Chapter 45—Labors in Central Europe
The second session of the European Missionary Council was held
in Basel, Switzerland, May 28 to June 1, 1884, Elder George I. Butler,
from America, presiding. At this meeting, resolutions were adopted,
requesting the General Conference to ask Mrs. E. G. White and her
son, W. C. White, to visit the European missions. At the General
Conference held in Battle Creek, Mich., the following November, the
request was acted upon, and they were recommended to go.
In harmony with this action, Mrs. White and her secretary, Miss
Sara McEnterfer, and W. C. White and his family, left America
August 8, 1885, sailing from Boston on the steamer Cephalonia, and
arriving in Liverpool August 19. Two weeks were spent in England,
visiting companies of Sabbath keepers at Grimsby, Ulceby, Riseley,
and Southampton. Several addresses were given in public halls.
Leaving London September 2, the party arrived in Basel, Switzer-
land, the following morning. Here the annual meeting of the Swiss
Conference and the third session of the European Missionary Council
were soon to be held.
The “Imprimerie Polyglotte”
The Basel publishing house, afterward named the “Imprimerie
Polyglotte” (the printing house of many languages), was just com-
pleted. The land had been secured and the building planned during
the visit of Elder Butler early in 1884. The structure had been erected
under the watchful supervision of Elder B. L. Whitney, the superinten-
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dent of the European Mission; and its equipment had been purchased
and installed by Brother H. W. Kellogg, for many years the manager of
the Review and Herald Publishing Association at Battle Creek, Mich.
The new publishing house was a large, substantial building, 46 x
76 feet, with four stories above the basement. The upper stories were
so constructed that, until required by the growth of the business, they
could be used as residence suites for families. It was in one of these
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