Angel Over Her Tent

Chapter 6—Letters to the Boys

The whites spent a large part of their time traveling, visiting the scattered little groups of Adventists. During the 1840’s, 1850’s, and 1860’s travel was difficult. Railroads existed in only a few places, and travel by rail was extremely slow and uncomfortable by today’s standards. Coaches had no air-conditioning, and only a tiny stove for heating. Wooden benches served as seats, and the coaches rattled over crude iron rails that often broke. Frequent wrecks and derailments made riding in the wooden coaches hazardous. Rain and snow often delayed or stopped the trains, preventing regular schedules. But the railroads were the best and fastest method of travel then available. AOT 49.1

Where no railroad tracks yet ran, the Whites journeyed by even slower kinds of transportation. They often rode in canalboats such as cruised along the Erie Canal. Away from the canals and rivers, they drove a horse and buggy. In the winter they used a sleigh. Sometimes they bounced along in stagecoaches, which traveled between many of the villages and towns. But no matter how slow and uncomfortable the method, the Whites knew they had to visit the Adventist believers. Fanaticism and indifference threatened to destroy the Seventh-day Adventist Church before it began. God had chosen Mrs. White to warn the Adventists of fanaticism and heresy, and to bring them the additional knowledge about the Bible that they desperately needed. James White constantly preached wherever a few Adventists gathered, and he helped provide guidance and leadership for the struggling church. AOT 49.2

When Mrs. White gave birth to her first child, the couple faced a serious problem. The church needed their leadership desperately—they must travel. But what, they wondered, should they do with their child? Traveling would be too hard on him. Eventually they decided to leave little Henry Nichols White with friends such as the Howlands of Topsham, Maine, while they traveled through New England, New York, and farther west. AOT 50.1

The Whites had three other sons. One—John Herbert—died in infancy. The other two, like Henry, lived with friends while James and Ellen visited and preached to the developing Adventist churches. Naturally Mrs. White missed her children and wished she could stay with them. But she could not. When the boys learned to read, however, she wrote them letters, often one each day. In them she told her sons the latest news and expressed her love for them. Also she tried to teach them the lessons of Christian behavior. The following is a letter she wrote from Ohio to Henry and James Edson when Edson was eight years old: “My dear Henry and Edson: AOT 50.2

“Dear children, your mother has not forgotten you. She thinks of you many times every day. We hope you will be good and faithful children. Your parents have to travel from place to place among the people of God to try to do them good and save souls. AOT 51.1

“The Lord has inclined ... Jenny and Martha [friends of the Whites] to come into our family, to feel an interest for you, to love you, and to care for you, that we may leave home feeling free. They are not related to you. They make a sacrifice. What for? Because they love you. When you grieve them, you grieve your parents also. It is not a desirable task to have the care of children if they are ungrateful and disobedient. If you perseveringly try to do right, you will make them happy, and they will feel it a pleasure to deny themselves to have a care for you. When asked to do anything, do not say, ‘Wait a minute, till I do this.’ It is unpleasant to repeat to you the same things. Now, dear children, obey because you love to, not because you are driven to. I shall have confidence that you will do as I wish you to. I shall confide in your honor, your manliness. AOT 51.2

“I have been thinking, what if either of you should be taken sick and die, and your father and mother see you no more? Would you be prepared to die? Do you love God better than anyone else? Can you forget your play to think of God, to go away alone and ask Him for Jesus’ sake to forgive your sins? I know that much of your time is taken up with your studies and with doing errands; but, dear children, don’t forget to pray. The Lord loves to have children pray to Him. And if you really repent and feel sorry for your sins, God will forgive your sins for Jesus’ sake. AOT 51.3

“Many times I ask myself the question, Will my dear children be saved in the kingdom? I cannot bear the thought of their being shut out of the city with the wicked. I love my children, but God says that only the good and the holy can be saved. And if you will overcome your wrongs, love one another, and be at peace among yourselves, the Lord will bless and save you. You cannot be good, or do right, in your own strength. You must go to God and ask Him for strength. Ask Him that His grace may influence your hearts, and make you right. Believe the Lord will do it; trust Him to do it. You can be little Christians; you can love and serve God.” AOT 52.1

The letter sounds formal and stilted to modern readers. During the nineteenth century many regarded children and youth as little adults. Consequently they wrote letters to them full of adult terms and phrases. But Mrs. White’s concern for her sons shows through, and when some adult would read the letter to them, the boys understood what their mother meant. Growing up in a minister’s family, they would be more familiar with theological words and expressions than most children. And their mother’s interest in their character showed her love. AOT 52.2

In her extensive travels Mrs. White often observed things that forcefully reminded her that she was blessed to have strong, healthy sons. On October 15, 1859, she wrote to Edson from Enosburgh, Vermont, describing one such experience: “I want to tell you a little circumstance. Yesterday we were with a family where there was a ... sick lame boy. He is a cripple for life, and never will be able to walk or run like other boys. We inquired into the case and found this ... boy’s affliction was caused by his going into a brook of water when he was warm. He has since been a great sufferer. He has an ugly sore on his hip which runs all the time, and one limb is drawn up some inches shorter than the other. He is a pale, sickly, feeble fellow; has been so for five years. You may sometimes think we are too careful of you, and are too particular to keep you out of the river. My dear boy, think of this poor cripple. How easy it is for young children like you to be a little careless, or venturesome, and make themselves cripples or invalids for life. I thought, What if this poor boy was mine; what if I should be compelled to see you suffer so? Oh, how my heart would ache that I had not been more careful of you. Eddie, I could but weep as I thought of these things. Your father and mother love you very much. We instruct and warn you for your good.” AOT 52.3

Mrs. White may seem to have worried too much, but she had ample cause. Sickness raged throughout the nineteenth century. People had to be constantly careful lest they pick up an infection or injury. With only a few crude medicines available, they had to hope their bodies would manage to fight off disease unaided. Poor food and living conditions generally lowered a person’s resistance to sickness. Faced with such dangers, Mrs. White and others considered avoiding all possible chances of illness and injury as the best thing to do. She urged her sons to always be careful, for she saw all about her the death and crippling that came to those who made mistakes. What actually crippled the boy Mrs. White met is not known. Perhaps it was polio, perhaps something else. But she determined not to allow her boys to risk such crippling. Unfortunately, she could not protect them from all disease. Both John Herbert and Henry Nichols died young. AOT 53.1

Strongly sensing her duty to raise her sons with good Christian characters, Ellen G. White often spoke in her letters about correct personality traits. Once she wrote to Henry about the importance of honesty. AOT 54.1

“We hope you are well and happy. Be a good, steady boy. If you only fear God and love Him, our happiness will be complete. You can be a noble boy. Love truthfulness and honesty. These are sacred treasures. Do not lay them aside for a moment. You may be tempted and often tried, but, my dear boy, it is at such a time when these lovely treasures shine, and are highly prized. Cling closely to these precious traits, whatever you may be called to suffer. Let truthfulness and honesty ever live in your heart. Never, through fear of punishment, sacrifice these noble traits. The Lord will help you, Henry, to do right. I believe it is your purpose to do right, and please your parents. AOT 54.2

“You may see little dishonest acts in other boys, but do not think for a moment of imitating them. Learn to despise such things. Do not condescend to mean talk, or to mean acts. Shun the company of those who do evil, as you would deadly poison; for they will corrupt everyone who associates with them. Ever have your young mind lifted up—elevated above the low, evil habits of those who have no fear of God before them. You can have correct thoughts, correct ways, and can form a good, pure character.... AOT 54.3

“I must close. Do right because you love to. Preserve these letters I write to you, and read them often, and if you should be left without a mother’s care, they will be a help to you.” AOT 55.1

Mrs. White’s letters often provided her only means of contact with her children. Wanting her boys to grow up to be good Christians, she filled the letters to them with advice and instruction. The two sons that did not die in childhood—James Edson and William Clarence—spent long lives serving the denomination. James Edson carried on many evangelistic and publishing activities in the southern part of the United States. William Clarence—his friends called him Willie—held many church positions, but spent much of his life helping his mother with her writing and travels. Mrs. White was a good mother despite the difficulty of having to travel so much. The lives of her sons reveal her success. AOT 55.2