"And why," I asked, as I looked toward a rise of ground on the New England shore commanding a broad, beautiful stretch of ocean, sand-dunes and islands, sky and clouds, "why should it be called 'Heartbreak Hill'?" The answer to my question pictured the Puritan maiden who day after day had climbed to the brow of the hill, with the vain hope that the sail which should bear a loved one home would whiten the horizon. The beauty was not for her, hers only the sense of loss. That which she deemed necessary to happiness was gone — her heart was broken.

It was a Sabbath morning, and with my books and a dear friend I took my way toward Heartbreak Hill. One said to me as I started, "Go by the carriage road. It is not on the ocean side and you will get no view, but it's easier climbing than by the path:" and another added, "If you do go by the path, be very careful, for it is overgrown with poisonivy." We chose the path, however, and now and again we caught bright glimpses of the sparkling sea, ever growing broader and larger the higher we climbed. Once we stopped, thinking we had reached the summit; but no! there was yet another climb, yet a grander view! The spirit of Truth came very near to us that morning as we read the lesson, and Heartbreak Hill became for hearts open to "pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love" (Science and Health, p. 298), a Mount of Revelation.

I did not then know that my way in the days to come was to lead up one of the long "heartbreak hills" of mortal existence. The months following brought a sense of loss of much that this world holds dear; brought a load of care with responsibilities and duties too heavy, it seemed, for one to bear, and error would have crowned its work, I doubt not, with bitter and rebellious thoughts, had I known the "new and living way" to meet such trouble, had I not chosen to climb my hill of difficulty, alone with God, by the narrow path of Christian Science, which teaches us how to "meet every adverse circumstance as its master" (Science and Health, p. 419), how to "overcome evil with good." Walking in the light which its teaching has shed upon life, I knew I could ever gain glimpses of the ocean of Love to cheer and strengthen me. Over and over, as the clouds of error settled down and mortal sight could see no path, I declared "My path in life is free," and took the only step that I could see ahead. How truly I proved that "When evil cometh upon us," if "we stand before . . . thy presence [Truth], . . . and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help;" and when I felt as though the problem was too great for me to solve, and fear tried to creep in and say, "You have not the understanding necessary, there are errors of thought too deep-seated, of too many years' standing to be overcome," I turned ofttimes to the admonition in the same chapter, "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude [the errors of a mortal sense of things which try to assert their reality and power]: for the battle is not yours, but God's. . . . Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, . . . fear not, nor be dismayed: to-morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you." Then the fear would be stilled, as a sense of the presence of divine Love changed the darkest hours to light, even to joy, and I was led to know, through experience, that in the time of greatest trial Truth and Love are savingly near. One error, among others which tried to hinder the solution of my problem, asserted itself in the belief in many mindsthe belief that, since my problem was so interwoven with that of others who were governed by very diverse thoughts, it was impossible either to free myself or to raise them. This I met with the constant assertion that there was but the one Mind which governed the thoughts of men. One instance among many will serve to illlustrate the result. After constantly holding to the thought of the government of the one Mind and seeing no evidence of it in a certain crisis, the moment came when a step must be taken and I seemed left alone, not only with my own burden but that of another who seemed unwilling to assume it. In the moment at my command I closed my eyes and realized that God's children reflect justice, courage, freedom, love. A step approached, and as the door opened I was greeted by words which showed a right attitude of thought and bore evidence that the leaven of Truth had been working, though until now unseen. It must not be thought that this is in any way a bringing of others to our way of thinking. As high as are the heavens above the earth, so high are God's thoughts above our thoughts. The first work is with self, to see that we have no thoughts or desires but such as are in accord with divine Principle and manifest Truth and Love. Then must we know that nothing can hinder our manifestation of God, and that every thought of every child of the same Father, Spirit, must come from the same divine source, God, and be in harmony with Him.