For a number of years I had a severe cough and trouble with my lungs. In the spring of 1895, while in St. Louis, I had an alarming attack, and for twelve or fourteen days the doctor was unable to stop the distressing condition. I then dragged myself from bed and my physician advised me to get to Colorado just as quickly as I could. I went there, but until November, 1903, I had a constant cough and other bad symptoms. In 1900 a doctor in Colorado who had my case gave me no hope or encouragement, but told me to get good whisky and drink it as often as I cared to. In the winter of 1900 and 1901, I left Minturn, Col., thinking the altitude too high for me, and went to Grand Junction, Col., and there was attended by another doctor, who it was said was having considerable success. He very carefully diagnosed my case and pronounced it most serious, but gave me the assurance that he had cured such cases, and he advised me to take treatment from him, which I did for some time. I also continued to use the stimulant advised by my former physician, until I had formed the liquor habit and was taking from five to fifteen drinks each day.
In November, 1903, in Missoula, Mont., my present residence, I was taken with a severe attack, and then it was that the truth reached me. I had heard of Christian Science, but only by hearing it ridiculed, and when Science and Health was handed me I began reading it in a halfhearted way at first, and had made all preparation to go back to Colorado, when a friend made the remark that if I only knew it I need not go to Colorado. This awakened me and I began to study in earnest. I could not let the book alone. The liquor habit left me instantly. I got up one morning, after I had been reading Science and Health nearly all night, and said to my wife, "No more whisky for me," and I have never cared for it since. I began to gain gradually in flesh, until now I weigh a little over two hundred pounds, have no cough or other trouble, and feel fine. This has all come about by reading "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy.
In the spring of 1904 my wife and I were visiting relatives in Waterloo, la. I had been smoking very hard and had brought about a nervous condition that I did not seem to be able to overcome, and soon a slight attack of my old trouble manifested itself. I called a practitioner, one who had been cured of the habit of smoking, and I have never smoked since. This habit I had had for fifteen or eighteen years, and had tried repeatedly to overcome by "will-power." I had gone at one time three years without smoking, but during the three years I could not see any one light a cigar that I did not have a desire to smoke. From a year ago last spring, however, I have not had the least desire to smoke. Since that time the Bible and Science and Health have been my daily companions. My occupation is that of a train despatcher, and since I began the study of Christian Science I have noticed a marked improvement in my work. Where before I worried over my work considerably, now I find "the still, small voice" a wonderful help.
