Mrs. Rebecca Smith of West Wilton, New Hampshire, had just received the truth of the Sabbath from Joseph Bates. She had two children, a young man and a young woman, who were both in school away from home, and she was very anxious about them. They had all believed in the coming of Jesus in 1844, but since the Disappointment, Uriah and Annie had seemed to be drifting into the world. The mother had been praying for them, and now that she knew the truth of the Sabbath, she was more anxious than ever that they be saved for this work.CFJS 25.1

“I am going to hold a meeting at Somerville, Massachusetts, in a few days,” said Mr. Bates. Now Annie was in school at Charleston, Mass., two miles from Somerville. “You write to Annie,” said Mr. Bates, “and ask her to attend that meeting at the house of Paul Folsom, and I will see her. By the Lord’s blessing she may receive the truth. Let us both pray, in the meantime, that God will move upon her heart to go.”CFJS 25.2

Annie read her mother’s letter. “It’s going to be on Saturday,” she said to herself, “and there’s no school that day. Well, just to please mother, I’ll go.”CFJS 25.3

The night before that Sabbath she dreamed a dream. She thought she went to the meeting, but was late, and that when she reached there, they were singing the second hymn. Every seat was filled except one next the door, and she sat down in that. A tall, noble-looking, pleasant man was pointing to a queer-looking chart, and saying, “Unto two thousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” What he said was very interesting, she dreamed, and she knew it was the truth.CFJS 25.4

The same night Joseph Bates had a dream. He dreamed he was in the room where the meeting was to be held. He dreamed that he changed his mind about the subject he was to give, and that he spoke on the sanctuary question. After they had sung the first hymn and prayed, and were singing the second hymn, the door opened, and a young lady came in and took the only vacant seat, by the door. It was Annie R. Smith, he dreamed, and she became interested at once and accepted the faith.CFJS 25.5

So they both awoke that Sabbath morning, and they both forgot all about their dreams. Annie made ready to go to the meeting in plenty of time, but in Somerville she missed her way and by the time she found Mr. Folsom’s house, it was late. As she went in, they were singing the second hymn, and she took the only seat left, right by the door. Joseph Bates stood up and pointed to the chart, quoting, “Unto two thousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Instantly Annie’s dream flashed into her mind. At the same time Mr. Bates saw her, and his dream came back to him. He sent up a prayer for special help. He explained to the people how the disappointment came about, because the sanctuary is in heaven, not on this earth, and then he showed how the third message must be given, and brought forward the truth of the Sabbath.CFJS 25.6

After the meeting closed, he stepped up to Annie and said, with a welcoming smile, “I believe this is Sister Smith’s daughter, of West Wilton. I never saw you before, but your face looks familiar. I dreamed of seeing you last night.”CFJS 25.7

“Why,” said Annie, “I dreamed of seeing you. I dreamed of being in this meeting, and everything has happened just as I dreamed it. And,” she added, with a little hesitation, “I dreamed it was the truth; and now I know it is the truth.”CFJS 26.1

They had a good, glad visit, and when Annie went away, she had made up her mind to keep the Sabbath and give up her other plans. She and her brother had been offered a place to teach at one thousand dollars a year and their board, but now she gave that up. Going back to her school in Charleston, she packed her trunk and went home to her mother, not to stay there in idleness, but, as you will see, to enter very soon a great work.CFJS 26.2

Her brother Uriah did not receive the message then. But the next year, in September, there was a conference near his home, and impressed by Annie’s conversion, he went to attend it. On his return home, he carefully studied what he had heard, and in December he began to keep the Sabbath.CFJS 26.3

His sister Annie had gone over a year before to help James White in the publishing of his paper, and the next spring Uriah also went to Rochester, New York, where the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald was being published, and began to work for it.CFJS 26.4

They did not receive much, only their board and clothing, which cost little. And this they did gladly for the sake of the truth, instead of getting one thousand dollars and their board, as they might have by teaching in the school.CFJS 26.5

Uriah Smith soon began to write, and for fifty years he was an editor of the Review and Herald, still being hard at work for the paper and the cause at the time he died, in 1903. God has greatly blessed his early sacrifice and his devotion since, and many, many thousands have been converted by the work he has done. He has written some of our most important books. Probably the one you know best is the work, Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, which explains the prophecies of these wonderful books of the Bible.CFJS 26.6

Annie Smith did not live so long as her brother, She died in 1855, scarcely three years after she had come to work in the office. But while she lived, she was a great blessing and help, and her work has lived after her. Some of our most beautiful hymns were written by her. I hope you will watch for her name, and come to know many of her hymns. One song she wrote, No. 667 in “Hymns and Tunes,” [Church Hymnal, No. 371] tells the story of three of the pioneers in our work. The first stanza relates to Joseph Bates:—CFJS 26.7

“I saw one weary, sad, and torn,
With eager steps press on the way,”CFJS 26.8

the second stanza is about James White,—CFJS 26.9

“And one I saw, with sword and shield,
Who boldly braved the world’s cold frown,”CFJS 26.10

and the third one is of John N. Andrews,—CFJS 27.1

“And there was one who left behind
The cherished friends of early years,
And honor, pleasure, wealth resigned,
To tread the path bedewed with tears.
Through trials deep and conflicts sore,
Yet still a smile of joy he wore:
I asked what buoyed his spirits up,
‘Oh this:’ said he, ‘the blessed hope.’”CFJS 27.2

This story is told by A. W. Spalding in chapter 25 (pp. 289-295) of the out-of-print Pioneer Stories Southern Publishing Assoc., 1922. Not all the details need be included in a campfire story.

Joseph Bates was Sure God would Provide

The Stocking Behind the Door