In 1894 I began the study of Christian Science. At that time I was greatly in need of its healing truth. For a number of years previous I had been a semi-invalid with no hope of ever being well and strong again. Several years before this time I had undergone an operation for uterine trouble, which resulted in peritonitis. The inflammation rapidly extended to all the internal organs of the body. From this I recovered, although four doctors and two nurses held the thought of death over me. I suffered much from the weakened state and nervous condition in which this illness had left me, as the operation had not resulted in the good hoped for, and though I bore the pain as bravely as I might, I was always conscious of it. Half of my time I was in bed, and though I rebelled, there seemed to be no help for me. I wore very loose clothing, as any weight or pressure brought agony. For three years previous to my study of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, I was scarcely ever free from headache caused by the weakened and diseased condition of the internal organs. At the time I began the study of Christian Science I was taking five kinds of medicine.
I began to read Science and Health, and did not take treatment, for I thought, If this is truth I shall be healed, if it is not I shall be able to detect it, and will have nothing to do with it. I became a devoted student and gradually my bodily diseases left me,— I was free, and since that time, nearly ten years ago, neither my two children nor myself have taken any medicine; and our understanding of truth has been able to meet and overcome any suggestion of illness.
I was a devoted member of an orthodox church, but as I grew older I began to question my beliefs, and to my questions I could find no satisfactory answer. I became dissatisfied and finally ceased attending church. I could not accept the idea of God taught there, and at last my friends looked sadly upon me as an atheist. From childhood I had pondered on the beauties of nature about me,— the blue vault of heaven, the wonders that surrounded me upon every hand, and especially that wonderful thing called man, whose complicated structure none could discern, and I knew that there was a tremendous governing power and intelligence, but what, where, or whence I knew not, and I knew of no one who did. There I stood until I learned to know God as revealed in Science and Health, and then all my questionings were answered. In my girlhood I had always prayed to the God I held in mind, and when the shadows of sickness, pain, and death came to my family, I prayed as only those can who know that if He helps not. then there is none; but my prayers were unanswered. Then I closed my Bible, saying, "There is a mistake somewhere, perhaps some time I may know."
