It is with a deep sense of thankfulness to God that I write this testimony. When Christian Science found me, I was a wreck, mentally and physically. I had many ailments, but lung disease was the one I feared the most, and I was fast getting to what is called the last stage of that dreaded disease. Doctors tried to help me, but they could not, and in March, 1902, the only hope held out to me was that possibly I could live a few months more if I returned to France, my native country. I, however, felt that my desire to live was not strong enough to take this journey, so I remained in Easton, Pa., until June. I then became so weak that I had to stay in bed; and as I had no relatives here, a hospital was the only place where I could think of going.
I had two friends who advised me, —one to go to the hospital, the other to come to her home and receive Christian Science treatment. I did not know what Christian Science was, but I thought I would try it. I did not expect to be healed; I only wished to be relieved from suffering. The thought of going to my friend's house was almost painful to me, because I was afraid that some members of her family might get the disease from me, as I believed I had taken it while nursing a friend who had it and who passed away. But my Christian Science friend so kindly asked me to come that I went,—or rather I was carried there, as I could not walk.
I had been only a few hours in my friend's house, resting on my bed, when her little daughter came and gently kissed me before I had time to stop her. After she had gone I wondered what sort of religion Christian Science could be that it gave courage to a mother to send her child to kiss one as sick as I was. I concluded that I must know" what it was, so I asked for "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" and for a practitioner. After reading a little in the book I was delighted, for I found it was the teaching for which I had so long wished. Many years of sorrow and sickness had taught me that there was something very wrong in the material sense of life, but what it was I could not tell. I had a strong belief that there was a book which could teach me how to live better, and in reading Science and Health I felt sure that I had found it.
