My father, a Methodist preacher, passed on when I was an infant, and my widowed mother taught me to trust in God for everything, as we expressed it, but not as Christian Scientists understand it. In 1913 my mother passed on, and for a while I clung closer to God and to my church, but my longings were not satisfied, so I began to stay away from church and almost quit going. In 1915 the beatitude, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled," was constantly present with me, and the prayer to God to verify that promise was continually in my thought.
Having lost a week from my school work in December of that year, I stayed indoors during Christmas week so as not to catch cold, for I did not want to lose any more time. About the middle of the week the thought came to me that I was condemning Christian Science without knowing anything about it, and that I had better study it and learn what it was before condemning it any more. Like Paul, "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision," but immediately went up town, found the reading room, and borrowed a copy of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. I read it through in a few days, but got only a desire to be honest with myself and my God, so returned the book with the feeling that Mrs. Eddy did not know how to write or else I did not know how to read. When I told the librarian how I felt, she asked if I had read it in connection with the Bible, and as I replied in the negative, she kindly showed me a Quarterly and how to use it. I then bought a Quarterly, a Bible, and the textbook, being determined to give this religion a thorough investigation, so that, if there proved to be nothing in it I could honestly say so, and if there was any good in it I would get it. I borrowed Mrs. Eddy's other works and read them. I read the periodicals, the pamphlets, attended all the services, and heard every lecture that I had the opportunity of hearing. Like others I thought Mrs. Eddy was unduly exalted by Christian Scientists; still I persisted in my investigation. Two weeks after beginning this study I took a dose of medicine, but the thought came that if I was trying to get the good out of Christian Science, it was inconsistent to take medicine, and I have not used it since, though only a few weeks of my life had been spent without taking it two or three times.
For years I had been so afflicted with sleepiness that I would go to sleep whenever I was still, unless I was talking. I slept at church, at illustrated lectures, at musical recitals, in fact everywhere, even when conversing with friends if I stopped to listen, though I could read without going to sleep. Noted physicians said they could give me something to put me to sleep but nothing to keep me awake. After studying Christian Science for more than twelve months I continued to sleep more or less at every service. A friend who is not a Christian Scientist reminded me that a doctor had said this trouble was caused by a sluggish liver, so I began at once to work mentally along that line. I soon learned from our textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, that "Mind produces all action," and that Truth "imparts a healthy stimulus to the body, and regulates the system. It increases or diminishes 'the action, as the case may require, better than any drug, alterative, or tonic" (pp. 419,420). Now I can hear everything said in a service, for I sleep no more when I should be awake, and I am indeed thankful.
