SOME two months ago I was asked to write a letter, giving an account of myself (as it was termed) for the past year, for the benefit of my classmates, who, in their turn, were to do the same; and these letters were to be embodied in one and sent to each of thirty-four members for perusal. With this request I gladly complied, seeing in it an opportunity of sowing a little seed by the wayside, as also a most excellent opportunity of declaring my position in Science to those who were expecting much of me in other lines. Copies of the several letters came to me only a few days ago and it was with considerable interest that I read them. The words "Christian Science," it is perhaps needless to remark, appeared in but one of them.
One member stated that he was "designing and building a coal-cutting machine," and "working on several other little inventions "of his own; and in closing he expressed the hope that all his classmates were "well." This Adam thought, sent forth into the atmosphere of belief, accomplished its purpose, so that the thought of a "weak constitution "was voiced by another. Still another, who was helping to build and test locomotives, found himself "completely tired out" after his day's work. Another thought he was working altogether too hard, etc.; and a Japanese brother, with already two degrees after his name, having returned to his native land, regretted that he had not taken "higher degrees ", inasmuch as the Japanese people attached so much importance to them. One spoke with seeming pride of his having been elected a member of a prominent secret society, also of two different engineering societies; and I recall this member as being a most faithful devotee of the so-called laws of health, and, furthermore, a firm believer in the daily efficacy of materia medica, which only goes to show that those most proficient in material knowledge, are frequently, if not always, the ones most in bondage to the belief of ill-health. In further proof of this observation, let me state that one of these same classmates, who has carried off the highest honors bestowed by Harvard College, and who is thoroughly conversant with nearly every "ism" and "ology" of ancient and modern times, is one who has been in the worst of physical bondage almost from infancy.
In all of these letters there was but one (besides the writer's) that gave the least evidence of thought on spiritual things.
