Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 19 (1904)

Lt 319, 1904

White, May; White, Henry; White, Herbert; White, Gracie

Los Angeles, California

December 4, 1904

This letter is published in entirety in 14MR 230-235.

My dear daughter May Lacey White, and Henry, Herbert, and Gracie,—

A week ago last Tuesday Sara, Maggie, and I left San Diego and came to Los Angeles. Brother Burden met us at the station and took us to the restaurant, where we had dinner. In the afternoon we came out to Glendale, to the new sanitarium, where we have been staying ever since. We found much to do, and the brethren have held several important meetings. We are glad to be able to write that the business which has kept us here is closing up. In a board meeting held today the most difficult point was settled. Brother Simpson resigned his place as manager of the sanitarium and has been appointed purchasing agent for the sanitarium and restaurant. This is the last hard piece of work, and now I am sure that other matters will be easily adjusted, and we shall soon be able to start for home. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 1

We shall go to Redlands tomorrow, to stay over Sabbath and Sunday. The next week we shall go to Fernando and then to Mountain View. We are pleasantly situated here, but I am longing for home. I do so much want to see you all. Your father has worked very hard, and he wants to go home as much as you want him to come. But the future of the work here demanded our staying for awhile. We could not have gone home earlier; for we felt that we must do something to help this sanitarium to get started on right lines. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 2

Brother Burden has been chosen as manager of the institution and Sister Burden as bookkeeper, and we feel sure that they will be fully competent to carry forward successfully their work in connection with the sanitarium. They will labor faithfully and earnestly. But the way had to be prepared so that they could work to advantage. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 3

There are at Redlands some brethren and sisters who are able to help the institution with their means. We hope to meet these people and to inspire in them such confidence in the management of the sanitarium that they will feel free to give of their means and make liberal loans. The sanitarium is just beginning its work, and it greatly needs this help. The Lord has worked on minds, and a much more favorable condition of things exists here now than has existed for some time. We hope much from this, and we pray much that the Lord may soften hearts by His grace, and that His truth may triumph. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 4

I was very sick for three weeks after reaching San Diego. I am still weak, but I am slowly growing stronger. I am thankful to our heavenly Father that He has been gracious to us and has spared my life. I caught cold in some way, and for a long time my throat was very sore. I coughed a great deal. During the time that I was the worst, I kept close to my room and did not allow any one to come in but Sara and Maggie. I isolated myself, fearing that other members of the family might catch the influenza from me. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 5

I have not slept well since leaving home because whether sick or well, I have carried a heavy burden for these two sanitariums in Southern California. The buildings that have been purchased have stood for many years unoccupied, and there has been much to do to fit them up for patients. When we reached the Paradise Valley, we found that Brother and Sister Palmer had accomplished a great deal in repairing the building and buying furniture. Nearly half the rooms in the sanitarium are furnished. Brother Palmer found some beautiful furniture for sale by wealthy peoples leaving the district, and he purchased this furniture for the sanitarium. It is of first-class quality, but cost only as much as cheap furniture. The furniture includes bureaus, washstands, rugs, easy chairs, and a good sideboard for the dining room. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 6

We found the workmen busy digging a well on the lower part of the land. This work has gone forward successfully, without accident of any kind, and I am very glad to be able to tell you that a good supply of soft, pure water has been found. The workmen went down ninety feet, and one morning, when they went to work, they found eighteen feet of water in the well, with all their tools at the bottom. That morning Brother Palmer and your father came to my room, their faces lighted up with smiles, to tell me about the water in the well. O I wish you could have seen the joy in their faces. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 7

To get the water out of the well was the problem now. The workmen set the pumping engine going at once, but they found that this lowered the water very slowly. So they sent for a larger cylinder and a larger pipe, and finally they got the water pumped out. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 8

They dug down a few feet farther and then began making a large reservoir to hold the water flowing in. It will be a difficult matter to make this reservoir, but the well digger thoroughly understands his business and is making steady progress. I shall be glad to hear that the work on this new well has all been so successfully accomplished. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 9

We hope that you can all see the Paradise Valley Sanitarium sometime, but we are glad that you were not with us this time; for the workmen were busy all over the house, painting the floors and the sides of the rooms and halls, and you would not have found it very enjoyable. When they began painting at San Diego, I was afraid that the smell of the paint might hurt me, so we came to Glendale. And lo, we found the same thing going on here. But so far the smell of the paint has not troubled me at all. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 10

There is already one patient in the Paradise Valley Sanitarium. She seems to be a very nice woman. Other patients are waiting and will come as soon as the building is ready. The night before we left, Sara said to me, “Two more patients came this evening.” “Where will they put them?” I asked. “In the barn, I guess,” was her answer. Then she explained that these patients were the two cows that some one in San Pasqual had given to the sanitarium. San Pasqual is thirty miles away, and the cows were brought overland in a large wagon drawn by four horses. Your father and some of the brethren visited this place while we were in San Diego and told the brethren and sisters there about the sanitarium and its needs. As a result, they received quite a little sum of money, some poultry, and these two cows. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 11

The workmen at the sanitarium are all cheerful and hardworking. Every morning and evening they have a season of worship. For a day or two after reaching here, I met with them and enjoyed this privilege very much. The blessing of the Lord rested upon us, and I was very sorry when sickness prevented me from attending. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 12

Before we left, Sister Palmer had a touch of influenza, and since reaching here we have heard that Sister Rathbun, her mother, has come down with it. They feared that Brother Palmer also would take it. But I do not think they caught it from me; for the influenza is going all through San Diego. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 13

Children, he helpful to your mother. Obey her word promptly, and the Lord will bless you. God said, “I know Abraham, that he will”—coax? no;—“that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment.” [Genesis 18:19.] God expects parents to bring their children up to obey Him. Should your father and mother allow you to do wrong things, without correcting you, they would displease God. Those parents who allow children to have their own way are neglecting their duty, and God will hold them accountable for not restraining their children. Many parents indulge their children and thus encourage habits that ought to be corrected. Unless these habits are corrected, the children will grow up with unlovely, disagreeable characters. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 14

God wants you, Henry and Herbert, to behave like little gentlemen. When you speak kind words and do right deeds, you are forming characters that God can approve. He will be pleased to call you the lambs of His flock, and He will bless you. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 15

The angels of heaven are guarding and guiding you constantly, always keeping you from harm and danger. I pray that your words and acts may be such that God can look upon them with approval. Dear children, do not allow yourselves to do one wrong act. Your father and mother love you, but they cannot love wrongdoing. They are made very sorry when you do wrong. Will you not try to remember this? Will you not try to overcome all your faults because you love Jesus who gave His life for you? 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 16

Indulgence hurts the characters of children and makes them such as God cannot approve. Your father and mother are trying to bring you up to be unselfish, truthful, kind, tenderhearted. They want to help you to prepare for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for you. He has promised to come again and take you to Himself, that where He is, there you may be also. Then put away every fault, and prepare yourselves to be received into the heavenly home, where you will be happy forever and ever. 19LtMs, Lt 319, 1904, par. 17