In seeing the beautiful life of two of its votaries, I was...

In seeing the beautiful life of two of its votaries, I was led to the investigation of Christian Science. A few years ago, while teaching school in Kansas, I was closely associated in my work with a teacher who impressed me as being quite different from any of the others. I had been told that she was a Christian Scientist, but that meant nothing to me except that Scientists did not believe in sickness. This lady did not talk her religion, but I know now that she lived it. I can see that it was her reflection of Life, Truth, and Love which made her different from the others.

After teaching there several years I returned to Indiana, and after a while Christian Science was again brought to my notice by a teacher. Our supervisor of music resigned and I was asked to help a friend to secure the place. This person failed to be elected, however, and it has since transpired that this was a blessing to me, for the one elected proved to be a Scientist. Not only did I at once recognize something about her and about her work which was different, but the other teachers also saw an indefinable something, and her success with the children was almost phenomenal. Still I did not know what it was until about a year and a half after, when I found she was a Christian Scientist, and I then determined to try to find out what this something was. I studied Science and Health and read the Sentinel, and finally attended the services. Through this reading I was enabled to lay off glasses that I had worn constantly for nine years. But while I began to see something of what Christian Science meant and did make many demonstrations, I did not grasp much of the true understanding until I experienced an instantaneous healing.

About two years ago I had a badly injured ankle, which I tried to treat myself, but I was not able to do so successfully. It would get better, but when I had to be on my feet it would get worse again. It was badly swollen and discolored, and the pain was very severe. Finally I was confined to the bed, as the swelling had extended to the hip. We then wrote to Chicago for treatment, and I was expecting relief as soon as the letter reached the practitioner. That time, however, passed with no relief, but suddenly, in the afternoon, the pain and swelling began to leave; and what a relief it was! In a very few minutes I was free, and got up and went to the kitchen to work. The discoloration was all gone in just a few days. Later I learned why relief had not come in the morning. The practitioner to whom we had written was too busy to take my case, so when he returned home at noon he turned the letter over to his wife. It was at the time of her treatment that I received the help, and the work was so thoroughly done that I have been a different person ever since. I was given the "cup of cold water in Christ's name" (Science and Health, p. 570), for which I had been thirsting, and from that time on I could see I was making progress.

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March 11, 1911
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