Three years ago I was as great a sufferer as lived; now I scarcely know what suffering is. I was never considered strong from a child. After I was married and our first boy came to us, I never knew a well day. Our physician said there was but one means of relief from the constant pain,—an operation. We dreaded this, and went from one specialist to another, always hoping for the relief that never came. The terrible suffering which I was never free from day or night, had so undermined my strength, that I was a mere wreck. I thought at first our trips south helped me, but found it was but the change of thought and scene, and in a few weeks I was as discouraged as ever.
After fifteen years of this experience under the constant care of physicians, I went to St. Louis to undergo the operation, as I could stand it no longer. After weeks at the sanatorium where they found it necessary to perform two operations, I was taken home, in many respects in worse condition than before, and after eight months of constant suffering, which at times seemed too great to bear, having had not one night's sleep except through opiates, I at last heard of Christian Science, through a lady who boarded at the same house. She often spoke of it to me, and told me of her own marvelous healing, but I had no faith in anything at that time.
The physical suffering was nothing compared to the mental condition I was in. There were chronic beliefs from childhood, others of heredity that I believed could only end in death. At this time the physician told my husband that he knew from the condition I was in, that I had not been free from pain for one moment in years, that it was almost impossible to do anything for me, as the troubles were chronic. After much urging, by the Scientist whom I had met, and after I had seen what to me seemed a most wonderful demonstration in the house, I began to wonder if there could be help for me through this Science. One day she said to me, "Oh, I do wish you would try Science. I know it would help you, and you can't go on much longer like this. You don't know how dreadfully you look." I asked, "Will it help me mentally? Will it give me peace?" "Yes," she said; "it will." She urged me to try one treatment. I did, that afternoon.
