Yours of the 19 inst.Editorial Note: This letter is not extant. came safely to hand although it was directed to 475 instead of 745 N. Park Ave. I was very glad indeed to hear from you for I think I feel somewhat like your Boston children; as if I needed a few words of encouragement and sympathy now and then.
I think I can honestly say that I have progressed in the understanding of the scienceEditorial Note: Christian Science since I wrote you last; I can see more clearly what was once so hard for me to see, the unreality of mortal mind, and the conviction grows stronger each day that at last I have found what I have so long sought – that God and man are the all in all. This phase of life seems to me so full of such grand possibilities, that I get impatient with myself sometimes for now progressing faster. My practice increases, not rapidly, but still it grows. I hope I am laying the foundation for grand work by and by. I try not to allow the money consideration to be first with me; I want to do the work for the work’s sake, and if there was no need of my earning money, I would not charge a dollar for my services. It gives me the keenest pleasure to lighten the load some weary traveler bends under and the grateful “God bless you” is more to me than the dollars given by one who thinks he has amply recompensed you by giving them. My patients are more to me than “cases”, and I want to remove their moral sicknesses as well as the physical. It has been my good fortune more than once to give comfort to one under great mental suffering and to give advice that prevented more; and that has consoled me in many a despondent moment. Many a patient has said to me, “Oh, Mrs. Gestefeld; it does me good just to see you.” That pleases me “way down to the soles of my boots.” I have been greatly disappointed over one case, and so far it is the only one. A young woman who has been very deaf for eight or nine years; both eardrums have been pierced.
I have treated her now, for seven months without any change whatever. Other C.S.’sEditorial Note: Christian Scientists among them, Mr Sherman and Mrs. Noyes, have told me they have never healed a case of deafness where there was a fracture of the drum. But it ought to be done, ought it not, Mrs Eddy? She is the only child of her mother, a widow, and poor, her labor supports them both, and she could get a much better paying position, if she could only hear. Another case I must tell you of that has given me great satisfaction. [*]Editorial Note: A metamark that looks like an X appears at this point in the manuscript. A gentleman had a leg broken by being thrown from a carriage three years ago. The leg had been three quarters of an inch shorter than the other ever since. Physicians said it would always remain so, for the bone itself was shorter, in consequence of the fracture, so he wore a heel on his boot made that much higher than the other one, to avoid limping. His legs now are exactly alike, and he wears his boots just alike. It took four months of treatment to do it however, and that part only I am dissatisfied with. It should not take months, weeks, or days to heal, but, “Stretch forth thy hand and be healed”Matt 12:13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. should be the way. There is where I want to get, and I feel that it can be done.
The enclosed cutting is from a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Thomas. You will probably remember him, as he visited the class once during one of your lectures.
Little by little the leaven works. [*]Editorial Note: A metamark that looks like an X appears at this point in the manuscript. The gentleman of whom I have told you, is a member of his church.
Now I must tell you a little about myself: after studying Christian ScienceAs Written:C.S. last spring I was enabled to overcome lifelong constipation; all through the summer till Nov. my bowels moved regularly, but since that time, my old belief is bothering me, and not withstanding all my efforts, I cannot overcome it. What shall I do Mrs. Eddy? I don’t As Written: dont want to go to another C.S. for I ought to do it myself; that disease is only a belief As Written: beleif I know; I feel that is truth: all the same there is this constipation staring me in the face, and like Hamlet’s ghost, it will not down.
About Joining the Ass. here in ChicagoEditorial Note: This is a reference to an association of Eddy's students and other Christian Scientists in the greater Chicago area., I do not know just what to tell you; I cannot act always as I would like to but if I felt convinced that I ought to join it, I should do so. I know your As Written: you spare moments must be few, but I should like so much to hear from you
Please remember me kindly to Mrs. Crosse.