When I was told that the understanding of Christian Science would prevent fatigue, I thought this a wonderful statement, for getting tired, physically and mentally, has always seemed so inevitable that to be able to go on and on, after having seemingly reached the limit of physical endurance, and to do it with ease, would certainly be the greatest thing in the world.
I was called upon somewhat unexpectedly in March, 1911, to go into the Wasatch mountains in Utah to map the Maple creek watershed, a region about three and a half by four miles, and to measure the depth of snow at several hundred places to ascertain the true average amount of it over the entire district. I approached the task with some trepidation, as I had been in an office nine years; in fact, I had left farming partly because the work was too hard for me. I was in the mountains twelve days, and worked the thirteenth day on the final maps without having been incapacitated a single hour. The walking in heavy boots, usually weighted down with clumsy snow-shoes, was very trying, and to keep the expedition moving it was usually necessary for me to set the pace and pick the way. The heavy load of tools and clothing on my shoulders was also irksome much of the time, so that constant watchfulness and prayer, the Christian Science declarations of Truth, were necessary to overcome the sense of fatigue and lameness which assailed me almost every step of the way. Blustering winds and blowing snow, and the fierce sunlight reflected from the snow, made the skin on our faces sore, and toward the close gave our eyes some trouble, while the heavy boots, which were always wet through by noon every day, broke the skin on our feet in several places before the work was done. On two days we got very wet in a hard rain, and then had our clothing frozen stiff by the following cold snap, as a result of which one assistant complained of rheumatism and the other caught a cold; but no sickness of any sort, no depression, and no unsurmountable limitation presented itself to me at any time. Little troubles kept attacking me, but I seemed to have the fortitude to meet them all.
Before my strength and usefulness were enlarged by the application of the teachings of Christian Science, nothing seemed quite so discouraging to me as tangled and excessive office work, especially when accompanied by a great deal of tedious mathematical calculations and compilations; and the fatigue of mind and body from such work, which always used to bring nervousness and loss of sleep, and consequent decrease in general efficiency, always seemed exceedingly real and very hard to gain dominion over. I am, however, happy to say that since taking Christian Science into my work I have never had too much to do, have never noticed an appreciable waning of efficiency toward the close of a long hard day, have never lost an hour's sleep because of nervousness, nor had any physical manifestation of overwork whatever. Moreover, my judgment and decision seem greatly improved, and all this in the face of the fact that I am handling a great deal more clerical work than I did formerly, am doing it better, and am perfectly happy at it. While a great deal of this added ability has come with my healing through Christian Science of limitations which had hampered me previously, I feel that my so-called natural ability has been greatly increased by "the unlabored motion of the divine energy" (Science and Health, p. 445). In most religious teaching the thought of escaping burdens seems prominent, and we often hear of casting our burdens on the Lord, but this has always seemed to me vaguely figurative. I never knew, before I accepted Christian Science, that. Truth will actually assist us, not to forget our material burdens, and the mental ones, too, but to bear them.
