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lish his own home, he sent for his two
daughters. Four years prior to my
birth in 1900, twin boys, Henry and
Herbert, were born into our family.
When I was six weeks of age, father
brought us back to the United States,
for grandmother’s work was finished
in Australia and there were many mat-
ters in the United States that called
for her attention.
Before our arrival in the United
States the problem of where we should
live arose. Grandmother felt it was not
best to settle ip the city, but she ques-
tioned whether she should make her
home in Michigan near the General
Conference office and Review and
Herald Publishing Association or on
the West Coast near the Pacific Press.
She was quite concerned until one
night the Lord assured her that He
had a place prepared for the whole
family. This gave her complete peace
of mind..
Shortly after this vision, she and fa-
ther visited the St. Helena Sanitarium
in northern California, about seventy
miles north of San Francisco and Oak-
land. While there, they noticed a beau-
tiful little valley below the sanitarium.
It was surrounded by wooded hills and
interspersed with orchards, hay fields,
vineyards, and a few homes.
As they visited with friends they
learned that one of the farms was for
sale. On it was situated a well-built
seven-room house. The price was reason-
able. The house had been built by a
well-to-do businessman, who with his
wife now wanted to move to the city.
The home was complete witn furniture,
linen, and even china. There were some
sixty-five acres of farm land besides
vineyards, fruit groves, pastureland,
and forest. There was a large red barn
with livestock and farm equipment.
All this could be had for $5,000.00.
They knew that this was the Lord's
chosen spot. When we left Australia
about all that we had brought to the
United States were our personal be-
longings and grandmother's lapboard
on which she wrote. We needed not
only a home for grandmother but also
land for father’s home and building
sites for other of her helpers. Here it
was.
After the purchase of this property
we referred to it as Elmshaven. The
name was probably given because of a
clump of large elms that once grew in
the front vard of the house. Father was
given seven acres of the land for his
family. Grandmother said it was to be
the children’s playground and school-
room. The church received acreage on
14
which to build its church school. My
oldest half sister, who was getting mar-
ried, was given land; grandmother's
stenographer also received part of the
seventy acres, and the conference built
a food factory on a portion they pur-
chased. An ofhce building was in time
erected not far from grandmother's
home. Immediately after the purchase
of Elmshaven a large writing room
with a bay window was added upstairs
on the east end. This room became
grandmother's study and work room.
She liked to sit before the windows and
write. Loving the outdoors as she did,
this was a perfect place where she
could view God's handiwork looking to
the east and south.
There were large prune orchards,
both on her place and the neighboring
farms. When spring came and these
were in bloom, the white blossoms gave
the effect of large white clouds nestled
in the hills. T can still remember the
two-week postponement of school each
fall, when all the school children
helped to harvest prunes in the little
valley, which included grandmother's
three prune orchards. The ripe prunes
were shaken to the ground and then
they were picked up and placed in
boxes. We were paid five cents for a
box that held three full buckets of
prunes. The prunes were next dipped
in boiling water, which cracked the
skins, and then they were spread out
on long trays to dry.
Although grandmother was a firm
believer in keeping youth busy, she
would never pressure or censure us.
She was always cheerful. This attitude
of hers made us want to work all the
harder. Besides harvesting prunes, we
helped pick grapes, which were
squeezed to make the grape juice that
her household drank. There were olive
orchards also on her property. Late in
the fall we picked the olives from the
trees and cured barrels of them. Often
we would go down to her cellar where
the olives were kept in salt brine and
stick our eager hands into the mass of
olives in the open barrels, trying to get
hold of as many as we could. These
are a few of the high lights of my child-
hood memorics.
With the abundance of food that her
farm and the neighboring farms
yielded, grandmother became actively
interested in bettering the quality of
food eaten by ministers in the South-
ern States and by overseas missionaries.
Each year she bought tons of pears and
apricots. Beneath the huge walnut
trees near the pump house, we washed
the fruit, cut it, and set it on trays.
My Special Grandmother-2
These trays were put on a cart thot
was on tracks leading to the field.
The fruit was set out to dry and
then taken to the food factory that was
on a nearby hill. Tt was put in the
autoclave to be stenlized and then
sealed shut in cans. Orders from all
over the world poured in requesting
the dried fruit. We helped fill these
many orders. The only charges made
were to cover the estimated cost. T do
not believe the returns always did that,
but this fruit was made accessible 10
many of our workers in the Southern
States and overseas.
It is my belief that we had the most
ideal upbringing. The program was
one of study, work, and play. In the
spring and summer grandmother let
all the neighboring children play base-
ball in her pasture, for the schoolyard
was not big enough. She was against
game playing that took time from our
studies, worship, and chores. But when
our work was done, or just before the
afternoon chores, we played.
She was mn favor of a well-rounded
program and did not advocate all work
and no play. Her idea was that girls
should be able to milk a cow and
harness a horse in addition to possess-
ing proficiency in household duties.
Boys should learn how to cook, sew,
and keep house as well as understand
gardening and carpentry. She made
sure that her grandchildren learned
these skills. Part of our training came
from the care we gave the dogs, cats,
ponies, cows, and chickens we raised,
as well as from our work together in
the orchard and garden. My brothers
helped in cutting the wood, building
fences, constructing and repairing the
sheds.
Another thing that grandmother had
us do was take a cold bath cach morn-
ing. She did this faithfully. T recall
amusingly the many times 1 would
sit on the edge of the bathtub trying to
muster up enough nerve to plunge into
the icy water. After doing so, any sleep-
ness that | hod was gone. Throughout
the entire day 1 felt refreshed.
It was grandmother's policy to take a
warm bath at night to relax her and
the cold bath in the morning. She felt
that if our systems could take it, we
should do it, but if they could not, the
practice was certainly not mandatory.
In grandmother's pantry there was
always an abundance of healthful food.
She felt that there was no excuse for an
inadequate table. She served much
fresh fruit in summer — cherries,
peaches, apples, figs, and pears. Canned
fruit was used in winter. Cottage cheese,
The Youth's Instructor, December 5, 1961