I heard of Christian Science for the first time in 1910. After having several attacks of illness said by the doctors to be appendicitis, I was told that the next one would surely mean an operation. I was a freight conductor on a railroad in northern Minnesota, and as I was called to go on my run one morning the pains returned. As business was pressing, however, I went out as usual, but by the time the station was reached, a few miles away, my distress was such that work was impossible.
I got off the train to wire to headquarters for relief, but the station agent's wife, a Christian Science practitioner, asked if I would not like to be helped out of my condition without submitting to an operation. On being told that I would, she advised me to go back into the caboose, keep still, let my brakeman handle the train for a while, and say nothing about the treatment. I did so, and in a few minutes felt easier, while in two hours I was helping with my work as usual. By the time the end of the division was reached, my healing was complete. I did not miss a run that year, and have not had a touch of the ailment since. Knowing very little of God or the Bible, however, I gave no time to the study of either, and did not read the literature provided by this kind practitioner.
In June, 1912, I was in a wreck, and working very hard was overcome by the heat. I was picked up unconscious by the side of the train and carried into the nearest town. The doctor could give but little hope, so I was put on a cot and sent to the company's hospital. Although allowed to return home at the end of three months, I went on crutches, as the left side was entirely paralyzed. I was also said to have a clot of blood on the brain which would render me unfit for business of any kind. Life certainly held a dreary outlook.
