"Good-by, Miss Minturn, and thank you for my lovely rose," cried the child, looking back over her shoulder and waving her small hand in farewell.

"Poor child," sighed Miss Reynolds, as she and Katherine pa.s.sed out of the grounds to the highway, "she has a continual struggle to live, yet she is a remarkable girl, in spite of her many infirmities, with a mind bright and keen far beyond her years."

"How old is she?"

"Thirteen, a month or two ago."

"Is it possible? She does not look to be over seven or eight, although, mentally, she seems more mature."

"That is true. She had a bad fall when she was six years old, and her body has never grown any since the accident," Miss Reynolds explained. "She suffers a great deal--sometimes the pain is almost unbearable; but, as a rule, she is very lovable and patient, though, now and then, a remark like what she made to you just now, shows that she thinks deeply and is perplexed--like some children of larger growth--over the knotty problems of life," she concluded, with a sigh.

"How is it, Miss Minturn," she went on, after a moment of silence, "how do you Scientists account for the fact that a perfect and all-merciful G.o.d--'the Father of mercies, the G.o.d of all comfort,'

as Paul puts it--has created a world of such confusion, wherein evil and suffering, instead of peace and harmony, are the predominant elements?--where, for ages, sickness and death have relentlessly mown down generation after generation, until one becomes heart-sick and weary, and even filled with despair, at times, in view of their probable continuance for ages to come?"

The woman's face was flushed, her eyes somber, and there was a note of pa.s.sionate protest in her voice which moved Katherine deeply; while what she had said proved to her that these problems had been pondered o'er and o'er until her mind was almost in a state of chaos regarding them.

While she was debating with herself what reply she could make that would best meet her thought, her companion resumed:

"I am a dear lover of children, but when I see anyone like Dorothy; when I see mothers grieving for their darlings, whom G.o.d gave them for a little while, then ruthlessly s.n.a.t.c.hed from their embrace for no apparent reason, I feel sure that something is very wrong; and, of late years, my heart is filled with indignant protest whenever I hear of the birth of a dear little innocent.

'Oh!' I cry within myself, 'it is born only to repeat the struggle with sin, suffering and death.' Of what use is its life? of what use the advent of future generations if there is no way to rise above, or conquer, such adverse conditions? Is G.o.d good--if there is a G.o.d--to create only to destroy? to arbitrarily force these little innocents into the world to fight the unequal battle with evil? Millions have faced it bravely--n.o.bly, trusting G.o.d's promises, but they have never succeeded in removing one iota of the curse, 'Thou shalt surely die.' The whole problem of life is a mystery which I am tired of trying to solve," and Katherine was sure the woman stifled a sob as she concluded.

"Surely, dear Miss Reynolds, you do not doubt the existence of G.o.d?" she gently inquired.

"No, child; don't think me quite an atheist," said her teacher, with a deprecatory smile and gesture. "Life, nature, the universe, with their teeming and ever-unfolding wonders tell me that there is a Force--a controlling power and intelligence behind them. We call that force 'G.o.d.' We say that G.o.d is omnipotent, all wise and good; and certainly, in the government of the universe, everything points that way, everything is exact and perfect. But how to reconcile G.o.d as good, merciful, loving, with the creation and manifestation of evil as we find it on this planet? Ah! that is beyond me."

"Can evil come out of good?" briefly queried Katherine.

Miss Reynolds started slightly.

"No," she returned, positively; "no more than a lie can spring out of truth; those are self-evident facts."

"Then dare we say that G.o.d--which is but another term for good, Supreme Good--created evil?"

"Oh, do you believe in the serpent or devil? I know he comes forward from some mysterious source in the narrative and is held responsible. Then naturally follows the question, 'Who created his satanic majesty?' Well, who did? If G.o.d created everything, and evil cannot come out of good, where did evil come from? What a paradox it seems!" she went on, without waiting for a reply. "Yet evil does exist in the world--look at Dorothy! Think of the sin, misery and crime all about us! Where did they come from? There are some who contend that G.o.d did not create evil, but permits it for some wise purpose; but that, to me, seems like a weak attempt to clear the Almighty from the terrible responsibility of having made sin and its deadly results without detracting from His omnipotence."

"If a person tells you a lie, where does it come from?" Katherine quietly inquired.

"From his own evil desire to deceive, of course."

"Exactly; it was an invention of his own evil thought, prompted by some selfish motive. You can say the same of theft, murder--in fact of all crime. But G.o.d--Good--is not the author of the lie, or crime, neither does He 'permit them for some wise purpose,' as you have quoted, any more than a just and loving human father would teach, or permit, his son to become a criminal, claiming that he needed such discipline to fit him for future happiness; or, any more than you, a teacher, would put demoralizing literature into the hands of a student as a method of discipline for higher education."

"How perfectly absurd that sounds! And yet it is parallel to the doctrine that has been taught for ages," said Miss Reynolds, thoughtfully. "But I do not see how you can apply the same logic to disease and suffering."

"The Scriptures tell us that sin brought death.' Sickness and disease are the seeds of death; then they are the results of sin- evil. G.o.d not being the author of sin and disease, they, like the lie, can only originate in the evil thought or mind of the sinner," Katherine explained.

"Then you believe that we mortals are alone responsible for all the suffering and evil there is in the world?"

"Yes; evil is a mortal concept."

"Then how does G.o.d---What is G.o.d, from your standpoint, Kath--may I call you Katherine?" and Miss Reynolds laid a caressing hand upon the girl's arm as she made this request.

"Do--I should so like to have you," she replied, turning to her with a luminous smile. "Now for your question. G.o.d is Spirit, and 'What the Scriptures declare Him to be--Life, Truth and Love,'"

[Footnote: "'Science and Health," page 330.] she added, quoting from her text-book.

"You say Spirit, instead of 'a spirit.' Now what is this Spirit?"

"Infinite Mind, Intelligence, Omnipotent Good."

"Ah!" Miss Reynolds began, then paused abruptly. "But intelligence, life, truth, love are characteristics, attributes which anyone may possess and cultivate."

"Yes, considered in that sense they are attributes. But whence came they?" Katherine demanded, with glowing eyes. "The source of life must be Life itself, must it not? The same must also be true of truth and love. So Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Intelligence const.i.tute, in Science, the Divine Principle, or G.o.d, the controlling and governing power of the universe and man."

"Divine Principle! Mind! Intelligence! Life! Truth! Love! G.o.d!"

repeated Miss Reynolds, and dwelling thoughtfully upon each word.

Then, turning a wondering look upon her companion, she exclaimed, almost breathlessly:

"Why, Katherine, if that is true I can understand how G.o.d can be omnipresent! That is a doctrine of my church, that has been a tantalizing mystery to me all my life. My dear girl," she went on in an eager tone, "I begin to see a ray of light--I must think more about it, though. I have always thought of Deity as a 'personal G.o.d,' and, yes"--smiling--"I used to believe in a personal devil, too; with a very vague conception that although the latter had always managed to keep the preponderance of power in his hands, G.o.d would, in some miraculous manner, win the battle in the end. But, even now"--with a look of perplexity--"I do not grasp where or how, according to your logic, G.o.d comes in as supreme, infinite, so long as evil exists."

"Let us go back to the lie for an ill.u.s.tration," said Katherine.

"You said that it originated in the person's own evil thought and desire to deceive. Well, what happens when you turn the light of truth upon a lie?"

"Why, it disappears--vanishes; you learn the fact and are no longer affected by, or conscious of, the falsehood."

"Then truth has destroyed, annihilated it; it has become nothing to you. As long as you believe a lie you are its victim and suffer from it; but once learn the truth you are free from that illusion and its power over you is gone. Now, you would not say that truth created the lie, permitted it, or was in any way responsible for it, or your suffering on account of it?"

"N-o; so G.o.d, being good--infinite good--knows nothing of evil in any form. Is that your point, Katherine?"

"Yes; so it follows He could neither create nor permit what He knows nothing about."

"Why!" exclaimed Miss Reynolds, turning a glowing face to the girl, "those same arguments must hold good for everything! Then sickness and suffering must be the outcome of wrong thought on the part of mortals! What unlimited possibilities that suggests!

Divine Principle! I begin to understand why you call yourselves 'Scientists'--you think and live in accord with this infinite, absolute Principle--you demonstrate it, as--as I demonstrate mathematics."

"Yes," said Katherine, smiling; "so you see that Christian Science is, as some one has aptly said, 'the Science of sciences.'"

"That is a very sweeping a.s.sertion," responded her teacher in a somewhat doubtful tone. "I'll have to ruminate on that. However, this little glimpse of a better way than I have hitherto known, seems like an olive leaf of hope and promise to me, for I have been tossing on a restless sea of doubt and skepticism for years, reaching out and groping after some substantial plank that would float me into a haven of peace and rest. But how is it that you, so young, argue so clearly and logically about these things that have puzzled older and wiser heads for ages?"

"I have never known anything else," said Katherine, simply. "When I was a very little child my mother was healed of a disease which several physicians had p.r.o.nounced incurable. She at once became an earnest student of Christian Science, and, later, a successful pract.i.tioner; consequently its principles, as far as I have gone, are as clear to me as those that govern your own dear mathematics are to you. But"--a blank look suddenly sweeping over her face--"I am afraid I have been guilty of rank disobedience in discussing these problems with you."

"How so?" asked her teacher, in surprise.

"Prof. Seabrook has strictly forbidden me to talk of Christian Science while I am a student at Hilton."

"Of course, he meant that you must not talk it to the other students," said Miss Reynolds, "and it would be unwise, for, doubtless, the parents of many, if not of all, would object. But I, as your teacher, feel at liberty to ask you whatever questions I choose, and you are perfectly justified in answering them."

"Ye-s, I believe you are right on that point," Katherine thoughtfully returned. "But I would not willfully disobey the professor in any way. I owe him perfect loyalty as long as I am a pupil in his school, and I mean to yield it to him."

"That is right," her companion affirmed; "but you do not need to condemn yourself for what has occurred this afternoon, for, at my age, I am capable of judging for myself upon all moral and religious questions, and I think you may feel at liberty to give me any information that I may seek from you. I have not done with you, either," she added, with a significant smile, "for you have given me to-day a glimpse of something which I believe will change the universe for me. Ah! whom have we here?"

She checked herself suddenly as a gentleman came into view around a curve in the road, a short distance ahead of them.