For over twenty years my time was largely spent roving about the Pacific coast states from camp to camp, mostly as prospector and miner. I had no faith in "the substance of things hoped for." I tried to live without God in the world. In the fall of 1902 I was caught by a mass of falling rock; while working in a quartz mine in Northern California, and my right leg was badly bruised and injured about the knee and ankle. After eight weeks' use of the liniments and lotions prescribed by a doctor, besides quantities recommended by miner friends, I left the camp, laying aside my crutches for a cane. My ankle and knee were at that period very sore and painful. I arrived in a Montana town, December 10, 1902. I had lived there about five years before, and upon my arrival that evening I called at the house of a friend who had become a Christian Scientist through healing and the grace of God. I was told about it, and about Christian Science that evening. I had never heard of this teaching before, and I thought it wonderful if true. I asked for treatment, which was given me that evening. When I got out of bed the next morning I was surprised that my ankle and knee did not hurt me as usual when I stepped upon my right foot, and for the first time in eight weeks, or since my injury, there was no swelling in that ankle and no hitch in the knee joint when I walked from my room. The truth had surely made me free. I left my cane in the house, although the night before I thought it so necessary to help me along the icy road. I walked several miles that day, slipping and sliding, and my ankle and knee stood the strain, for I had been made whole. During the day I threw away my bottle of liniment and some other medicine I had in my pocket. I said to myself, "It is trust in God, with me, from now on," and I can truly say He has been my "shield and buckler."
I got Science and Health and went to reading and studying it. As I caught the rays of light from its inspired pages, habits of a lifetime left me,—such as the use of tobacco, taking a drink of whiskey now and then, and using a great deal of profanity. I cannot think otherwise than that Christian Science is the promised Comforter, and that this great truth was revealed to our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, through her spiritual attainments and her desire to serve as did the Master, Christ Jesus. I write this through gratitude to God, and to His servants who have led me into this understanding that I possess of Christian Science. May I so live that more and more of the "Mind of Christ" may be mine. — Salt Lake City, Utah.
