In the fall of 1900 Christian Science was brought to my attention by a business man, who spoke of it as a healing agency surpassing all material methods. At that time my need was great, as materia medica. had abandoned my case as incurable. The ailment which beset me was organic stomach and bowel disease,— the stomach trouble dating back thirteen years and the bowel complaint for nearly two years. I had been under the constant care of physicians for nearly two years, but they finally admitted that the malady baffled their skill.
The first impressions I received from the practitioner upon whom I called were very unfavorable to Christian Science, and I should have retired without taking treatment could I have given the practitioner a consultation fee in payment for the time I had consumed. Feeling that I was indebted for this time, and encouraged by the assurance of my friend that no harm would result from so doing, I submitted to a treatment; but this only increased the disfavor of Christian Science and led me even to doubt the veracity of my friend. I left the presence of the practitioner vowing I would never return, and the sense of shame at the thought of having submitted to a treatment was so great that I sought to evade meeting any one who might suspect I had accepted it; and had my physical condition permitted I would have descended the stairs to the street rather than meet the elevator attendant, but the weakness and pain following the slightest jar compelled the use of the elevator.
With the passing of the sense of shame my thought immediately reverted to meditation, and the mental inquiry, What is Christian Science? Pondering thus, I directed my steps homeward,—a distance of seven blocks from the office of the practitioner. Absorbed in this inquiry I became lost to my immediate surroundings and did not note the route I had chosen to take me home even, and my physical embodiment had passed from thought. When location and physical being recurred to mind, I was standing on the crest of a sharp incline, the ascent of which at a greatly slackened pace would have tried the strength of a perfectly well person. A hasty summary of my feelings disclosed the fact that I was entirely free from weakness, soreness, and pain, and I became conscious that I had ascended the incline with a quick and elastic step. Immediately the words "I am well" flooded my consciousness. And I was well—the change from a sick and miserable creature to joyous health having occurred within a few minutes after I had left the office of the practitioner. In the morning I had suffered severe pains from taking a tablespoonful of liquid nourishment, but that evening I ate heartily of solid food without even a suggestion of suffering. There has been no recurrence of the malady, and in all respects I have enjoyed better health without the use of drugs since that time.
