We earnestly desire to have this school such as the Lord shall approve," wrote Ellen White on June 9, 1897 (Letter 33, 1897). For twenty-three years Seventh-day Adventists had been engaged in operating educational institutions, commencing in Battle Creek in 1874. Through those years a good deal of experience had been gained, and the Lord had many times given special instruction to guide in the founding and operation of schools. Mistakes had been made from the start; oftentimes, courses were set that were not for the best and were hard to alter. Now, it seemed appropriate and possible, as a new beginning was being made in a new land, to establish a course more in keeping with God's will. Mrs. White wrote:
We must all work earnestly and intelligently to do the utmost to make this school as God would have it. No man's notions are to be brought in here. No breezes from Battle Creek are to be wafted in. I see I must watch before and behind and on every side to permit nothing to find entrance that has been presented before me as injuring our schools in America.--Letter 138, 1897.
In the same vein she wrote in her diary on July 22:
This is not to be a school after the common order of schools. It is such a school as the Lord has marked out should be established. We have to demonstrate that we have not followed cunningly devised fables.--Manuscript 174, 1897.
Some members of the faculty contributed to these desirable ends more than others. There was the steady and experienced Elder Haskell, of whom Ellen White could write:
His experience and knowledge of the truth, commencing in so early a stage of our history as Seventh-day Adventists, was needed in this country. From his youth upward, he has been a self-denying, self-sacrificing man. And now his age and gray hairs give him the respect of all who know him.--Letter 126, 1897.
There was Prof. C. B. Hughes and his wife. Of them Ellen White wrote:
We are pleased with the principal of the school and his wife. They are determined to carry out the testimonies.... He is the right man for the place.--Letter 164, 1897.
And there was the more youthful Herbert C. Lacey, with his wife, Lillian. Twenty-five years of age, he was just out of Battle Creek College, having completed the classical course. He was one of the young men sent from Australia to the United States to gain training to enter the Lord's work. It was expected he would make a strong contribution. Ellen White had met a portion of his school expenses both at Healdsburg and in Battle Creek. Although Lacey was in time to grow and develop to become one of the most able and respected Bible teachers in the denomination, at this point he was described by Ellen White:
Brother Herbert Lacey has the impulsive temperament to move out after the education received in Battle Creek and would feel perfectly competent to manage everything, when he will have to obtain as a learner how things ought to be managed.--Letter 182, 1897.
Matters became complicated when Prof. Rousseau left for the United States. Herbert Lacey was chosen by the Avondale school board to serve as principal. He was without experience in lines of management and in finance, yet he readily accepted the position. It was difficult for Ellen White to understand why not one member of the school board sought her counsel about the matter. She wrote Daniells that "all these things had been opened before me," and commented, "It was a large pill for me to swallow."--Letter 185, 1897. She felt she must act, distasteful as it might be. To W. C. White she wrote on June 6:
The board ... elected Brother Herbert Lacey as principal without counseling with me. This brought me to the front to speak.--Letter 140, 1897.
Prof. C. B. Hughes Chosen to Lead
Just how the switch was brought about was not recorded, but the same letter reports:
Brother Hughes is principal, and he will, I think, do well in this position. He has had experience in managing. I think there will be no trouble. But I have had to speak plainly, and keep out the breezes coming from Battle Creek.--Ibid.
She reported that "Herbert and Brother Hughes get along nicely together."--Ibid. In this, Lacey showed his true mettle; three days later, June 9, she could write: "Brother Herbert Lacey and his wife are teaching in the school, and are doing good work."--Letter 33, 1897.
But changes in attitudes and relationships and even in the understanding of principles come slowly. On July 15 Ellen White noted in her diary:
Brother Herbert Lacey called and made a short visit. We engaged in profitable conversation. He stated that while in America at Healdsburg, he engaged in Bible studies. After going to Battle Creek, he went deeper into study but did not take Bible studies at all. Here he has lost much, for the most important of all education is to understand what saith the Scriptures--and yet he was ordained for the ministry when he had not fitted himself at all for such a position.... The Word of God is our lesson book, lying at the very foundation of true education.
He is just beginning to understand that he has everything to learn. The Lord gave me a message for him and he says every word of it is truth and he wants to know himself.
May the Lord mold and fashion him. The very first work he needs is thorough conversion. He is ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God. This is the great mistake that has been made in this young man's education. Oh, that as a teacher in this school, he may be a learner.--Manuscript 174, 1897.
Lillian Lacey fitted into the school program nicely as the teacher handling the fifteen children in what today would be called the grade school. "I understand," wrote Ellen White on June 6, "that the children in the primary division are highly pleased with their teacher."--Letter 140, 1897.
S. N. Haskell's Deep Knowledge of God's Word
If Herbert Lacey, trained at Battle Creek College, was deficient in a deep knowledge of the Word of God, Stephen Haskell, somewhat a self-made man, was not. Of this, Ellen White wrote on June 6:
Brother Haskell is the Lord's servant, a man of opportunity. We appreciate his experience, his judgment, his thoughtful care and caution. He is indeed a mighty man in the Scriptures. He opens the Word of God in such a simple manner, making every subject reveal its true importance. He urges home practical godliness.--Ibid.
Nearer the opening of school she wrote of his speaking each morning at six o'clock, leading out in a Bible lesson.
This is free to all, and there is a goodly company out each morning, for it is a blessing to all. This study lasts for one hour. These meetings are intensely interesting. The subject thus far has been the sanctuary question, and we are highly gratified to see the interest manifested.
All are much interested in the way he presents the subject. He speaks in a clear, simple style, and brings in much Scripture to sustain every point. He feels that altogether too little has been said upon this subject, for it is the central pillar that sustains the structure of our position at the present time.--Letter 126, 1897.
Nor did his talented wife, Hettie, a teacher of experience, come far behind. Writing on June 9 to an old friend in New England, Mrs. White mentioned both Haskell and his wife:
Brother and Sister Haskell fill very important places in our school in giving Bible lessons. Sister Haskell is matron, and also teaches a Bible class. Brother Haskell also teaches a Bible class.... His wife is a woman of rare ability as a manager. She takes hold most earnestly, not afraid to put her hand to any work.... We have had most precious instruction from the Word from Brother and Sister Haskell.--Letter 33, 1897.
School was well underway when Professor and Mrs. Hughes arrived in late May. Several weeks later, Ellen White wrote of how well he took hold of the work. As she watched him move into his responsibilities as principal and manager, she wrote on July 4 of the student-principal relationship: "Brother Hughes does not say, 'Go, boys,' but pulls off his coat and says, 'Come, boys.' He works with them. He is the right man for the place. All take hold with a will, cheerfully."--Letter 164, 1897.
A Close Look at Ellen White's Participation
Ellen White's diary for the month of July reveals that she was deeply engrossed in the work of the school, its triumphs and its problems. As the pioneer school for the Australasian field, it needed to succeed, to form a pattern that would have wide influence. On Monday, July 5, she reported:
I had a long interview with Brother Martin in regard to many important matters in reference to the school orchard, and my own orchard, and in reference to the best methods so to manage the land that it shall produce sufficient for the consumption of the school and thereby no expenditure of money for fruit and vegetables. We expect good crops this year, and we shall have, we expect, all that the school will demand on their own land and all that our own family will require on our little farm....
Tuesday morning, July 6:
I brought before the students the most important matters in regard to an all-round education. May the Lord bless the effort made to bring before the school the necessity of physical culture combined with the mental taxation. The Lord has pointed out the deficiencies in our ideas, and the true education that is essential in our school here in Cooranbong....
Thursday, July 8:
I arose at two o'clock a.m. and commenced my writing. My prayer is, O Lord, teach and lead and guide me. Help me to feel my responsibilities in regard to my committed trust.... Quarter before 9:00 a.m. I again visited the school and read to them important matter in regard to the relation of diet and health and morals--words that had been written years ago for the book Christian Temperance. It is just what is needed now for the students in our school. I occupied about fifty-five minutes.
Sabbath, July 10:
I spoke to the people.... I felt the deep movings of the Spirit of God upon me. Brother Lacey, a young man, stood up before the people to pray. That act so pained my heart I said, "Brother Lacey, get down upon your knees," which he did. I knew if any human being knew whom he was addressing--the great and holy God, who dwelleth in light inapproachable, before whom angels veil their faces and cry, "Holy, holy, holy"--he would not stand erect before his students and present his petitions to God.--Manuscript 174, 1897. [See Selected Messages 2:311-316, for counsel given in connection with this experience.]
She did not speak at the school every day, but frequently she wrote instruction regarding school matters and often went over to address the faculty and students. There stood out clearly in her mind the contrast between God's ideal in the education of Adventist youth and the training being given in some of the older colleges of the church in America. After the experience in requesting one of the faculty members to kneel while addressing God in the formal Sabbath-morning worship prayer, she wrote:
I feel very sad when I consider that young men come from Battle Creek with a deficient education in spiritual godliness. After devoting years of study in the school at Battle Creek, some have stated they had an education that was of little use to them. I see more and more the folly of five years in succession devoted to the education of any student. Let them learn common hard work, in exercising the muscles and their hands, and let them learn from books that have not one grain of infidelity sprinkled in through their brilliant productions. It is like the sugarcoated pills that are used--a drug to destroy rather than to restore.--Ibid.
A Vision Concerning the School
On Tuesday morning, July 13, Ellen White arose early, heavily burdened in heart. The state of things in the school had, a few days before, been presented to her in vision. Things at the school, she was shown, were "not meeting the mind of the Spirit of God. His heart of love is grieved," she stated, and she felt impelled to present a message to the students. She wrote in her diary:
There is a spirit of levity and recklessness that should not be tolerated. There are some who have not stood in the counsel of God, but have by their words and by their attitude given more or less encouragement to the students to suppose they were under too much restraint. I knew from the light given me it was time for me to speak.
I went to the school this morning and found Brother and Sister Hughes and Brother and Sister Haskell counseling together as to what they should do to change the order of things.... The foolish talking, the jesting, the joking, the low, cheap talk, and the unruly spirit were contaminating the youth. I presented to them that both principal and teachers were held responsible, and were under condemnation of God while these things existed. They are to watch for souls as they that must give an account....
I read before the school that a change must come. No longer should any such deportment be tolerated in the school. After I had read the matter written, there were some testimonies borne by the students, which were to the point.--Ibid.
In her July 12 entry she stated:
While we are not to be gloomy, but cheerful and happy, there is to be no silliness, but a sobriety in harmony with our faith. Words and actions form character. Therefore our words should be clean, pure, simple, yet elevated. The gift of speech is a valuable talent, and the Lord has no pleasure in having low, cheap, degrading nonsense which tastes strongly of vice and revelry. No Christian should condescend to imitate and catch such habits from another student. These evil, silly words are discordant notes and contribute to the happiness of no one. They are a detriment to spirituality. The Word of God forbids them.--Ibid.
On July 14, with this experience in mind, she declared:
It is often not pleasant to speak the plain words of reproof and counsel; but I dare not hold my peace, lest the ... wrongdoer, not warned, shall go on in heedless indifference until the Lord shall cut him down like a tree that is as a cumberer of the ground.--Ibid.
A Call for Sound Financial Policies
A month later, Ellen White had something to say about the tuition rates and balancing the school budget:
There is a very great mistake made in setting the price of tuitions so low. It cannot be thus. It is a wild movement.
If I had known it before the matter had gone out, I would not have consented to have any such prices. I have had the matter presented to me that one cause of the debts accumulated in Battle Creek has been low tuition and rates for rooms and board, and then not proper management to bring the outgoes to harmonize with such prices.
The Lord would have His people act sensibly. They cannot possibly keep from sinking under the outgoing expenditures. When they have tested this way of management long enough to see the outcome, why do they repeat the same thing term after term? You will have less students--that may be and may not be. But whichever way it shall turn, there must be wise managers in every school who understand the practical workings of the expenditures and the income, and the outgoes must harmonize with the income. Therefore, do not dishonor the educational interests with mismanagement.
Let there be careful tact and wisdom in all our school arrangements and place the tuition sufficiently high to make ends meet. The Lord is not glorified by any such unwise managing. If the correct management of the school in setting the tuition at a figure to clear expenses shall bring in less students, then let the risk be run on the safe side, and there will be a better class of students.--Letter 193, 1897.
Confronted with the Problem of Association
When Battle Creek College was started, no provision was made for housing the students. They found lodging with families in Battle Creek and made their own boarding arrangements. There were many problems linked with this plan. Later, of course, the need was clearly seen, and provisions were made. On the establishment of Healdsburg College, it was felt that a real advance was made by the erection of a school home. One floor was allotted to the girls and another to the young men. Even this was not without its problems. Now at Cooranbong they were facing the question of association of the students and the housing problem. Ellen White mentioned this in her letter of July 23 to W. C. White. School attendance exceeded their expectations, housing facilities were crowded, and more students were expected. She wrote:
There are now to be about five more students, so there is no more room for an increase until we shall have means to put up buildings.
One thing we are seriously considering, that the building for the boys shall be entirely separate from that of the girls, a distinct building.... I have spoken and read five mornings in succession in the school, and after talking with the whole school, I then took the girls by themselves and talked with them seriously and charged them to keep themselves sacredly to themselves. We would not, could not, allow any courting or forming attachments at the school, girls with young men and young men with girls. This I said before the whole school, and then to the young ladies. I entreated them to be reserved, to be delicate and refined and not to be forward and bold and inviting the attention of young men; [I told them] that they should consider it an honor to cooperate with their teachers and seek to please them in everything.--Letter 193, 1897.
The records indicate that nearly half the student body were 16 years of age or younger. Restraints of a more rigid character were called for than in dealing with a normal college-age group. On another occasion she wrote:
We have labored hard to keep in check everything in the school like favoritism, attachments, and courting. We have told the students that we would not allow the first thread of this to be interwoven with their schoolwork. On this point we are as firm as a rock.--Letter 145, 1897. [See Ellen G. White: The later elmshaven years, pp. 380-382, for Ellen White's approach to this matter when preparing a book manuscript for general use. See also Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 101.]
Factors that Encouraged Ellen White
In the midst of the struggle to make the Avondale school all that God designed it to be, there appeared in an E. G. White letter written July 9, to a friend, some interesting observations:
All the determined opposition that we have met has only strengthened, stablished, and settled me in the belief that this is the location we should occupy. Were it not, Satan would not labor with such intense energy to discourage us, and drive us from the ground. All who truly love God will prove strong enough to stand the strain. Temptations will come to teachers and to students. Will we conquer them, or will we be conquered?
Christ is testing every soul on this ground. He demands loyalty. Who will be true to Him? Who will stand on guard day and night, maintaining a vital connection with God? The underlying principle of heart-life and home-life and church-life is supreme love to God and love to our neighbors.--Letter 77, 1897.
She then spoke of the battles that had had to be fought during the past fifty years and declared that they would have to be fought over and over again. She urged that God's people must stand constantly on guard, and reminded that "it is he that endures to the end that will be saved."
The Confession of A. G. Daniells
As workers came to visit the school in progress, they were well pleased. Of one such occasion she wrote:
I am very glad that these brethren came up. All who had not before seen the grounds were delighted with the situation. Elder Daniells was surprised at the improvement that had been made in the buildings and on the land. All were free to acknowledge that this was the place where the school should be located.--Letter 149, 1897.
In connection with this visit, Daniells promised to work for the school with all his power (Letter 140, 1897). But that which brought the greatest satisfaction to Ellen White was what took place a few weeks later as he again visited the school. Of this she wrote on June 24:
Brother Daniells made a most thorough acknowledgment to me. He confessed that he had not helped at all, either by his faith or his influence, but had permitted Willie and me to drag the load uphill. He said he saw that he had been wrong, and he now had to confess that the Lord had been leading step by step, but that he had had no part in it. "I am thoroughly convinced," he said, "that this is the place for our school, and I am going to work with all my heart and strength to advance and build up the school interest, and I may repair, as far as possible, that harm I have done."--Letter 132, 1897.
Elder Daniells has had little faith that a school would ever be in successful operation here, but he has been thoroughly converted on this subject.--Ibid.
As winter gave way to spring and the end of the first school year at Avondale was in sight, Ellen White entertained one growing concern--the need of a house in which to worship God. Could one be built by the close of the school year, now only seven weeks away? Such an accomplishment would crown this year that marked a new start in Christian education.