In May, 1892, I first read Science and Health. For three years previous to that time I was an invalid. A friend urged me to try Christian Science, but not knowing anything of it, I would not listen to it, but went to a hospital. The claim was gastric ulcer of the stomach, and after being treated by several doctors in the hospital and then outside. I was finally pronounced incurable.
When in despair, I again met the friend who had urged me to try Christian Science. She said, "Take my Science and Health and read it; it can't hurt you." One Sunday morning in May, 1892, I took the book and read a while, but not seeming to understand it, closed it, when a still, small voice whispered, "God never sent you this disease." I answered, "No; and I won't have it." The pain in the gastric ulcer instantly passed out, and in its place came peace. I thought, "Why, this is just what I have been searching for all my life!"
In December, 1892, I was married. A copy of Science and Health was then given me, but I made very slow progress, looking too much to personality, and after the birth of our first child studied very little until she was nearly two years old, when we moved out into a suburban village, and soon after I met a lady there who was studying Science and Health. We met each week and studied the lessons in the Quarterly together, until our little girl was three years old, when she was suddenly taken with a severe claim.
