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that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness;
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the
Lord.”—Diary, 1901.
Ministering to Aged War Veterans—At one time I had some
remnants of books and some complete volumes of Sabbath Readings
stored somewhere in Battle Creek. Please ask Brother Amadon to
make diligent search for all these things, and to send to me....
We can use the small volumes of Sabbath Readings and other
works to good advantage in orphans’ homes and in many other places
where these little books will be highly valued. We could use some of
them in the Soldiers’ Home at Yountville, where many hundreds of
old soldiers are provided for in large government buildings. We are
giving these men every attention possible. Every other Sabbath a party
from the sanitarium and the St. Helena churches visits them, to sing
religious hymns and to speak to them. They are interested in these
meetings, and seem delighted with everything that our people do for
them.
We are sending papers to these soldiers and have placed in their
library copies of my works, Christ’s Object Lessons, and some larger
books of mine. Many of these men are intelligent. Our brethren and
sisters are working this field, and we hope to do much more for the
soldiers than we have yet done. Sometimes a talk—a short, pointed,
Bible sermon—is given them, and they listen with intense interest.
The gospel songs, the short prayer, and the good talk, taken together,
seem to be just what is needed to interest the old men. They say, “We
never have had any such work as this done for us before!”
We desire to keep books and papers circulating among these sol-
diers. Please help us all you can along this line by gathering together
something for them to read—books and papers full of Bible truth.—
Letter 96, 1903
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A Letter to Fatherless Children
San Jose, California
June 29, 1905
Dear Children,