CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND SURGERY
The days of a militant suffragette are full to overflowing, and Silvia
Holland was not able to see Mrs. Bell and her little daughter early the
following morning as she had planned. It must have been well toward the
middle of the afternoon when she entered the modest apartment, and going
to the bed, visible in the alcove, kissed the child and put a great,
dewy bunch of violets in her hand. She took them, and hugged them tight
in her thin little arms, while her eyes looked into Silvia's
wonderingly, and her mother turned away to hide the sudden tears.
The apartment was well though not expensively furnished, and both mother
and child had the unmistakable air of good birth and refinement. As
Silvia glanced at Mrs. Bell she was conscious of something in her face
at once baffling and appealing. She had the indefinable look of one who
dwells with a sorrow for which there is no cure.
"Are you quite sure there is nothing I can do for either of you to-day?"
Silvia asked, a trifle diffidently, for she did not want to offend by
overzeal.
"You and Dr. Earl have placed us under so many obligations that we can
never hope to repay them," Mrs. Bell said quietly. "If I do not speak
more freely of what I feel, it is because I have no words for its
expression."
"Don't speak or think of obligations," Silvia said lightly, "and here is
my card, so that if at any time I might be of service to you I hope you
will not hesitate to call on me. I live at the Whittier Studios." The
card which she gave Mrs. Bell read:
SILVIA HOLLAND,
Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law,
City Investment Building,
New York City.
Mrs. Bell looked at it curiously. "Oh, it isn't possible that you are
_that_ Miss Holland, _the_ Miss Holland!" she said incredulously.
Silvia laughed. "Don't I look as if I could say 'Gentlemen of the jury'
with sufficient gravity?" she said. "Probably I shall do better when we
say 'Ladies of the jury,' too."
"You look like what you are, a beautiful and fashionable lady," Mrs.
Bell answered. "Surely no one would ever take you for a professional
woman."
"Must a fashionable lady be a listless parasite? Even if she wishes
merely to be a queen of society, would she not be more queenly if she
knew the trials and afflictions of others, and, better still, knew how
to help them? Would she be less a queen if she were not dependent upon
some man for her daily bread----"
A sudden flash of something, she could not tell whether it was pain or
rebellion or despair, crossed Mrs. Bell's face, and Silvia hesitated and
then went on rather hurriedly, as if, knowing she had struck a false
note, she sought to distract the other woman's thought from it. "I am
trying to demonstrate the glorious mission that belongs to woman when
she fills her predestined sphere of economic independence and political
freedom."
"Political freedom will come first and easiest," said the woman slowly.
She raised her eyes, filled with trouble, and looked full into Silvia's.
"The other is the greater boon, and will be harder to win. Some day I
may need to consult a lawyer; there is no one I would so gladly trust;
it is a personal matter and may adjust itself, if not----"
"If not, telephone to make sure that I am in, and I shall be glad to see
you at any time," answered Silvia.
There was the sound of a quick, firm step in the hall, and the bell
rang. Mrs. Bell opened the door and admitted Dr. Earl. After a few
questions and the exchange of greetings, he went over to the bedside of
his small patient. He found the child doing admirably, and glanced
hastily about the room, trying to make up his mind whether he might
offer any other assistance than that of a professional character. He
decided that he could not, and realized with a sense of pleasure and
relief that Miss Holland would be able to attend to such details with
more tact and skill than he could. Nor could he help the glow of
gratification that they should be associated in so vital a matter, one
that he felt swept away the petty conventionalities of society, and
placed them on a footing of understanding and common sympathy not to
have been acquired by months, or even years, of the ordinary social
amenities. After a few directions for the care of the small patient,
and a promise to look in the following day, he told Mrs. Bell how to
find him in case of any sudden need and took up his hat and stick.
"Were you going, Dr. Earl? Can I set you down anywhere? My car is at the
door."
He bowed, and followed her out. "We have an embarrassment of riches," he
said, "for my car is also here." Then, rather boyishly, moved by an
impulse he would have found it hard to explain, he said, "Suppose we
dismiss them both, and walk up through the Park?"
She acquiesced, and a few moments later they were strolling up the
Avenue, rather silently, considering that each had many things to say.
As usual, it was the woman who broke the silence.
"Tell me about all this. I never was more interested in anything in my
life," she said, looking up at him with a glance that carried the
subtlest flattery, and, while her query was vague, he understood and
made no attempt to evade it.
"It is a long story," he said; "have you time for it to-day? And it is
really no more remarkable than the effect you produced in your parade
yesterday, and I think the causes are the same. The world is full of
mystery, but before honest, earnest purpose of any kind the storehouses
of mystery will eventually open. The fact is, that the present
tremendous progressive movement in the world is spiritual and every
phase of it is interdependent upon every other element. The thoughtless
call these things 'fads.' In reality, each one of them marks a
crystallization of centuries of thought and hope and dream for the
advancement and elevation of the human race. The world, as usually
happens in spiritual matters, awakened to the importance of all of them
at the same time." He paused, as if realizing for the first time how
personal was the story for which she had asked. "You will think me an
egregious egotist, Miss Holland, I fear."
"No, whatever you may be, or I may think you, you need have no fears on
that score." She answered simply, directly. "Please tell me--if you
think I deserve so great a confidence."
He bowed gravely; there was no hint of coquetry in her manner.
"Directly after my graduation at Harvard, three years ago, I opened
offices in New York, intending to specialize in surgery, for I had
prepared for that, though I desired to obtain a general practice for a
while to put into effect and improve my theoretical knowledge. In a
misty way I soon realized that neither my own efforts nor those of my
colleagues were crowned with the success that should attend a profession
founded upon strictly scientific principles, as modern surgery is. The
chief cause of disturbance with me was that so many operations were
performed which subsequent developments showed might have been avoided,
but which at the time seemed imperative. I redoubled my studies of
_materia medica_, hoping to find a way by which this difficulty might be
obviated or overcome, and while my constant researches helped, I still
found much difficulty in arriving at accurate conclusions before
attempting an operation. I found nothing that satisfied me. I was also
greatly bothered and baffled by the large number of cases which the
surgeon encounters, controlled or dependent upon nervous conditions and
the futility of the drugs ordinarily given.
"While in this mood a friend of mine called at my office one Wednesday
evening by appointment. He was the general manager of a large utility
company that has to do with the people of every section of the
civilized world, and a man of rare judgment, knowledge of the world, and
poise. We were on most intimate terms, and I had already told him
something of these perplexities. This evening, I had supposed that he
was coming to see me professionally, and I had made other engagements.
As soon as he stepped into my private office, he said: 'Doctor, cancel
every engagement you have for this evening. I need you very badly in
affairs of my own. You are to ask no questions, but do as I request and
send me your bill to-morrow.'
"Of course I could not refuse him, so I arranged to go with him, and
then asked whether I should require surgical instruments or only a
medicine case. He replied that I would need neither, and I could gain
nothing from his manner, for he was very grave. At his suggestion we
walked, going up Fifth Avenue to the Park, and then across the Park to
the corner of 96th Street and Central Park West, where there stands a
great church. The rolling notes of the organ filled the quiet with an
impressiveness I had never felt before, and the congregation was singing
an old hymn with an earnestness and depth of feeling quite different
from most congregational singing. We entered and were shown to seats in
the balcony, in the front row, where we had an excellent view of most of
those below. 'You will find many of your acquaintances here,' he said,
and on looking around I was surprised at the great number of prominent
New York men and women in the audience.
"After the preliminary proceedings those that desired to do so were
invited to tell their experiences in combating disease, or other adverse
conditions. What I heard was a revelation. This experience,
corroborating, as it did, my own observations, emphasized how little of
the field of suggestive and mental therapeutics the ordinary medical
practitioner really filled, and I determined to explore that field
before going any further with my practice. I thanked my friend for
taking me to this place, and within a month I decided to go abroad. I
visited the institutions of note in Europe, where suggestive
therapeutics are practiced, and then went to India, where I spent many
months. There I found the original source of suggestive, mental and
spiritual treatment.
"If the Yogi of India could supplement his method of training the
subconscious mind with the knowledge which our regular physicians
possess, and could apply both with discriminating skill, we would have
the greatest human healing power ever known. The best I could hope for
was to apply as much of the wisdom of the Yogi and other cults in India
and Europe as I could master in the brief time at my disposal, and that
I am attempting to do. With all the perfection of system in training the
subconscious mind that characterizes a comparatively few of the
inhabitants of India, the millions are left without any appreciable
benefits therefrom, just as the millions here are left without the full
benefits of the special training of the few.
"We are but touching the borderland of this mysterious realm of the
occult, the subconscious and the spiritual forces that have such an
important bearing upon all phases of human life, and which, when
intelligently applied to the child in school and the direction of the
individual in his career, promise so much for the elevation, longevity
and achievements of the human race.
"The world is just waking up to the vast significance of the spiritual
teachings of Jesus Christ, and their bearing upon all phases and
activities of human life. When Christ told the Pharisees that 'the
kingdom of God is within you,' he carried the lesson, though little
understood then, and so fully comprehended now, that Christianity,
citizenship, government, health, happiness and progress are all
dependent upon the character of the ideals and purposes and daily life
of the individual.
"When Christ told the lawyer that to 'love thy neighbor as thyself' was
one of the essentials of salvation, he laid the corner-stone for a pure
and honest democracy, without which underlying principle there can be no
lasting democratic government. We now know, in medicine, that much of
longevity and good health and power of recuperation depend upon the
ideals of the individual, and their inspiring influence.
"It is too bad that with all our tremendous progress we allow bigotry
and prejudice to hamper us in getting the most out of the wisdom around
us as well as that of the ages, all of which is correlated. Yet very
often the orthodox Christian, who believes that Christ not only healed
the sick but also raised the dead, decries the Christian Scientist who
only professes to restore the sick on the theory that disease cannot
exist in an individual properly imbued with Christ's teachings. Too
often the orthodox doctor of medicine denounces the healer who overcomes
apparent disease through mental suggestion or arrests a nervous
breakdown in a patient by teaching that patient how to relax, when the
doctor himself does not hesitate to give bread pills in the first
instance and to recommend a sanitarium where relaxation is the only
thing attempted in the second. And I presume this quotation from the
Dhamma-pada, which is many centuries older than the Christian religion,
would be denounced as heresy by some of the Christian Scientists,
although it embodies the spirit and almost the words of their own
teachings: 'All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is
founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speak
or act with an evil thought, pain follows him as the wheel follows the
foot of the ox that draws the carriage.'"
Presently Dr. Earl hailed a passing taxi-cab, and gave the order to be
taken to the Whittier Studios. The drive home was silent. Once or twice
Silvia looked at her tall companion. She was frankly curious about the
Paris case, but something in the quiet, self-contained face of the man
beside her did not invite questions. On his part, John Earl was asking
himself why he should have given his confidence to this comparative
stranger, and the longer he thought about it the less able was he to
answer his question.