because I felt I could not bear having critical eyes upon me any
longer. About three months ago I determined to be troubled no
further by my own foolish fancies and by constantly schooling
myself I have improved very much. Still, however, when I walk alone
along the street, I must fortify myself mentally before passing
each group of people. If once I allow myself to think that they are
looking at me, I feel almost paralyzed, my feet seem too heavy to
lift, my arms do not seem to swing naturally, and in attempting to
look placid and unconcerned, I feel that I am failing utterly. Also
when at table, I must still tell myself before each mouthful that I
have no need for fear, that my manner at table is equal and perhaps
superior to the others beside me. I have gone a certain length in
my self-training, and have relieved myself of a great deal of the
mental distress, but now I believe I can advance no further. What
seems needful now is to do away with the self-consciousness which
brought on my worries, though whether this is possible is hard to
say."

Here the letter of a young woman, the type which fills the army of the
mind healers and faith curists.

"For years I have been seeking, or perhaps to be more accurate I
should say waiting, for a mind to drift toward me; a mind that
would understand my particular case of fear brought on by the
constant bullying and nagging from my earliest childhood by those
in my home. This fear of brutality has greatly depleted my nervous
system and has unfitted me for the strong, useful, forceful life I
should have expressed. If I could only rid my mind of the thought
that I am always displeasing, or rather, going to displease people,
for I hardly do displease them; if I could get rid of the fear of
caring what the attitude of other minds toward me is, I feel that I
should then strike out into a strong life of helpfulness to others.
In other words I have always felt behind me a great force pressing
me out into public work. When I was a child, it was so strong that
I was sat down upon brutally, to so great an extent that I feared
to voice my convictions and that fear still clings to me like a
nemesis. It seems that every individual personality in a public or
private audience rises up to overwhelm me, causing my tongue to
grow