To give honor to whom it belongs, is an ethical rule which I was brought up to believe in; therefore I desire to make the following statement in honor of Christian Science. In June, 1905, there was born into our family a baby who lived and grew apace as other babies do, till several months old, when she became very restless and seldom got any quiet sleep. The malady continued to grow worse, until at about one year old she was not able to sleep over twenty minutes without waking up and screaming as if in intense pain. During this time there developed a tendency to throw the head and heels backward..
Our family doctor did not name for us the trouble, but neighbors who claimed to know, insisted that it was a dreaded spinal affection; thereupon we called another physician, who said there was practically no hope at all for the child to live. The baby, who had weighed seventeen pounds before she was eight months old, at this time weighed a little less than ten pounds, and she suffered with a high fever all the time. The new doctor desired to treat the child and see what he could do for her, but I wished no experiments by any one who feared the outcome, so asked him what he thought of osteopathic treatment. He replied that he would be pleased to see me give it a trial, so the case was turned over to an osteopathic doctor. In a few days this doctor said he saw no hope to save the life of the baby. After discharging him, we sought a Christian Science practitioner, who helped to break the fever the first day, but after a week's treatment the improvement was not fast enough to suit us, so we ceased to have Science treatment and again sought the services of a physician, who refused to take the case or even to charge for examining the child, stating that the disease was the spinal trouble which we feared. Later he told me again that he did not believe the baby could live.
During this time the fever had returned, so with some discouragement we went back to Christian Science as our last and only hope for relief. As a result the fever subsided within an hour or so, and as I pen this, there lies in the next room, in sound, peaceful sleep, a rosy-cheeked, chubby little twenty-five-pound wayfarer on this mysterious pilgrimage ordinarily called life, or, as I presume the Scientist would say, this pilgrimage from error to truth. I have not much of an understanding of Christian Science, but if it can relieve such suffering as it did in the case of this baby, I care not how it may seem to our weak mortal sense.
