For twenty years previous to my healing I had been a hard drinker. I made several attempts to stop drinking. For two months I was in an institute where they treated patients for alcoholism, but came out worse than when I went in. About five years ago I made another attempt. Every morning I would take a solemn oath that I would not go down to the saloon from my work, as had been my custom; but I continually broke that oath. This preyed upon my mind until I made two attempts at self-destruction.
Living next door to my boarding-house there was a family of Christian Scientists, who observed my distressed condition and left some Christian Science literature with the landlady, asking her to call my attention to it. I had no faith in it, in fact I had never lost an opportunity to ridicule it, but I began to read the literature from curiosity more than anything else. From the start it appealed to me as being logically true, and I argued to myself that surely all the healing testimonies I had read could not be lies, and if it cured others why could it not cure me. At this time the desire for drink left me, and I experienced a state of mind that told me I was healed and free from the old bondage.
I said not a word about this for several days, but when I did mention it my friends in the house told me they knew it all the time; they said my face showed the change. Three or four days after this I was walking by the saloon where I had done most of my drinking. I stopped on the opposite side of the street, and I could only think, "O God, is it possible I have wasted all my money and manhood in such a place!" I could scarcely believe it. The whole nightmare had left me: I did not quit drinking — it quit me.
