A soldier serving in France A during the World War was engaged in artillery target practice so near the battle front that the roar from the heavy firing could be heard, and the glare from the huge guns could be seen at night. He had become interested in Christian Science, and he withdrew each night to a small shed on a hillside near by, where he read the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy in the light of a candle which he carried with him.
Many times, when returning, he was assailed with the temptation to throw his books into the stream along which he walked, the arguments being that the study of Christian Science was futile, because God could not be good and permit such hatred and carnage. Another argument was that in spite of his being a student of Christian Science, he was being forced against his will to learn how to use deadly weapons with precision.
One Sunday, being off duty, he took these textbooks, together with the Christian Science Quarterly, and walked up on the hillside and sat beneath a large tree to study. Presently a squirrel began dropping nuts from the tree, then scampered down and buried them. As he gazed at this little friend, unaffected by the screaming of shells overhead or the battle raging near by, he saw that, wholly apart from the seeming hatred and carnage, the squirrel was storing away food for the winter. Then it dawned upon his thought, more clearly than before, that his own true selfhood was unaware of the seeming conflict, since to God and man, God's image and likeness, there was no war. This unfoldment of spiritual consciousness freed him from doubts and skepticism; and never again was he tempted to reject the teachings of Christian Science.
