Religion chain letter.  Prayer to St. Joseph. Authorship attributed to school girls. Say five nights, make five copies. US, 1899.
PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH

  O St. Joseph, so prompt to protect and so powerful with God, I come to lay all my troubles at thy feet and to confide all my interest to you. Deign, O St. Joseph, to assist me by your intercession, and obtain for me from your divine foster-father spiritual and temporal blessings in Jesus Christ, my Saviour. So often having enjoyed your benefits here below, may I each day of my life offer my thanks, my supplications and my homage to thee, the most amicable of fathers. O St.. Joseph, I am contemplating Jesus Christ in your arms and I dare not approach Him whilst He reposes in your heart. Adore Him for me and imprint a kiss upon His brow and ask him to return it to me when I breathe my last sigh. O St. Joseph, patron of hopeless causes, pray for me.
  Say this prayer five successive nights, make five copies and send them to five of your friends, asking them to do the same. Then ask any favor of St. Joseph and he will grant it.

Publ: The World (New York, New York), 28 March 1899, p. 9.  "Endless Chain of Prayer" "Young Ladies of a Fashionable School Address a Novel Petition to St. Joseph." "A number of young ladies connected with a fashionable Fifth avenue school have started an endless chain of prayer. The prayer, with instructions, follows: [above text follows, inside a decorative border]. "The 'endless chain' as applied to prayer is a novel idea which is being carried out in many schools and church societies during the Lenten season."  Entered by DWV, July 6, 2014.

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