BULLYING is unfortunately not confined solely to boys' schools, though it is usually looked upon as being the ill-treatment which boys sometimes receive at the hand of bigger and stronger ones. Where it occurs in other walks of life, it is usually called by some other name. Bullying is always looked on with disapproval and steps are taken to stamp it out when it is discovered. The reason for this is simple. A bully is always a coward at heart, and never dares to hurt any one if he imagines for a moment that there is any chance of his not being able to do so with impunity. No one has ever any use for a coward, and bullying has always bad results for those who are not able to resist it.

When asked what a small boy is to do who is being bullied, some people sometimes glibly advise his fighting the bigger boy who is tormenting him. Though the advice may be well meant, if acted upon literally it usually has rather disastrous results. The proper way to overcome bullying is well given in "Tom Brown's School Days," that delightful description of life at a big boarding school. The advice given in this book to those who are not able to protect themselves by physical means is to "grin and bear it." This is a sure remedy for bullying, because once the bully sees that his efforts are not causing fear he transfers his attentions elsewhere. He thinks he does so because there is no fun in tormenting some one who does not mind it; but really it is because he has an instinctive fear of being hit back. Fear is like the darkness which vanishes into its native nothingness before the light of Truth.

There is no one, however, who does not encounter bullying in some form or another, although he may call it by some other name. In fact, whenever a man is afraid, he will be bullied, because fear is the belief that there is some power in the world besides Love. If therefore a man believes in an illusion, he will suffer the effects of his belief; and as any belief as to the existence of a power opposed to God who is infinite Life, Truth, and Love, must be the opposite of these divine qualities, the effects of his belief must of necessity be very unpleasant. It may be said that the baneful results of entertaining these erroneous beliefs are the only good thing that can be said for them, as sooner or later they make one seek to rediscover what God, Principle, is. In other words, ceasing to be afraid of the bully, whether it is called ill health, business misfortune, unhappiness, to mention only a few of the ills which seem to cast their shadow across the path of mortal existence, gives one immediate freedom.

"But how can I get rid of my troubles?" is the question which is continually being asked. "I have tried to resist them bravely and to fight against them, but it is no use. Things only go from bad to worse." Now this is very like the position of the little boy at school who tries to fight the bully by using physical force. The bully only becomes infuriated and makes things very much worse for his victim. What is happening is simply this. The sufferer thinks that he is fighting against a reality instead of against an illusion. The result is that he only makes the lie seem more real, and consequently himself gives it the only power it could ever seem to have to harm him.

But once let a man begin to understand, through Christian Science, the truth, even a little of the facts of existence as they really are, and he will begin from that moment to free himself from the shackles of his own belief in the lie which has bound him with so many fetters and hindered his best endeavors. Gradually he begins to see that at the bottom of all his troubles is the belief that there is some power besides God, which seems to influence his actions and haunt his footsteps. Most people will admit that God is all-powerful and all-wise and that His power cannot be challenged, but they do not realize that the "something" which seems to challenge this allness of Deity is only a counterfeit of the truth. Now this "something," which people call devil or evil, counterfeits infinite Life, Truth, and Love in every way possible. It is essentially a cheat and a deception, but so long as one goes on thinking that it is true, it will never let him alone or give him a moment's rest. It will seem to haunt him at every turn. He will be just like the little fellow at school trying with his inferior strength to fight the bully; the task seems impossible. Sooner or later everybody will be forced to see that the only way to stop being bullied is to cease being afraid of the bully. Now this becomes easy once it is realized that there never was and never can be a power apart from God. The struggle at first may not seem an easy one, but that is only because one does not unravel all one's snarls of fear in a day. The path, however, is straight and direct, if one will keep going right ahead. The method of treating every problem in Christian Science is the same, and one has only to apply it faithfully. As Mrs. Eddy says on page 410 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "Christian scientific practice begins with Christ's keynote of harmony, 'Be not afraid!'"