The Stocking Behind the Door
As told by Arthur L. White
Back of the door in a dark place, near the kitchen of their home in Rochester, New York, Sister White hung up an old stocking. She did not tell anyone about it. It was her secret.CFJS 28.1
They had quite a large family, for it included the publishing house workers. Brother White gave to his wife a certain amount of money each week to meet the expenses of running the home. Money was scarce, but somehow, Sister White would manage by careful buying, to save just a little each week. Sometimes she would have fifty cents she could put in the stocking. Sometimes it would be just a nickel or a few pennies.CFJS 28.2
Sister White was a very practical woman. She knew that emergencies could come and that every family should have a little money saved to meet such emergencies. So from time to time, she added just a little bit to the emergency fund she kept in the stocking.CFJS 28.3
One day, Elder James White came home from the printing office and he said, “Ellen, I need money for paper and we just don’t have it. Our people have not sent in money as they should. We are ready to print the Review. The paper has been ordered. It is in town, but as you know, I cannot get it from the express office until I pay for it. What can I do?”CFJS 28.4
“How much do you need, James?” she asked.CFJS 28.5
“Sixty-four dollars,” he replied, “and I don’t know where we can get sixty-four dollars.”CFJS 28.6
Without saying a word, Mrs. White went to the cupboard and opened the door and took down the stocking. James White watched in surprise. This was Mrs. White’s secret which he did not know about.CFJS 28.7
Mrs. White emptied the stocking on the table and together they began to count. Would there be enough? Fifty dollars, fifty-five, sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three, SIXTY-FOUR; They had enough! Elder White put his arm around his wife and gave her a big kiss. How proud he was of her; How glad he was that she had foresight enough to save, even a little bit each week for an emergency.CFJS 28.8
Elder White thankfully hurried to the express office to get the supply of paper. I think the clerk must have wondered why Elder White paid the bill with all that small change. But the Review and Herald came out on time.CFJS 28.9
Sometimes Sister White spoke to Seventh-day Adventist families, encouraging them to save something regularly, even if it was only a very little bit. In a letter to a young man who was working, she said that it should be a rule in his life to save a part of each week’s wages. He should decide on a certain sum to be saved and he should each week put this aside and not touch it except in an emergency. (Selected Messages, Book 2, p. 330)CFJS 28.10
She told him that if he had done this instead of spending every cent he earned, he could have had some money in the bank earning interest, or he could have bought a small piece of land which would become more valuable as time went on.CFJS 29.1
When she was at camp meetings and saw some of the boys and girls spending so much of their money for ice cream and candy, she was troubled for two reasons. These things, eaten between meals, were especially harmful to the body, and then there were all the nickels and dimes that could have been saved for more useful things. (Counsels on Diet and Foods, 329)CFJS 29.2
Sister White set us an example; in the early days when, as a young mother, she put something aside each week in the stocking and it helped the cause of God in an emergency. She urged us to deny ourselves and save something each week for the cause of God and for an emergency in our experience, should it come.CFJS 29.3
Based on W. C. White account.