Manuscript Release No. 728

Monday, April 23, 1900, Sunnyside, Cooranbong, Australia, EGW to G. A. Irwin

[President of the General Conference, 1897-1901.]

Dear Brother,

My copyists you have seen. They do not change my language. It stands as I write it. MR728 40.1

Marian's work is of a different order altogether. She is my bookmaker. A _____ never was my bookmaker. How are my books made? Marian does not put in her claim for recognition. She does her work in this way: She takes my articles which are published in the papers, and pastes them in blank books. She also has a copy of all the letters I write. In preparing a chapter for a book, Marian remembers that I have written something on that special point, which may make the matter more forcible. She begins to search for this, and if when she finds it, she sees that it will make the chapter more clear, she adds it. MR728 41.1

The books are not Marian's productions, but my own, gathered from all my writings. Marian has a large field from which to draw, and her ability to arrange the matter is of great value to me. It saves my poring over a mass of matter, which I have no time to do. MR728 41.2

So you understand that Marian is a most valuable help to me in bringing out my books. A_____ had none of this work to do. Marian has read chapters to her, and A_____ has sometimes made suggestions as to the arrangement of the matter. MR728 41.3

This is the difference between the workers. As I have stated, A_____ has been strictly forbidden to change my words for her words. As spoken by the heavenly agencies, the words are severe in their simplicity; and I try to put the thoughts into such simple language that a child can understand every word uttered. The words of someone else would not rightly represent me. MR728 41.4

I have written thus fully in order that you may understand the matter. A_____ may claim that she has made my books, but she has not done so. This has been Marian's field, and her work is far in advance of any work A_____ has done for me.—Letter 61a, 1900, pp. 4-5. (The first part of this quotation appears in The Ministry, December, 1975, pp. 14, 15). MR728 41.5