I am going to the convention in Tasmania, "wrote Ellen White to her son Edson," and to witness and participate in the marriage of my son Willie to a noble Christian woman.... If Providence favors, you will have a sister of whom you will be proud."--Letter 92b, 1895.
The convention, according to an announcement in the Bible Echo, would be the first meeting of its kind to be conducted in that colony. It would be held in Hobart, April 26 to May 6, 1895, and would include instruction on the duties of church officers and members, evening discourses on religious liberty, lessons on various lines of missionary work, and practical instruction given by Mrs. White. The announcement urged, "Let no ordinary obstacle keep you from the meeting."--April 22, 1895.
W. C. White was in New Zealand, accompanied by Elder and Mrs. Corliss and W. A. Colcord, conducting a camp meeting and visiting the churches. From there he would go directly to Tasmania. Ellen White hesitated at first as to whether she should accompany May Lacey, her prospective daughter-in-law, to Hobart, her home city, and at the same time assist at the convention. To Edson she wrote on March 21:
I hope I shall soon feel decided in regard to what my duty is concerning visiting Tasmania. I am still questioning concerning the matter. May and her father both wish that I would go. If the "Life of Christ" were finished, and if my heart had gained its normal strength, I might feel clearer about visiting Tasmania.--Letter 92a, 1895.
But on April 4 she found her "health, strength and activity" "about equal to what they used to be" (Letter 88, 1895), and soon she was packing for the month-long trip. On April 11 she wrote to O. A. Olsen:
I have hesitated a long time in reference to leaving this field and visiting Tasmania. The call is very urgent for me to attend the convention to be held in Hobart.... I take the cars accompanied by May Lacey for Tasmania by way of Melbourne. May the presence of the Lord go with me is my most earnest prayer. "Send me not up without Thy presence, O God."--Letter 62, 1895.
Sabbath, April 13, she spoke in Melbourne at the North Fitzroy church to a congregation of more than two hundred. It seemed good to her, after an absence of a year, to be with the believers there, but as they met in a rented hall, their needs stood out in bold relief. As yet, Seventh-day Adventists had no meeting place of their own either in this city, the capital of Victoria, or its suburbs. In addition to this church of more than two hundred members, three others had been raised up as fruitage of the Middle Brighton camp meeting.
The cost of a lot on which to build a house of worship seemed astronomical--$7,000--and this was said to be very reasonable for the area. The 1,450 acres of land recently purchased for the school at Cooranbong in New South Wales had cost $4,500, an amount that seemed barely within their reach. How could a local church raise nearly twice that amount for a lot--in addition to the cost of the building itself? "Let everyone who loves God and professes to keep His commandments practice self-denial and walk by faith," declared Ellen White. She continued:
We cannot see how it is possible to advance the work, to have the truth go in decency and order, unless we arise and build. But every foot of ground costs from £7 to £10, and unless we have trained ourselves to walk by faith and not by sight, it will seem impossible to push forward the work of building. But there are no impossibilities with God.... We must have a house of worship erected in Melbourne, so that those who embrace unpopular truth may feel that they have a church home.--Letter 99, 1895.
The heart of Ellen White rejoiced as she saw the progress of the message made in Melbourne and its surroundings. But what especially encouraged her was to witness the fruitage of the messages God had given her for N. D. Faulkhead, treasurer of the publishing house. She reported to Olsen:
I was thankful to see that the testimony of warning and encouragement given to Brother Faulkhead more than two years ago had been fully heeded, and that he had separated himself from the secret society of which he was a member. Jesus had spoken to him as He spoke to the fishermen, saying, "Follow me." ... He called to him as He had called to Matthew sitting at the receipt of customs, and said, "Follow me." The Lord had a work for this brother to do in His cause, and he heeded the word of invitation.--Ibid.
Then she referred to the days of Christ when the people called for a miracle, and she declared that "there is a miracle wrought when a man who has been under strong delusion comes to understand moral truth. He hears the voice saying, 'Turn ye, turn ye ...; for why will ye die?' ... Every time a soul is converted, a miracle is wrought by the Holy Spirit."
On to Tasmania
Ellen White intended to spend most of the week in Melbourne, and appointments were made for her to speak Sunday and Tuesday nights. But then she learned that because of a delay in ship movements, the boat they had intended to take on Thursday afternoon for Launceston, Tasmania, would not sail till Friday, arriving on the Sabbath. She recounted her reaction to this in a letter to Elder Olsen:
I could not consent to go on this steamer when we should thus have to trespass on the Sabbath, if there was any way possible by which we could avoid it. We learned that a boat left Melbourne Tuesday afternoon, and we decided that it would be much better to get this early boat than to travel on the Sabbath.--Letter 58, 1895.
The voyage was a pleasant one. Arriving at Launceston Wednesday morning, the travelers were taken to the Rogers home for lunch, and in midafternoon took the train south 125 miles to Hobart. It was nine o'clock in the evening when they arrived. They were met by May's father, David Lacey, and several members of the family, and were taken to the comfortable and hospitable Lacey home in Glenorchy, just north of the city.
In his younger years David Lacey had filled the post of British Police commissioner at Cuttack, in India, near Calcutta. Here May was born. She attended school in London, and on the retirement of her father joined the family in Tasmania. When colporteurs came to Hobart with Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, the family gained their introduction to Seventh-day Adventists. The careful follow-up work of evangelists Israel and Starr gathered the entire family into the church--Father and Mother Lacey and the four children, Herbert Camden, Ethel May, Lenora, and Marguerite. The mother died in 1890, and the father had by now married a widow, Mrs. Hawkins, who had four lively daughters and two sons. It was a loving and close-knit family that welcomed the daughter May and Ellen White that Wednesday night.
Meetings in Hobart and Bismark
On Sabbath afternoon Mrs. White spoke to the little church group in Hobart, then to a large gathering in the temperance hall Sunday night. On Sabbath morning, April 20, the workers from New Zealand arrived by ship, among them W. C. White. It had been three months since he had parted with his fiancee and his mother at Granville in New South Wales, and this was a happy reunion. As the convention would not open until the next weekend, meetings were planned for the little country Adventist church built at Bismark [During world war I the community changed its name to the less-provoking collinsvale.] in 1889 ten or twelve miles up in the mountains in fruit-raising country.
Ellen White outlined a sketchy word picture of the area in her diary:
I came eight miles from Brother Lacey's home to this place, right in "the bush," as it is called here. In America we call it the forest. This place is right up in the mountains. In appearance it is very much like Colorado, with its hills and mountains and valleys, and there are houses and small farms of cultivated lands right in the forests. The heavy timbers have been cut away and the underbrush cleared out and orchards have been planted.--Manuscript 54, 1895.
She wrote of how Willie and May and Brother Lacey walked a large part of the way, for it was up quite a steep grade, while she rode with the luggage in the two-wheeled cart or trap furnished by the brethren in Bismark for the transportation of the workers through the week. A nearby cottage had been rented, and this became the headquarters for the visiting workers. Each took his turn in speaking at meetings--Corliss, Colcord, and Ellen White. She spoke Tuesday evening, Wednesday afternoon, and again Thursday evening. She noted in her diary that "the church was only a few steps from the house, so I could return home easily. The weather was beautiful--cool and sunshiny--and the air was fragrant with the blue-gum trees." The highlight of the time in Bismark was the Thursday visit through the country. It was market day for the Adventist farmers, so there was no afternoon meeting. In her diary account she wrote down what she found:
Thursday we were promised a horse and cart, and rode over the hills to call on some of our people. We found then that it was some miles they had to walk--fathers and mothers and children--to the meetings. Most preferred to walk rather than to drive their horses up and down the steep hills....
In the evening I could better appreciate the congregation who had sufficient interest to come out through the woods so long a distance to meeting. When I saw the bright-faced children and youth interestedly listening to the truth, my heart was full of gratitude to God. Those parents bringing their children the long distance to attend evening meetings evidenced their interest and their love for the truth.--Manuscript 55, 1895.
The Tasmania Convention
The convention opened Friday evening, April 26, in a rented hall in Hobart. To carry it through, the two ministers working in Tasmania, Teasdale and Baker, were joined by Corliss, Colcord, W. C. White, and Ellen G. White. To ensure a maximum attendance of the church members from outlying communities and especially those from Bismark, Ellen White joined her son in creating a little fund, as she explained to O. A. Olsen, "to remove every obstacle and make it possible for the people to attend.... The poor must have the gospel preached to them. It is as necessary to them as to those who are in good circumstances."--Letter 59, 1895.
W. C. White reported that the convention "was well attended, and did much good. But it was too short to accomplish all that we desired."--7 WCW, p. 273. The closing meeting was held on Sunday night, May 5. As they tarried on in Hobart awaiting the wedding of May Lacey to W. C. White on Thursday, earnest committee work was done in planning for the advancement of the cause in Tasmania and throughout the union. As W. C. White had been in New Zealand for three months, there was much to do.
In Anticipation of the Wedding
The anticipated marriage of Willie White to May Lacey had his mother's hearty approval. In the several months leading up to the wedding, she had frequently spoken and written of the qualities of this young woman about to become her daughter-in-law. "May Lacey," she wrote to Edson, "is like a sunbeam all the time. We appreciate her very much, and Willie will be greatly blessed in his union with her."--Letter 119, 1895. In another letter to Edson she bubbles over as she writes a rather glowing description of May:
May has been three terms in the school and has developed a talent for a worker, giving Bible readings and visiting. She loves the truth and loves the Lord and is content with anything. Everyone acquainted with her loves her, and everyone who knows of this engagement says she is just the one for Willie White. She is a good performer upon the piano or organ, and reminds me of Mary [W. C. White's first wife] as she acts this part in meeting. She has a powerful voice that can be cultivated.
She loves me and I love her. I wish you could see her. She is about as tall as Mary, her eyes the color of Mary's eyes. She has a similar forehead as Mary had, she is of a sweet disposition, will never stir him up and make him nervous. She is just the one I should choose. I have not seen anyone I have cared to take Mary's place in my family relation before, but this is all right.--Letter 117, 1895.
A few weeks later, ever becoming better acquainted with May, she extolled her qualities in a letter to Willie:
She is not one of a painfully sensitive nature who will imagine slights and conjecture many things to feel hurt over. Her sound good sense forbids this.... You need exactly such a temperament as May.--Letter 145, 1895.
W. C. White wrote to his brother Edson:
Do not look for a little sallow, pinched-up body, nor for a "stuck-up" lady. She is a good, big, wholesome woman, as full of life and goodness as can be. May is as tall as I am, and weighs a few pounds more. I tip the scale at 148, and she, at 153. Her vitals have not been crushed by corsets, nor her spirits by idle ambitions. Wherever she is, there is sunshine and comfort and peace.--7 WCW, p. 182.
Ellen White learned that her prospective daughter-in-law had some financial obligations, for two ministers had advanced money to assist in meeting the expense of her schooling. She also observed that because of a stringency of means, May's wardrobe was rather limited. "I will pay the bill of the schooling myself," she wrote to a friend.--Letter 107, 1895. May's father, on a fixed pension in a time of rising costs in living, was unable to give the help he would liked to have done. "We are ... fitting up her wardrobe," Ellen White wrote, "and we hope she will be prepared for her married life with a real becoming wardrobe, but not expensive or extravagant." Characteristically she added, "You know that is not my besetting sin."--Letter 117, 1895.
The Ethel May Lacey--W. C. White Wedding
Although the wedding was planned to follow W. C. White's three-month trip to New Zealand, with the two separated so widely there could be little detailed planning. In fact, when W. C. White arrived in Tasmania on April 20, he did not know whether the marriage would take place in Tasmania or on the mainland of Australia. In a letter to his daughter, Ella, he told what took place:
When we found that her father and sisters wished it to be there, at their home, and that Sister Lacey and her daughters all united in wishing us to have the wedding in Glenorchy, we decided to comply with their invitation and so arranged to be married on Thursday afternoon, May 9, 1895.--7 WCW, p. 273.
Ellen White described the wedding in a letter to Edson and Emma:
Last Thursday, Willie and May Lacey were united in marriage. Everything passed off pleasantly. The children seemed very earnest that Mother should pray on the occasion, and I complied with their request. The blessing of the Lord was present. Every movement was conducted with the greatest solemnity. She was married from her father's house....
All, every member of the family, dote on May, and they feel highly honored to take in Willie to their family circle. They all highly esteem Willie. He is 40 years old and May is 21.
There was no sentimentalism in their courtship and marriage. Immediately after their engagement, Willie was called to Auckland, New Zealand, camp meeting, and he spent three months visiting the churches....
Willie planned for two weeks' vacation, but did not have any at all. They were married in the afternoon, and Willie had to attend a committee meeting in the evening. Packing was done Wednesday and completed after the wedding.--Letter 120, 1895.
In writing to Ella about the great event, the groom told how the service itself was performed by a Methodist minister, Mr. Palfryman, an old friend of the Lacey family. There was no Seventh-day Adventist minister in that area qualified according to the laws of Tasmania. All went off well. The rooms in the Lacey home were nicely decorated with ferns and flowers. There were ten members of the family present, and eleven friends of the bride who were invited guests. As they were in a British country, they were married with the wedding ring.
This was a point of some concern to the bride before the wedding. She was aware of Ellen White's counsel addressed to American ministers laboring in Australia, written from Melbourne on August 3, 1892, and published in a pamphlet. Ellen White had found a growing feeling among some of the American workers that the wives of Seventh-day Adventist ministers should, in Australia, wear the ring. She said Americans could make their position clear by stating that "the custom is not regarded as obligatory" in their country, and added:
I feel deeply over this leavening process which seems to be going on among us, in the conformity to custom and fashion. Not one penny should be spent for a circlet of gold to testify that we are married. In countries where the custom is imperative, we have no burden to condemn those who have their marriage ring; let them wear it if they can do so conscientiously, but let not our missionaries feel that the wearing of the ring will increase their influence one jot or tittle.--Special Testimonies, Series A 3:6 (Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 180, 181).
In May Lacey's heart there was no problem relative to this counsel. She had no desire to wear the ring, and so she hesitated about having the wedding in Tasmania, where she knew her father would be greatly disturbed if she did not wear the ring, especially over the fact that she would be traveling on ships and trains with an American almost twice her age. Before consenting to have the marriage at her home, she talked it over with Ellen White, and then on February 13, 1895, wrote to William:
I have talked with your mother on the matter of a wedding ring and showed her what you said on the subject. She says she has no objection whatever to my wearing one.
To tell you the truth, I had not given that matter very much thought, but I believed that it would be better to have one, as without doubt, in the colonies, if I was to travel with you not wearing the sign that I was your wife, people would be led to imagine all sorts of things, and we should in many instances lose our influence for good that we might otherwise have over the minds of others. I am very glad you look at the matter in the way you do.
I have wondered sometimes what you thought about it. I feel sure that, as you say, God will not be displeased with me for wearing it. [Years later, W. C. White, on Ellen White's request, responded to an inquiry from a Minister's wife in edinburgh, scotland, on the point: "Now regarding the question raised in your letter. The wearing of a gold ring as a matter of ornament is a useless practice, and contrary to the Bible instruction regarding the simplicity of dress and apparel. The wearing of a ring as a token of loyalty in those countries and among those people where such a custom is so thoroughly established that departure from that custom will be universally misunderstood is, in my opinion, quite another matter, and I think that if you should follow the counsel of men and women of experience who have labored in great britain and in india, the Lord will not count it to you as a violation regarding the simplicity of Women's apparel. "Possibly you may be interested in the story of my Wife's experience with the wedding ring. While she was attending Bible school in australia, I became well acquainted with her, and when the time drew near for our marriage, I proposed that it be in tasmania at her Father's home. Regarding this she was not enthusiastic, and upon inquiry, I learned that her father had very decided opinions regarding the duty of the wife to wear the wedding ring, and my wife, knowing that americans looked upon this matter differently than the British People, supposed that I would object." She did not care for it personally, but I purchased a ring, and we were married with it because her Father's family and all her friends regarded it as essential. After we had been married a few months, and had settled down in our home where we were well known, she laid aside the ring, and when I asked her why she took it off, she said it was in the way when she was washing. I don't know what became of the ring, but she has not worn it since. I think that in this experience it was her desire to follow the instruction of paul when he wrote, 'whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' "By the wearing of the ring during that portion of our experience where its absence would have been wondered at, and caused unnecessary prejudice, and by laying it aside as soon as that experience was terminated, she has felt that she was doing that which would best serve the cause of our master."--DF 121, WCW to Mrs. W. E. Ingle, April 14, 1913.]--DF 121.
After the wedding service everyone was ushered into the dining room, where an attractive wedding supper was waiting for them. By six o'clock most of the friends were gone, and the bride and groom changed from their wedding garments. The bride finished packing, and her husband attended a committee meeting. At eight-thirty, with Ellen White, the couple took the train north to Launceston en route home (7 WCW, p. 274). A profitable weekend was spent in Launceston, the traveling workers meeting with the seventeen newly baptized Sabbathkeepers there. With the children, there were about forty at the Sabbath service who listened to Ellen White speak with freedom from the first chapter of Second Peter. She also spoke to the group on Sunday (Letter 59, 1895).
While on the steamer en route to Melbourne she reflected on the work of the past two or three weeks and wrote in a thirteen-page letter to O. A. Olsen:
I am glad I have visited Hobart and Bismark. We are now planning to keep the work alive in Tasmania.... If anything is to result from our work in Tasmania, the people must have patient instruction, line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. What precious light and clear evidences we have concerning the truth for this time!--Ibid.
Good weather attended the traveling group as they left Launceston, but in the open ocean they encountered rough seas, and they arrived at Melbourne two and a half hours late. Ellen White was entertained in the Israel home and the newlyweds at the Faulkhead home. Mail from Granville told of the arrival from America on May 5 of W. C. White's two daughters, Ella, age 13, and Mabel, age 8. The fond grandmother wrote: "Both are pronounced pretty, but Mabel is, they say, very pretty. We have not seen them for three years and a half, so they must have changed greatly. I wish to see them very much."--Letter 120, 1895. But the reunion with the girls had to wait until committee work in Melbourne was completed, and speaking appointments were quickly made for Ellen White in Melbourne and its suburbs.
On Wednesday, May 29, the committee work was finished, and the little party of Ellen White and W. C. White and his wife were on the train bound for Sydney and home in Granville. What a happy reunion it was that Thursday when, after more than three years, Ella and Mabel could embrace father, grandmother, and their new mother, May Lacey-White! Exclaimed Ellen White a few days later:
You cannot think how pleasant it is to have my family once more reunited. I have not seen more capable, ready, willing, obedient children than Ella May and Mabel.... They seem to have excellent qualities of character. W. C. White is more and better pleased with his May. She is a treasure. Mabel gets off such strange, original remarks. She says, "When I heard Father was to marry one only 21 years old, I thought I should see a little bit of a woman. But I did not expect to see such a tall, large woman. And I just said to myself, 'Father has picked out just the one I can love and respect.'" Dear little children. May is proud of them.--Letter 124, 1895.