About twelve years ago I first heard of Christian Science; members of my husband's family would frequently tell me about it and try to explain it to me.
That the Comforter is ever-present was proved to me in the hour of need. My first child, a daughter of about two and a half years, was attacked with bowel trouble, from the effects of which, after three days of suffering, she seemed to be passing away, her voice was almost gone, her eyes glazed and dim, and her breathing short and labored. We lived in the country with no doctor within miles of us, therefore I sent my husband hurriedly for his parents, who lived half a mile away. The moment he started out I knelt by my little child's bed, but could not pray in the ordinary way. I declared vehemently, God is her life, and she cannot be separated from Him, so it would be impossible for her to die. I strove to cast off all other consciousness but this feeling of trust in the power of ever-present good. Before my husband returned with his parents, who are Christian Scientists, the child's breathing had changed, her eyes gently closed, and she appeared to be quietly resting. When they entered I arose, and greeted them with a subdued feeling of rejoicing, and my fear, which had already been greatly quieted, seemed to roll away as darkness before the light. The child improved rapidly from this time on until she was well, and was given anything she liked to eat.
Then I borrowed Science and Health with the desire to know for myself what it taught. I read it carefully, and before I had read it half through, my hair, which had been growing thinner and thinner stopped coming out entirely, and I felt much improved and strengthened in many ways. I was conscious of Life and Mind as the only power.
