Children's Edition of Touching Incidents and Remarkable Answers to Prayer

In Short

This collection of mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth-century evangelical narratives chronicles miraculous answers to children's petitions. Young believers call upon God to mend broken families, cure physical maladies, and rescue adults from skepticism, alcoholism, and despair. Moving across city sidewalks, mountain paths, and railway coaches, these accounts illustrate how innocent faith can alter destinies. The stories endure as historical testaments to a rigorous spiritual culture that viewed earnest prayer as an active, immediate force capable of transforming material reality and redeeming lost souls.

The Story

This collection opens across varied landscapes—from quiet nineteenth-century hills and bustling city streets to passenger trains and stormy oceans—where children and adults encounter crises of body and soul. The narrative arc begins with moments of acute vulnerability and trial, such as two young sisters stranded and in severe pain on a deserted city street with no way home. They turn to prayer, and a kindly stranger arrives to assist them. Similarly, destitute children face bitter cold, hunger, and destitution, like a barefoot boy in New York who asks God for shoes and receives immediate, tender care from a wealthy passerby, or a hungry boy whose mother has no bread yet trusts completely in divine provision.

As the book progresses, the stories delve into deeper spiritual conflicts involving stubborn adults, skeptics, and troubled families. A hardened skeptic named John Harvey, proud of his intellectual disbelief, watches a ground sparrow fall victim to a snake, a disturbing sight that haunts him. Later, while dining in a restaurant, he hears a dying child sing and witness a heavenly vision; deeply moved by her peaceful passing and radiant faith, his skepticism crumbles, and he finally submits to prayer. Other accounts highlight the heavy burdens carried by children in ungodly or broken homes. Little Willie prays for his father to vote against alcohol during a contentious local election. Tragically, Willie is struck by a stray bullet amidst election-day violence while carrying a prohibition ballot, dying with the paper clutched in his hand and leaving his father stricken with profound remorse.

In mountainous regions and storm-swept waters, sacrifices test the limits of human endurance. A little Swiss girl warns her father about a dangerous, frost-loosened rock bridge across a ravine, ultimately offering her life or pleading for his spiritual reclamation. During a devastating Mississippi flood, a brave young girl named Bess manages to launch her younger siblings into safety using a floating tub, choosing to sacrifice her own life so they can drift to safety in the dark current. In final scenes of redemption, neglected children like Donald pray through tears for their alcoholic, partying mothers. These persistent petitions pierce the hardened hearts of parents, drawing them to mission altars where they find forgiveness and emotional restoration alongside their children. Through every narrative turn, the overarching arc moves from earthly despair, physical suffering, and human alienation toward miraculous intervention, spiritual awakening, and the ultimate triumph of faith over death.

How It Unfolds

• The lonely sidewalk: Two young sisters, left stranded and in severe physical pain after gathering wood, kneel together on a deserted city street to pray for divine assistance. A kind German laborer unexpectedly responds to their quiet petition, greets them in broken accents, and safely escorts them to their doorstep.
• The heavenly railway: A young motherless girl boards a passenger train and converses with a weeping conductor about her mother's songs of Jesus and the heavenly railroad. Her innocent, touching words deeply move the entire passenger coach and bring profound comfort to the grieving conductor.
• The Broadway encounter: A destitute, barefoot boy peers anxiously into a New York store window on a freezing February day and confesses to a wealthy stranger that he is asking God for shoes. She tenderly washes his travel-worn feet, buys him footwear and stockings, and leaves him astonished by her generosity.
• The skeptic's conversion: A hardened non-believer named John Harvey listens to a dying child sing in a restaurant and recount a vivid vision of heaven. Overcome by the purity of her faith and the peacefulness of her passing, he finally abandons his intellectual skepticism and embraces Christianity through prayer.
• The final sacrifice: A courageous young girl named Bess navigates her younger siblings through rising river floodwaters in a makeshift tub. Although she tragically loses her own life in the dark current, her siblings are successfully rescued, leaving behind an unforgettable legacy of selfless love and devotion.

The People

Little Willie wants his father, Mr. Kent, to vote against alcohol and live a righteous life. Apathetic local politics and social pressures stand in the way, and although Willie tragically dies from a stray bullet while holding a prohibition ballot, his father is left deeply remorseful and permanently changed by his son's absolute devotion. John Harvey is a lifelong skeptic who wants tangible proof of God but finds himself trapped by his own stubborn intellect and hardened cynicism. He is entirely transformed when he encounters a dying child whose radiant vision of heaven shatters his intellectual doubts. Winnie Lewis is a young girl who desires to be baptized and openly obey God's word, successfully overcoming the initial hesitation of local church elders through her quiet, earnest persistence. Donald is a young boy who suffers greatly because of his mother's ungodly lifestyle and severe alcoholism, continually praying for her salvation until she finally breaks down at a mission altar and joins him in active faith. Bess is a devoted older sister who wants to save her younger siblings from a rising river flood, ultimately sacrificing her own safety to guide them to dry land, where they are found safe while she perishes in the dark waters.

In Its Own Voice

When the two young sisters find themselves stranded and in great pain on a lonely street, they decide to turn to God for help:

There on the side-walk did these two little children ask God to send some one to help them home.

After a wealthy woman stops her carriage on a freezing February day to wash his feet and buy him shoes, a destitute boy looks up in utter amazement:

"Are you God's wife?"

While listening to a dying child describe her final moments and celestial sights, a hardened skeptic witnesses a profound transformation:

"See!" she cried; "Oh, there is mother! and angels! and they are all singing."

What It's Really About

The book argues that spiritual reality supersedes material limitations, positioning children as privileged conduits of divine power and moral authority. It explores how innocent suffering and persistent prayer, when met with unwavering trust, can break through adult cynicism, alcoholism, and intellectual skepticism. The underlying question is whether human intellect and secular policies can ever truly satisfy the human soul, or if absolute dependence on God is the only genuine refuge. By framing children not merely as dependents to be guided, but as spiritual guides for adults, the text challenges conventional hierarchies of wisdom, suggesting that humility and childlike trust unlock the deepest mysteries of existence.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in nineteenth-century religious culture, Victorian didactic literature, or the history of American evangelicalism will find this collection deeply fascinating. Reading these pages feels like stepping into a bygone parlor where moral instruction and emotional storytelling merge completely. The prose carries a sincere, earnest cadence that evokes both poignant sorrow and profound comfort. However, modern readers must navigate certain historical difficulties, including heavy-handed moralizing, sentimental tropes surrounding child mortality, and occasional period dialects, such as the broken accent of a brawny German laborer. Furthermore, the relentless focus on dying children and intense emotional conversions can feel emotionally exhausting or culturally remote to contemporary sensibilities. Yet, what stays with you long after closing the book is the stark intensity of these characters' convictions. Their absolute belief that unseen forces respond to human petition leaves a haunting, memorable impression, illuminating a historical worldview where every earthly trial carried eternal stakes.