On arriving in California, Ellen White was eager to get to work. She hoped that she could quickly find a home, move in, and take care of the many tasks awaiting her attention. Not wanting to undertake the task of building a house, she hoped to find a place to rent.
On Monday morning, September 24, house hunting began. After three exhausting days driving from place to place in the Oakland area, Ellen White and Willie decided they would have to purchase. Rents were too high for their meager salaries. As W. C. White expressed it:
For several days we have been trying to fit a number seven family into a number five house, with a number three purse to purchase furnishings (15 WCW, p. 871).
Ellen White had not forgotten that the Lord had shown His interest in her the last night while crossing the sea, so she declared she would just stop looking. "The Lord knows what our work is and where we should be located; and we shall wait the Lord's time" (Letter 132, 1900).
At this point Willie suggested that she and some of her helpers go up to the health retreat at St. Helena, some 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Oakland. This institution had just changed its name to St. Helena Sanitarium, or simply, "the san." There she could rest a bit and also attend some of the meetings to be held in connection with the nearby Napa camp meeting.
She had been there in the years following her husband's death and had purchased eight and one-half acres (three hectares) from William Pratt to preserve the land for the future use of the sanitarium. On the property she had erected a home, Eliel, which she thought could easily be turned into an expanded facility for the care of guests of the institution (DF 14).
At the sanitarium she met old friends--Mrs. J. L. Ings, Mary Thorpe, and others. When the topic of conversation turned to the frustration of house hunting in Oakland, Mrs. Ings volunteered: "Well, below the hill there is a place that is just the thing for you. It is Robert Pratt's place" (Letter 158, 1900). Ellen White was definitely interested.
Was This The Promised Refuge?
The next morning, Friday, September 28, she went down to see the "place under the hill" (Letter 132, 1900). To her surprise, it was not the William Pratt place that she had envisioned (a home in which she and James White had stayed), but a large Victorian home built by his brother Robert. She had often admired it as she drove by.
Robert Pratt, a railroad executive, was a member of a family of three who had moved to California in search of gold. William had purchased the entire little valley and mountainside where the sanitarium was now nestled. Later Robert purchased a strip of some 74 acres (30 hectares), which stretched through rich farmland up onto the hillside.
William Pratt, with his wife and family, had responded to the preaching of J. N. Loughborough and I. D. Van Horn at St. Helena in 1873 and had become charter members of the St. Helena church. Three years later he gave land on the side of the mountain near Crystal Spring for a medical institution, the Rural Health Retreat. The spring, which yielded a bountiful supply of pure soft water, was shared with his brother Robert and was just above and to the east of the institution. William Pratt's gift of land also included his half share of the spring. At the time the sanitarium was opened, this seemed an adequate water supply.
Robert, not a Seventh-day Adventist, owned the land to the south and held the other half interest in the spring. He and his wife, facing advancing age, with their children grown and gone, accepted the invitation of their youngest daughter to make their home with her in the Bay Area (Letter 146, 1900). So the Robert Pratt property was up for sale.
Farseeing Elder J. A. Burden, manager of the St. Helena Sanitarium, realized that the growing need for water would soon embarrass the institution, so he had already personally contracted to buy the Pratt property, making the initial payment of $1,000. Although the institution was in no financial position to buy the Pratt property, Burden was a man of deep faith and some daring and expected to dispose of the home and farm, retaining what was necessary for the institution and its growth.
The property represented an investment on the part of Robert Pratt of $12,000. It was sold to Elder Burden for $8,000, and in securing it he had arranged for long-term, easy payments.
Delighted with what she found, Ellen White with difficulty restrained her excitement. She wrote:
This is a most beautiful location. The surroundings are lovely. Ornamental trees from various parts of the world, flowers, mostly roses of a large variety, an orchard containing a thousand prune trees which are bearing, another orchard nearer the house, and still another orchard of live trees, are growing on the place (Letter 158, 1900).
The home was situated on a knoll in the center of 35 acres (14 hectares) of level or nearly level land. The family orchard of about three acres (one hectare) lay to the north, with trees bearing peaches, apples, nectarines, figs, cherries, apricots, and pears. Back of this was about a half acre (one metric hectare) of olive trees. On the south side of the home was a vineyard of more than five acres (two hectares) of table and wine grapes, mostly the latter. The land to the west was divided between prune orchards--which the Whites soon discovered had 2,000 trees in prime bearing condition--a garden, and hayfield. The house itself was a well-constructed, seven-room, two-story frame building, completely furnished, including carpets, drapes, linens, and dishes. Ellen White continued her description:
Well, to go back to my story, the Lord planned for me, and I found that I could buy this place here for less than I received for my house in Cooranbong and all its belongings. This included two horses, one rather old, four carriages and a platform wagon, much better than the one I gave away, and a house furnished throughout. It was like stepping out of my home in Cooranbong into a beautiful roomy one here. It has surprised me much that we should be thus favored (Letter 132, 1900).
Back of the house to the east was "the farmer's cottage," which with a little adaptation could be turned into an office building. Beyond this was a barn and stable with four horse stalls and room for storing four carriages. The hayloft could store 20 or 30 tons of hay. The cow barn had space for 22 cows; to the one cow now occupying it, it must have seemed a bit lonely. A few chickens completed the farm population. Ellen White was delighted with the carriages and wagons that were included with the place: two farm wagons, one two-seated express wagon, one double-seated covered buggy, two phaetons, an old road cart, and one hand cart. In addition, there were plows, harrows, and other farm tools (15 WCW, p. 903).
That Friday, with its discovery, seemed all too short. There was a meeting at the sanitarium on Friday evening, and Ellen White spoke to the institutional family and to the guests. On Sunday morning she could not resist the temptation to slip away from council meetings and take another look at what she felt would surely be her future home. She pondered, as she wrote later:
This place was none of my seeking. It has come to me without a thought or purpose of mine. The Lord is so kind and gracious to me. I can trust my interests with Him who is too wise to err and too good to do me harm (Letter 132, 1900).
Ellen White Purchases The Property
Ellen White and Elder Burden sat down to work out a settlement that was finally consummated on Tuesday, October 16, when she and her family moved in. Burden transferred to her the entire property--73.71 acres (30 hectares) of land--and half interest in the spring. Then, as agreed, the sanitarium bought back 8.7 acres (3.5 hectares) for a sewage-disposal area at the far west corner of the property, and 5.5 acres (2.2 hectares) for a food factory across Blackmon Canyon Creek to the east and south. For these two pieces of land and for the half interest in the spring, $3,000 was subtracted from the $8,000. Ellen White paid Burden $1,000 in cash and assumed a $4,000 mortgage with interest at 6 ¼ percent. "It is like stepping out of our home in Cooranbong," she wrote to her old friends the Farnsworths, "into one already prepared for us, without any time or care on our part" (Letter 146, 1900).
On the day of the purchase they moved in, rather jubilantly, and she reported to Elder Irwin, "We are now located in our pleasant and much-appreciated home" (Letter 127, 1900). She outlined the living arrangements. They were crowded, and would be until other buildings could be erected, particularly a home for William White and his family, who were temporarily staying at a nearby cottage. Beds were placed even in the living room.
One piece of furniture, in addition to what they found in the home, was squeezed in. It was Ellen White's comfortable writing chair, equipped with a writing board that she could swing to one side for freedom of movement. This was the only piece of furniture she had brought with her from Australia.
The general location of the home was ideal. It was two and one-half miles (four kilometers) northwest of St. Helena, and about 15 to 20 minutes' walk from the sanitarium, depending upon whether one was going or coming. In addition to its beautiful location, with hills to the south and mountains to the north and east, Ellen White particularly appreciated the fact that the home was not far from the sanitarium. Here she would often have an opportunity to address a changing audience of non-Adventists, which she enjoyed doing.
Mrs. White had traveled widely throughout her life. She had crossed the Rocky Mountains many times. She had lived in Colorado and in Switzerland. She had crossed the Alps into Italy, and traveled extensively in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. But she exclaimed in 1905, perhaps with some bias, "Certainly no place I have ever seen equals the beauty of the scenery around here" (Letter 111, 1905). At another time she wrote, "This world is not our abiding place, but I feel very grateful for the comforts of a good home. I consider the country here to be one of the most beautiful I have ever seen" (Letter 117, 1905).
Almost 100 years have passed since Ellen White's happy evaluation of Robert Pratt's choice of an ideal place to build a home. The elms for which it was named have been replaced, but the haven they provided has been a blessing and an inspiration to thousands of visitors. (About 10,000 people annually visit Elmshaven on Glass Mountain Lane.) Robert Pratt built well, and the stately house represents the finest tradition of Victorian houses. Today, as a recognized historical site, it witnesses to the special work of Ellen G. White.
And Now, Back To Work: The Priorities
Ellen White had always endeavored to obtain adequate living quarters for herself and staff. Much as she enjoyed the amenities of life, they were never the end but the means to the end--her special work. She moved into Elmshaven as quickly as she could, in mid-October, 1900.
In a number of visions in Australia, conditions, situations, and dangers that threatened the church were clearly revealed to her. Correspondence from America also disclosed some of the looming problems. Now she must face these unflinchingly and without delay.
There was the matter of the disproportionate development in the medical missionary lines, which was placing special emphasis on a work in Chicago directed toward outcasts, drunks, and prostitutes. The light given to Ellen White indicated that a certain amount of this type of work, carried out under proper safeguards, was essential and proper, but it would yield but little lasting harvest. There was grave danger of an imbalance that would divert attention from major objectives in the medical work of the church and, because of the heavy financial demands, curtail various lines of denominational work around the world. From a reliable source in Battle Creek she was informed that Dr. Kellogg had at last taken a position against her because she did not sustain him in the work he was carrying to such extremes.
Then there was the situation in which Dr. Kellogg was involved. His growing interest in and promotion of a great Christian medical work that would be undenominational in nature and not linked to a small religious body was a matter of growing concern.
Then too, Ellen White had been given views of an outbreak of fanaticism that, when developed, came to be known as the holy flesh movement. While in Australia she was shown in vision its perils and what would transpire.
There was the work among the Blacks in the South in which her son James Edson White was leading out.
These were some of the important matters that would be considered at the General Conference session, which was scheduled to meet in February. The reason she felt she must leave Australia in August was in order to be certain that she could attend this conference. Thoughtful church leaders sensed that this would be a particularly important meeting.
Where to hold the General Conference of 1901 was a matter of much discussion. At the Autumn Council in August the action taken was indecisive, with the feeling that Oakland was most likely the preferred location. Factors that seemed to point to Oakland as the logical place were the delicate nature of Ellen White's health, her dread of a long journey east in midwinter, and the state of the work in California. Nonetheless, while she dreaded returning to Battle Creek in winter, or anytime, because of the burdens that would fall upon her when she returned to that city after an absence of 10 years, deep down in her heart she knew that the time would come when she would have to spend some time in Battle Creek. In visions of the night she seemed to be bearing her testimony there in the tabernacle, and she knew that she must sometime return.
Finally, after careful consideration of the pros and cons of holding the conference at Oakland or Battle Creek, the available members of the General Conference Committee in Battle Creek voted on December 10, 1900, to hold the 1901 General Conference from April 2 to 23 in Battle Creek. Ellen White decided to attend, but her decision had not come without some cost to herself. She declared, "For a week before I fully consented to go to Battle Creek, I did not sleep past one o'clock. Some nights I was up at eleven o'clock and many nights at twelve. I have not moved from impulse, but from the conviction that at this time I must begin at Jerusalem" (Letter 159, 1900).
During the last days of December she was very active working with the churches in the Bay Area and San Francisco and Oakland. She and Elder A. G. Daniells were the main speakers for the Week of Prayer. She was quite worn out when she returned to Elmshaven. She was happy, however, with the fruitage of the rather strenuous program. The following Friday she was exhausted, and during her evening bath she fainted. Sara and Maggie succeeded in getting her to bed, where she was confined for the next two weeks. Then, upon getting up too soon, she suffered a relapse and had another period of illness. Nonetheless, she maintained her plans to attend the General Conference session in Battle Creek, even though Sara declared that she was "not fit to go anywhere," and she dreaded the trip for her (Manuscript 43a, 1901).
As the time neared for her to start her journey east, the question of where she should stay was uppermost in her mind. Dr. Kellogg invited her to stay at the sanitarium, but later invited her and her party to stay in his own home. He had a large, two-story frame house with sufficient room to accommodate the children he and his wife took in to rear. He promised to make a portion of the home available to Ellen White and her helpers, and urged that she accept the invitation.
But would it be wise to stay in the doctor's home when so much controversy swirled about him? At first she felt it would not be best. Would not people feel that she was under his influence? And then she thought, "No matter with whom I should stay, it would be said, 'Someone has been talking with Sister White, telling her about the state of the church. This is why she talks as she does'" (The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 204).
The answer came in a very forceful way. Friday evening, February 15, as she met with her family in the sitting room for worship, she was deeply burdened with a decision about Dr. Kellogg's invitation. She began to pray about it. In reporting the experience, she wrote, "I was asking the Lord where I should go and what I should do. I was for backing out.... Well, while I was praying and was sending up my petition, there was, as has been a hundred times or more, a soft light circling around the room, and a fragrance like the fragrance of flowers, of a beautiful scent of flowers" (Manuscript 43a, 1901). And a voice said, "'Respect the courtesy of My servant, John Kellogg, the physician by My appointment. He needs encouragement that you can give him. Let him put his trust in Me. My arm is strong to uphold and sustain. He may safely lean upon My strength. I have a work for him to do. He must not fail nor be discouraged'" (Letter 33, 1901).
Did the others kneeling in worship that Friday evening see the light and notice the fragrance? This is a very natural question, which she answered as she recounted the incident on April 11 at the General Conference session: "Though none of the family saw what I saw, or heard what I heard, yet they felt the influence of the Spirit, and were weeping and praising God" (The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 204).
So Dr. Kellogg's gracious invitation was accepted. Ellen White and her helpers would stay in his home.
The Long Road To Battle Creek
Now the decision must be made on the route to Battle Creek. To make the journey directly to Chicago and then Battle Creek would take them over the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies. It would be a journey she had often taken and one she dreaded, for even when her health was seemingly good she was ill-equipped to stand the high altitude.
The alternative was to take a more extended journey via Los Angeles, New Orleans, and then to Chicago and Battle Creek. This route carried attractive features for both Ellen White and her son Willie. Since returning from Australia they had not traveled 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the Elmshaven home. The southern route would give them an opportunity to spend a few days in Los Angeles surveying the work that was beginning to develop nicely in southern California. Then there was Edson White and his work in Mississippi and Tennessee. They could go to Vicksburg, see the Morning Star, inspect the development of the work in Mississippi, then travel to Nashville. There Edson had his headquarters, engaged in publishing and managing the work of the Southern Missionary Society.
So, weighing the high mountains on the more direct and quick journey against the longer trip traveling at normal elevations; weighing the advantage of seeing James Edson White in his work, all of which had been developed since she had gone to Australia, Ellen White decided in favor of travel by the southern route. Tentative appointments were made for services she might hold with Adventist churches in Los Angeles, Vicksburg, and Chicago, even though it was a question from day to day as to whether she would even be well enough to make the journey.
The trip began Thursday afternoon, March 7, with her farm manager, Iram James, driving the party to the Southern Pacific Railroad station in St. Helena. The train would connect at Port Costa with the Owl on its nightly run from Oakland. In the party were Ellen White, Sara McEnterfer, Maggie Hare, and Willie White.
Willie White had made arrangements for them to stay at the sanitarium in Los Angeles, where they could have pleasant rooms and good food. On Sabbath morning Ellen White spoke at the Los Angeles church to an audience of more than 400 people, some of whom had come from as far away as 60 miles (96 kilometers). While standing before large congregations, not infrequently she had visions that opened up to her both general situations and the experiences of individuals in her audience.
In this case she saw, like a flash of lightning, the vast possibilities of the people before her. Her response to the challenge was almost too much for her sensitive nature, and the experience resulted in days of prostration in which serious misgivings were entertained as to whether she would be able to continue her journey.
By Tuesday she had rallied a bit, and they felt that they could go on. They boarded the Sunset Limited at 8:00, found the train not crowded and a first-class compartment ready for Mrs. White and her two women helpers. They also found two bushels of large, luscious oranges at the station waiting for them. The train pulled out on time for its 60-hour trip to New Orleans.
They arrived there Thursday evening in time to catch the train for Vicksburg, Mississippi, where Edson White had pioneered the work among the Blacks.
Vicksburg And The Morning Star
How eagerly Ellen White had read all that Edson had written her about his ship while she was in Australia! Now she was actually to stay on it for a few nights. As she stepped aboard, she remembered how she had followed the boat with her prayers. She said, "Some most interesting scenes have been presented to me in connection with it. This boat has been a floating Bethel. At the gospel meetings held on it many have had the privilege of eating of the bread of life" (Manuscript 29, 1902).
She was pleased with what she found, from the boiler room on the lower deck to the printing offices where two steam presses had printed the Gospel Herald for many months, to the two staterooms, the dining room, the galley, and finally the engine room.
Immediately behind the smokestacks, at the front of the upper deck, was a business office. Just behind this were the main cabin and Edson and Emma's stateroom. In the rear portion of the upper deck was a 16' x 40' (5 meter x 12 meter) chapel, where services were conducted. Even larger meetings could be held on the third, or hurricane deck, where 200 could be seated. The third deck also had a small pilothouse, with the steering apparatus and a bunk for the pilot.
Ellen White's eager glance missed nothing. She reported, "I was pleased with the arrangement of the boat and with the efforts made to make life on it as agreeable as possible. I found that everything about the rooms fitted up as a home for my son and his wife, and their helpers, was of the simplest order. I saw nothing expensive or unnecessary" (Ibid.). Then she commented: "Perhaps some would have been unwilling to live in such narrow quarters" (Ibid.).
The Morning Star had been built well to fulfill the many purposes for which it was intended. It provided a home for Edson and Emma; a place to print the gospel message; a place on board to hold meetings; a place to meet people. It was the means of spreading the good news to a broader field than any stationary chapel. And it pioneered the way for others who would meet the tough problem of race prejudice in the South. The small staff who heroically ran the boat were definitely pioneers in the fullest meaning of the word.
These early workers and believers faced two kinds of prejudice--racial and religious. The Black ministers opposed them because they were teaching Sabbath observance and tithe paying; the White people opposed them because they were educating the Blacks and introducing new and better agricultural methods, which threatened to break the stranglehold of poverty in the delta.
Edson had begun his Vicksburg work with Sunday schools and night classes in the Mount Zion Baptist Church on Fort Hill. When he was excluded from the church for his belief in the Sabbath, he built a little chapel at the corner of Walnut and First East streets. But this was only after 10 days of fervent prayer that had resulted in permission from adamant city council members to grant a permit for building a church for the Blacks. Once the work had been established in Vicksburg, they had ventured into the heart of the delta, using the Yazoo River as their main highway. Halfway up the river to Yazoo City he had tried to establish a school for the hundreds of Black children in the area who had no facilities for education. He was soon informed by the county superintendent of education that his work must stop, and later learned that in the mob that accompanied the superintendent was one man who had volunteered to "hold a Winchester on ol' White while you-all fetch the rope."
A little later the Morning Star had been of great service to the plantation owners of the area, rescuing many of their animals during a flood. The next winter Edson brought in tons of food and clothing to relieve the suffering among the Black tenant farmers who were facing starvation from crop failures and severely cold weather. Then with some measure of confidence among both the Whites and the Blacks, they built a little chapel and schoolhouse at Calmar.
Later the work there was stopped also. On the boat Edson had edited and published a monthly journal, the Gospel Herald. One issue carried a mildly critical editorial of the sharecropper system, and this, along with the fact that so many of the Blacks were becoming Adventists and refusing to work on Saturdays, spurred the plantation owners to action. A mob of 25 men on horseback called at the school, sent the White teacher, one of Edson's men, out of town "on a rail," nailed the doors and windows shut, and burned books, maps, and charts in the schoolyard.
Then they found one of the leading Black believers in the area, N. W. Olvin, and thrashed him with a buggy whip. They stopped only when commanded to do so by a White man who brandished a revolver.
While the work was broken up at Calmar, it continued to thrive at Yazoo City and Vicksburg, and in the years shortly after Edson left for Nashville there were encouraging developments in a large number of other Mississippi towns.
One hair-raising episode occurred when the Morning Star escaped being dynamited in Yazoo City, having left town only hours earlier with the General Conference president and secretary on board. F. R. Rogers, who taught the Yazoo City school, was ordered by a mob to close his school, and was shot at in the streets.
Edson had informed his mother of these developments during her years in Australia, and her instruction was of caution and prudence as the only course available to the church if they wished to continue to witness and work in the South. This was as true for the work among the Whites as among the Blacks. Even though in his contacts Edson said nothing about political matters, even though he did not mention inequalities or the need for social justice, the mere fact that he was educating Blacks and trying to improve their economic condition nearly cost him his life and the lives of his wife, fellow workers, and believers. *
Service In Vicksburg
Ellen White scrutinized the Morning Star because of the criticism she had heard of it. She knew her son was not always careful with money, and she was glad to report to the General Conference session a few weeks later:
When I came to Vicksburg, I went on board my son's boat, the Morning Star. From the reports I had heard, I thought to find that boat fitted up very extravagantly. I found nothing of the kind. I want all to understand this (The General Conference Bulletin, 1901, 482).
Sunday morning, March 17, the new church, the second to be built in Vicksburg, was to be dedicated. It was a memorable weekend for Ellen White, her son William, and others in the traveling party. Just to be in the setting of the heart of Edson's activities and to witness the fruits of his dedicated labors and the labors of those who helped him was uplifting.
The crowning event of the visit was the Sunday dedication service. Ellen White was asked to preach the sermon. Word had gone up and down the river that the mother of James Edson White would be the speaker that Sunday morning. The report is that the church was packed. Pleased with the high caliber of people who made up the congregation, she wrote, "I know that Jesus and the angels were in the assembly, and that, as the church was dedicated to the Lord, He accepted it" (Manuscript 29, 1902).
The present Vicksburg church stands on the site of this second building, and in the early 1970s three women who had been aboard the Morning Star were still worshiping there!
En Route To Battle Creek
The travel schedule called for the party to spend Sunday night on the train en route to Nashville via Memphis. Reaching Memphis in the morning, they found that a meeting had been arranged for 9:00 (16 WCW, p. 300).
Leaving Memphis at 1:00 they arrived at Nashville at 8:30. Edson, who had hurried on ahead, was at the station with his wife, Emma, when the train pulled in! He had brought what was called the "Gospel Wagon" to pick up the party (Ibid.). They were to have two days in Nashville, with the time divided between inspecting the work that was being done there and a convention of the Southern Missionary Society.
Tuesday morning they climbed into the "Gospel Wagon," 14 in all, and Edson conducted a tour of the Adventist work in Nashville (Ibid.). This included the printing establishment, which later grew into the Southern Publishing Association, treatment rooms for the Blacks, and the treatment rooms for Whites, operated by Louis Hanson and his wife.
At the meetings of the Southern Missionary Society Ellen White spoke strongly in favor of the establishment of an industrial school near Nashville.
She "gave a straight testimony upon this point, bringing out clearly the need of such schools, and in regard to other lines of work in the South. She also spoke about the necessity of our people arousing to the needs of this field, which has been so long neglected" (Gospel Herald Supplement, March 1901).
The party left Nashville on another night journey, arriving in Chicago at
10 :00 Thursday morning, March 21. With the tenuous condition of Mrs. White's health when they left Nashville, no meetings were scheduled in Chicago. The general plan was that if she was able to do so, they would spend Thursday in Chicago and go on to Battle Creek on Thursday evening or Friday morning.
The Chicago visit was indeed an interesting one for Ellen White (Manuscript 29, 1902). In visions the work in Chicago had been opened up to her. On the basis of these visions she had written encouraging words and had sounded warnings of the perils of a disproportionate work. Such endeavors would funnel too large a percentage of available funds into a work that was good in itself but that would yield only a limited fruitage.
The church's medical school, the American Medical Missionary College, had been started in 1895 with its clinical division in Chicago. She was deeply interested in this undertaking to train physicians within the church's educational and medical structure.
The train arrived late in Chicago, but they found a number of workers waiting to meet them. Ellen White was urged to remain over and speak on Sabbath, which she consented to do. When she was told that the medical workers in Chicago would like to hear from her, she also consented to speak at the medical school to students, helpers, and patients. She was pleased when it was suggested that she might have a hydrotherapy treatment at the sanitarium's branch at 33rd Place. Miss S. M. Gallion, a youthful Battle Creek Sanitarium nurse, gave her an hour of bath and massage.
Sabbath morning Ellen White spoke with freedom to a congregation of about 650 (16 WCW, p. 307). Looking back later, she wrote, "It was only by the Lord's help that I was enabled to do this work, for I was weary from traveling, and was not free from pain for a moment" (Manuscript 29, 1902).