Cripple no Longer

Boston Globe

Nashua, N. H., Jan. 20.—After suffering untold agonies from muscular rheumatism Charles H. Sager of this city declares that he has been cured by Christian Science. For five years or more he has been a familiar sight on the streets of the city riding an old-fashioned tricycle to and from his home on Crown Hill every pleasant day during the warmer months. He disappeared with the first snow each season and was seen no more until spring.

All the business and professional men of the city knew him and pitied him. As he said himself hundreds of people knew him and spoke to him whose names he did not know. His tricycle was an old one with hard rubber tires, and weighed about eighty-five pounds.

In consequence his progress through the streets was slow. Last summer a well-known Concord woman presented him with a late model pneumatic-tired tricycle, and after that he was frequently seen by cyclists on the roads leading to the nearby country towns.

A few months ago he began to appear on Main Street on foot. Many people who has always had a word of cheery greeting for him in the past failed to recognize him without his tricycle. Those who knew him personally congratulated him on his improved health, and when he told them Christian Science had cured him they marveled, but were sceptical as to the permanence of the improvement.

Even his wife warned him that when winter came it would be a different story and he would find that he must stay in the house. He was confident that she was wrong, and time has proved that his confidence was not misplaced.

He has been on Main Street on foot this winter as often as he was on his tricycle during the summer months. Wednesday he walked from his home, 8 Harvard Street, to a Main Street photographer's, a distance of more than a mile, to have his picture taken. A year ago he says he would not have ventured as far as the sidewalk in front of his home, either on foot or any other way.

The Globe correspondent found him at his home Wednesday morning. He was very willing to talk about his cure, but complained that the first accounts published in the newspapers were misleading.

"If you print anything," said he, "I wish you would print the exact truth. I would much rather have my cure underrated than overrated as it has been. From the newspaper accounts published early this week one would think I had been instantaneously cured by Christian Science, and some papers gave me credit for being able to walk and run like a man of twenty.

"That, of course, is ridiculous. I am a well man to-day mentally and a much improved man physically. What we call the 'manifestations' of disease still exist to some extent, as you can see," he continued, holding out his hand for the newspaper man's inspection. "This right hand is still somewhat swollen," and that was true, "but yesterday I was able to use my hammer at my trade, cobbling, for eight hours, and do work that amounted to $2.70.

"Before I began with Christian Science I could not lift my arms above my head. To-day that is easy," and Mr. Sager demonstrated the truth of his assertion by raising his hands high above his head several times. "Six months ago," he continued, "it was impossible for me to walk any distance, and to go down-stairs was one of the most painful and tiresome things I could possibly do. This morning I went down to let you in, and when you go out I'll show you how easy it was for me.

"I became interested in Christian Science through my sister, who resides in Lowell. Through it she was changed from a gaunt, emaciated woman, a mere frame of skin and bones, to the very picture of health. Nine years ago, while residing in Boston, I had a severe attack of the grip. If left me with muscular rheumatism, and I have doctored ever since. Physician after physician has told me that my case was incurable, and I finally concluded that they were right.

"Last August I began treating with a Christian Scientist, and from that day to this my improvement has been steady.

"I am still under the treatment, and am positive that I shall be as well physically as I ever was within a short time. Never until this winter have I been able to go out of the house during the cold weather. My place has been beside the stove. I have tried repeatedly to go out and every attempt has resulted in a siege of pain and sickness. I came in every time with every muscle in my body strained and aching.

"This winter I have been up town, and on foot, too, several times each week. My head, which used to feel heavy and dull, is now as clear as a bell, and pain is almost an unknown quantity with me. My ankles are still a little weak, to be sure, but they are getting stronger every day, and the more I walk about the less they trouble me."

Mr. Sager accompanied the newspaper man to the door, and true to his promise showed that he could descend a flight of stairs as well as most men of his age, which, by the way, is fifty-one.—Boston Globe.

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