IT WAS near zero weather, and snow and ice covered the ground as our plane touched down at Portland, Maine, airport, January 25. The State of Maine can be as beautiful in mid winter as it is in spring and summer, especially just after a new blanket of snow has covered the earth and the sun is shining down on evergreen branches laden with snow and glistening icicles.
The L. R. Jacobs family were at the airport to meet us and take us to the Parkview Memorial Hospital in Brunswick, Maine, for a tasty lunch. Nearby is the beautiful new colonial-style Brunswick church, where the Northern New England Conference workers' meetings were already in progress. Not too many miles away is Gorham, the birthplace of Ellen G. White, and other historical reminders of the pioneers of our church.
The King's Daughters, a women's organization of that conference, is for the wives of both active and retired ministers, Bible instructors, and women of the conference office staff. It was my privilege to attend their meetings and speak to them. Their president, Mrs. Leslie Pendleton, and Mrs. C. P. Anderson, their sponsor, had planned a program full of interesting items beginning Sunday afternoon before the In gathering victory banquet that evening, and running through Monday and Tuesday morning, ending with a beautiful communion service at the close of the workers' meetings.
Planned supervision for the children freed the mothers to attend the meetings. Baby-sitters were provided for the smaller children. Iceskating and other planned recreation for the older ones kept all ages busy and happy. All but two or three of the ministers' wives were present for the meetings.
On Monday morning, in a combined meeting with the ministers, a panel of six ministers' wives led out in a group discussion dealing with topics of importance to the ministerial wife and her work in her home and church. A ready response from the floor stimulated interest in this meeting. Monday afternoon the ladies were taken to Skillen's nursery for special hints on floral arrangements. Following this we were all invited to the home of Elder and Mrs. Carl Anderson for another discussion hour and a delicious buffet supper.
Included among the supper guests were Mrs. Tilghman and Mrs. Aldridge, from the Atlantic Union office, all the Northern New England workers' wives, and the women of the office staff thirty-six in all. It was a delightful evening of fellowship, ending with an old-fashioned sing around the piano. Some of the ministerial wives are from isolated areas, and I was impressed with the thoughtful planning that made possible this pleasant social evening together.
"Just what are the aims and objectives of the King's Daughters?" I asked Mrs. Anderson, as we sat at lunch one day. This, I was not surprised to discover, was a subject on which the conference president's wife could speak with enthusiasm.
"Our first objective," she explained, "is to study ways and means of being more helpful to our husbands in their work. We are also interested in keeping contact with our retired workers' wives. And we have other projects."
One project that especially interested me was their Friendship Friends. Organized to function two by two, these women encourage greater fellowship among themselves, pray for each other, and send appropriate cards on special occasions. In general the Friendship Friends seek to draw the women of Northern New England together in a closer bond of Christian love.
When a new baby arrives in a conference worker's home a gift of remembrance arrives soon after. When a worker family leaves Northern New England a farewell present assures them they have been appreciated and will be missed.
"Our latest project, voted only yesterday," Mrs. Anderson told me, "is a lending library with helpful books for our workers' wives. Al ready we have appointed a librarian and we have promises of several books to begin with."
One project occupying much attention at the present is the "Seventh-day Adventist Women's Syllabus." To work on this project the women are divided into seven groups, each with a chairman and each working on one of the seven lessons. These lessons designed especially for newly baptized women, will cover such helpful subjects as personal development, child care, health and nutrition, daily spiritual study, home management, home care and planning. Mrs. K. W. Hutchens is chairman of the syllabus committee.
At the present time materials are being collected, which will later be edited and arranged into lessons. The women are to be commended for this excellent idea and for their enthusiasm in carrying it out. They are well on their way, and we should see the results of their work within the year.
Besides the panel discussion and appointed meetings for work on the syllabus, we had two other meetings, in which we discussed many problems facing the minister's wife. Questions and answers kept the meetings lively with an interchange of ideas. At times we wished the clock could go in reverse, for it seemed there was never enough time.
When we awoke Tuesday morning a blanket of fresh snow covered the earth. Stepping out into the zero temperature and pure air was an exhilarating experience. Northern New Eng land was a Christmas-card fairyland in her ermine-clad beauty.
The last appointment was the communion service and the ordinance of humility. It was a most inspiring service, and the experience of renewal was made more impressive by the lesson in nature the white snow covering man-made imperfections around us. The pure blanket outside was a fitting symbol of the pure robe of Christ's righteousness that each of us is to wear.
It was with a note of sadness that we said good-by to our friends in Northern New England. May God bless the King's Daughters and all other groups of earnest ministerial wives around the world as they meet and pray and study how to be truly daughters of the King and work to hasten His coming.
