Article August 17, 1918 Issue

The Angel

ANNIE DINSMORE MC CLURE

On page 333 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes: "Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea,—the reflection of God,—has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth." Several years before the writer began the study of Christian Science she was having a trying experience in large city, where on the advice of some friends she had gone to make a start as a concert singer.

The time seemed to be ill chosen, and many weary weeks elapsed before any activity began in the musical life of the city. Meantime expenses were going on, and though a dear relative was sending a generous allowance, by the time the season really opened he had begun to feel that the limit had been reached. Efforts were then made to find employment in other lines of work, by which the writer might support herself and her little girl, but they failed. Hope flagged and anxiety preyed upon her, until a nervous condition resulted which unfitted her to take the test, when at length the opportunity presented itself, and she let it pass. Brooding on all this, and having constantly before her the luxurious and extravagant display of money so much in evidence in a great city, a distressing question began to reiterate itself in a mind always heretofore free from envy, "Why do all these people have too much, while I am not able even to find honorable employment by which to support myself and little girl?"

A stiff battle raged, for the sin of envy and covetousness was plainly seen and faithfully resisted. It seemed very dark and wretched for a long time, and then one day, after a particularly hard struggle, an angel whispered to the discouraged, weary one, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." A great sense of love and humility flooded her consciousness, and the condition was healed. Restlessness and envy departed, not to return. In a short time a very desirable position as teacher in a southern college was obtained.

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