The Home Situation

On January 6, Ellen White wrote to Edson of the home situation: 3BIO 104.4

Father is well, cheerful, and happy. Very kind and tender of me and my comfort. He is very active.—Letter 3a, 1879.

A week later she exclaimed, “I do not know as we ever enjoyed the society of each other as we do now.”—Letter 5a, 1879. As the winter drew to a close she wrote feelingly to William and Mary:3BIO 104.5

[Father] is in a good state of mind, willing to be counseled and advised. He is not so determined and set to carry out his ideas. We have had as pleasant and harmonious a winter as we have ever enjoyed in our lives. We feel like walking humbly and carefully before God. We are not perfect. We may err and do and say things that may not be all right, but we hope no one will be injured in any way by our sayings or doings. We are trying to humbly follow in the footprints of our dear Saviour. We need His Spirit and His grace every hour, or we shall make blunders and shall do harm.—Letter 18, 1879.3BIO 104.6

A letter written by James to Willie in Battle Creek, where at times the latter must have been called upon to cover for some of his father's erratic moves, reveals a good bit of James's nature in this difficult period of “growing old gracefully“:3BIO 105.1

Probably, dear children, I may have erred in some of the sharp things I have written relative to the mistakes of younger heads. It is my nature to retaliate when pressed above measure. I wish I was a better man. I also wish that the members of my good family had not the difficulty, of long standing, of becoming very gifted over my faults as they imagine them to be.—JW to WCW, February 27, 1879.3BIO 105.2