As the story goes... Dare to Dream

First, I'd like to say I miss listening to Paul Harvey on the radio.  I especially miss listening to "the rest of the story" when he would tell a story that might be a story of awe and wonder; a story of heroism or something else that would just grasp your attention.  Recently I seem to be running across stories that took me back to the days of Paul Harvey, therefore, I found the urge to tell some of them here because they struck something in me wanting to share good things.

Hattie May Wiatt

The Reverend Russell H. Conwell, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia delivered a sermon on December 1, 1912 that told of a little girl named Hattie May Wiatt.  She lived near a church where she wanted to attend Sunday School, but it was very crowded and often couldn't get in.  Rumors have it that around 1883, the Reverend walked Hattie into the Sunday school because she was unable to get inside, telling her one day they would have buildings big enough to allow every one to attend who wanted to.  Soon after, Hattie fell victim of diphtheria at just age 5 and died.  A small purse was found under her pillow containing 57 cents she had saved.   At her funeral, her mother gave the money to Conwell, which he took to the church and became the focus of his sermon.

Rev. Conwell had the 57 cents turned into 57 pennies, told the congregation the story of little Hattie May and sold the pennies for a return of about $250.  In addition, 54 of the original 57 pennies were returned to Rev. Conwell and he later put them up on display.  This was in 1886 when 57 cents was no small savings account for a little girl from a poor family.  Some of the members of the church formed what they called the Wiatt Mite Society which was dedicated to making Hattie May's 57 cents grow as much as possible and to buy the property for the Primary Department of the Sunday school.  

On June 28, 1886, A nearby house at the corner of Broad and Berks streets, referred to as The Temple because the property owner did not want the house to be called a church until the mortgage was fully paid, was investigated for purchase by the Wiatt Mite Society, which was organized for the purpose of taking the 57 cents and enlarging on them sufficiently to buy the property for the Primary Department of the Sunday school. In that same house, the first classes of Temple College, later Temple University, were held. The house was later sold to allow Temple College to move and The Temple (now the Temple Performing Arts Center to grow, and still more of that money went towards founding the Samaritan Hospital (now the Temple University Hospital).

As the story goes, if you dare to dream, great things can happen.

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Note that this story is the result of research and reading of many accounts and descriptions of what happened in those times...  I just collected and replayed the facts as I found them to be, so you'd understand it, as the story goes....