I am going to write you a rather queer letter. I shall ask questions & make statements Chief & uppermost reason for thus doing, is my insatiable thirst for more knowledge upon the subject of Metaphysical healing. You will understand better than I can tell, the utter emptiness of words to express the intrinsic value of the light conveyed through your book "Science & healthEditorial Note: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy." At the first reading, one year & a half ago, with but a vague comprehension, the stupendousness of the theme so loomed up to my mental vision I was struck dumb;— I stood in awe of myself. I can never forget the intense agony of those three weeks while pouring over you pages night & day. I say agony, because my temperament is nervous. I am impatient,— "Sputtery" a sin which causes me more conscience pangs,— more bitter tears than aught else, & is so hard to overcome. Back of the seeming absurdity of many of your statements, I recognized the Omnipotent God, Whom to touch was Life everlasting.

My hungering eagerness to touch HimEditorial Note: God, my frenzy to grasp the whole Mighty Truth at once (an impossibility) was torture; & often when wound up & up & up until it seemed I should surely touch the loving Christ, have fallen suddenly back into chaotic darkness, with despairing abandon have flung myself prone upon the floor, hands clutched wildly in my hair, eyes streaming with tears crying aloud in my anguish "Lord God of Heaven & EarthActs 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; help me to understand; What does the woman mean"? I am sure had there been any to witness they would have said I had gone "Stark mad." Now in comparison with then I satand on supernal heights,— calm but with craving for the imperishable not a whit lessened. Formerly I was subject to acute illnesses — fevers of various types,— spring & autumn Malaria clutching me with its hideous hold, confining me to my bed for weeks with alternate freezings & scorchings & consequent weakness & "wornoutednessAs Written:wornoutedness",— & have been exceedingly low with a type called nervous BilliousCorrected:Bilious, from which I do not think I should have recovered had it not been for my physician, a great stalwart fellow the image of health & jollity, infusing life & courage each morning & evening with his words of cheer, Always giving me the most positive assurances that I was better & would soon be up. Although extremely kin [?] Unclear or illegible d & sympathetic he had a way of placing every thingCorrected:everything in so ludicrous a light I wasp forced to laugh however depressed. While holding the thermometer at the arm pitCorrected:armpit, his plump cool fingers on my hot emaciated wrist, from cavernous depths would issue a snatch of some comic song, or "Mary had a little lamb" or, the oddest remarks about the veriest trifles, all with such inimitable drollery, my mind was diverted from the suffering,— & when on removing the thermometer & examining it he would strike his hand down on his solid knee with such force as to make things jingle, declaring in most emphatic tones & words that I was ever so much better,— that I was gaining rapidly, I felt somehow that I was better though I did not understand why. I was so low & weak, I was much like a child, & so sensitive I watched & read every look, & had my physician been the opposite of what he was I verily believe I should have died. I now understand why his peculiar ways was conducive to my recovery. A few months prior to this siege of nervous fever I was brought low with what is known as nervous prostration, during which illness I was made most painfully conscious of the close alliance 'twixt mind & matter. I have been afflicted with a weak digestive apparatus, & have been all my life long a wretched sleeper, & with each & every illness my head has suffered terribly. Now, all praise to the primal source of all light & knowledge the story is changed. Disease & sickness have lost their terrors. I have learned that little by little the usurper is driven out; & with each victory, be it ever so small, new strength & new courage is gained. I realize the supremacy of mind & also that the ascendency is gained only by slow stages; but the slowness is antidoted by the sureness which brings "joy that is not a trembler & hope that is not a cheat." I have hoped & hoped against hope that I should be able to come to BostonEditorial Note: Boston, Massachusetts for a thorough course of instruction,– but the past few years reverses & dissapointments Corrected: disappointments have followed quickly upon each other. Now for the questions. I do not think the value of the instructions your are able to give can be estimated in dollars & cents, but were I to come & should pay you down one half the tuition fee would you be willing to wait for the other half until I could earn it? Next — what prospect would there be for me to earn it?[*]Archival Note: A metamark that looks like an X appears at this point in the manuscript. Mrs Col. Smith has told me of a Mrs Reaves, a former Student of yours a poor widow lady who borrowed the money to pay expenses, took a course, then went to Washington to establish a practice, & though she did heal, was compelled to throw it all away, & and pursue another avocation. Also, that with all the instruction she received she failed to grasp the grand central idea that this ScienceEditorial Note: Christian Science you teach is the Religion of Jesus;[*]Archival Note: A metamark that looks like an X appears at this point in the manuscript. when this, at the first, to me was the shining truth that so attracted & charmed, the dazzling lustre of which can never be dimmed. If this be true,— of whatever can the woman be made, or whatever is the manner of your teaching I cannot conceive.

Next, — would there be a possibility of rendering service in remuneration for board in any family near enough to the College? Of work I have never been afraid nor ashamed & can turn my hand to any thingCorrected:anything. With the light I have already received I feel that I should absorb the Truth as readily as a sponge would water. Will you be kind enough to reply at once to my queries?