The winter of 1878-79 I spent as a guest in the home of an uncle in whose family was an invalid daughter. All medical help had failed to relieve or heal, and discouragement naturally followed. Later, her attention was directed to Christian Science, and she was healed, after twelve years of inability to leave her couch or even stand upright. At one time, after spending a short time on the lawn in a wheel chair, her eyes were so injured by the sunlight that she was compelled to return to a darkened room and to have her eyes bandaged. This seemed to be the extremity. It was after fifteen months had passed in this condition that Christian Science came with its healing message. Two weeks' treatment restored her sight, and one by one all the physical troubles were overcome.
To me this seemed almost a miracle; and when an opportunity came to meet her again, I most eagerly sought some explanation of what Christian Science was and how it had healed her. From that time I was convinced it was the truth, and accepted it as such, even though at first it seemed as if they had taken away my Lord and I knew not where they had laid him; the certainty of having gained a better understanding of God, "whom to know aright is Life eternal" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Pref., p. vii), dispelled that condition of thought quickly. Soon its practicality was demonstrated in the healing, in my family, of typhoid fever, when an epidemic of the disease was raging. Diphtheria was overcome at another time; and many more ailments of children have been healed. My husband has been healed of chronic inflammation of the bowels; while I experienced an instantaneous healing of severe inflammation of the head, which, according to the law of materiality, would have been considered very critical under the circumstances. At another time, a nervous sick headache—to attacks of which I had been subject all my life—was overcome by one treatment, and I was able to attend a Christian Science lecture in a few hours, which would have been an impossibility before help was given. It was a complete healing, as I have never suffered from the same trouble since that day.
I have been deeply grateful for the privilege of class instruction and its many blessings,—especially for the increased understanding it gave by which we can overcome fear and its manifestations, as disease, in ourselves and others.
