The Great Fire of 1871 is the most famous devastation in Chicago history, but records of the late nineteenth century show that fire remained a constant threat in daily existence for many more years. A tipped candle, a spilled lantern, a lightning strike, a warming flame—all of these had the potential to burst into disaster. The electrical storm that woke Sarah and the rest of the domestic staff in this story set off a wave of destruction on August 22, 1896. Newspapers of the last decade of the century are full of headlines about lives lost to fires, including those in orphanages.
The setting for this story was also a time of shifting social policies. Philosophies for how to care for swells of children without parents transformed from the idea of simply housing and feeding them to genuinely envisioning their futures and well-being. Although St. Andrew’s is a fictional orphanage, its story represents both the philosophic and economic challenges of the end of the Gilded Age.
The country was in an economic depression, and feelings ran deep and strong about how government ought to respond and who should benefit. We will never know what might have happened if William Jennings Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” speech had won him not only the Democratic Party nomination but also the national election, but I would like to think we learn something from national history.
Steeping myself in these social, economic, and political facts about the year 1896 makes me feel keenly the reality that we face many of the same challenges today. I hope this story of Sarah Cummings realizing her own worth in the eyes of God and digging deep inside herself will inspire readers to consider what contribution they can make—no matter how small—to bring healing and health to someone else’s life.