When a small boy my right hand was caught between the end of a log and the frozen ground, and the little finger was fractured. From subsequent experiences, I am inclined to think that the bones were splintered into several pieces. This happened in the country, a long distance from professional assistance, and the accident was not considered serious, so the finger was simply encased in splints wrapped around with thread. After the splints were removed the finger was much larger than before the accident and slightly bent. During the next twelve years the swollen appearance remained and now and then the finger became inflamed and sore.
At the close of this twelve-year period I became interested in Christian Science. It was the theological rather than the healing aspect that appealed to me. I was healed certain physical ailments but thought of this as a matter-of-course incident in the search for more light—light that would dispel the mental darkness that troubled me. The impaired finger was never for an instant associated with the thought of Christian Science healing. After some months of Christian Science study I noticed that the finger was again sore and inflamed, and that this time it was worse than I had previously experienced. But even then I did not ask treatment for it, and, I think, made no direct effort to treat it (or the sense of it) myself. I simply tried to forget all about it and—succeeded.
That was the last time the finger became sore and inflamed; and when, one day, I noticed its decreased size, its natural color, its firmness, strength, and comfort, it dawned upon my thought that that great Surgeon, divine Love, who, because He is infinite and all powerful, "Knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him," had, after those twelve years, healed the diseased finger and caused it to have a normal appearance.
