The clouds and cold drizzle that dampened the Bay cities of northern California on New Year's Day 1876 in no way typified the spirits of James and Ellen White, who were residing in Oakland. It was the Sabbath and a special day, a day for the edification and building up of the church, a day set apart by the General Conference Committee to be spent in prayer, fasting, and humiliation before God.
The prospects were encouraging. The Signs of the Times was to be published every week instead of every other week. This called for bold plans to fill its eight almost-newspaper-size pages every seven days. In his editorial column in the January 6 issue James White promised, "Our friends may depend upon the Signs weekly."
A well-established publishing house functioned near midcontinent in Battle Creek, Michigan.
A medical institution in Battle Creek, Michigan, which would in a few months have its tenth birthday, was now getting supplied with professional personnel.
Across the street from it was Battle Creek College, a year old and enjoying good patronage.
The outreach action of the 1874 General Conference session had been implemented, and J. N. Andrews was now pioneering the work of the church in Europe, pleading for someone to help him.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church had grown to a membership of just a little more than 10,000.
Ministry In The Bay Area
In January, February, and March James and Ellen White ministered to the churches in the Bay area--Oakland, with 80 members, and San Francisco, with somewhat fewer.
The San Francisco church had moved ahead in building a house of worship on Laguna Street. O. B. Jones, the very capable builder whom James White had brought from Battle Creek to erect a building for the Pacific Press, was asked to construct the San Francisco house of worship. J. N. Loughborough, president of the California Conference, wrote in describing the progress in San Francisco:
This church one year since regarded it almost an impossibility to build a house of worship; but the house is now erected, and the basement rented for a sufficient sum to meet all the interest on the money it was necessary to hire to complete the house (Ibid., January 6, 1876).
Though the Whites were fond of California, they did not intend that Oakland should be their permanent residence, for they must keep close to Battle Creek and the church's many interests there. Wrote James White:
There our first college, our Health Institute, and our main printing house are located. There is a church of more than two hundred members who regard us as their pastor, though we are from them six months at a time, and are with them only a few Sabbaths in a year. We can never have as much interest at any other point as at Battle Creek (Ibid., November 11, 1875).
James White had in mind to return to the East soon. Important developments at headquarters summoned him as president of the General Conference to be present. An extra session of the General Conference had been appointed to convene March 31. Discussions would include the fact that the board of directors of the health reform institute in Battle Creek had decided to put up a large main building and had invited James White and O. B. Jones to direct the carrying out of these plans; the advancing cause in Europe required an office of publication; and plans needed to be laid for the camp meeting season.
James White was soon on his way. J. H. Waggoner, working on the Pacific Coast, announced:
Brother James White, president of the General Conference, left Oakland yesterday morning, the twenty-second, for Battle Creek, Michigan, to attend this conference. We are happy to say that Brother White left California in good health and with good courage. He has labored very hard here for nearly six months past under circumstances which might have discouraged one of less faith and less consecration to the cause of truth. The work of the publishing house has prospered wonderfully under his careful management (Ibid., March 23, 1876).
When James White left for Battle Creek, Ellen remained in their Oakland home. With the help of Mary Clough, she was looking forward to making great strides in writing on the life of Christ.
Probably Ellen White never had such an opportunity to write as she did in April and May of 1876. She had good literary help in her niece Mary Clough, and the two worked together comfortably. The interests of the cause in the East that had called for James White to go to Battle Creek held him there. Although Ellen missed James, home life became simple, and she did very little public work. She determined to make the most of this opportunity.
Camp Meeting Versus Writing And Publishing
Ever since the beginning of the annual camp meetings (see chapter 20) it was generally recognized by the leaders in the church, and by James and Ellen in particular, that there was a direct relationship between the growth of the church and the presence of James and Ellen White at these gatherings.
Two compelling personalities; two soul-stirring speakers; two staunch pillars of faith. Undoubtedly disappointment was great if either of them failed to attend. But year after year the strain was greater and the demands on their time and energy more exhausting.
To complicate the problem, each of them had personal goals they were committed to achieving. Since James had assumed the responsibilities of being president of the General Conference and also carried many other positions of leadership, to continue their usual rigorous program of attending camp meetings brought up questions of priorities. And Ellen was at this time earnestly engaged in finishing the writing of the book that would become The Spirit of Prophecy, volume 2, on the life of Christ, later to be incorporated into The Desire of Ages.
To James she wrote:
The precious subjects open to my mind well. I trust in God and He helps me to write. I am some twenty-four pages ahead of Mary [Clough]. She does well with my copy. It will take a clear sense of duty to call me from this work to camp meetings. I mean to finish my writings on one book at any rate, before I go anywhere. I see no light in my attending camp meetings. You and I decided this before you left....
I have no will of mine own; I want to do God's will. At present His will is to tarry in California and make the most of my time in writing. I shall be doing more for the cause in this than in going across the plains to attend camp meetings (Letter 4, 1876).
She shunned all outside responsibilities. She told James in a letter:
I want time to have my mind calm and composed. I want to have time to meditate and pray while engaged in this work. I do not want to be wearied myself or be closely connected with our people who will divert my mind. This is a great work, and I feel like crying to God every day for His Spirit to help me to do this work all right.... I must do this work to the acceptance of God (Letter 59, 1876).
However, when the time came for the first camp meeting of the season to open in Kansas on May 25 Ellen and Mary Clough were on the train bound for the East. Whatever work was yet to be done on the life of Christ would have to be done as they traveled. James White triumphantly placed a last-page note in the Review of May 25:
We have received a telegram from Mrs. White stating that her niece, Miss M. L. Clough, and herself would meet us at the Kansas camp meeting the twenty-sixth. We shall probably go the rounds of the camp meetings for 1876, and retire from the northern climate in October, either to the South or to California.
James White was overjoyed to receive Ellen's telegram that she, with Mary Clough, would meet him at the Melvern, Kansas, camp meeting. He hastened off 20 postcards to as many points in Kansas, giving the welcome word. He had summoned J. H. Waggoner to come from California to assist him, for he felt the need of help through the camp meeting season. This he now canceled, for Ellen would be taking many of the meetings.
He assured Willie and Mary, in Oakland, that he would be on the grounds with ample preparations made, and he was, but Ellen White's train was delayed; instead of arriving on Friday, she was driven onto the grounds early Sabbath morning. She was weary after six days of travel, including a 20-mile (32-kilometer) trip by farm wagon over bad roads, a journey broken by a stop for the night at the home of a friend.
"Weary, of course," reported James White, "short of sleep, and trembling with nervous headache, she takes the speaker's stand at half past ten and is wonderfully sustained in her effort" (The Signs of the Times, June 8, 1876). She spoke that evening also to a congregation increasing in numbers.
At the special session of the General Conference that had been held in late March, James White had participated in laying plans that called for one meeting to follow another, week by week, usually with a parting meeting Tuesday morning. The first meeting was now in the past, but there were 13 more to attend: Missouri, Iowa, two in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Indiana, Michigan (including the General Conference session), and Illinois.
On one occasion Ellen, writing from the campground to Willie and Mary, said, "Children, I believe it was my duty to attend this meeting. I am coming out all right as far as health is concerned if I rest and do not labor too hard" (Letter 30, 1876).
Another time she reported that James was so "fearfully worn" that she took the principal burden through the meeting (Letter 34, 1876).
At the close of the sixth meeting in July they had a breathing spell until the series in the East would begin on August 10.
She reported in a letter:
I have kept on the strain so long I am now finding my level and I am not very intelligent. We cannot, Father, Mary, or myself, do anything now. We are debilitated and run down like an old clock (Letter 33, 1876).
After getting some rest, Ellen White picked up her work of writing on the life of Christ. It was a rugged season.
Camp Meetings Again
The program for the camp meetings in the East was much the same as the six already finished. The reports gave little glimpses of joyous and sometimes awkward situations, and, of course, of triumph as God blessed in the work. The late-summer meetings opened at Norwalk, Ohio. James White's older brother John, a Baptist minister, resided in Ohio, and they managed to get in a little visit en route.
On Sunday the morning was cold and rainy, but before noon the clouds had dispersed, and fair weather smiled upon the encampment. In the afternoon, by actual count, 551 teams came through the gate of the campground, averaging four persons to each team. These, with the Sabbathkeepers upon the ground, made a congregation of 2,500 to whom Brother White spoke with great liberty on the reasons of our faith and hope (The Review and Herald, August 1, 1876).
Ellen White gave one evening discourse, but she was confined much of the time to their tent, and for two days to her bed. "Your father and mother are worked down," she wrote to Willie.
We work hard. Your father does the work of three men at all these meetings. I never saw a man work so energetically, so constantly, as your father. God does give him more than mortal energy. If there is any place that is hard, your father takes it. We pray God that we may have strength to do the work necessary to be done in these special occasions (Letter 39, 1876).
The Groveland Camp Meeting
For attendance, the camp meeting held at Groveland, Massachusetts, reached an all-time high. It opened Thursday, August 24, and ran for five days. The grounds, near Haverhill, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Boston, were easily reached by train and river excursion boats from both Boston and Haverhill. There were 55 tents, including the three pavilions--45, 55, and 65 feet (14, 17, and 20 meters) in diameter--pitched in the beautiful grove. The weather was so fine the meetings were held under the trees, and the three large tents were used for sleeping quarters. The women occupied one, and men the other two. Five hundred camped on the grounds. The "auditorium" swept up in a natural amphitheater from the speakers' stand, the well-cleared grove affording delightful shade.
River steamers ran twice a day from Haverhill, four miles (seven kilometers) away, and every hour on Sunday. Eighteen trains ran each day, all stopping at the campground. The Sabbath meetings were well attended, but Sunday brought its surprises. Mary Clough reported:
Sunday was a lively day on the campground. Special trains were run from the cities of Lawrence, Newburyport, Haverhill, et cetera, and at 9:00 a.m. the auditorium was filled with intelligent people to whom Elder White preached about one hour.
Still the people poured in from the towns about, and the trains came loaded with their living freight. After an intermission of thirty minutes, Mrs. White ascended the platform, amid the profound stillness of that vast multitude, and addressed the people on the subject of Christian temperance. Her original and comprehensive manner of handling this subject elicited the highest commendation of all that heard.
The morning trains were crowded, but the noon trains flooded the grove, and the two-thirty train from Lawrence brought fifteen cars literally packed with people, the platform and steps were full also, and the conductor was obliged to take the roof in order to signal the engineer. He reported that it would have taken twenty-five cars to bring all the people who were waiting at the depot to take passage for the campground (The Signs of the Times, September 14, 1876).
Of the experience Ellen White wrote:
What a scene is before me! It is estimated that twenty thousand people are assembled in this grove. The third train, of fifteen cars, has just arrived. Every seat was filled and every foot of standing room, also the platform and the steps. A sea of human heads is already before me, and still the cars are to come. This is to me the most solemn sight I ever beheld. Hundreds in carriages are driving away because they cannot get within sound of the speaker's voice (Ibid.).
All standing room throughout the entire enclosure was taken, and some, like Zacchaeus, climbed trees to get sight of the speaker. The vast throng gave good attention. Ellen White, speaking slowly with a low, well-supported voice, made them hear.
When the camp meetings were over and the Whites and Mary Clough returned to Battle Creek on Wednesday, October 4, they were utterly worn and exhausted. They had succeeded, but for it they paid a price--the price human beings pay for overwork, a price paid gladly to see the cause of God prosper.
Elder Uriah Smith made this evaluation of the presence of the Whites at these camp meetings:
Here [Sparta, Wisconsin], as in Iowa, the presence of Brother and Sister White constituted, in a large measure, the life of the meeting, their counsel and labors giving tone to the exercises and progress of the work. Sister White, especially, was at times called out in powerful appeals, and most forcible descriptions of scenes in the life of Christ from which lessons can be drawn applicable to everyday Christian experience. These were of absorbing interest to all the congregation.
These servants of the church, though now of so long and large experience, and notwithstanding all their wearing labors, are still growing in mental and spiritual strength (The Review and Herald, June 29, 1876).
Pioneering In Texas
One action taken at the 1878 General Conference session was a recommendation that a camp meeting be held in Texas during the autumn, when James and Ellen White could attend (Ibid., October 24, 1878).
Tuesday afternoon, November 5, the Whites, with S. N. Haskell and Emma White, were off by train across the "Indian Territory" (Oklahoma), bound for Dallas, Texas.
At The McDearmon Home
Of their arrival in Texas, James White reported to the readers of the Review:
Wednesday [November 6] we reached Dallas, dusty and weary, but glad that our journey of about one thousand miles [1600 kilometers) from Battle Creek, Michigan, to Dallas, Texas, was at an end. We tarried the night at the home of Brother Cole and family, and Thursday came to the good and comfortable home of Brother McDearmon [at Grand Prairie, west of Dallas]. Here our daughter [in-law] met her parents, brother, and sister, who have all been brought near the door of death by the fever which has prevailed in this state during the past season. Our coming was timely. They have a large house and warm hearts, but as they move about they look more like walking corpses than living men and women (Ibid., November 21, 1878).
White declared that it would "take two of them to make a shadow." The Whites found the McDearmons destitute and ill. We tried to help them," wrote Ellen White.
I gave Sister McDearmon $40 from my own purse to use for the necessities of life. Father bought bags of flour, a barrel of apples, nuts, sugar, et cetera. He bought one cotton mattress and one husk [mattress] overlaid with cotton. It is seldom I have seen such destitution. I have bought several things for their comfort. Father left McDearmon his fur coat to use, for his blood is so low he cannot bear the least chilliness of the air. We have done what we could for them (Letter 54, 1878).
The Plano Camp Meeting
After spending a week at the McDearmon home, James and Ellen White went on north some 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Plano. The camp meeting had opened there, three miles (five kilometers) from the village, on Tuesday, November 12. About 200 believers came in for a very successful camp meeting. From Peoria, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, nine families came by private conveyance (Manuscript 3, 1878).
Ellen White pictured the accommodations awaiting her and her party:
We found a tent prepared for us with board floor, and carpeted, provided with bedsteads, tables, chairs, and stove. Nothing was wanting to make us comfortable. Our friends who had recently embraced the truth at Plano had anticipated our wants and liberally supplied them in the furnishing of our tent (Ibid.).
As to the meetings, James White wrote:
Twenty-four discourses were preached during the camp meeting. Elder Haskell was on the ground two days in advance and gave eleven discourses. Mrs. White and the writer gave six discourses each, and Elder Kilgore, one. In consequence of the distance, the rains, and deep mud, the outside attendance was small. Sunday afternoon Mrs. White gave a discourse on Christian temperance before a large congregation (The Review and Herald, December 5, 1878).
During the camp meeting 13 people were baptized, the Texas Conference was formed, and aggressive plans were laid for tent evangelism. It was decided to purchase two evangelistic tents, one 60 feet (18 meters) in diameter, the other 50 feet (15 meters).
The Whites elected to settle for the winter in Denison, some 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Dallas and not far from the Red River, which forms the boundary for the northeast part of the state. Denison was somewhat of a railroad center, situated on sandy land. Roads were fairly good and the surroundings pleasant.
In Denison the Whites were to occupy a home being built by the Bahlers. Just as soon as the plaster was dry they settled down for the winter. They had to secure furniture and furnishings, and assemble materials for their writing. It seems that Ellen White left Battle Creek in such haste that she did not have time or strength to assemble either adequate clothing for the winter or the writing materials and reference works she would need.
The requests she addressed to Willie and Mary included bedding, materials for sewing--patterns for dresses for herself and pants for James--and some food items for the table. But of top priority were materials needed for her writing.
On November 22 she stated, "We intend to commence writing at once and to make the most of our time" (Letter 56, 1878).
Marian Davis Joins The White Forces
On New Year's Day Miss Marian Davis, who was with the Youth's Instructor staff in Battle Creek, joined the Whites in Texas to assist them in literary work. At the time she was not well, but she had some of the skills they badly needed. "Marian ... is splendid help" (Letter 4, 1879), Ellen White wrote Willie and Mary a few days later. Thus began a close personal and working relationship between the two women that was to continue through the next 25 years, until Marian's death in 1904. Now Ellen White was able to forge ahead with the preparation of personal testimonies.
The Home Situation
On January 6 Ellen White wrote to Edson of the home situation:
Father is well, cheerful, and happy. Very kind and tender of me and my comfort. He is very active (Letter 3a, 1879).
A week later she exclaimed, "I do not know as we ever enjoyed the society of each other as we do now" (Letter 5a, 1879). Near the close of winter, she wrote feelingly to William and Mary:
[Father] is in a good state of mind, willing to be counseled and advised. He is not so determined and set to carry out his ideas. We have had as pleasant and harmonious a winter as we have ever enjoyed in our lives (Letter 18, 1879).
Outreach In Missionary Endeavor
As the weather mellowed, and it did quickly, James and Ellen White were eager to engage in local evangelistic ministry. On weekends they held meetings in nearby communities. On Thursday, February 13, they were off for Dallas, 75 miles (120 kilometers) by carriage. Writing of this to Willie, James described one missionary facet of the trip:
Brother [Arthur] Daniells takes my carriage with trunk, and [he plans] to sell and canvass in cities and villages by the way. He will take a fine pair of mules for which I paid $180.... We shall be gone about a week (JW to WCW, February 12, 1879).
The 21-year-old Arthur G. Daniells was in Texas at his own expense, assisting R. M. Kilgore in tent evangelism. He had been lent to James White to assist him as a secretary. Daniells' wife, Mary, was brought into the White home in Denison as cook. Thus began a long personal and professional relationship between the president of the General Conference, the messenger of the Lord, and a young man who in time would himself serve as leader of the church for 21 years.
When James and Ellen White went to Texas, their general long-range plans were to remain there for the winter, then in early May travel to Colorado, where they might spend a few weeks (The Review and Herald, November 21, 1878). But their plans fluctuated. Ever in search of a place where he could lay off the stress of leadership and write without interruptions, and where there could be an improvement of health, James White turned first in one direction and then in another. Forgetful of good resolutions to temper his schedule, he would get caught up in the stimulus of the work of the church, which he had nurtured since its inception. He had a clear long-range vision, shared by only a few, of the great days the church was entering upon, and had a natural urge to stand in the lead.
He was the president of the General Conference and was one of those who served on the General Conference Committee. He also was president of several auxiliary organizations--publishing, medical, and educational--and was chief editor of both the Review and Herald and the Signs of the Times. While such responsibility was exhilarating, it also was enervating. Repeatedly he saw that in the interests of his own survival he must withdraw from the forefront of the battle.
Texas, A Needy Field Of Labor
In writing of their mid-February visit to Dallas, Ellen White disclosed their hopes and plans:
Yesterday we bore pointed testimony to the church in Dallas upon the subject of health reform. My husband spoke from the text "Preach the Word." The Spirit of the Lord was in our midst, softening hearts and breaking up the fallow ground. Many testimonies were borne, and the church encouraged.
We now expect to commence labor here with a tent in about two weeks. We shall also hold meetings in Denison and vicinity. Angels of God are at work impressing souls everywhere, and we want to be at work doing all we can for the Master (The Signs of the Times, March 6, 1879).
One thing that was clear to the Whites was that some Adventist families in the Dallas area, especially the McDearmons, should, for the sake of their very survival, move to a more healthful climate. To James White Colorado seemed to be just the place.
As plans were discussed, the interested families increased in number until between 20 and 30 church members were ready to join a minor exodus from northern Texas. James White would lead this expedition. The early-March trip from Dallas to Denison was a sort of trial run. Ellen White described the two-day trip:
We left Dallas last Wednesday morning [March 19] with two heavy wagons, loaded, two two-seated wagons called "hacks," and our phaeton, Brother McDearmon and family and goods. We were moving to Denison. We had our large family tent and pitched it and for two nights occupied it. Fifteen composed our caravan: Elder Kilgore and his brother Scott; Brother and Sister McDearmon--their two children, Hattie and Joseph--their niece Nettie Cole, and grandson Homer Salisbury, Brother Moore and his son Willie, Brother and Sister Daniells, Sister [Marian] Davis, Brother and Sister White.
We found that Brother and Sister McDearmon and family endured the journey much better than they feared. They will go through with the company to Colorado. I believe that they will enjoy good health there. We arrived at home in Denison before the Sabbath and were well arranged before sundown (Letter 45, 1879).
To provide transportation for some of the families that had been reduced to poverty, James White bought or traded teams of horses and mules, upgrading them step by step. He figured these could be used to travel to Colorado, and then when the caravan reached Walling's Mills, near Boulder, could be sold at a profit.
Trip By Caravan
"We have started on our journey to Colorado." From their camp James White wrote 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.
Rains had delayed their getting off, and now the river was so high they would have to wait for the ferry.
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 he was well enough to travel at all, did so for many 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).
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 (Ibid.).
The caravan pushed north into Indian Territory for five miles (eight kilometers). 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.
The precautions they took were in line with those 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.
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).
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 (two and a half kilometers) 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 10 of the group, broke away from the caravan to hasten on to the camp meeting they had promised to attend in Emporia, Kansas; 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 worked late in the night with inconvenient camping equipment. There was another point that perplexed Ellen White--was all this necessary and in the line of duty? She wrote to the children in Battle Creek, no doubt with some hyperbole:
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).
Still On The Caravan Trail
The group heading for the camp meeting at Emporia, Kansas, reached Okmulgee, Indian Territory, on Friday, May 9. They had logged 160 miles (256 kilometers) since leaving Denison, and were 200 miles (320 kilometers) 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).
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).
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 since their tent was "staked and thoroughly ditched," they kept dry. The next morning the women in the party washed their clothes in the trenches about the tents. In her diary, Ellen 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 Kansas camp meeting to be postponed for a week beyond the time first announced in the Review, but the Glovers had not received the word, hence had already left for Emporia. 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 recorded 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 (three kilometers). 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 passable comfortable bed (Manuscript 4, 1879).
At the end of the caravan experience Ellen reported to their children:
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 (six kilograms). 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 spring back 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 300 believers (Manuscript 5, 1879), some 30 of whom drove 200 miles (320 kilometers) 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 Health And Temperance Society
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.
James and Ellen White had vowed to avoid camp meetings, but having attended two, they now had the camp meeting fever in their systems. They postponed their trip to Colorado and left to others the business of disposing of the teams of horses, mules, and ponies in Colorado. 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 to a large congregation at a temperance rally in the tabernacle, and the "teetotal pledge" was circulated and signed. On Wednesday evening they held another temperance meeting. The next morning they were off for camp meetings in the West (The Review and Herald, June 19, 1879). 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. This gave opportunity for nearly four weeks' change.
Home Again In Battle Creek
James White had decided that he and his wife would attend but one camp meeting in 1879, for he expected that they would devote their time to writing while staying in their little cabin on "Whites' Ranch" in the mountains of Colorado. As it turned out, they attended more than 10 such gatherings. The adjusted summer program allowed them but a few days in 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).