Article March 30, 1907 Issue

Some time ago we mentioned the interesting fact that...

New York Journal

Some time ago we mentioned the interesting fact that Christian Science enabled a nervous woman to sit in the dentist's chair and smile in spite of pain. A celebrated dentist, who is not a Christian Scientist, said: "The most nervous girl that I ever saw, unable to stand pain of any kind, and whom I finally refused to treat, came back to me one day smiling. She asked me to give her another trial. I did so. She didn't move, she sat perfectly quiet while the work was being done. When it was over I said to her: 'I know what's the matter with you; you have been talking with the Christian Scientists.' She told me that she had. I don't believe in Christian Science, but I know that it can get a nervous girl in a frame of mind that enables her to endure the horros of the dentist's chair with a smile."

That was one surprising feature of Christian Science. Now comes another, the fact that a man can actually go in a cheerful frame of mind to the electric chair with Christian Science behind him. A young man, George Granger, was put to death in Sing Sing Prison yesterday. This youth, guilty of murder, had sobbed and wept, and wrung his hands during his trial, presenting a pitiable spectacle of terror and lack of self-control. After his trial and condemnation, he was converted to the new ideas of Christian Science, and yesterday the formerly nervous boy stepped into the electric chair, was strapped down, and died as calmly as the young Christian Science woman had stepped into the dentist's chair.

A great many religions have been started in this world. The vast majority have died out. It is interesting and instructive for those interested in great movements of the past to study this Christian Science movement, this birth of a new religion, and to speculate as to the forces within it and its probable lease of life. Remarkable tributes to the Christian Science idea, and to Mrs. Eddy, the originator of the faith, come from remarkable people and remarkable places. The girl in the dentist's chair smilingly tells that she has become a Christian Scientist and doesn't mind pain. The young man in the electric chair helps to fasten the straps around him, and announces that he considers death no longer important, because he has been taught to see how little it all amounts to. At the same time, from the gloomy depths of the solemn British peerage, there comes a testimonial as to the power of Christian Science.

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