EXTRACTS FROM A BUSINESS MAN'S CORRESPONDENCE

with contributions from S. Ford

[The following extracts from letters were sent us for publication by Mr. Clarence H. Howard of St. Louis, Mo., he having received the writer's permission to do so. Mr. Howard writes that during the year following the second letter he had quite a correspondence with and a number of visits from Mr. Ford, which go to explain the wonderful transformation of thought so apparent in the third letter. He adds that this friend has since that time been "a very earnest, ardent worker in the Cause."—Editor.]

Postscript to a business letter written from Chicago, March 20, 1898:—

Dear Howard:—I understand Mr. H. is taking Christian Science treatment, and I am amazed at it. They will do him no good. They are fakirs, and I want you to use your influence to get him to stop this at once and let me send my doctor to him. This is important, and it is a shame to leave him in their hands, for they will let him die without giving him any medicine.

Chicago, Ill., March 25, 1898.

My Dear Howard:—Your letter relative to your new-found happiness was duly received, and your reply to my remark about Mr. H. was read with much interest. I considered it such a beautiful epistle that I took the liberty of showing it to several of my friends, all of whom thought as I did about it. You certainly do not need to go to heaven, for you apparently, so far as I can judge, are as happy now as you might be there. I hope it may continue. ... I may some day attend the church you speak of, but I do not see why the Methodist or any other order of religion may not be as nice as the one you speak of, provided it is lived up to. When I see people left to die because they need medical attention, and to die abandoned by their dearest friends, it makes my blood run cold; and this is repeatedly done by the adherents of this faith. The Lord never meant this to happen, or he would not have caused physicians to people the earth, and I think some day you may find that while the faith, if lived up to, is satisfying to you, yet your bones will ache just as hard, and your physical system will give out and require earthly treatment just the same as others.

Chicago, Ill., May 18, 1899.

My Dear Clarence:—I want again to express to you my sincere thanks and deep gratitude for the many favors you have extended to us, and especially am I indebted to you most deeply for all I now enjoy in Christian Science. My wife and I are too happy in the abiding faith and understanding which has come to us, all through your ministrations and testimonials of Love and Truth, and it is with unspeakable happiness that I extend to you my heartfelt love and thanks, my dear Howard, for the peace and quiet which Christian Science has given me, the perfect health, the blessings untold, and the bliss and happiness I had ached to know for years. My darling wife, too, is so happy and changed, yet she was always a loving wife. ...

I have ever been grateful for having such a dear and warm friend as "Howard," but if it gives you the happiness to know the result of your labors—after experiencing many bitter and unpardonable things emanating from my personality in the past—that it gives me to be one of God's people, we are both grateful and thankful, as well as happy in Love and Truth. Perhaps you have looked for some expression of this character from me heretofore, but I have felt that I did not wish to speak until I could know and feel that I had accomplished, in part at least, the results to be attained from daily study of Science and Health and the Scriptures. ... I wake nights, thinking of this beautiful religion and its benefits. I think of it all the time, and carry Science and Health with me daily. ...

Let me thank you again, and let me tell you that I hold the warmest place in my heart for you. You, speaking the truth, have added years to my life,—years of brightness,—and together we can walk in the paths of righteousness to the glory of God.

Affectionately in truth and love,

S. Ford.

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