At a time when most people prepare to withdraw from the business world, I passed the federal civil service examinations and took a position with the government. I felt that passing the examination and obtaining the position in the city in which I wished to live resulted from the application of my understanding of Christian Science. The minuses were: working in an inside office with no windows and being brought into close association with a large group of people, all of whom were many years my junior and who sometimes gave me a rather difficult time.
For a year I accepted these conditions as almost unavoidable and was simply grateful for the position. But I was kept so busy I found little time for prayerful study. Feeling a need for renewed inspiration in Christian Science, I put a dark plastic cover on a paperback edition of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and placed it in my desk at the office. I took sack lunches and studied during lunchtime and during the morning and afternoon breaks. As I read Science and Health, I underscored in pencil words and sentences and circled marginal headings that I felt would increase my understanding of Christian Science and spiritualize my thought. Dictionary definitions of words were noted in the margins to broaden their meanings. Many other notes were made in the margins as new inspiration came to me. While I was doing all this, no one bothered me or seemed to be curious. In the evening I piled records of Science and Health on the stereo and listened for an hour and sometimes longer.
This intensive study of the textbook aroused in me a feeling of dominion and a sense of calm assurance. The words that were much in my thought were from page 518 where Mrs. Eddy writes of man: "He is lord of the belief in earth and heaven, — himself subordinate alone to his Maker."
