One of the few things that stand out in my memory of early childhood is trouble with my eyes. It was supposed that I was born with weak eyes. As I grew older, the attacks became more frequent and more severe. I went to a famous oculist in Cincinnati at the age of seventeen; and from that time, for nearly twenty years, I was at intervals in the hands of the oculists at Cincinnati, Ohio, at Louisville, Kentucky, and at St. Louis, Missouri. At the last place I was told by a doctor, upon my insistence on knowing what I had to look forward to, that I could expect trouble with my eyes for the balance of my life.
I heard of Christian Science several years before I became interested in it. It was suggested to me twice as the only solution of many troubles: but I did not think it would or could help any, and, even so, did not want to mend things by that method. I thought my own religion good enough, but did not believe it could help a case like mine as much as whisky could.
I finally went into a struggle, with my troubles and whisky on one side, and so-called will-power on the other, which brought me to helplessness and hospitals, where many kindly physicians and friends did what they could for me. I tried several of the so-called cures for dipsomania, to no avail. This resulted in wearing out the patience of all my friends and kinsmen, and almost literally landing me in the gutter. I then turned to Christian Science in despair, and received temporary relief from the dipsomania. Although I was not treated for eye troubles, at the first glimpse of the light of Truth the defective eyesight disappeared. I had worn glasses for seventeen years. I have not used them for twenty years; nor have I had any recurrence of eye difficulty. I am now fifty-seven years old, but do not use glasses.
