Each time I hear from the desk of a Christian Science church the announcement concerning applications for church membership I feel a deep sense of gratitude for membership in The Mother Church and the several branch churches in which I have had membership at different times. Particularly so because it was several years after the desire came to affiliate with the movement established by Mrs. Eddy that I could free myself from those errors which were not in consonance with its high purpose. The one most persistent error was the smoking habit.
I began smoking when I was fifteen, and the habit grew until I consumed three packs of cigarettes daily. If I awoke in the middle of the night, the first thing I did was to light a cigarette, and I'm sure my last dime would have been spent for tobacco rather than for food. This was my condition when I purchased a secondhand copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy from a bookstore and began the study of it, which soon became a daily habit.
I was unacquainted with anyone of the Christian Science faith, but I found this was no handicap, because the book was a clear statement of many of the beliefs I had always entertained about God but had found obscured by the orthodox teachings of my childhood. Later my family began attending a branch church, and we saw a loved relative healed of what was supposed to be an incurable condition. This encouraged us all to begin the earnest study preparatory to seeking church membership—hence my desire to be free of the smoking habit.
