Ellen G. White — Messenger to the Remnant

Sabbath and Home Routine

The Sabbath in the White home was a full day, spent in attending service, reading to the children in the afternoon, walking through the woods or by the stream, and visiting the sick or discouraged. EGWMR 104.2

Mrs. White usually did her writing at home in a room set aside for her office, but for a period she shared her husband’s office at the Review and Herald. Sometimes when she went over she found work pressing hard in the bindery, and there she would join others in folding or stitching papers, book signatures, or pamphlets. (Diary, January 5, March 28, 29, 1859.) EGWMR 104.3

Our ministers were not infrequently called to Battle Creek for general meetings. So it was in early March, 1859. The diary entry records a parting visit with one of these workers, the youthful John Nevins Andrews. EGWMR 104.4

“It is a day when infirmities are striving for the victory. I suffer much pain in my left shoulder and lung. My spirits are depressed. Brother John Andrews leaves today, comes up to visit us in the evening. Have a pleasant interview. EGWMR 104.5

“Get together a few things for him to take home. Send Angeline a new calico dress (nine shillings) and a stout pair of calf skin shoes. Father gives the making of the shoes and the making of a pair of boots for Brother John Andrews. I send the little boy a nice little flannel shirt and yam to knit him a pair of stockings. I send Sister or Mother Andrews a nice large cape well wadded for her to wear. I make a bag to put them in of towel cloth. Write three small pages to Sister Mary Chase. In it write a recipe obtained from John.”—Diary, March 8, 1859. EGWMR 104.6

The White home was always open to visitors, and at times it seemed to the family that they operated a gratuitous hotel. Conference time in 1859 finds thirty-five eating at their home. The day after the conference there is but one brief entry: “We were all much worn out.”—Diary, June 7, 1859. EGWMR 104.7

The diary story for that and other years records many individuals and families who were welcomed to the home for a night or a day or two or longer. This brought a heavy strain on the family budget, increased the labor in the home, and deprived the family of much of that privacy to which they were entitled. What this entertaining sometimes meant personally to Mrs. White is revealed in a letter penned in 1873 to one of our workers: EGWMR 104.8

“I have arisen at half past five o’clock in the morning, helped Lucinda wash dishes, have written until dark, then done necessary sewing, sitting up until near midnight; I have done the washings for the family after my day’s writing was done. I have frequently been so weary as to stagger like an intoxicated person, but praise the Lord I have been sustained”—Letter 1, 1873. EGWMR 104.9

The meals were simple, but there was ample wholesome food. After receiving the light on health reform, the table conformed to the instruction given. The cooking was usually well done except when new, untrained help first came to the home. Mrs. White wrote in 1870: EGWMR 104.10

“I have a well-set table on all occasions. I make no change for visitors, whether believers or unbelievers. I intend never to be surprised by an unreadiness to entertain at my table from one to half a dozen extra who may chance to come in. I have enough simple, healthful food ready to satisfy hunger and nourish the system. If any want more than this, they are at liberty to find it elsewhere. No butter or flesh-meats of any kind come on my table. Cake is seldom found there. I generally have an ample supply of fruits, good bread, and vegetables. Our table is always well patronized, and all who partake of the food do well, and improve upon it. All sit down with no epicurean appetite, and eat with relish the bounties supplied by our Creator.”—Testimonies for the Church 2:487. EGWMR 104.11

Those in the White home found a good latitude of freedom in the matter of their personal diet. EGWMR 104.12

“I do not hold myself up as a criterion for them. I leave each one to follow his own ideas as to what is best for him. I bind no one else’s conscience by my own.... There are those in my family who are very fond of beans, while to me beans are poison. Butter is never placed on my table, but if the members of my family choose to use a little butter away from the table they are at liberty to do so. Our table is set twice a day, but if there are those who desire something to eat in the evening, there is no rule that forbids them from getting it.”—Counsels on Diet and Foods, 491. EGWMR 104.13