I should like to give grateful...

Max Dunaway

I should like to give grateful testimony to the power of Love to preserve and protect and to heal estranged relations.

My brother and I were operating a livestock ranch in a district where a herd law had recently been passed for the protection of unfenced farms. As we believed our stock would not have access to any such farms, we allowed them to graze along the river that ran near our ranch. A near-by neighbor, feeling that the stock were damaging his interests and that we should not allow them to graze out, put the stock in his corral and informed us that we might regain possession of them only by paying him a fee, for which the herd law provided in such instances. This we were unwilling to do, believing our stock had caused no damage. In the argument which ensued, the gentleman went into his house and returned with a pistol. My brother, greatly offended, was at the point of precipitating further strife by striking him. Meanwhile, I was pleading that this matter be taken to the proper authorities and settled in a peaceable manner. This plea at last prevailed, and we went to the district attorney.

During the drive, these words from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy kept recurring to my thought (p. 391): "Justice is the moral signification of law." I worked also to know that there was no bitter relationship among men, but that, as our Leader says (ibid., p. 470), "The children of God have but one Mind."

Upon arriving at the office of the district attorney, we were told that, however we might feel about it, the man's actions were within the law, and if the law was found to be properly constructed we should be obliged to pay the fee requested. However, the district attorney said the county engineer would be in his office shortly and would check the description of the land defined in the law. The county engineer came in, checked the description, and said it was correct. To make sure, though, he decided to check a second time. This time he detected an error in the description of the land as written in the law. Learning of this, the district attorney instructed our neighbor to release our livestock to us.

I could not feel the demonstration was complete until all ill-will had been overcome, as it afterward was. Recently one of our horses broke into our neighbor's property, causing considerable damage. This time, I am grateful to say, I was able to be humble and meek enough to go to him and express regret over the affair; while he, on his part, was altogether cordial and friendly. We parted on excellent terms and have remained so ever since.

To me, the moral of the entire affair was this: Never let anybody keep you from loving, for this would separate you from the one power which is able to protect.

Christian Science is indeed the prime requisite for daily living.—Max Dunaway, Nyssa, Oregon.

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