Two years ago I was doing practically all the composition on a country newspaper in northern Nebraska. After ten months of this work, without relaxation, I was compelled to take a rest, as I was then bordering on a nervous breakdown with a complication of other ailments, among them myopia in a very aggravated form, for which I had consulted two oculists. The first one told me that I would have to wear glasses but a few months, as my eyes were only strained from too close application. Later the glasses became unsatisfactory and I went to a specialist, who after an examination told me that my eyes were in a serious condition; that I had not begun to wear glasses soon enough; that it was absolutely essential for me to wear them constantly. I surrendered to what then seemed inevitable, and regarded the trouble with my eyes a secondary matter compared with my numerous other ailments. At this time I could scarcely walk two blocks without a feeling of the greatest weariness and my daily obligations were a burden to me. I came to Topeka for a vacation, hoping to ward off a complete prostration, and also to consult doctors in regard to my physical condition.

I first heard of Christian Science through a very dear friend. I knew that it had helped her over many rough places, and I intended, in a vague sort of a way, to investigate it for myself at some future time. While on the street one day, my attention was attracted by the sign on a Christian Science Reading Room, and hoping to get some light I went in. Here I was given a copy of Science and Health to read. I took it home and glanced over a few pages, thinking it perfectly absurd that a book could quiet my nerves or in any way alleviate my suffering. After a week or ten days I returned the book, telling the Scientist that it gave me no relief. During the conversation that followed I told her of my physical condition and she advised treatment, which I took, and after six weeks I was able to be at my work again, feeling like a new being. I no longer suffered any discomfort from walking any distance that I wished.

I wish to speak particularly of one experience in connection with my eyes. After being in Science several months I laid aside my glasses, much to the amazement and disgust of the men with whom I worked, and never felt the need of them until one day in the spring of 1905. On this day I was running a linotype machine in one of the daily offices in this city, when it suddenly seemed that a heavy veil had been placed before my eyes. I could not read "copy" nor tell one man from another in the room. I started at once for help. When I got out into the noonday sunlight, to my vision it was dusk, and I thought surely I was going blind. I fought this fear as best I could, but when I reached the practitioner's office, reading was out of the question. After about ten minutes' treatment I was told to take up Science and Health and see if I could read. At first the words looked like a black line across the page, then all at once it was light again and I could read clearly and distinctly the page before me. Tears sprang to my eyes and I realized then as never before that God is of "purer eyes than to behold evil." I experienced no more discomfort with my eyes and the remainder of the day I spent sewing. The next day while at my work, which is regarded by all operators as exceedingly trying on the eyes (most of them wear glasses), a "take" of "pearl" reprint fell to my lot, and I experienced no more difficulty in reading it than in reading a type-written page. The trouble was perfectly overcome by the one treatment and I have suffered no more annoyance from this source, no matter how severely my eyes are tried by the work before me.