Difficult days challenged the Advent believers in Portland, Maine, following the great disappointment of October 22, 1844. Some clung to the hope that the mistake involved a miscalculation of only a few days, and lived in constant expectancy. They believed that Jesus would come at almost any moment and that probation was closed. But as the days stretched into weeks and Jesus did not come, their faith began to waver.
"Why, oh, why were we disappointed?" their hearts cried out. They had been confident that God had been leading them as they studied, worked, and prayed. How could they be mistaken in the integrity of the 1844 date?
By December most of the believers in the Portland area had abandoned their confidence in Miller's interpretation. Every passing day drove home the conviction that nothing of prophetic significance had taken place on October 22.
Nothing could have been more timely and calculated to cheer the spirits of the dedicated believers than the vision given to Ellen Harmon in December in the Haines home. This presented an entirely different picture. God had led His people. The light behind them that shone all along the path was the Midnight Cry. The vision revealed that they were at the beginning of the path rather than at the end. If they trusted the light and kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, they would safely enter into their reward.
About one week later Ellen was given a second vision. The vision troubled her much, for in it she was commissioned to go out among the people and present the truths that God had revealed to her. Her health was poor; she was in constant bodily suffering; tuberculosis ravaged her lungs; and in every way she appeared "marked for the grave." Her family was without money; it was midwinter in Maine; she was timid, and entertained serious misgivings about traveling and coming before the people with the claim to have had visions.
For several days and far into the night Ellen prayed that God would remove the burden from her and place it on someone more capable of bearing it. But constantly the words of the angel sounded in her ears: "Make known to others what I have revealed to you" (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 194).
The first telling of the vision in her parents' home in Portland apparently took place within a few days of the vision itself, which she later pinpointed as having occurred in December 1844. What a relief this brought to the Adventists in Portland! They knew her family. They had heard that a vision had been given to her, and when they heard it from her own lips they accepted what she told them as a message from God. It met a need in their experience. According to James White, about 60 belonging to the Advent band in Portland accepted the vision and through it regained their confidence in the fulfillment of prophecy concerning October 22, 1844 (A Word to the Little Flock, 22).
But the task of traveling and sharing the vision seemed to her impossible to accomplish and doomed to failure. Oh, how welcome death would have been, for it would have released her from the responsibilities that were crowding in upon her. She talked with her father of her perplexities. He repeatedly assured her that if God had called her to a public ministry, He would not fail her. But to Ellen it seemed impossible to submit to the commission.
Soon the peace of God that she had enjoyed left her. She even refused to attend the meetings held in her home. But one evening she was persuaded to be present. At this meeting John Pearson encouraged her to surrender her will to the will of God. In her distress she could not muster courage to bring her own will into play. But now her heart united with the petitions of her friends. She later recounted:
While prayer was offered for me, that the Lord would give me strength and courage to bear the message, the thick darkness that had encompassed me rolled back, and a sudden light came upon me. Something that seemed to me like a ball of fire struck me right over the heart. My strength was taken away, and I fell to the floor. I seemed to be in the presence of the angels. One of these holy beings again repeated the words, "Make known to others what I have revealed to you" (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 71).
When Ellen regained consciousness, Elder Pearson, who because of rheumatism could not kneel, stood and declared:
"I have seen a sight such as I never expected to see. A ball of fire came down from heaven, and struck Sister Ellen Harmon right on the heart. I saw it! I saw it! I can never forget it. It has changed my whole being. Sister Ellen, have courage in the Lord. After this night I will never doubt again" (Ibid.).
Fear Of Exaltation
One reason Ellen shrank from the trying ordeal was that she recalled the experience of some who had become proud after being entrusted by God with large responsibilities. In vision she discussed this with the angel. "If I must go and relate what thou hast shown me," she pleaded, "preserve me from undue exaltation." Replied the angel:
"Your prayers are heard and shall be answered. If this evil that you dread threatens you, the hand of God will be stretched out to save you; by affliction He will draw you to Himself and preserve your humility.
"Deliver the message faithfully. Endure unto the end and you shall eat the fruit of the tree of life and drink of the water of life" (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 196).
With this assurance Ellen committed herself to the Lord, ready to do His bidding, whatever that might be or whatever the cost.
Providence quickly opened the way for Ellen to enter upon her work. One day in late January 1845 her brother-in-law, Samuel Foss, from Poland, Maine, stopped in at the house and told her that Mary was eager for her to come and visit her.
"I thought this was an opening from the Lord," Ellen wrote later (Letter 37, 1890). She decided to go with him. In the bitter cold and in spite of feeble health, she made the 30-mile (50-kilometer) journey with her brother-in-law--crouched on the bottom of the sleigh with a buffalo robe over her head. When she reached Poland she learned that there would soon be a meeting of the Adventists at the little chapel on McGuire's Hill. Mary invited Ellen to attend. She consented, and at the meeting stood to relate what God had shown her in vision. For five minutes she spoke in only a whisper, then her voice broke clear and she addressed the audience for nearly two hours. This was the first time that she related her vision outside of Portland. She reported, "In this meeting the power of the Lord came upon me and on the people" (Ibid.).
Before continuing with our story, we should review a bit of history. During the months that led up to October 22, 1844, the believers were absolutely united in their confidence that Jesus would come on the appointed day. But as the weeks stretched into months a wedge began to separate the Adventists. Fanatical teachings and actions on the part of some divided the little group who clung to their confidence that prophecy had been fulfilled on October 22. A few, following what they interpreted to be the biddings of God's Word, but lacking balance and a true understanding of what it means to follow Christ, became involved in strange and sometimes wild fanaticism.
A small group, however, having cut loose from church creeds and church discipline, maintained their purpose to find their guidance in God's Word alone. They patiently awaited the dawning of light, that they might gain a true understanding of their position and work. These became the spiritual forebears of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Into this scene the 17-year-old Ellen Harmon was cast. She began her work by encouraging the believers and countering fanaticism, a work that was to continue through the next year or two.
After a few days in Poland at her sister's home, Ellen was back again in Portland, convinced that she must follow the intimations of God's will. She had promised to go if the Lord opened the way, and now she was invited by William Jordan and his sister, Sarah, to journey with them to eastern Maine. "I was urged to go with them," she wrote, "and relate my visions" (Spiritual Gifts, 2:38). The Jordans were driving by sleigh the 100 miles (160 kilometers) to Orrington, on the Penobscot River.
Mr. Jordan had a horse that belonged to a young Adventist minister, James White. As he had business that would take him to certain parts of eastern Maine, he decided to return the horse and invited Miss Harmon to accompany them so that she might bear her witness in a wider circle. Little did Ellen realize what was before her. She had now assumed a confident trust in God. Financial resources for her journey did not concern her. Just where her itinerary might take her she did not know. As to the message she might bear, she would depend wholly upon God.
At Orrington Jordan delivered the horse to James White. Here Ellen met the youthful but earnest Adventist minister, firm in his confidence in the fulfillment of prophecy.
James had become aware of Ellen on an earlier trip to Portland, and was glad that she had come and he would have a chance to hear her relate her visions. As she stood up to speak, James took in every detail of her face and dress and manner. She seemed so young, so shy, so humble that he was surprised she would have the courage to speak to this gathering. He knew well the nature of some of the people in the audience. As she began to speak, her voice was low--hardly above a whisper. She faltered a little, and it appeared that she might not go on. But after a few minutes her voice became clear and strong. She seemed perfectly at ease, and all hesitation and embarrassment were gone. Her message was one of simple faith and encouragement.
Following this visit in Orrington, Ellen gave her witness in eastern Maine for several months, traveling day and night and speaking almost every day until she had visited most of the Advent bands in Maine and in the eastern part of New Hampshire. James White accompanied her and a woman traveling companion.
Her message was always attended with the Holy Ghost, and, wherever it was received as from the Lord, it melted hearts, strengthened the weak, and encouraged the believers to hold on to the faith.
Vision Of Ministry In The Heavenly Sanctuary
Ellen had been in eastern Maine only a short time when, at Exeter, she was given the significant vision she described in two early letters. One, dated February 15, 1846, was to Enoch Jacobs; the other, dated July 13, 1847, was to Joseph Bates. Of this vision she wrote:
It was then I had a view of Jesus rising from His mediatorial throne and going to the Holiest as Bridegroom to receive His kingdom (Letter 3, 1847).
I saw the Father rise from the throne and in a flaming chariot go into the Holy of Holies within the veil, and did sit.... I saw a cloudy chariot with wheels like flaming fire. Angels were all about the chariot as it came where Jesus was; He stepped into it and was borne to the Holiest, where the Father sat. Then I beheld Jesus as He was before the Father, a great high priest (Letter 1, 1846 [see also The Day-Star, March 14, 1846]).
In her ministry she mentioned this vision from time to time, for it confirmed the results of Bible study--of which she knew nothing at the time--in western New York State by Hiram Edson and O.R.L. Crosier. In a letter to J. N. Loughborough, written August 24, 1874, she recounted:
It was on my first journey east to relate my visions that the precious light in regard to the heavenly sanctuary was opened before me and I was shown the open and shut door. We believed that the Lord was soon to come in the clouds of heaven. I was shown that there was a great work to be done in the world for those who had not the light.... Some accused me of saying my Lord delayeth His coming, especially the fanatical ones. I saw that in 1844 God had opened a door and no man could shut it, and shut a door and no man could open it (Letter 2, 1874).
In eastern Maine Ellen was traveling and working in the atmosphere of the spiritualizers who had allegorized away heaven, God, Jesus, and the Advent hope. In the vision at Exeter in mid-February she seemed to be in the presence of Jesus, and she was eager to obtain answers to some vital questions.
I asked Jesus if His Father had a form like Himself. He said He had, but I could not behold it, for said He, "If you should once behold the glory of His person, you would cease to exist" (Early Writings, 54).
The spiritualization of heaven, God, Christ, and the coming of Christ lay at the foundation of much of the fanatical teachings that 17-year-old Ellen Harmon was called by God to meet in those formative days. The visions firmly established the personality of God and Christ, the reality of heaven, the reward of the faithful, and the resurrection. This sound guidance saved the emerging church.
A large number of people at this time were bitter and disappointed when the period passed without bringing the event that was expected. For these Ellen was given a message of good cheer and encouragement. She called their attention to the fact that God had granted the world more time to prepare for His coming; that the warning of the judgment could be heard more widely; and that the people could be tested with greater light. Although the expected event did not occur (as in the case of Jonah), the message was nonetheless of God and accomplished the purpose He designed it should.
Subsequent light upon the prophecies revealed the event that did take place--the entering of the High Priest into the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary in heaven to finish the atonement for the sins of humanity.
It Was Not Easy
It was not easy to be a messenger of the Lord. Particularly at the beginning of Ellen Harmon's ministry it was important that the gift of prophecy promised to the remnant church be established with unusual phenomena.
Through false representations some of the believers were led to believe that the visions were of the devil, that James White mesmerized her, and that she could not have a vision if he was not present. Some attributed her visions to magnetism (hypnotism) or mesmerism.
At times because of all the suggestions and accusations that were made, she was led to question her own experience. She wrote:
All these things weighed heavily upon my spirits, and in the confusion I was sometimes tempted to doubt my own experience. While at family prayers one morning, the power of God began to rest upon me, and the thought rushed into my mind that it was mesmerism, and I resisted it. Immediately I was struck dumb and for a few moments was lost to everything around me. I then saw my sin in doubting the power of God, and that for so doing I was struck dumb, and that my tongue would be loosed in less than twenty-four hours.
A card was held up before me, on which were written in letters of gold the chapter and verse of fifty texts of Scripture. [Texts are given in Ibid., 24-31.] After I came out of vision, I beckoned for the slate, and wrote upon it that I was dumb, also what I had seen, and that I wished the large Bible.
I took the Bible and readily turned to all the texts that I had seen upon the card. I was unable to speak all day. Early the next morning my soul was filled with joy, and my tongue was loosed to shout the high praises of God. After that I dared not doubt or for a moment resist the power of God, however others might think of me (Ibid., 22, 23).
The Bible Ellen called for after this experience in her home in Portland was, presumably, the "big Bible" now in the White Estate vault with the names of Robert and Eunice Harmon stamped in gold on the spine. This Bible is 18 inches (46 centimeters) long, 11 inches (28 centimeters) wide, four inches (10 centimeters) thick, and weighs 18½ pounds (seven kilograms). On one occasion, during family prayers in 1845, Ellen stepped over to a bureau upon which this large volume rested and picked it up. Placing it on her left hand, she easily held it with her arm extended for an estimated half hour. During the vision she referred, in short exclamations, to the value of the Word of God. Although in frail health she was in no way fatigued by the experience.
On another occasion Ellen encountered a group of obstinate opposers. By invitation of Brother and Sister Otis Nichols, Ellen and her sister Sarah were in Massachusetts making their home with the Nichols family. There was in Boston and vicinity a company of fanatical persons who held that it was a sin to work. Two of their leaders were named Sargent and Robbins. Their principal message was "Sell that ye have, and give alms." They had denounced Ellen's visions as being of the devil because she had been shown their errors.
One day when Sargent and Robbins were visiting at the Nichols home they agreed to Nichols' proposal that they hear Ellen's testimony at their meeting in Boston the next Sunday. But that evening Ellen was shown their hypocrisy and that they were not having a meeting in Boston; it would be in Randolph. So the next morning, instead of driving north into Boston, they drove 13 miles (22 kilometers) south to Randolph, arriving rather late in the morning. They found Sargent and Robbins and a roomful of people meeting in the Thayer home. Wrote Ellen,
As we entered, Robbins and Sargent looked at each other in surprise and began to groan. They had promised to meet me in Boston, but thought they would disappoint us by going to Randolph, and while we were in Boston, warn the brethren against us" (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 232).
Closing the morning services rather early, Sargent announced that they would have a short intermission. Ellen Harmon learned during the intermission that one of the critics remarked that "good matter would be brought out in the afternoon." Robbins told Sarah Harmon that Ellen could not have a vision where he was.
Assembling again about 1:00 in the afternoon, several engaged in prayer, including Ellen Harmon.
Otis Nichols' Eyewitness Account
Writing in 1859 or 1860, Otis Nichols gave this account of the meeting:
About one o'clock p.m. the meeting was opened by singing and praying by Sargent, Robbins, and French; then one of us prayed for the Lord to lead this meeting. Then Sister White commenced praying and was soon afterwards taken off in vision with extraordinary manifestations and continued talking in vision with a shrill voice which could be distinctly understood by all present, until about sundown.
Sargent, Robbins, and French were much exasperated as well as excited to hear Sister White talk in vision, which they declared was of the devil. They exhausted all their influence and bodily strength to destroy the effect of the vision. They would unite in singing very loud, and then alternately would talk and read from the Bible in a loud voice in order that Ellen might not be heard, until their strength was exhausted and their hands would shake, so they could not read from the Bible.
But amidst all this confusion and noise, Ellen's clear and shrill voice as she talked in vision was distinctly heard by all present. The opposition of these men continued as long as they could talk and sing, notwithstanding some of their own friends rebuked them and requested them to stop.
"But," said Robbins, "you are bowed to an idol. You are worshiping a golden calf."
Mr. Thayer, the owner of the house, was not fully satisfied that her vision was of the devil, as Robbins declared it to be. He wanted it tested in some way. He had heard that visions of satanic power were arrested by opening the Bible and laying it on the person in vision, and asked Sargent if he would test it in this way, which he declined to do.
Then Thayer took a heavy, large quarto family Bible which was lying on the table and seldom used, opened it, and laid it open upon the breast of Ellen while in vision, as she was then inclined backward against the wall in one corner of the room. Immediately after the Bible was laid upon her, she arose upon her feet and walked into the middle of the room, with the Bible open in one hand and lifted up as high as she could reach, and with her eyes steadily looking upward, declared in a solemn manner, "The inspired testimony of God," or words of the same import, and then she continued for a long time, while the Bible was extended in one hand and her eyes [were] looking upward and not on the Bible, to turn over the leaves with the other hand and place her finger upon certain passages and correctly utter their words with a solemn voice.
Many present looked at the passages where her finger was pointed to see if she spoke them correctly, for her eyes at the same time were looking upward. Some of the passages referred to were judgments against the wicked and blasphemous; and others were admonitions and instructions relative to our present condition.
In this state she continued all the afternoon until nearly sundown when she came out of vision.
When Ellen arose in vision upon her feet with the heavy open Bible upon her hand, and walked the room uttering the passages of Scripture, Sargent, Robbins, and French were silent. For the remainder of the time they were troubled, with many others, but they shut their eyes and braved it out without making any acknowledgment of their feelings (DF 105, "Statement by Otis Nichols" [see also Ibid., 232-234; Spiritual Gifts, 2:77-79]).
Not long after this these men confessed publicly to some of the most shameful acts of their lives. This had the effect of breaking up the meetings at Randolph and separating the honest believers from their unholy influence. Within a short time the "No-work Party" of fanatics gave up their faith in the Bible and scattered as Ellen had predicted.
Some stalwart souls who later became pillars in the church were initially hesitant about accepting the visions of Ellen Harmon. Outstanding among these was Joseph Bates.
Joseph Bates had been an earnest worker in the Advent awakening of 18401844. A sea-captain-turned-minister, he invested his property and his strength in heralding the soon coming of Christ. As Ellen and her sister were in New Bedford, Massachusetts, they became acquainted with him and his family. He, of course, learned of the visions given to Ellen, and this troubled him. He wrote of his experience two years later:
Although I could see nothing in them that militated against the Word, yet I felt alarmed and tried exceedingly, and for a long time unwilling to believe that it was anything more than what was produced by a protracted debilitated state of her body.
I therefore sought opportunities in the presence of others, when her mind seemed freed from excitement (out of meeting), to question and cross-question her, and her friends which accompanied her, especially her elder sister [Sarah], to get if possible at the truth (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 97, 98).
Bates had been troubled with serious doubts as to the visions, but the evidence in the experience at Topsham, Maine, at the home of Eli Curtis in November 1846, was such that he accepted them wholeheartedly from that time forth. Bates told the story to his friend J. N. Loughborough, who recorded it in his book The Great Second Advent Movement.
Mrs. White, while in vision, began to talk about the stars, giving a glowing description of rosy-tinted belts which she saw across the surface of some planet, and added, "I see four moons."
"Oh," said Elder Bates, "she is viewing Jupiter!"
Then having made motions as though traveling through space, she began giving a description of belts and rings in their ever-varying beauty, and said, "I see seven moons."
Elder Bates exclaimed, "She is describing Saturn."
Next she said, "I see six moons," and at once began a description of Uranus, with its six moons; then a wonderful description of the "opening heavens," with its glory, calling it an opening into a region more enlightened. Elder Bates said that her description far surpassed any account of the opening heavens he had ever read from any author.
While she was talking and still in vision, he arose to his feet, and exclaimed, "Oh, how I wish Lord John Rosse was here tonight!" Elder White inquired, "Who is Lord John Rosse?"
"Oh," said Elder Bates, "he is the great English astronomer. I wish he was here to hear that woman talk astronomy, and to hear that description of the 'opening heavens.' It is ahead of anything I ever read on the subject" (GSAM, p. 258).
Ellen White reported of this experience that took place in the Eli Curtis home:
After I came out of vision I related what I had seen. Elder Bates then asked if I had studied astronomy. I told him I had no recollection of ever looking into an astronomy.
Said he, "This is of the Lord." I never saw him as free and happy before. His countenance shone with the light of heaven, and he exhorted the church with power (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 239).
Another pioneer of the Advent movement who had witnessed the early manifestation of the gift of the Spirit through Ellen Harmon was John N. Loughborough, who first saw her in vision in 1852 and later in life declared that he had seen her in vision 50 times. He wrote:
In passing into vision she gives three enrapturing shouts of "Glory!" which echo and re-echo, the second, and especially the third, fainter, but more thrilling than the first, the voice resembling that of one quite a distance from you, and just going out of hearing.
For about four or five seconds she seems to drop down like a person in a swoon, or one having lost his strength; she then seems to be instantly filled with superhuman strength, sometimes rising at once to her feet and walking about the room. There are frequent movements of the hands and arms, pointing to the right or left as her head turns. All these movements are made in a most graceful manner. In whatever position the hand or arm may be placed, it is impossible for anyone to move it.
Her eyes are always open, but she does not wink; her head is raised, and she is looking upward, not with a vacant stare, but with a pleasant expression, only differing from the normal in that she appears to be looking intently at some distant object.
She does not breathe, yet her pulse beats regularly. Her countenance is pleasant, and the color of her face as florid as in her natural state (GSAM, pp. 204, 205).
Individual visions were marked by various characteristics, but James White pointed out four:
1. She is utterly unconscious of everything transpiring around her, as has been proved by the most rigid tests, but views herself as removed from this world, and in the presence of heavenly beings.
2. She does not breathe. During the entire period of her continuance in vision, which has at different times ranged from fifteen minutes to three hours, there is no breath, as has been repeatedly proved by pressing upon the chest, and by closing the mouth and nostrils.
3. Immediately on entering vision, her muscles become rigid, and joints fixed, so far as any external force can influence them. At the same time her movements and gestures, which are frequent, are free and graceful, and cannot be hindered nor controlled by the strongest person.
4. On coming out of vision, whether in the daytime or a well-lighted room at night, all is total darkness. Her power to distinguish even the most brilliant objects, held within a few inches of the eyes, returns but gradually....
She has probably had, during the past twenty-three years, between one and two hundred visions. These have been given under almost every variety of circumstance, yet maintaining a wonderful similarity (Life Incidents, p. 272).
While Ellen had no part in the divine procedure that selected her as the one to whom the gift of prophecy would be given for the remnant church, the responsibility of delivering special light, truth, and counsel troubled her very much. She often prayed that God would remove the burden from her and place it upon someone more capable of bearing it. Many times she felt that death would have been welcome to relieve her of the responsibilities.
"Deliver the message faithfully," the angel had said. "Endure unto the end, and you shall eat of the fruit of the tree of life and drink of the water of life" (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 72). With this assurance Ellen committed herself to the Lord, ready to do His bidding whatever the cost.
Jesus did not tell His disciples that their work would be easy. When Ellen accepted the call to be God's special messenger, she was not told that it would be easy. Finding acceptance for the role to which she was committed was not easy.
But one of the most difficult problems that confronted her and her family at the beginning of her ministry was the matter of transportation. How could an 18-year-old girl, frail and in poor health, get around and visit the scattered believers in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and other places? Frequently on the steamboats or on the train she would faint and remain breathless for minutes.
James White explained:
It was necessary that she should have one or more attendants. Either her sister Sarah or Sister Foss traveled with her. And as neither her aged father nor feeble brother were suitable persons to travel with one so feeble, and introduce her and her mission to the people, the writer, fully believing that her wonderful experience and work was of God, became satisfied that it was his duty to accompany them.
And as our thus traveling subjected us to the reproaches of the enemies of the Lord and His truth, duty seemed very clear that the one who had so important a message to the world should have a legal protector, and that we should unite our labors (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 238).
James and Ellen had been closely associated in travel and labor through much of 1845, but apparently neither had given thought to marriage. Of their situation James White later wrote that they both shared the view that the coming of Christ was "near, even at the doors.... Most of our brethren who believed with us that the Second Advent movement was the work of God were opposed to marriage in the sense that as time was very short it was a denial of faith, as such a union contemplated long years of married life" (Ibid., 126).
Now as her work would spread out into a larger field, they took the matter to the Lord and were convinced that God had a great work for both of them, and that they could greatly assist each other in that work.
The Wedding
On Sunday, August 30, 1846, James Springer White and Ellen Gould Harmon stood before Charles Harding, justice of the peace, in Portland, Maine, and were married. The marriage certificate, preserved through the years, is just a small slip of paper carrying a brief form and the signature of the one who officiated. Of their experience James White later wrote:
We were married August 30, 1846, and from that hour to the present she has been my crown of rejoicing.... It has been in the good providence of God that both of us had enjoyed a deep experience in the Advent movement.... This experience was now needed as we should join our forces and, united, labor extensively from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific....
We entered upon this work penniless, with few friends, and broken in health. Mrs. White has suffered ill health from a child, ... and although I had inherited a powerful constitution, imprudence in study at school, and in lecturing ... had made me a dyspeptic.
In this condition, without means, with very few who sympathized with us in our views, without a paper, and without books, we entered upon our work. We had no houses of worship at that time, and the idea of using a tent had not then occurred to us. Most of our meetings were held in private houses. Our congregations were small. It was seldom that any came into our meetings, excepting Adventists, unless they were attracted by curiosity to hear a woman speak (Ibid., 126, 127).
The Harmon home in Gorham became the first place of residence for the newlyweds.