ON my arrival at Durban, Natal, in August, 1911, I went in regularly for sea bathing, and somehow I caught a very severe cold, which affected my kidneys. The pains were at times so acute that I could only rise with difficulty from a chair, and in walking I had to put my feet down gently. For nearly a week I was held in the grasp of this belief, and during the latter part of that period I became very feverish, which alarmed me so much that I was considering the advisability, under the circumstances, of calling in the assistance of one of the Christian Science practitioners at Durban. I, however, persevered with my declarations of the truth. On the last day, as I was sitting in one of the deck chairs at the beach, looking upon the mighty ocean, my thoughts went out to God. I was thinking of His infinitude, His allness, as we are taught to think of Him in Christian Science, and I was trying to realize and to become conscious of this great verity that there is not a place in infinite space where He is not.
During my thinking I must have been absent from the body, for what a glorious awakening out of my dream I experienced! I found that the ailment which had held me for nearly a week in its grasp had left me without leaving a trace behind it. My heart was filled with joy. That healing was complete. I have never had a return of the ailment, and have never enjoyed better health. While under the influence of that uplifting thought, I took my copy of Science and Health out of my pocket and opened it, and, to my astonishment, there I was able to do a thing which I had been unable to do for the last ten years. I started to read without my glasses. Before and up to that moment I could not even distinguish the lines without them, but at that moment every letter stood out before me clearly defined. I felt that I was at the very gate of heaven! Since that time I can read without glasses, and have only used them a little on account of the heavy work pertaining to the duties of my office; but even this shortcoming will, I feel confident, also be overcome.
Later in the year, on the 11th of November, during the early hours of Saturday morning, I was carried away into captivity by mortal mind. My bondage was of the nature of a very severe attack of dysentery and a sharp attack of cold upon my lungs, with all the attendant ills which mortal belief is capable of producing. I was obliged to call for the services of a practitioner. During the whole of that day and night, and part of Sunday night, I passed through a mighty struggle; but long before the dawn of Monday morning I was set free. And what freedom! A freedom one could only experience in Christian Science. The rejoicing of my heart was great.
