Although I am not a member of any Christian Science church, my heart is overflowing with thankfulness for what Christian Science has done for me, and so I offer my testimony with the expectation that it will be a help to some brother wandering in the wilderness. I was raised in New York city by a mother who was a strict orthodox Jewess, and who spared no expense in the education of her children, thereby giving me a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, which enabled me to read it fluently, although not comprehending the meaning of all I read. My mother passed on at Christmas, 1893, when I was about twelve years of age.
I took to the use of liquor and tobacco, sometimes indulging to such extremes that a doctor would be called to attend me, and were I to go into the details of my sufferings and those brought to my beloved ones, the loss of their affection for me, as well as my experiences in search of relief, it would require many pages. I, however, solemnly state that Christian Science not only saved me from an untimely grave, but helped me when all about me was gloom and a sentence of five years' imprisonment stared me in the face. On Thanksgiving eve, 1909, here in California, while under the influence of liquor, in which condition I almost always was, when I had the money, I resisted arrest. The charges against me were of a very serious nature, and I was advised to send for my relatives; consequently my brother came from New York city, and I was given into his charge. The night of my release I drank a whole pint of whisky.
On Sunday, Dec. 26, 1909, a Christian Scientist who roomed where we did asked us to attend services. I remembered Christmas, 1893, had a vision of some of my experiences since, and with the desire to say a prayer on the anniversary of my mother's death, as is customary with all in the Jewish religion, I consented to go. Although I had never been in any other house of worship than a synagogue, I felt perfectly at ease during the readings. I told my friend that I had never derived such benefit from a service as I had from that one, and I was invited to attend the Wednesday evening meeting. There I heard a testimony of one being cured of the desire for liquor, and on the way home I told this friend of my trouble. A practitioner was recommended, and when I visited her she asked, "What can I do for you?" Not how much money can you give to be cured of your affliction, as I had heretofore been asked when giving my last dollar to try some new cure.
