Soon after the Whites had settled in Rochester, a letter from Ellen's mother informed them that her brother Robert was dying of tuberculosis at the family home in Gorham, Maine. James had trained the staff quite well while at Saratoga Springs, and Lumen Masten was on hand to manage the office. So with their faithful horse Charlie to convey them by carriage, he and Ellen planned a trip east that would take two months. The Review of June 24 set his plans before the companies of believers: WV 58.5
We now design making a tour east, and spending several weeks, holding conferences where they are most needed (Ibid., June 24, 1852). WV 59.1
In mid-June, while visiting a nearby company of believers over the weekend, they were pleasantly surprised. James White wrote about this: WV 59.2
Brother Drew being informed of our intended eastern tour, and seeing that our carriage was about falling to pieces, purchased and gave us a suitable carriage for which he paid $85. For this we thank God, also our brother, His steward (Ibid., July 8, 1852). WV 59.3
The couple planned to take 3-year-old Edson with them. As the summer wore on, cholera struck Rochester with heavy mortality. Just as they were to start on their carriage tour east, little Edson was stricken. Their first resort, of course, was to pray for his healing. “I took him in my arms,” wrote Ellen White, “and in the name of Jesus rebuked the disease.” He felt relief at once. As a sister commenced praying for the Lord to heal him, Edson looked up and said, “They need not pray any more, for the Lord has healed me” (Life Sketches of Ellen G. White, 144). But James did not dare start on their journey until Edson had improved sufficiently to call for food. He did that afternoon, Wednesday, July 21, and they started, for they had nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) to cover in the next two days to fill their first appointment at Oswego. WV 59.4
James had charted the itinerary, allowing time to drive from one appointment to the next and giving word in advance through the Review. The journey by carriage rested both James and Ellen White. WV 59.5
Charlie was very fond of apples. As they drove where apple orchards lined the roads and big red apples lay in the path of the travelers, James would loosen the checkrein. Charlie would gently slow down from a seven-mile (11-kilometer) pace, select a good apple within easy reach, pick it up, and then throw his head high and dash on at full speed, chewing the apple as he journeyed (WCW, “Sketches and Memories,” The Review and Herald, April 25, 1935). WV 59.6
Ellen White described their travel experience: WV 59.7
The Lord greatly blessed us on our journey to Vermont. My husband had much care and labor. At the different conferences he did most of the preaching, sold books, and took pay for the papers. And when one conference was over, we would hasten to the next. WV 59.8
At noon we would feed the horse by the roadside and eat our lunch. Then my husband, with paper and pencil upon the cover of our dinner box, or the top of his hat, would write articles for the Review and Instructor (Life Sketches of James White and Ellen G. White (1880), 292). WV 59.9
The Youth's Instructor was a monthly journal James White had started recently to reach the youth of the emerging church. Each copy contained Sabbath school lessons, the first prepared for children and young people. James later recalled that he thought out the lessons while the “carriage was in motion”; then, while the horse was eating, he wrote them out. WV 60.1
With faithful Charlie pulling their carriage, James and Ellen White drove into their yard in Rochester on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 6, returning from their 1852 trip east. WV 60.2
The Review office staff had not missed an issue in the 11 weeks the editor was absent. This proved to James White that others could carry many of the routine tasks to which he had given attention in the previous three years. Every other Thursday 2,000 copies were “struck off” on the hand press and mailed to 1,600 homes (WCW, “Sketches and Memories,” The Review and Herald, June 27, 1935). The Youth's Instructor, started in August, was mailed to nearly 1,000 homes. Now there was need for more space in which to work. The first important action after getting back was to rent office space in downtown Rochester on South Saint Paul Street, on the third floor of an office building, and move the printing work to this new location. WV 60.3