White, J. E.; White, Emma
[Granville, New South Wales, Australia]
July 27, 1894
See Lt 85, 1894. Previously unpublished. +NoteOne or more typed copies of this document contain additional Ellen White handwritten interlineations which may be viewed at the main office of the Ellen G. White Estate.
Dear Children:
If you were here, you could have a bushel of oranges for less than twenty-five cents. Mandarins are also very plentiful and are preferable to oranges. The mandarin is a smaller fruit than the orange, flattened at both ends. We eat largely of fruit. You might have a full supply every day for a trifling sum. The market is glutted with oranges; but mandarins bring a higher price. 9LtMs, Lt 105, 1894, par. 1
It is half past four o’clock and two men have just come in from Sydney, saying they have had no dinner. We satisfy their necessities, and they go on their long journey to Dora Creek, stopping over night at Kellyville among our brethren there, and starting early tomorrow morning for the school grounds. It is seventy-five miles from here to Dora Creek. We have provided for their journey. Another one now comes in hungry for something to eat. Thank the Lord we have something for him. So it goes on, and we receive and give, scatter and increase, for withholding tends to poverty. O, I am so thankful that the Lord is never weary of supplying our necessities. He says, “Before they call, I will answer.” [Isaiah 65:24.] Did you not find it thus? When you turned to Jesus, did He not turn to you? O, how precious is the love of Christ. Will you or Emma or I ever lose a sense of His goodness, of His patience and long forbearing? I feel grateful to God every day that my son who was lost is found. Shall we ever forget this mercy? I hope we never shall. 9LtMs, Lt 105, 1894, par. 2
I think you would both be pleased with the appearance of our garden. There is a large bed in the midst of our front lawn that is laid out in the shape of a star, beautiful and sightly, and the lawn itself is very smooth. Great pains have been taken with the flowers. Many of them bloom all winter. The Lady Washingtons will soon begin to bloom, and we have quite a number of large white, double carnations that are now in bloom. There are many other pinks that are not yet in bloom. I wish you were here to enjoy the sight and inhale their fragrance. The front yard is well supplied, and the kitchen has the benefit of those in the side and back yards. We have roses in abundance, and Calla lilies that have not yet begun to bloom. 9LtMs, Lt 105, 1894, par. 3
The hen yards are adorned with oleanders tho they are not yet in bloom. In the barn yard we have some fine trees that are green all the year round. A portion of the back yard is fenced off for vegetables, and in this are seventeen fruit trees,—peaches, apricots, apples, and one lemon tree which has lemons on it in all stages of progress toward maturity. We like this place. It is the best house we have ever occupied. 9LtMs, Lt 105, 1894, par. 4