Printed in the Review and Herald, June 13, 1935
The payment for purchases made in New York City of a Washington hand press, with the type and other equipment and supplies necessary for the operation of a small printing office in Rochester, was made possible by the generosity of big-hearted Hiram Edson. After making a liberal donation, he lent $600 to be repaid as donations for the printing plant were received from the brethren. Calls were made in the Review, and in a few months' notice was given that "the friends of the cause have cheerfully and promptly paid in their donations to the amount of $605.84."--Review and Herald, August 19, 1852.
On account of a delay in the arrival of the press, the first number of Volume III of the Review and Herald, dated May 6, 1852, was struck off at another office. While it was being printed, the press arrived from New York City in good order, and was soon ready for use.
Diligent search had been made, and at 124 Mount Hope Avenue, a house had been found that was thought to be large enough to accommodate both the family and the printing plant. It was very roomy, and the rent was only $175 a year. The plot of ground on which it stood, about an acre, gave promise of a garden, and there was a place for faithful old Charlie, the beautiful horse given them by the brethren in Vermont.
Thirty days after the close of the meeting at Ballston, at which plans had been made for moving the Review and Herald to Rochester, a letter was written to the Howlands, in Topsham, Maine, relating in a cheerful strain the experiences of getting settled. Second-hand furniture, bought at very low prices, had been secured a little at a time as means permitted, until the house was scantily furnished. Among specific purchases mentioned, are two old bedsteads at twenty-five cents each, six mismatched chairs for one dollar, and another four, with no seating, for sixty-two cents. Mrs. White seated the last with drilling.
Family Life in Rochester
With the occupancy of the big house in Rochester, there began a new and notable experience in the life of James and Ellen White. Here for the first time they had a large family to board and care for. As numbers were added to the working force, the family increased until the rooms occupied by the printing equipment were needed for living quarters.
So the printing business was moved to South St. Paul Street, Stone's Block, No. 21, third floor. The Review dated October 14, 1852, went forth from this new location.
Records are not complete as to who composed the family during the following three years, but we can name some of them.
At first there were James and Ellen White; little Edson, and his nurse, Clarissa Bonfoey; Stephen and Sarah Belden, and Annie Smith. Soon Janie Fraser was employed as cook. For a short time Thomas and Mary Mead were members of the family and office force. Then came Oswald Stowell, who acted as pressman.
In the autumn, Warren Bacheller, a boy of thirteen, joined the force, and served as roller boy while learning typesetting. In the spring of 1853, Uriah Smith joined the family, and in the autumn, George Amadon, a young man of seventeen, also became a member of the little company. These three were to grow gray in the service of the Review and Herald. Later on they were joined by Fletcher Byington, a son of Elder John Byington, of northern New York.
As none of these had learned the printer's trade before coming to Rochester, it was necessary to employ a skilled printer to superintend the work and teach the beginners. For this position a very competent man was found in Lumen V. Masten, with whom Elder White had become acquainted in Saratoga Springs. He had been in the employ of the Davidson Printing Company. He was the son of a widow, a devout Methodist, and had been given a good religious training. He was a wholesome, moral young man, about twenty-two years of age, yet had never made any profession of religion.
He accepted the invitation of James White to connect with the printing work in Rochester, agreeing to work for a moderate wage and to rest on the Sabbath and work on Sunday. On reaching Rochester he secured board and lodging with a Christian family near the place where the Review was printed.
That the money given to support the publishing work might go as far as possible, the strictest economies were practiced. Writing about their bill of fare during the first weeks in Rochester, Ellen White said, "Butter is too high. We do not purchase it, neither can we afford potatoes. We are willing to endure privations, if the work of God can be advanced."
Janie Fraser was young, buoyant, and energetic, but she was not what one would call a trained cook. Though she did not understand the desirable balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates necessary to be maintained, yet she fully understood the value of inexpensive foods, and especially of porridge and beans. She was a steadfast economist, and knew that a dollar's worth of beans would go farther in the feeding of a family of fifteen or more persons, seven of whom were hearty men and boys, than a dollar's worth of any other food.
After Uriah Smith had been in the family for a few weeks, he remarked to a comrade, that though he had no objection to eating beans 365 times in succession, yet when it came to making them a regular diet, he should protest!
A Field of Potatoes Found
Soon after the printing equipment had been placed, and the family settled, it was arranged to have a portion of the land plowed for a spring garden. As the plowman began his work, numerous potatoes were turned up. They were small, but sound and good. The garden had been planted the preceding year to potatoes, but as it was a year of drouth, the crop had not matured, and it had not been harvested. The winter had been mild, and the little potatoes had not frozen.
Potatoes were scarce and high-priced, and here was an opportunity to get a few without money. So Ellen White seized a tin pail and followed the plowman, picking up several bucketfuls, which she carried to the house.
This, with her ideas of economy and her knowledge of the necessities of the big family, seemed perfectly natural. Not so to Lumen Masten, the head printer. He was shocked to see Mrs. White following the plow and picking up the potatoes, and exclaimed, "Is that my employer's wife out there following the plow, picking up those little potatoes. Then he declared he would not work for such a concern.
Afterward, when he learned from Mrs. White that she considered it a religious duty to gather up the fragments and let nothing be lost, he calmed down and went on with his work.
Though there was abundance of wholesome food suitable for sturdy young men and boys, yet there was a lack of foods most suitable for James and Ellen White, who had become enfeebled by continuous care and anxiety over the literary part of the work. In later years, as they looked back upon this experience of overwork and extreme economy, they could see that herein was one of the potent causes for feebleness that opened the way for perilous diseases.
A Severe Trial of Faith
During May, June, and July, 1852, the matter of organizing the new printing plant, and sending forth seven numbers of the Review absorbed the time and energies of all members of the household. Two thousand copies of the paper were printed of each issue, which came from the press every other Thursday.
The labors of the ministers in the constantly broadening field were greatly blessed. And from the companies won to Sabbath observance, there came many appeals for Elder and Mrs. White to visit them. Those newly come to the faith desired to see the editor of the Review and the one who had been favored with heavenly visions. So early in August, it was decided that they should make an extended trip to the northern part of New York and east into the New England States. This tour, which occupied seven weeks, was made with their horse and covered carriage.
As the time neared when they were to begin their journey, little Edson, now three years old, was attacked with cholera. As was their custom in time of sickness, they appealed to the Great Physician. Taking the suffering child in her arms, his mother rebuked the disease in the name of Jesus. Immediate relief came, and as another sister began to pray that the Lord would heal him, Edson looked up in astonishment and said, "They need not pray any more, for the Lord has healed me." The disease was evidently checked, yet the faith of the parents was severely tried, for the boy remained very weak.
They felt that they could not disappoint those with whom they had made appointments. Their solicitude for the child made it impossible for them to leave him in the care of others; and to take him with them seemed perilous. What should they do?
At length, two days before they must leave to keep their first appointment, they presented the case to the Lord, promising that if the child should show an appetite to eat, they would accept this as an evidence that they should venture. One day passed, with no change. The second day, however, he called for broth, and it nourished him.
Four hours later they started on their journey. Ellen White carried her sick child on a pillow, and they rode for twenty miles. The further story of the journey, as told by her, is as follows:
"He seemed very nervous that night. He could not sleep, and I held him in my arms nearly the whole night.
"The next morning we consulted together as to whether to return to Rochester or go on. The family who had entertained us said that if we went on, we would bury the child on the road; and to all appearance it would be so. But I dared not go back to Rochester. We believed the affliction of the child was the work of Satan, to hinder us from traveling; and we dared not yield to him. I said to my husband. 'If we go back, I shall expect the child to die. He can but die if we go forward. Let us proceed on our journey, trusting in the Lord.'
"We had before us a journey of about one hundred miles to perform in two days, yet we believed that the Lord would work for us in this time of extremity. I was much exhausted, and feared I should fall asleep and let the child fall from my arms; so I laid him upon my lap, and tied him to my waist, and we both slept that day over much of the distance. The child revived and continued to gain strength the whole journey, and we brought him home quite rugged.
"The Lord greatly blessed us on our journey to Vermont. My husband had much care and labor. At the different conferences he did most of the preaching, sold books, and labored to extend the circulation of the paper. When one conference was over, we would hasten to the next."--"Life Sketches of James and Ellen G. White," pp. 144, 145, ed., 1915.
"The Youth's Instructor"
Just before leaving for this journey, there had appeared from the new press at Rochester, the first number of an eight-page monthly paper entitled, The Youth's Instructor. "For some time," wrote James White in the introductory article, "we have been impressed that we had a more special work to do for the youth, but have not been able to commence it until the present time. We now cheerfully engage in this work, praying the Lord to help."
Four simple Sabbath school lessons were given in the first issue, on the subjects of the Sabbath, the law of God, and the ark, each followed by questions. This arrangement naturally suggested the weekly sessions of a Sabbath school for children. On their journeys, while stopping for the noonday lunch, and as old Charlie was enjoying the wayside grass, Elder White would write on the top of his hat or on the lunch box, some of the lessons for the next number of the Instructor.