party would turn west and rejoin the wagon train bound for Colorado. Instead, they were persuaded to press on east and attend the Missouri meeting, and then head for Battle Creek.
James and Ellen White had vowed to avoid camp meetings, but having attended two, they now had the camp meeting fever in their systems. How quickly were forgotten the bold declarations of not attending camp meetings. Their trip to Colorado was postponed. The business of the disposal of the teams of horses and mules and ponies in Colorado was left to others. To James White it was an easy and quick switch, and to Ellen White the end of a perplexing experience.
Wednesday afternoon, June 4, 1879, James and Ellen White lighted from the train in Battle Creek, having made the trip overnight from Missouri. The note in the Review announcing their arrival remarked on the good degree of health and strength James White evidenced. He spoke in the Tabernacle at the commencement of the Sabbath, June 6, and again Sabbath morning and afternoon.
Sunday evening both James and Ellen White spoke in the Tabernacle to a large congregation at a temperance rally, and the "teetotal pledge" was circulated and signed. On Wednesday evening another temperance meeting was held. The next morning they were off for camp meetings in the West (Ibid.). These included meetings in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Dakota. The latter, their sixth camp meeting of the season, was followed with the long-looked-forward-to break, a quick visit to the nearby mountains of Colorado, which gave opportunity for nearly four weeks' change. Letters written from there bear such datelines as Boulder, White's Ranch, and Rollinsville, and report evangelistic work in these places.
The Eastern Camp Meetings
Through these weeks James and Ellen White had their eyes on the camp meeting scheduled for Ballard Vale, Massachusetts, to open Wednesday, August 27. But when they returned to Battle Creek, they found that they could slip down for the weekend to the Ohio meeting, being held near Mansfield. Accompanied by W. C. White and his wife, they arrived late Friday afternoon and were joyfully received by D. M. Canright, president of the conference, and by the entire camp. Sabbath morning three hundred joined in the model Sabbath school held in the big tent. These were days of a marked development in the Sabbath school program in the State conferences. The September 4 Review and Herald reported that "Sister White spoke for a little while on the great importance of the Sabbath school work, in her usually forcible and eloquent manner."
Home Again in Battle Creek
James White had determined that he and his wife would attend but one camp meeting in 1879, for he anticipated they would devote their time to writing as they resided comfortably in their little cabin on "White's Ranch" in the mountains of Colorado. As it turned out, they attended more than ten such gatherings. The adjusted summer program allowed them but a few days at their newly acquired Colorado home. Now back in Battle Creek at the close of the camp meeting season, James White in early October reviewed the situation and reported:
In many respects Mrs. White's general health is in advance of what it was a year ago, and the writer is able to report better health than for several years. God is good.--Ibid., October 9, 1879