A Prophetic Dream

I was divinely protected during the earthquake in San Francisco in 1906.

When I was a little girl about seven years old, one night I dreamed that I was in a dark cave. I had been taught that Jesus saves little children, so I called to Him. He came to me and said: "Come on, Anna; I will take you out." I tell you this childhood dream that you may know that I have always lived close to the Master. Years later, on the night before the earthquake in San Francisco, I dreamed that I was in a large field and that all at once the earth and the sky became pitch dark. I looked up into the heavens and prayed as I had done when I was a little girl. As I pleaded with Jesus, suddenly there was a break in the sky. A broad road appeared and seemed to reach from the sky to the earth; thousands of camels carrying men were descending and coming toward me. As they came nearer I could see that the men all had on robes like those worn in Biblical times. As they came still nearer I recognized that Jesus was mounted on the camel at the head of the procession.

I said to myself: "I am dreaming." But a voice replied: "No, you are not dreaming. You are wide awake." As the procession came up to me, I rubbed the hair on the camels, and said to myself: "No, it is no dream." I could even see in the air the dust which the camels stirred up with their feet. The procession stopped while I was rubbing the hair on one of the camels and looking at the dust. I stood with bowed head, softly crying to myself. Then I decided to look up. Jesus asked:

"Anna, why are you crying?"
"The world is coming to an end and I am afraid," I replied.
"But tell me why you are afraid," Jesus said.
"Because I have not been good," I answered.
"I think you have been very good, because you have been as good as you knew how," was Jesus' answer.
"But," I said, "I am afraid the world is coming to an end."
"No," answered Jesus, "but a terrible disaster is going to happen in San Francisco, and I want you to leave the city tomorrow morning."
"Will the city be utterly destroyed?" I asked.
"No, but you must leave the city. I will lead you."

Then I awoke.

When morning came I began to pack. My family was in Mexico. I was living in a flat. When I went to the office to give up the flat, I related my dream.

The landlord said: "You must not give up your apartment on account of a dream. When your family returns the apartment will be rented, and what will you do? You will be back tomorrow morning, and will be glad to return to your home."

I had packed my things and I stored them in the basement. I went across the bay to Oakland, house hunting. The Master was to lead me; I did not know where I was to go. I continued house-hunting until about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. An agent took me to a house on a hill. He explained that the house was for sale, and not for rent. I told this man my dream, and why I was house hunting. He said that I was very foolish to pay any attention to a dream; that there was nothing in it. However, he finally took me to the owner, and I bought the house; I paid down on it $50 (all the money that I had), and I was to have possession at once. I went to the street car line, thinking that I would return to San Francisco, but it seemed that I could not go. I stood as if I were stone, and could not move. I boarded a car for Berkeley, and in Berkeley I went to the house of my friend Elizabeth to stay all night. I told her my dream, and she said that I was crazy to pay any attention to it. I longed to have some one believe, but I stood alone. I went to bed early in the evening and went to sleep. I woke up at 9 o'clock. I thought:

"My friend thinks I am crazy. I will get up and dress and go back to San Francisco."

I dressed, and put on my hat. Again a spell came over me; my body would not obey me. I undressed and went to bed.

Five minutes before the earthquake occurred I got up and looked out of the window. My friend's house was at the foot of a sloping hill, and a path reached from the top of the hill down to the base. I immediately recognized it as the path in my dream, the path that the camels had traveled in their descent from the heavens. There was a schoolhouse on top of the hill, and I found out afterward that the path was one that the pupils had made in going back and forth. The earthquake came, and tipped the house. I was pinned in my room, but was rescued. My friend Elizabeth was dazed. She realized, even in the face of that awful situation, that my dream had come true. She said:

"Don't tell Mother; she will not have you in the house. She will think that you are bewitched."

We looked across the bay; San Francisco was in flames.

I worked during the succeeding days, helping the wounded, carrying them food and drink. However, my friend's house was soon filled by those who were in great need of shelter, and there was no room for me. The thought came, "I have a house." I walked from Berkeley to Oakland. However, before I left, I borrowed a Bible. I took it and hugged it close to my heart.

I finally reached the house that I had purchased, and that night I slept on the floor. All at once I remembered that my collar was pinned with a diamond bar pin. I made up my mind that I would go to a furniture store the next morning and try to exchange it for a stove and a bed. My faith in Jesus was working in me wonderfully, more wonderfully than I can tell. When I looked at myself in the mirror in my door the next morning, I was so illumined that I hardly recognized myself. I went to a furniture store near by and presented the diamond brooch, and asked whether I could make the exchange that I desired. The proprietor came and after a few moments of thought he said:

"Put your pin back on. Your face is good for anything in this store. Furnish your house; I will take the goods back if you cannot pay the bill. But furnish it completely from top to bottom."

I seemed to be walking on air. My feet seemed winged. I furnished my house and had the electric lights and the water turned on. On the street I met a woman whom I knew, and I took her to my home. She had a few dollars — enough to buy us something to eat. The government suspended all payments for three months, so the real estate men did not during that time try to collect further payment on the house. My rooms were soon filled with the wounded and needy. I finally got in touch with my family, and was taken care of.

My husband and I lived in this home for several years after the San Francisco earthquake. I always kept one room for any one who was in need of shelter — and it was almost always occupied.

The flat in San Francisco where we had been living was utterly destroyed. In the name of Jesus Christ I praise God and give thanks for my wonderful deliverance.