0.0 – Christian Science Publication Contents

"I'VE GOT COLD" 

  	    Out upon the sidewalk one winter morning, I observed
12	a carriage draw up before a stately mansion; a portly
  	gentleman alight, and take from his carriage the ominous
  	hand-trunk. 
15	    "Ah!" thought I, "somebody has to take it; and what
  	may the potion be?" 
  	    Just then a tiny, sweet face appeared in the vestibule,
18	and red nose, suffused eyes, cough, and tired look, told
  	the story; but, looking up quaintly, the poor child said, —  
  	    "I've got cold, doctor." 
21	    Her apparent pride at sharing in a popular influenza
  	was comical. However, her dividend, when compared
  	with that of the household stockholders, was new; and
24	doubtless their familiarity with what the stock paid, made
  	them more serious over it. 
  	    What if that sweet child, so bravely confessing that
27	she had something that she ought not to have, and which
  	mamma thought must be gotten rid of, had been taught
  	the value of saying even more bravely, and believing
30	it, —  
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “I’ve Got Cold”                                   
 page 240

 1	    "I have not got cold." 
  	    Why, the doctor's squills and bills would have been
 3	avoided; and through the cold air the little one would
  	have been bounding with sparkling eyes, and ruby cheeks
  	painted and fattened by metaphysical hygiene. 
 6	    Parents and doctors must not take the sweet freshness
  	out of the children's liv...es by that flippant caution, "You
  	will get cold." 
 9	    Predicting danger does not dignify life, whereas fore-
  	casting liberty and joy does; for these are strong pro-
  	moters of health and happiness. All education should
12	contribute to moral and physical strength and freedom. 
  	If a cold could get into the body without the assent of
  	mind, nature would take it out as gently, or let it remain
15	as harmlessly, as it takes the frost out of the ground or
  	puts it into the ice-cream to the satisfaction of all. 
  	    The sapling bends to the breeze, while the sturdy oak,
18	with form and inclination fixed, breasts the tornado. It
  	is easier to incline the early thought rightly, than the
  	biased mind. Children not mistaught, naturally love
21	God; for they are pure-minded, affectionate, and gen-
  	erally brave. Passions, appetites, pride, selfishness, have
  	slight sway over the fresh, unbiased thought. 
24	    Teach the children early self-government, and teach
  	them nothing that is wrong. If they see their father with
  	a cigarette in his mouth — suggest to them that the habit
27	of smoking is not nice, and that nothing but a loathsome
  	worm naturally chews tobacco. Likewise soberly inform
  	them that "Battle-Axe Plug" takes off men's heads; or,
30	leaving these on, that it takes from their bodies a sweet
  	something which belongs to nature, — namely, pure
  	odors. 
 
 Miscellaneous Writings --- “I’ve Got Cold”                                   
 page 241

 1	    From a religious point of view, the faith of both youth
  	and adult should centre as steadfastly in God to benefit
 3	the body, as to benefit the mind. Body and mind are
  	correlated in man's salvation; for man will no more
  	enter heaven sick than as a sinner, and Christ's Christi-
 6	anity casts out sickness as well as sin of every sort. 
  	    Test, if you will, metaphysical healing on two patients:
  	one having morals to be healed, the other having a physi-
 9	cal ailment. Use as your medicine the great alterative,
  	Truth:  give to the immoralist a mental dose that says,
  	"You have no pleasure in sin," and witness the effects. 
12	    Either he will hate you, and try to make others do like-
  	wise, so taking a dose of error big enough apparently to
  	neutralize your Truth, else he will doubtingly await the
15	result; during which interim, by constant combat and
  	direful struggles, you get the victory and Truth heals him
  	of the moral malady. 
18	    On the other hand, to the bedridden sufferer admin-
  	ister this alterative Truth: "God never made you sick:
  	there is no necessity for pain; and Truth destroys the
21	error that insists on the necessity of any man's bondage
  	to sin and sickness.  'Ye shall know the truth, and the
  	truth shall make you free.'" 
24	    Then, like blind Bartimeus, the doubting heart looks
  	up through faith, and your patient rejoices in the gospel
  	of health. 
27	    Thus, you see, it is easier to heal the physical than the
  	moral ailment. When divine Truth and Love heal, of
  	sin, the sinner who is at ease in sin, how much more should
30	these heal, of sickness, the sick who are dis-eased, dis-
  	comforted, and who long for relief! 
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