Article December 19, 1914 Issue

Sentinels of the Hillside

MARY R. CHAMPLIN

While journeying one time, I was drawn irresistibly to the hills that skirted the quaint old city where I was staying, because of the wonderful brilliancy of the trees, clad in their autumn garments and radiant in the glorious sunshine of the unusually beautiful days of Indian summer. Never had I seen scarlet trees so brilliant, or yellow ones so golden; and as they drew me eagerly up the long stretch of sand-piled road intervening between the end of the car line and the tree-crowned hills, I thought to carry their radiance back to the city, that those who could not climb the hill might enjoy their beauty. As I neared them, every line and fiber stood revealed in vivid clearness, the familiar outline of oak and maple and sweet gum, and the various shades of marking and color gave out such wealth of light and beauty that I joyously gave thanks for the fuller consciousness, gained in Christian Science, of "infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation" (Science and Health, p. 468).

These sentinels of the hillside stood out against the background of evergreen pines like flaming prisms, radiating and reflecting every gleam of God's wonderful sunshine in myriad hues and with lavish hand. I carried some of the branches back to the city and placed them in hallway and rooms, but next day I could scarcely believe the transformation. Plain autumn leaves, such as one sees anywhere in season,—dull reds and yellows,—gave no hint of the beauty delineated when the sunlight streamed through. Were these the leaves that yesterday had beckoned me so irresistibly up that long and sandy road? But I had seen them on the hillside, and their message would never be effaced from memory. Separated from the sunlight, they could not give out its radiance, and were commonplace leaves, even as the statements of Christian Science seem cold and impotent when separated from the Spirit which giveth life.

Then quickly came to mind the dear Scientists whose light was reflected from the vision of the hilltop above the mists which had so often obstructed my own view, and I knew that the view was there and that I would gain it clearly as had they. How eagerly I had been scanning the faces of those I met in this section, where thought had been slow in responding to Christian Science, to see if they had been to the hilltop, if they were reflecting as His image and likeness the light that is Life indeed. And gratefully I knew that God's children could not be separated from the light which is their life, and could not become just plain material people again, when once they had become consecrated channels of His choosing. Then I gave thanks to our Father-Mother God that I had also seen and been drawn farther up the heights because of the light radiated by these human sentinels of the hillside.

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