Stick with Him and teach your kids to stick with Him, too.

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In scene three of Act II, Mr. Müller comes by a math class to see how Charlie is doing. He’s belligerent, as always, but the audience gets to look in on a math class (sung, of course, since this is a musical, after all).

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After the teacher and all the children in class perform “Add It Up,” and one little girl gets the very hard last question, she sings:

Add it up, take away, multiply, divide.
Two or three or is it forty-five?
How many? How much? What’s it gonna be?
But worst of all, she called on me!

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Another teacher begins a geography class while Arthur sits sulkily in the back. This class sings “Travel ‘Round the World,” in which they begin in England, . . .

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. . . and sing their way around the world, . . .play-reunion-195

. . . passing the pyramids in Egypt, and finally, returning to Bristol.

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As some of the students chat in the dining room, Mr. Andrews enters carrying a flailing Charlie. One boy grabs Charlie’s legs to help Mr. Andrews.

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In this scene, students tell Arthur about how students have to leave if they act too badly. Seventeen-year-old Emma says she can’t wait until she gets to leave!play-reunion-204

While they are talking, workers Claire, Jenny, and Hattie come in crying. When the children ask what’s wrong, they learn about a recent smelly donation of 44 dozen onions!

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Back on Wilson Street, when George’s old college friend hears people talking about Müller and his orphans, he states his unbelief in God while wondering in amazement about how George runs the Orphan House without ever asking for money.

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Townswomen tell him that they trust in a God who listens to prayer and that God is proving that He is faithful.

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When George and Mr. Craik come along, a poor woman tells him that she felt the Lord urging her to give what she had in her purse (which is just two pence), even though she and her daughter often go hungry themselves.

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When Mrs. Bickle visits the Clark family at the carpenter shop, she learns that he isn’t filling orders as fast as he once did, because he is taking time for church and his family. The children tell her that they haven’t missed a meal yet and they even had money left over that they donated to the orphans. This gives Mrs. Bickle the idea that she would like to donate, too — hoping that a large donation will prompt coverage in the newspaper.
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In scene five of Act II, George and Mary are praying for three difficult children: Charlie, Arthur, and Emma.

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The seamstress visits to inquire about little Charlie and to donate 100 pounds from her father’s estate. While she is still there, Mr. Andrews brings in Charlie who has been caught stealing again. She begs Charlie to let them help him. “I don’t need any help!” he yells.

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Before their next meal, the orphans enter, singing “Praise to God, Immortal Praise.”

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They are excited to find out that today’s meal is a change from onion soup. Today they have potato soup because of the farmer who donated bags of potatoes that day.

 

As they eat, Dora enters giving Mrs. Bickle and her daughter a tour of the Orphan House. Both visitors have clothespins on their noses because before this Orphan House was built and the Orphan House was on Wilson Street, the sewers used to back up because it wasn’t large enough to handle so many people. From then on, Mrs. Bickle has complained about the smell — which is, of course, long gone!

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Mrs. Bickle is so impressed with the care that the orphans receive that she decides to double — no triple — her donation.

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After she mentions the hope of the donation being in the newspaper, George Müller tells her that he cannot take her donation, having decided long ago not to take donations given for self glory.

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During the meal, one orphan noticed that Miss Hattie was no longer wearing her beloved necklace and she pulls a friend aside to tell her. The friend decides that Arthur must have stolen it.

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Both girls sneak back to the tables . . .

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. . . to spread the rumor that Arthur has stolen Miss Hattie’s necklace.

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When Arthur realizes what they are doing, he rises angrily from his seat.

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One of the gossipers confronts him, saying that they all know he stole Miss Hattie’s necklace.

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Other children taunt Arthur, too. When one teen boy touches him on the shoulder and says that he doesn’t believe he took it, Arthur socks him in the stomach, saying, “Don’t touch me!”

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Arthur is ready to fight any challenger . . .

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. . . and Jimmy jumps in to defend the boy who got socked.

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After a rolling, punching fight, Mr. Müller arrives to separate the boys and take them out of the dining room.

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When the staff gathers the next day, one asks if George is going to send Arthur away; but Mr. Müller tells of Arthur’s sincere apology the night before. When asked what really happened to her necklace, Hatte decides to tell the group that she sold it to help the orphans, believing it wasn’t right for her to pray that others would send money if she wasn’t willing to do what she could herself.

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Soon Mr. Andrews enters with the bad news that there is a leak in the boiler. Claire worries that the children will freeze, but George assures them all that they will investigate the situation and pray.

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Later, as orphan girls work to clean the dining room, George tells them that he is praying that God will change the bitter north wind to a warmer south wind and that the workers repairing the boiler will have a desire to work.

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Emma (at far right in the photo below) says that if God cared about them, they wouldn’t be in an orphanage. Another girl says that He does care about them and that is why they are in that orphanage and not on the street.

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When one girl goes outside, she returns to tell them that the wind has changed and the weather is warm!

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Emma says that the wind changes on its own. Then she begins to cough in a way that concerns the other girls. She declares, “I’m fine!”

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When Arthur enters carrying a toolbox to take out to the men working on the boiler, Emma taunts him and accuses him of an evil motive.

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Soon the workers enter and one asks if it would be okay if they worked all night. George Müller says, “Now that is what I call a desire to work!”

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Mandy closes the scene with a reprise:

Never need my soul despair
Since He bids me boldly dare
To the secret place repair,
There to prove He answers prayer.

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I believe God answers prayer. I trust Him to answer the way He knows is best, even when that best is something very different from what I want His answer to be.

Once Jesus asked His disciples: “You do not want to go away also, do you?” (John 6:68). Simon Peter replied to Jesus with a question, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:69). Stick with Him and teach your kids to stick with Him, too. He is our all.

But you, when you pray,
go into your inner room,
close your door
and pray to your Father who is in secret,
and your Father who sees what is done in secret
will reward you.
Matthew 6:6

Story and photos from Street Robber: The Story of George Müller and His Orphans by Mary Evelyn McCurdy, performed by the Homeschool Dramatic Society at the Cookeville Performing Arts Center, Cookeville, Tennessee, September 15-17.

 

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One comment

  1. Not often I wish we were still living in Memphis, but right now I do just so we could make a yearly tradition of coming to watch these shows. Living in the Pacific Northwet (as a dear friend taught me to say), would make it a l. o. n. g. commute! Thank you for sharing the story and pictures. And for “I believe God answers prayer. I trust Him to answer the way He knows is best, even when that best is something very different from what I want His answer to be.” May we ever trust the God that is good and loves us no matter what!

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