Ellen White: Woman of Vision

Ellen White's Recreation

Though Ellen White spent much time in concentrated effort to meet her obligations as a messenger of the Lord, she also took time for activities she especially enjoyed: carriage rides to various scenic spots and picking fruit. She contrived to arrange her program so that short practical trips could be made that would rest her mind and body. Somehow, traveling by carriage did something for her that nothing else could. WV 410.3

On a Sunday in mid-July, feeling the need for a change, she spent the day in an excursion to find cherries. Accompanied by Sara McEnterfer and Iram James, she picked eight quarts (nine liters), largely for canning. She rejoiced in the progress in building her writing room over the kitchen and reported that she was “enjoying much better health” than she “ever enjoyed in the past” (Manuscript 138, 1902). The fruit crop in northern California that summer was abundant, and she got some of her exercise picking peaches, plums, and apples. WV 410.4