Editorial March 21, 1901 Issue

In Answer to Prayer

Editor with contributions from J. S. Pillsbury

In a recent issue of The Saturday Evening Post, Rollin E. Smith tells the story of "The Passing of the Great American Locust Plague." The event transpired in April, 1877, and was believed by hundreds of God-fearing men and women to have been a direct answer to prayer.

"In the summer of 1873," says Mr. Smith, "considerable damage was done to the crops in two or three counties in the southwestern part of Minnesota by grasshoppers, or Rocky Mountain locusts."

In 1874 the number greatly increased, and in 1875 the grasshoppers had spread over the whole of southern Minnesota. Various devices for killing the grasshoppers were employed, but all to no purpose. As they continued to increase at such an alarming rate, it was believed they would soon spread over the remainder of the state and into the adjoining states. By the close of the summer of 1879 the situation was one almost to cause despair.

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