In 1866, I had an experience which I will relate, which proved to me that the blessed Master is with us always, as he has promised.
It was in February of the above year, my husband, our baby less than one year old, and myself, went from California to Nicaragua. About a month after our arrival there, my husband went to the mines, a distance of about two hundred miles, leaving me boarding with a family who spoke but little English. In June, the baby came down with Panama fever, so prevalent in that country. The child grew worse each day; there were no doctors there, and no help but simple remedies one could use themselves. Finally the crisis seemed to have been reached and I was told at nine o'clock at night that if I kept my baby till midnight it would be as much as I might expect. Then they left me alone in my sorrow, none to speak a word of comfort, and no possible way to get a message to my husband. So I sat alone in my grief, watching for the dread summons. Finally, about eleven o'clock, as though some one had spoken, came the question, When Christ was here he healed the sick, why not now? For want of faith, came the answer. Oh! said I, is that all? It seemed such a simple thing to have faith in the blessed Master. The child was almost gone, no pulse or sign of life, eyes closed, only the faintest breath could be felt when I placed my ear close to the mouth; I knew he was past all human aid. Then in my extremity I threw myself down beside the little bed, and my soul went out in earnest longing, realizing the allness of God as the only physician able to save. I had no use for words or tears. To my anxious thought they were mere hindrances; but I seemed to go out of myself, as it were, and forget my surroundings for the time. I never knew how long I was there, but when I arose my baby opened his eyes and smiled, and from that moment never had another symptom of fever. In a few days he was out of his room, well.
Then in 1874 another baby boy came into our home, having a cleft palate and open jaw, seven eighths of an inch wide. It was the fifth day and I had not yet seen the little stranger, and knew nothing of the trouble my husband and mother were having on account of it. I asked to have the baby brought to me, and my mother's eyes filled with tears. I begged to know what was the matter with the baby. She said she would tell me if I would promise not to worry; after which he was brought to me on a pillow with a napkin over his face, and placed in my lap. I began to fold the napkin down from the top of the head slowly so as to assure myself to keep my promise, remarking as I did so on his nice shaped head, beautiful eyes, and all the nice points only a mother can see in a new baby. When the mouth was reached, I said, "Oh, mother, that is not near as bad as I expected to see. That will all grow up;" to which she answered, "How can it? don't you see it is all healed?" I said, "Yes; but I am sure it will grow." She looked at me pityingly, but in my own thought I knew and was sure that the same great Father who created him could yet perfect him.
As the days passed I watched to see the work begin. Not a tear did I shed, so confident was I that the work would accomplished. One day mother said, "If you think baby's mouth will be healed, how do you think it can?" I replied, "I do not know, but I doubt if he loses a tooth." One day my husband said when he saw me watching, "Why, you "foolish child; that jaw can never grow up;" to which I replied, "Don't tell me it cannot grow, for I am as sure of it as I am of my own existence," and never once, even to myself, did a doubt cross my mind, or did I think that possibly I might be mistaken.
When he was nine months old we had a surgeon fasten the lip together, but every day I watched for the jaw to begin work. Finally, when he was about a year old, it surely did begin to grow, pointed out like two little buds from each side, and continued till they passed each other and filled in the entire space, and two teeth came where there had been no jaw.
And when, in 1896, Christian Science came to me I recognized it as the Science of the healing I had been able to reach by simple faith, and the reaching out with the fervent desire of the heart, which is prayer. I began at once the study of Science and Health. To-day I am rejoicing in some progress, having had the privilege of class instruction with one of Mrs. Eddy's loyal students and a few very good demonstrations, but I am still striving, working, and praying for more of that mind which was also in Christ Jesus.
I cannot find words to express my gratitude, for the teachings of the blessed Master as illuminated by "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," fill me with a peace which flows like a river, far beyond any former experience. I had tried to follow the teachings of Christ as closely as possible, but to my inmost longing there was a hungering for more light. Now I have found the true light, after all those years of groping in the twilight which was filled with ghosts of fear, sickness, sorrow, and death. Now I am beginning to realize all is Life, God, and that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being."
