I attended a Protestant Sunday School from early childhood and joined the church at the age of twelve. However, I did not feel that this step gave me any greater understanding of the Christian religion, which I greatly desired. During my teens I regularly read the little New Testament and Psalms that had been given me upon joining the church and prayed earnestly that I would see the "second coming" of Christ as was promised.
My prayers were answered when I was old enough, strong enough, and independent enough to stand against opposition by friends and family and turned to Christian Science. I had had two contacts with Science, and though I was continually attending different churches looking for a satisfying one, I did not accept Science until a friend, whose intelligence and poise I admired, explained it to me. Then I loved it at once for I recognized that it answered the questions I had been asking since I was a young girl, and brought me a joy that I never had had before. I joined The Mother Church within two years and assumed active membership in a branch church. I also had class instruction. Though I did not come into Christian Science for a physical healing, I have had many healings.
Shortly after I was married, I was healed of a contagious disease—it had been diagnosed as smallpox. My husband was in the military service at the time, and when he mentioned my condition to a superior, he was required to take me to a military hospital. I had called a Christian Science practitioner for treatment, and the symptoms were already beginning to disappear, so that the medical staff at the hospital said I could go home. I was told to report back in a couple of days. They said that since the hospital was very crowded, there was no place to put me, but that I should not see anyone—only my husband could come in once a day to bring food.
