THE truth that man is spiritual, not material, came to me through my experience in Christian Science. For three or four years I had been an invalid, having had several operations. In the last operation it had seemed necessary to remove from my left ear the eardrum and ear bones, and as we are supposed to hear by means of these parts, I was deaf in that ear. In the spring of 1916 I broke down, and the physician who was consulted pronounced my case a tubercular disease. As soon as school closed I went to a sanatorium, hoping to find the health and strength which I needed so much for my work, but instead of getting better I grew worse all the time. My eyes, which had been weak (glasses having been worn for ten years), gave out rapidly, and I began to fear for my sight. I had stood the strain long, but could not do so any longer, and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I was in this condition when I came to the end of my financial resources and had to go back into the world, though the physician told me that if I should try to work I could not live over six months. When I returned to the city where I had lived, a friend offered me the hospitality of her home, but knowing that she was interested in Christian Science I refused. Believing that I was sick I did not want some one to tell me that I was not; for my idea of Christian Science was that its adherents simply thought sickness imaginary. Still I was not satisfied with the old doctrine which said that God sent sickness and we should pray God to take it away from us. Though I was not willing to acknowledge it, I needed love, and also somewhere to rest without worrying, so at last I accepted my friend's invitation, but only after having received her promise that she would not talk about Christian Science to me. The moment I reached her home she had to help me to bed, as I was too feeble to stand and had a burning fever. Before leaving me she handed me the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, telling me to read if I could not sleep.
How grateful I am for the wisdom which closed her lips and left it to truth to prove itself. Being alone I began to think, and to wonder if Christian Science had wrought the change in her which I had noticed. After a while I came to the conclusion that nothing else could have done it, and having reached this point in my thought I decided that there was some truth in this teaching of which I did not know, and I was going to find out what it was. I forgot my ailments for the moment in my search for this truth, really not giving a thought to the fact that Christian Science was supposed to heal physical troubles.
