During three years in the Army I had ample opportunity to prove the efficacy of Christian Science and to have demonstrated to me the completeness of this truth as revealed by Mary Baker Eddy. I was drafted into the Army several months after completing the thesis for my Master's degree at an eastern university. Thoughout college I had studied Christian Science and realized that it is the vital truth. It required less than a month in the Army with its alien rigors to make me realize how false and speculative were the doctrines of even the more acceptable philosophers.
The first twenty-seven days spent in the Army at a Reception Center in northern New York State in January seemed exceptionally hard to me. Often the thermometer went as low as thirteen degrees below zero. Most of the men quickly developed a cough from the soft coal smoke which permeated the entire area. I was free from sickness for a good deal of the time, but finally my increasing resentment at the conduct of those around me placed me at the mercy of the cough. I was so severely stricken that I coughed for hours unceasingly, and my voice was reduced to a mere rasping grunt. I had had aspirations to be a singer, and this malady struck me in a sensitive spot.
I applied myself to reading the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. I accepted no medical aid, nor did I report my condition, but continued to shovel coal, scrub barracks, and do an eighteen-hour stretch of K. P. About the twenty-fifth day I read with understanding the following Scriptural passage quoted in one of the pamphlets distributed by The Christian Science Publishing Society, which had been sent me by my parents: "Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). I realized then that I did not have to be disturbed by what I saw around me, that my true entity was intact, and that I had my own work to do. Several days later I was on a train going to a camp in Oklahoma, a state in which I had lived some years previously, and to which I enjoyed the prospect of returning, even in Army garb. There I found sunshine, orderliness, and a Christian Science Wartime Minister. I was very grateful for the Christian Science services, which were held in a chapel only one block from the barracks to which I was assigned. A Reading Room was provided in this same chapel, where I was able to study and receive much inspiration and benefit.
