My acquaintance with Christian Science dates back to 1917, when, during the war, I traveled to England to make my home for a time with a Christian Science family. Later, I realized that I had indeed been wonderfully protected on that long voyage by the right thinking which had occupied the thoughts of those awaiting my arrival.
After I had been in England for a few months, I decided to take up some kind of war work, so I became a "land girl." It was while I was stationed on a farm that, in common with nearly all the other residents of the district, I was attacked by the so-called influenza epidemic. By then, the little understanding I had gained of Christian Science was sufficient to make me know that God is our only Life, so I applied for help to my Christian Science friends in a distant city, and I was healed.
Since my return to New Zealand, Christian Science has been more than a help — it truly has been my friend. My home is on a sheep station, to which, after one leaves the main highway, the only access is by a rough creek track. We have to travel the last five or six miles of the journey on horseback; consequently it is not often possible to attend the services at the church in Gisborne. Instead, at the hour on Sunday morning when most church services are held, I make use of a number of the Christian Science hymns, which I have on gramophone records, and afterwards read the Lesson-Sermon as found in the Christian Science Quarterly. For these gramophone records I am truly grateful, for they have enabled me to become familiar with the wonderfully helpful words and music of many hymns in the Christian Science Hymnal. Especially do I appreciate those hymns which are sung in The Mother Church, to the accompaniment of the marvelous organ there. To those of us in remote districts, in any part of the world, this method of learning our hymns is indeed a blessing, and the joy and pleasure obtained from having them sung in our own home is inestimable.
