Our beloved Leader says (Science and Health, p. 201)...

Our beloved Leader says (Science and Health, p. 201), "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love." I wish to testify to the efficacy of the above method of treatment. My demonstration was a blessed lesson, and one very necessary for me to learn at the commencement of my experience in living far from other Christian Scientists.

From the beginning of my interest in the study of Christian Science I had lived in a city where there were scores of practitioners. While I always endeavored to do my own mental work, yet there was always the sense that if physical healing was not brought about through my own declarations of the truth, there were many within telephone call who could help me. Consequently when I came to a country where there were no practitioners, error suggested there might come times when I should be unable to realize the truth for myself. Upon my arrival in Antofagasta harbor a very rough sea caused the lurching of the launch as I was stepping from the ladder of the steamer in disembarking, resulting in an accident in which my ankle was severely injured. In the excitement of landing after a thirty days' voyage, getting through the customs house, and so on, I was not emphatic enough in my denial of accidents in God's universe, and in a few hours the ankle became greatly swollen. I experienced the most intense physical pain I had ever known.

My delayed efforts at realizing the truth seemed of little avail; the senses were screaming their testimony to pain. Here I was in a room in a hotel alone in a foreign land, without a friend south of the equator. I could not even speak the language of the strange people about me, to make my wants known. Memory whispered in consciousness the question a friend had asked before my departure, "What will you do if you should become sick down there alone in that strange country?" Mortal mind commenced to question if it was all a mistake—my venture so far away from home and friends. Then came the first homesick tears as I was overwhelmed with self-pity. At last, feeling that I must have some one with me, I sent for a lady who was stopping at the hotel for a few days, and had come down on the same boat. I felt that she would not recommend medical treatment, because she knew I was a Christian Scientist. We had enjoyed several long conversations on the subject during the voyage, as she knew very little about it but was eager to learn more. When she saw my apparent suffering she did speak of sending for a doctor, remarking that she understood it was permissible to have broken bones set by a surgeon and she felt this must be such a case.

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October 26, 1918
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