Category: Grace Saxe

HIT TYPEWRITER KEYS FOR PASTOR; THEN “HIT TRAIL”

Cited from: The Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. January 2, 1915:3.

Miss Grace Saxe, “Billy” Sunday’s Prayer Meeting Organizer, Tells of Her Conversion.

“Billy” Sunday’s right-hand woman, whose other name is Miss Grace Saxe, is just as much a woman as though she didn’t hold one of the most important positions in the whole Sunday organization, a position which might make even a man forget all else but the responsibilities of his work.

For one of the very first things she did on arriving in Philadelphia several days in advance of the opening of the campaign was to launch forth on an energetic shopping tour.

“I simply had to have some pretty clothes to wear, to conduct my meetings,” she said, smiling nervously, at “Billy” Sunday’s home, 1914 Spring Garden street, happy, but exhausted, at the termination of her first work in Philadelphia.

Miss Saxe is the person whom Mr. Sunday has selected for the very vital work of organizing the neighborhood prayer meetings in the various cities where the revivals are conducted, and it is her particular duty to bring religion into as many of the private homes as she can possibly get into touch with and to make it a permanent factor of those homes.

“Our work would be a very poor thing indeed,” she said earnestly, “if we worked at these people up to a state of high religious fervor only to let them drop back again and cool off soon after the campaign was over.”

TELLS OF HER CONVERSION

“Although the revivals have not yet started, I cannot help feeling that the way Philadelphia has received us has been nothing short of magnificent. Already 5000 homes have been thrown open to these prayer meetings and more than 15,000 volunteers have come forward and signified their intention of fostering these meetings permanently and keeping the spirit of Christ in the home indefinitely.

“One phase of the work that I am particularly interested in is teaching people how to read the Bible. There are many who have a great desire to study the Book of God, but who do not know how to go about it, and organizing teaching, high school girls and women in city houses, into Bible classes is my chief duty.

Miss Saxe’s career has been an interesting one. Born in Iowa, she “entered” St. Louis to accept a position as court stenographer, and it was while she was energetically hitting the keys in the city that something occurred which, to use her own expression, “made her see the light.”

“Up until that time,” she said, a little shamefacedly, “I was rather an unregenerate creature. I used to come to town in Lyons, Dr. A. B. Simpson came to town and I was engaged to go and take down in shorthand a series of his lectures. There were about ten of them, and in addition to having to hear them I also had to go all over them again, transcribing them on the typewriter.

“TURNS DOWN” ROOSEVELT

“They made me think, and soon after I began a very careful study of the Bible. Later on I was engaged to work with the Rev. Dwight L. Moody, of Chicago, and after that I traveled abroad with Torrey and Alexander. By that time the work of making a Christian out of me was completed.

“Later on I happened to be in Egypt taking a little vacation when I received a request to go up the Nile and meet Mr. Roosevelt at Luxor, there to take down some of his lectures, but I found I was spoiled for that sort of thing. I had become so interested in religious work that nothing else seemed to satisfy, and it was soon after this that I accepted Mr. Sunday’s offer to become a member of his organization, and have worked with him ever since.”

Miss Saxe has the calm, placid Madonna-like face of one who is at peace with the world and herself.

“The test of his wonderful work is in the results that he gets. Day after day hundreds of testimonials come in which show the lasting conversions that he is responsible for.

“Only the other day a man sent a letter from Waterloo, Iowa, where a revival was conducted some three years ago, saying that he was thankful for the change that had been brought about in him, that he was willing even to have his name used if other conversions might be effected thereby.

“For 30 years this Johnny Bates had been a confirmed drunkard. His wife got disgusted and divorced him, his children grew away from him and he went down into the very depths. Three years ago he hit the sawdust trail and since then has never touched a drop. He now holds a splendid lucrative position and his wife has remarried him. That is but one of the many cases which testify to the indisputably good work that Mr. Sunday is doing.”

Cited from: The Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger. January 2, 1915:3.

MISS SAXE FAMOUS AS BIBLE TEACHER, c.1916

MISS SAXE FAMOUS AS BIBLE TEACHER

Miss Grace Saxe, court stenographer, religious press reporter for Colonel Roosevelt, writer of religious text books, Bible teacher, tourist and general favorite wherever she goes, is the Bible teacher and leader of the prayer meetings of the Sunday campaign.

One has only to talk with Miss Grace Saxe just a few minutes to feel altogether assured that she has had many interesting experiences and has gotten every possible advantage from them. She is known in many countries in Europe and is considered by many persons to be the finest Bible teacher in the world at the present time. That is no idle compliment and the people of Trenton are now having an opportunity to hear this famous woman. She has not always been in Bible work, however, for several years ago she was leading a sternuous life as court reporter in St. Louis.

About this time her interest in Bible study and Bible teaching was aroused and she went to the Moody Institute to study. The famous revivalists, Dr. R. A. Torrey and Charles Alexander, were then stirring the country with their services and Miss Saxe became interested in their work. At the close of their evangelistic work in this country she went abroad with them and assisted them for two years.

Knowing that she could tell many fascinating stories about her travels and her work, the writer asked her about them one day and had a delightful chat discussing her adventures.

“I was with Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander for two years,” said Miss Saxe, “in England, Ireland, Scotland, Paris and Germany. I did not teach in Germany and only taught English speaking people in Paris.”

After completing her work with the evangelists she returned to London and for two years contributed to the London Christian, the oldest religious publication in the world, a series of articles on Bible study in the Old Testament. The Old Testament by the way is of engrossing interest to Miss Saxe, and once a Jewish girl came to interview her. It happened that the girl was well versed in the Old Testament and they discussed it to the exclusion of the usual interview.

But to revert to her work. At the invitation of a friend Miss Saxe went to Egypt intending to remain only a short time traveling. Her fame as a Bible teacher had already spread far even then and the missionaries hearing that she was in Egypt prevailed upon her to hold a series of Bible classes in Cairo, Alexandria, and other missionary stations. This she did, teaching the natives by means of an interpreter.

The missionaries in Palestine had also learned of what she was doing in Egypt and requested her to come to them and undertake the same work. She accepted the invitation and taught in Palestine for two months.

“When I finished my teaching, my friend and I took a driving trip north from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee and to Damascus and returned by the way of Baalbeck where we stopped wherever we chose and stayed as long as we cared to. Many of the famous places mentioned in the Bible we visited and during our stay there we would read everything that the Bible said about the place.”

It may be as a result of this trip that Miss Saxe can talk so fascinatingly about the places of the Old Testament.

After rambling about Palestine in this way she and her friend returned to Egypt for a summer conference.

“It is very hot in Egypt in the summer,” she said, “and almost all the missionaries go to the coast which costs them no more than to stay in the interior. They offered to stay in the interior the summer that I was in Egypt if I would conduct a Bible class. We had, of course, no adequate place in which to hold such a course and my friend sent to London for an immense tent. This arrived and was erected and for six weeks I gave four courses of Bible study. We held not only a Bible class but really a religious revival. I talked to many natives who would come to the tent, by means of my interpreter.”

At this time Colonel Roosevelt was expected to come out of the jungle and was scheduled to make several addresses in various mission stations. The religious press of America cabled to Egypt for the missionaries to get a stenographer to take down the Colonel’s talks. Stenographers do not abound in Egypt, however, and the task was easier said than done. The missionaries knew of my work as a reporter and cabled back to know if I would go, and the message came back to go ahead. So off I started and went up the Nile farther than I would have gone if I had not been going to meet the Colonel. I arrived several days before he did. Finally he came out of the jungle and I reported all of his addresses for the religious press.”

Miss Saxe then returned to this country and about four years ago became connected with the Sunday party, and has been the director of the prayer meetings and the Bible classes ever since. It is under her management that the plan for the block prayer meetings has been worked out and at the end of each campaign she organizes as many of these groups as desire to be organized into permanent Bible classes.

She is a woman of gracious personality and becomes extremely well liked wherever she goes. She is above medium height with black hair and dark eyes. Her smile is very cordial and her manner most delightful.

Of course, no story of Miss Saxe is complete without a mention of her fondness for cats. Many persons have a pet of some kind and a kitten is Miss Saxe’s favorite of all animals. There are days, of course, when she does not see her pet at all and when he is entrusted to the mercies of some one else. The little feline leads a happy life in spite of that and is doubtless proud of being the pet of so illustrious a person.

In Trenton, this animal is “John,” a gray and white kitten, named in honor of three of the Times Staff members.

The Times (Trenton, New Jersey) · Sun, Jan 16, 1916 · Page 6 Downloaded on Mar 10, 2026

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1194099094/The Times (Trenton, New Jersey) · Sun, Jan 16, 1916 · Page 6 Downloaded on Mar 10, 2026

Two Objects Aim of Every Big Revival, Grace Saxe, 1914 – Symbolism of the Pentateuch

Note: Grace Saxe was the lead Bible teacher for Billy Sunday from 1911 – 1921.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fri, Jan 30, 1914 ·Page 7

Miss Grace Saxe Compares Life of Old Israelites With That of Christian Today.

There is a remarkable correspondence between the experiences of the chosen people of Israel and of the saved soul,” said Miss Grace Saxe yesterday afternoon before her Bible class in the tabernacle. Miss Saxe has begun a study of the books of the Bible, their arrangements and their significance and her class which occupies the platform at the close of the afternoon meeting in the tabernacle fills every seat. Miss Saxe said:

The symbolism of the Pentateuch is remarkable. No less remarkable is the order of these first five books. Genesis is the book of beginnings and yet before it closes it shows the beginning of the entrance of sin. Exodus is the book of redemption symbolized by the release from bondage in Egypt. Leviticus is the book of worship showing the experience of redemption. Numbers, the book of journeying the experiences of the redeemed from day to day, while Deuteronomy is the book of instruction to the redeemed, the plan of regeneration.

Note the steps from Egypt, through the Wilderness to Canaan. Egypt typifies the world, Satan’s domain; the Wilderness, the place of the unsurrendered to God, while Canaan symbolizes the spirit-filled, spirit-controlled Christian life.

We are asked where we get our authority for this comparison of the life of the Israelites and the life of the Christian. You will find it in I Cor. 10:4.

As the Israelites left Egypt and wandered for 40 years in the Wilderness there is one thing I want you to note, that when they looked back toward Egypt they longed for the fish, the melons, cucumbers, leeks, onions and garlic. Each stage of longing was lower, stronger and ranker. The picture is exact in every particular.

Every great revival has two objects. The first is to get people to obey God, to come out for Him. That is the first great crisis. The second object is to get the wilderness Christians to take a second step into the promised land, the land of Canaan, instead of wandering and drifting about. This is the second great crisis.

Miss Saxe will continue her study of the books of the Bible each afternoon at the close of the afternoon meeting. On Saturday afternoon of next week she will outline a plan for neighborhood Bible classes to continue after the close of the present Sunday meetings.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fri, Jan 30, 1914 ·Page 7

Grace Saxe’s Prayerbook, c 1911

Source – the author of this article is probably the wife to Evangelist M.B. Williams.

Grace Sax joined the Sunday team in February 191. She immediately assumed the leader of the cottage prayer meetings, as well as Bible teaching and training local churches to handle the fruit of the Sunday revivals.

The Liverpool Evening Review. Wed. Sept 18, 1912:1. Grace is in the center.

This article in a 1911 newspaper gives a glimpse of the importance of prayer to Grace.

Miss Saxe then held up little blank book which is called “Answered Prayer.”

She calls it, “A Record of the Footsteps of a Prayer Hearing and Prayer Answering God.” It is divided into four blank columns headed. First, date of asking; second, the request; third, the special promise pleaded; fourth, date when answered.

In this record she puts only the prayers which to man’s eyes it seem impossible to have answered. All of her prayers, she says, have not been answered thus far—many of them have however been answered fully.

“There are conditions to fulfill if prayers are to be answered.” These seven conditions she has in the back of her “Answered Prayer”

1. Personal condition, Psalm 66:18,

2. Forgiving Spirit, Mark 11:25,

3. Spiritual Motive, James 4:3.

4. Asking, Matthew 7:7,

5. Asking in Faith, Mark 11:24,

6. Asking according to God’s will (not to interfere with His plans) 1 John 5:14,

7. Asking in Jesus name, John 16:23. “Pray so that if it were written we could ask Jesus to sign it.”

In our prayers Miss Saxe suggests that the following should be the form of approach to God: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.

Taking the first letters of these words in order, we spell the word Acts. In Genesis 32:9-12 we find that order observed in Jacob’s prayer. In conclusion Miss Saxe suggested the reading of Andrew Murray’s ‘With Christ in the School of Prayer.’—Mrs. A. R. Williams.

Source – the author of this article is probably the wife to Evangelist M.B. Williams.

The following story was printed in a paper on March 3rd, 1915:

“One of the special features of the meeting yesterday afternoon came when Miss Grace Saxe, of Sunday’s party, rushed from the platform and threw her arms around the shoulders of a woman trail hitter. Miss Saxe later explained that the woman was a relative, living in this city, and that she has been praying for her to come to the front since the opening of the campaign.”