Chapter Two—When She was a Little Girl

When Sister White was a little girl she was not Sister White. She was Ellen Gould Harmon. That was her maiden name. You know when a maiden marries a man, she takes his name. So when Ellen Harmon married James White she became Mrs. James White, or Mrs. Ellen G. White. That was a long time ago, more than a hundred years, for she was born in 1827, and she was married in 1846.SWhite 15.1

Ellen Harmon had a twin sister, whose name was Elizabeth. They were born in the old town of Gorham, Maine. The house in which they were born is still standing, though it is now part of a larger house, which has been added since. The house is near the site where Fort Gorham was built, in the time of the Indian troubles, some two hundred years ago. The town was built around the fort, but it kept growing along the road until it came to where the present town of Gorham stands; and most of the houses near the fort grew old and were torn down. So now the birthplace of Ellen and Elizabeth Harmon stands almost alone, away out in the country. They were happy, sunny little girls, but Ellen was the sunnier of the two. It was easy for Elizabeth to cry, but Ellen would push back the tears when something hurt her, bite her lips, and pretty soon smile. Such a wonderful place they had to live in, with a view across the country, between the lakes, to the White Mountains, the highest in New England! I should like to have seen them and their older sisters and brother, singing about their work and their chores, on sunny or rainy or snowy mornings, and stopping to gaze now and then at the great picture God had spread out before them. Now, wouldn’t you?SWhite 15.2

Father Harmon was a hatter, and the town of Gorham was a great hatmaking town. In those days such work, and a good deal of other work which is now done in factories, was done in the homes of the people. So Robert and Eunice Harmon, the parents of Ellen and Elizabeth, had a hat factory right in their home. And all the older children—Sarah, Robert, Mary, and two or three others—helped to make the hats, some of them straw hats and some of them felt hats. So did the two little girls, when they grew big enough.SWhite 16.1

But they were not very old when Father Harmon moved his family to the city of Portland. This is the largest city of Maine, though it was not so big then as it is now. There the Harmon family took a house, and kept on with their hatmaking. The children went to school.SWhite 16.2

The school near them was the Brackett Street School, and here Ellen and Elizabeth learned to read and to write and to figure, which was about all, besides geography, that the children’s schools taught then. And year after year the twins went to the Brackett Street School, which was at one side of a city common, or grassy park.SWhite 16.3

When they were nine years old a terrible accident happened to Ellen—something which was to change her life and work, and also the work of God in the earth. One day, as school closed, they hurried with the other pupils out of the schoolhouse and across the common, going home. A friend of theirs was with them. But an older girl had become angry at them for some trifle, and now she followed them, saying ugly things and calling them names. Their parents had taught them not to quarrel but to turn away from evil. So now they hurried on, not saying anything back to the girl. But when they were almost across the common Ellen turned her head to see how near the girl was. Just then that girl threw a heavy stone, and it smashed right into Ellen’s face and knocked her down, senseless.SWhite 17.1

When she came to, she found herself in a nearby store, where they had carried her. People were standing around her. Her face and clothing were all covered with blood, and she felt very weak and dizzy. A kind gentleman offered to take her home in his carriage, but she did not want to get it bloody, so she said she could walk. Helped by her sister and her friend, she started to go home; but she had not gone very far when she fainted again, and Elizabeth and her friend carried her the rest of the way.SWhite 17.2

Now she did not awaken for three weeks. Everyone but her mother thought she would die, but her mother believed that God would heal her. Her father was away from home on a long business trip. When she awoke she found that the rock which had hit her had broken her nose and so changed her face that she did not look like the same girl. In fact, when her father came home, he did not know her, and asked where his little Ellen was, though she was right there.SWhite 18.1

But worst of all, when after many months she tried to go to school again, she found that she could not study. The accident had made her so ill and nervous and had so hurt her sight that the print all ran together. The girl who had thrown the stone was very sorry. The teacher set her to help Ellen study, but she could not help her much; and often tears of remorse came to her eyes as she watched the little girl struggling to read.SWhite 18.2

After three years of trying, Ellen had to give up; and that was the last she went to school. However, later, when she grew better, she gained a good education by reading and studying outside of school. The Bible was always her most beloved book, and through its study she came to be wise and true and loving, a great helper of others, and the teacher of thousands of people.SWhite 18.3

But those three years of struggle and pain were very dark days for her. No longer was she the cheery, happy girl she had been before. She thought her life was ruined, her hopes of becoming a teacher were gone, and there stretched before her a dreary road. She tried to believe in the goodness of God and to love the Lord, but she found it hard. Many nights, while her sister Elizabeth slept, she would creep from bed and bow for hours in agonized prayer upon the cold floor.SWhite 19.1

Her mother helped her to find Jesus, the gentle, pitying Saviour. The Harmon family were Methodists; and at a Methodist camp meeting, when she was twelve years old, Ellen found the peace of God. She knew that her sins were forgiven, for Jesus’ sake, and that she was a child of the King. Now once again the world was to her a beautiful and joyous place, more than ever it had been when she was little. All nature seemed to be singing, and she sang with it.SWhite 19.2

The sun shone bright and clear, and flooded the earth with light and warmth. The trees and grass were a fresher green; the sky was a deeper blue. The birds sang more sweetly than ever before; they seemed to Ellen to be praising their Creator in their songs. She was so happy she did not care to talk. But when they reached home she went out into the garden, among the flowers that her mother lovingly tended and taught her girls to tend. The garden had never before looked so lovely as it looked this day.SWhite 20.1

There was one beautiful pink flower on a shrub called the rose of Sharon. Ellen went slowly toward it, drinking in its beauty, and she touched its delicate petals reverently. Her heart overflowed with tenderness and love for these beautiful creations of God. “Ah,” she thought, “if God so loves and cares for the flowers He has decked with beauty, how much more tenderly will He guard the children who are made in His image!” And she said softly to herself, “I am a child of God. His loving care is around me. I will obey Him, and never displease Him. I will praise His dear name, and love Him always.”SWhite 20.2

She was taken into the Methodist Church; and with eleven others, on a windy day, while the waves rolled in from the Atlantic Ocean and dashed high on the shores of Portland Bay, she went down into the water and was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It was a happy day for her, the beginning of a long life of Christian service.SWhite 20.3

Still she was not well and strong, and many years were to pass before she was to be made well by the goodness of God. But even in her weakness she went forward, working for the Lord. She prayed for her young friends, and she talked with them about the Lord Jesus. And they were converted. Yet as the days and the months went by, her old temptation to doubt the goodness of God would come back upon her, and sometimes she felt very sad.SWhite 21.1

A few months after her baptism there came to Portland the great apostle and herald of the second coming of Jesus, William Miller. From the prophecies of the Bible, and especially from Daniel 8, 9, he was teaching that a great event, “the cleansing of the sanctuary,” was to take place in 1843 or 1844; and he believed that this cleansing of the sanctuary was the cleansing of this earth by fire at the last day, and that would be the coming of Christ in glory. So he preached that the end of the world was right at hand, when Jesus would reign and His blessed kingdom of peace would cover the world. He was right about the time when the sanctuary of God should be cleansed, but he was wrong about that being the coming of Christ, for the sanctuary is not this earth; it is the temple of God in heaven. And only after it shall have been cleansed will Jesus come back to earth for the faithful.SWhite 21.2

However, thousands of people believed and looked for the Lord to come on October 22, 1844. Among these believers in Portland were the Harmon family. Ellen was very happy over this hope to see her Saviour so soon, and to have all the troubles and pains of this life come to an end. Believers in the Second Advent were found in all the churches. But after a while their churches turned against them, and told them either to stop believing in what William Miller taught, or else be cast out. The Harmon family, with many others, held to their faith, and so they were cast out from the Methodist Church. After that, the Adventists, as they had come to be called, met together, week after week, in a city hall.SWhite 21.3

Ellen was sixteen years old when the great day of their hope came. She had been a real Christian worker, whose bright experience and words of cheer were welcomed in all the churches before the Adventists were cast out, and afterward still among the believers.SWhite 22.1

But on the great day, October 22, when they expected their Lord to come, He did not come. Oh, how deep was their disappointment! It was as great as the disappointment of Jesus’ disciples when He was crucified on Calvary. Those disciples had expected Him to become king of Israel, and instead He was nailed to the cross, crucified between two thieves. Now the Adventists expected Him to come in glory, but He did not come. They did not know then that He had fulfilled the prophecy, and had entered into the most holy place of the sanctuary in heaven, to cleanse it of the forgiven sins of His people. This they were soon to learn. But now they were bowed down, crushed in disappointment.SWhite 22.2

The girl Ellen, with all the rest, was disappointed. But her hope held firm that in due time Jesus would come, and that very soon He would explain to His people what their disappointment meant. She did not yet know that she was Jesus’ messenger, to carry the good news to the people. But she was.SWhite 23.1