At an age as early as seven or eight years, I became conscious that a wrong condition existed in my body, as I felt heavy and tired much of the time. I had had a serious illness. In my "teens" I grew worse, and consulted physicians, who said that it was a form of rheumatism. The joints of my body were ossifying.
At the age of twenty-five I became desperate. I heard of a lady who had been greatly benefited by a certain treatment in a distant city. I called on her, thinking it might be something that could help me. She said it was not medical, but Christian Science treatment. I was eager to study up on it, so she kindly gave me the little book "Retrospection and Introspection" by Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of this Science.
On my way home I felt so hopeful that I set the time it would take me to digest this subject at about two weeks. But at the end of this time I was still far from understanding what Christian Science is. I kept on reading, feeling it was helping me, at least mentally. The Bible had a much richer meaning for me. I discovered that it is not how much one reads on this subject that counts, but how well one absorbs the meaning. So I concentrated on those brief and deep metaphysical chapters, commencing with page 21, line 13, to page 32 (of Retrospection and Introspection). I analyzed the sentences, rephrased and reconstructed them, to further get at the meaning.
