Luck chain letter. Ancient Prayer type. Literate rewrites. "... those
who assist in its dissemination ..." US, 1915.
Oh Lord, I implore Thee to
bless all mankind. Bring us to Thee. Keep us to dwell with Thee.
This prayer is to be sent all over the world. It is claimed that all of those
who assist in its dissemination will be free from calamity and it is asked
that each one to whom it is presented will make of it nine copies to be distributed
to nine separate friends within nine days and on the tenth day he who does
this will be the recipient of great joy. He who is asked and fails to do
it, breaks the chain, and will meet with great calamity or sorrow.
Published: The News-Herald
(Morganton, North Carolina), Dec. 23, 1915, p. 4.
THE ANCIENT PRAYERS
"... the chain letter, or chain prayer, which breaks out now and again, ...
Now comes S. L. Morgan, of Hendersonville, evidently a Baptist minister,
writing the Biblical Recorder of his experience with these chain prayers.
He first quotes the prayer, which is as follows:" [text]
... "Year after year this or its equivalent continues to come to me through
the mail. Usually it is written on a postal, sometimes it is sent in the
form of letter. Usually each one caught by the superstition spends
9 cents in postage, sometimes 18 cents. For the average writer it will require
at least a half hour to make nine copies. ... It is not even a request to
pray, but merely to copy a prayer. It is a delusion identical in nature
with the Romanist's practice of counting beads; ..." Entered
by DWV, Sept. 10, 2014.
le1915-12-23p1_ap_rewrites
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