Urchin's tale from 1867 still a 'pearl'

While "traveling through the dark" — as William Stafford calls our journey through life — I recently stumbled over a little book being touted as a spiritual classic.

"Jessica's First Prayer" was written in 1867 by a 27-year-old woman named Sarah Smith. She wrote under the pen name Hesba Stretton ("Hesba" were the initials of her siblings). Charles Dickens first published the story in his Household Words magazine. After that, copies were sold for a penny each across England. In 1906 the story was made into a movie, making Hesba Stretton the champion of "homeless waifs" everywhere.

The book is only 28 pages long.

And since I tend to trust short books more than long ones (people who write shorter are more intent on sharing than lecturing, I think), I bought "Jessica's First Prayer" and took it home to read.

Let me say, it's not for everybody.

Not because it's graphic, but because it's sweet. Reading it is a little like eating a vat of chocolate pudding.

But then I have always had a soft spot for chocolate pudding.

In the novel, Jessica is a street urchin (a "young jade," the book calls her), whose mother beats her and leaves her to beg on the streets. She befriends a street vendor, who gives her coffee and crumbs. One day, Jessica decides to follow him home. She soon finds herself at a church where the vendor serves as the custodian. She hides and watches as all the well-fed, well-dressed Christians arrive for the worship service. The organ music is so lovely, it makes her cry. And the minister keeps talking about something called "prayer." Her one wish in life becomes to learn what "prayer" is all about.

To make a short story even shorter, Jessica ends up in the office of the minister who — thankfully — is a bona fide man of God, not a poser. He fans the tiny spiritual flame in Jessica's soul, a flame that eventually grows enough to light and warm the lives of others.

If you've got a few minutes and want to see the kind of story that charmed the socks off your great-great-grandmother, Google the words "Jessica's First Prayer, text" and a copy will pop up on the screen for you to print out and read.

Your first thought may be the same as mine. A lot has changed since 1867: language, society, religion, values.