Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 17 (1902)

Ms 225, 1902

“We have had rain, rain ...”

St. Helena, California

December 12, 1902

Previously unpublished.

We have had rain, rain, day after day—not a violent storm but a still, misty rain, with clouds and darkness in the heavens. We hear of violent winds and tempests and heavy falls of snow, causing great inconvenience to travel, and blizzards in all places where such things are expected—and they are coming to take in a large circumference of places where they seldom appear. But we have had nothing unusual here. We are in Napa Valley, close by Howell Mountain, and we look upon scenery that in all my journeying I have not yet seen surpassed. 17LtMs, Ms 225, 1902, par. 1

Notwithstanding there is a dearth of water in many places, we are not troubled. We have our supply coming from our own possession of lands brought in pipes to our land and within our dwelling—pure water from the mountains. We are surrounded with higher and lower mountains covered mostly with fir trees, madrones, manzanita, pine, and live oak, always dressed in their green foliage. We have had only soft, gently falling rains coming upon our lands, preparing them for the sowing and then for the gathering. We have had no violent winds, no tempests, no earthquakes, no volcano eruptions. 17LtMs, Ms 225, 1902, par. 2

We have been in sight of the everlasting hills now for two years, and I am very thankful to my heavenly Father for this quiet resting place. On the water I was instructed that the Lord had prepared a refuge for me, where I could be away from the city and the noise of cars and bustle and confusion and prepare to bring out the writings that should come to the people from the Word of God. The people do not search the Scriptures, but the light is to come to them in various ways; and their attention will be called to the truth in reading the published matter found in the Scriptures and presented to the world in an attractive form. 17LtMs, Ms 225, 1902, par. 3

Here we are located near the food factory and in the valley close by the Sanitarium. The scenery is very beautiful. I know of no place that can compare with this Sanitarium location. It is healthful, and the scenery delights the senses, and houses are not all crowded up into a small space. The Sanitarium is located at the lower part of Howell Mountain, overlooking Napa Valley, and below this half-mile rise is Pratt Valley. Here the Widow Pratt is located. Her husband owned the land upon which the Health Retreat now stands. The premises that are now occupied by myself and workers were purchased of Robert Pratt, brother to Widow Pratt’s husband, who had for many years been a believer in the seventh-day Sabbath, and in the Bible just as it reads. 17LtMs, Ms 225, 1902, par. 4

Here we have, in addition to our house, a neat, commodious eight-room office building to accommodate my workers. It is situated so near that we can call them easily, and a plank walk extends from one building to the others—the office, the woodshed, and the wash-house, with which is connected the bathroom. We renovated a small cottage, also in near connection with us, supposing we could use this for our office, but this could not be. The several typewriters disturbed the editors, and the work demanded above everything else rooms suitable for my workers. We are accommodated in this. 17LtMs, Ms 225, 1902, par. 5

Here we are doing all we possibly can to produce the books we have tried to complete in Australia, but could not. The twentieth part of that which we desired to have done could not be done. There were new fields to be opened, new territory to be annexed, and new churches to be built. Thus we labored and could do only a limited amount of the writing that we tried to do. Located as we now are, we can, if we remain at our own home and are not called away too frequently to attend meetings in distant places, do the writing that has been long neglected. We have reason to be grateful to our heavenly Father for this very place in the valley. It just suits us and we pronounce it a healthy location. 17LtMs, Ms 225, 1902, par. 6