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That Little Black Book
The prayer and fasting with which Miss Walsh and her co-laborers sought the Lord
strengthened them to do battle for Him. Miss Walsh defended Bible truth admirably.
She rejoiced when listeners made decisions to live according to the Biblical truths they
heard. Some of them even defected from the challenger’s church.
Mary Walsh did not resent the frequent moving required of evangelists. She was
content to share a Christ-centered message taken from the little black book that has
power to change lives.
She started out working for seven dollars a week. Young men who held the same
credentials were paid more; in those days it was assumed that it cost a single man more
to live than a single woman. However, Mary felt no bitterness. She depended on her
God to supply all her needs. “Money, who cares about it?” was her attitude.
Because of her higher wages as a nurse, Miss Walsh had plenty of money for her
clothes and other expenses at that stage in her life. When she entered evangelism, fortunately she already had assembled a classic wardrobe. Never able to tolerate wearing
“cheap” things, she had always bought the best quality, and consequently her clothing
lasted for years.
Miss Walsh was licensed as a minister early in her career because of the volume of
public work she carried on. The presentations she made as part of the evangelistic series
made her a familiar figure and facilitated her entry into people’s homes later on.
Besides her ministerial license, Miss Walsh also carried a press card from the church,
issued because she frequently wrote articles for denominational periodicals. Her press
card once gained her entry into the House of Parliament in London.
Miss Walsh wrote a series of six articles on the topic “How to Reach the Catholic
Mind.” These helpful pieces appeared in the Revie w and Herald between April 3 and May
8, 1947. In the first article of the series, “Our Duty to the Roman Catholic,” she wrote,
I once stood in the Basilica of Saint Peter’s in Rome and watched
men, women, and little children bow before the black figure of Peter,
the supposed first pope. I saw many kiss the protruding toe with deep
veneration; others, who were small of stature, extended the right
hand, and after a gentle touch of the same toe, pressed their hand to
their lips. Could anyone witnessing such idolatry and knowing this
message, be indifferent to the needs of these people? No!
—Mary E. Walsh, “How to Reach the Catholic Mind: Our Duty to the
Roman Catholic,” Review and Herald (April 3, 1947): 7.
Mary Walsh felt welling up in her soul a fountain of sorrow for such people. She
longed to be God’s instrument to liberate them from the bondage of their idolatrous
practices. She added that one doesn’t have to go to Rome to feel this burden, and
mentioned her concern at seeing people in a Catholic church in Baltimore prostrating
themselves before a large crucifix and kissing it.

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