WHILE visiting in a New England city in June, 1903, my little daughter, aged eleven years, met with an accident, resulting in a compound fracture of the left leg, about four inches above the ankle. There were also many bruises upon the body, a badly swollen eye, and a scalp wound, while a hemorrhage seemed to indicate internal injuries. After we were conveyed to a hospital, I summoned a Christian Science practitioner, who seemed to me as one sent from heaven. He had been a surgeon and a physician before his own wonderful healing had led him into Christian Science. When I told him that a surgeon had spoken to me about amputation of the injured leg, the practitioner calmly and confidently assured me that I need have no fear,—that the thing so much dreaded would not take place. I experienced inexpressible relief, and from that hour found the healing power of divine Truth to be a practical, saving help.
It had been decided by three of the surgeons in consultation that my child's recovery depended upon the speedy amputation; indeed, I was afterward told that it was thought hardly possible that she would survive the night. The practitioner, however, obtained a promise from the hospital surgeons that they would wait twenty-four hours, but that they were then to have their way if inflammation should set in. But to their astonishment there was no inflammation, and the leg was looking so much better that another twenty-four hours was granted to Christian Science healing—making forty-eight hours since the accident. The leg then presented so healthy an appearance that all thought of the amputation was given up. A friend who visited that city some time afterward was told by a doctor who had closely watched the case that nothing on earth could have saved the leg if my child had not had Christian Science treatment.
My daughter's recovery was considered very remarkable because of the comparative absence of pain and of the symptoms usual in such cases. The head surgeon said that he was often asked to account for this pain and that pain, but that in this instance the only thing he had to explain was how little discomfort there had been. He afterward said to my sister-in-law that he wondered what there was in that little girl to manifest such marvelous recuperative power. My sister told him that the mother would say it was due to the Christian Science treatment. He replied, "Well, if that is Christian Science, then Christian Science is a good thing!"
