The Story of our Health Message

The Daily Program

The day’s work was regulated by a printed daily program. At the early hour of five in the morning the rising bell aroused the sleeping inmates of the home. The kerosene lamps by which they studied were to be extinguished at ten in the evening, “unless special permission otherwise” was granted by the matron. Fifteen minutes morning and evening were devoted to the worship period, and two silent periods of twenty minutes each afforded opportunity for individual quiet meditation. Class session at the university lasted from nine thirty in the forenoon till five in the afternoon, with an hour and a half of intermission for dinner. Ibid., October and November, 1891. SHM 268.1

“Sabbath is as busy a day with the students as any other day of the week, but in a different line,” we are informed by Dr. Kellogg, who reports a visit to the students’ home at Ann Arbor. (Ibid.) As on week days, everybody was awake at five o’clock in the morning. At nine o’clock the entire family joined a group Bible class under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A. The regular Sabbath school hour was followed by a church service, and another meeting for Bible study was held in the afternoon. SHM 268.2

The religious life of the medical students in Ann Arbor was not confined to Bible study and prayer. They found time for Christian service of varied kinds. The conducting of Sabbath schools, Sunday schools, work with gospel literature, and ministry to the needy poor were expressions of their practical interest in their neighbors. Through their influence many of their fellow students became interested in the principles of health and temperance. A hygienic boarding house was soon established in the city, which proved inadequate to accommodate the large number of people who were led to appreciate the advantages of dietetic reform. In the second year at Ann Arbor, one of the students wrote: SHM 268.3

“First one and then another of our number found openings for personal Bible work, until at the present time several spend all their spare time in this work, and every day brings with it a cheerful report of an awakening love for God in the hearts of those who are the recipients of this instruction. ... The knowledge of nursing is a great blessing to us in our work for the poor, for many hearts have been cheered by a little suitable treatment applied to aching heads and painful joints.”—Ibid., June, 1893. SHM 269.1