To most people the thought of being shut away in an internment camp behind barbed wire is terrifying. But when recognized only as error presenting a false sense of existence, such an experience can become, as in the writer's case, an opportunity for self-discipline and for demonstrating more of the truth of being. It can also offer an occasion for removing prejudice from the minds of people who had not previously understood Christian Science.
When World War II spread to the Far East, the writer found herself one of a group of Christian Scientists who, in common with several thousand other people, were placed in an internment camp. At first the total upheaval in one's life caused by the deprivation of freedom and the loss of all personal possessions, beyond the few articles of clothing and bedding one was allowed to take into the camp, seemed overwhelming. But this sense of lack was turned into thanksgiving to our loving Father when it was found that each of the Christian Scientists, through the elimination of other articles, had been able to carry in with him his copies of the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, as well as the current Christian Science Quarterly. They also found great happiness in the fact that a volume of Mrs. Eddy's Prose Works, as well as a copy of the Manual of The Mother Church, had been brought into the camp, together with a few copies of the booklet "Hymns Selected from the Christian Science Hymnal," a Christian Science Sentinel, and a copy of The Christian Science Journal.
The daily study of the Lesson-Sermon soon restored the prisoners' sense of values, and they were able to realize something of the truth of Paul's statement, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
