In April, 1922, I had been ill for fourteen years and was gradually getting worse. During this time I had had six medical attendants, who all agreed that I was suffering from a very serious nervous complaint and that I should never be able to walk again. They held out the faint hope that I might at some future date be able to sit up for a very short time. They were always very kind and attentive, but I could not sleep without the help of drugs. I was very much upset because I seemed such a burden to my husband and children.
Our eldest daughter had just returned from America, and when she had heard the doctors' verdict on my illness, she came into my room and throwing two little books on my bed said, "A Christian Scientist who lived next door to me in New Orleans gave them to me for you to read, and she said she was sure you could be healed by Christian Science."
The smallest hope was a comfort to me, and so I read these two books, and in them I found several references to a book called Science and Health. I asked my daughters, as they were going out, to get me a copy of the book. We had not heard about this Science and did not know there was a Christian Science Society in the town. My daughters went to several booksellers and could not get the book, and then they met a friend and she directed them to the Reading Room of the Christian Science Society. There they borrowed the textbook and brought it to me. This was Friday evening, and on Saturday morning I read a little while and fell asleep for an hour. I read more, and that night I slept without drugs for the first time during many years.
