There is so much to acknowledge in the fullness of the reward that has come to me and mine in the years we have been studying Christian Science that it is only possible to mention a few of the blessings in one testimony. I first heard of Christian Science when a student in a conservatory of music, but as the one who had spoken to me of it was not a follower of its teachings its verity did not then come to me. Later, at the beginning of the present century, a great darkness filled my mind with endless and conflicting arguments upon the experiences of this mortal sense of life, with all its patent injustices and cruelty, especially to innocent little children, and as I could not accept the doctrinal statements as to man's being both material and spiritual there seemed nothing to which I could cling. I had been confirmed in my early girlhood, but later on I faced squarely the issue that if man was material, at the death of the body his extinction ensued. The winter of 1901 found me with nervous prostration, insomnia, and eye trouble that threatened my sight. During this time, drugs being useless, I went to an electrical therapeutist for treatments. From him I learned of friends said to teach from pamphlets on Truth. For several weeks, at the home of these people, I found a sort of religious faith that seemed more practical than that of the church. As I questioned and probed, the leader finally said: "You had better go down to the Christian Science reading rooms, for you are not looking for more material things, but spiritual."' Down again to the city I went and up the stairs I had for months ascended to have treatment for my eyes, and for the first time I saw the sign above the door of the little hall where the Christian Science services were held. From the moment that "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy was opened, and the first paragraph read I knew that I had found the truth.
On account of throat trouble following other sickness. I had been obliged to give up work as a singer, and other work had failed me with the failure of eyesight, so that I was to sense unable to buy the book then. A gold nugget given me for a brooch was found and disposed of, and the precious textbook was bought. The first night it was studied until daylight. The question with me since childhood was as to the meaning of life and the Bible; therefore I turned to the chapter on Genesis. As I read, thought became illumined, and when I came to the paragraph having the marginal heading, "Light preceding the sun," suddenly a great light filled my consciousness, and the real creation became manifest. It was spiritual. Oh, the joy of that revelation! I had found the real, and the meaning of life. This was my healing, and words are not adequate to express all it comprehends. Since then many tests have come, and the valley has often been shadowed with fears, but these usually were that in some way I might lose the truth, or be found wanting in my ability to demonstrate Christian Science.
The blessings and healings that have come to my husband and myself, and a family of sisters and brothers, are almost too numerous to recapitulate. Any single one would alone be a testimony to the healing power of Truth. Formerly, every winter I suffered from a severe throat trouble and enlarged tonsils. This has completely passed away, together with a stomach trouble induced by powerful and poisonous drugs given for sleeplessness. The loss of voice, due to throat trouble, was also overcome. The first healing was of impaired sight. It took place almost unnoted, while I was studying the textbook, searching for the healing truth. But it was not for the physical healing that Christian Science was so eagerly received and is now studied. It was in the beginning for the far greater need of mental food, and in this it has satisfied me much more than I am able to say. My one desire is to understand it more and more, and so to demonstrate it that the works may attest my understanding. I rejoice in the overcoming in some measure of resentment, anger, jealousy, and other mental ills, and in the power given us in our understanding of the truth to go on in mastery of all that is unlike God.
