In the spring of 1909, after many years of suffering which seemed to become more intense under medical treatment, I was persuaded to make a final attempt to regain my health through a change of climate. For two years this change appeared to be somewhat beneficial, but during the succeeding eighteen months I lost all that I had gained and was worse than ever. I then became hopelessly resigned to what seemed the inevitable, and at times did not care how soon the end overtook me. Although descended from a long line of Christians, I quite early repudiated all Bible teachings; but in my extremity I wondered if there was not something of truth in Christian teaching that I had missed, and that would now lift this veil of mystery obscuring the great unknown. I called upon a clergyman of an orthodox church. He received me very kindly and listened patiently to my railings against Christianity as a whole, waited till I finished, and then said, "Let us drop the Bible and the church for the moment and find out what you really know." He pointed out to me that I did not know much beyond the fact that I was; that I possessed a wonderful thing called consciousness, the ability to think. He showed me that having discovered this I would now find that this consciousness must have a cause, and the cause must ever be present with that which it creates. He then said, "Call this cause God, talk to it, and I think that as you become better acquainted with it, many of your questions will be answered." On the following Sunday this clergyman in his sermon said that in this materialistic age men should earnestly pray to be shown how to pray correctly. Within a few weeks a new-found friend told me of Christian Science and lent me a copy of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. Before finishing the chapter on Prayer, I knew I had found an answer to the great "why" of existence; the whole world was changed for me, and life was no longer an unexplainable mystery. My healing was very slow, but very sure; and during the first year smoking, drinking, and profanity dropped from me as though they had never been.
I am very grateful for these healings, but it was after months of study that the great wonder and beauty of this, my first experience in Christian Science was revealed to me; for I then learned that this clergyman possessed a copy of, and frequently read, Science and Health. I have learned, during the years that have followed, that when the revelation of Truth to this age, as given in our textbook, is read by any sincere and loving seeker, it does find channels through which to go forth to help and bless the receptive thought. If this be so; how great is the responsibility and privilege of each student of Christian Science! Aided and protected by The Mother Church and its Manual, and working safely within its ranks, the student knows that he, each day, is giving to the world in a well-organized, orderly, and scientific manner that help which the world so greatly needs,— Seattle, Washington.
