Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], December 08, 1910, Page 12, Image 12

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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12
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE LEADER
SUCCUMBS TO “NATURAL CAUSES"
■>
END OCCURRED SATURDAY NIGHT.
AFTER MAE DAYS' ILLNESS.
lanoancement First Made in Mother
t hurch nt Boston Dorins Sunday
Morning Service.
The death of Mrs Mary Baker Glover
Eddy. discoverer and founder of Chris
.tian science, which occurred late Saturdax
ni-ht at her home at Chestnut bill, a
suburb, was announced at the morning
service of the mother church in Boston
Sunday. "Natural causes" explains the
death, according to Dr George L. Most, a
district medical examiner, who was sum
moned a few hours after Mrs Eddy passed
away. Later Dr West added to his state
ment by saying that the more immediate
cause was probably pneumonia. The news
of Mrs Eddy's death was made known
simultaneously by Judge Clifford I‘. Smith,
first reader of the mother church, at the
close of the morning service, and by Al
fred Earlow of the Christian science pub
lication committee in a statement to the
press.
According to Mr Farlow. Mrs Eddy died
at 10.45 o'clock Saturday night. She had
been indisposed for about nine days, but
had been up and dressed, and as late as
Thursday transacted some business with
one of the officials of the t Jurist ia n Scl
ence church. She took her daily afternoon
drive until two days before her going.
Saturday night she fell quietly asleep,
and those around her could at first hard
ly realize that she had gone. Iler thought
was clear until the last, and she left no
final message. No physician was in at
tendance. but she had the assistance of
the students who comprised her house
hold. With her at the time of her depart
ure were C. A. Frye. Mrs Laura E. Sar
gent. Mrs Ella S. Rathvon. Rev Irving
C, Tomlinson, her corresponding secre
tary. William R. Rathvon and her .-ec
retary. Adam IL Dickey.
There were few of the congregation at
the morning service at the mother church
Sunday who knew that the life of the
leader and teacher had ended. I’he service
was as usual and the two readers. Judge
Smith and Mrs Leland T. Powers, present
ed the sermon of the day. "God the only
vans ' and creator,” with voices that were
without emotion and had no suggestion
of sadness. The routine service, which
closes with a hymn, the roading of the
■•Scientific statement of being” and the
benediction were strictly followed at the
mother church yesterday until just before
the benediction.
Judge Smith then broke through the
usual form with the following words: "I
shall now read part of a letter, written
by our revered leader and reprinted on
page 135 of 'Miscellaneous Writings': 'My
beloved students: You may be looking to
see me in my accustomed place with you,
but this yon must no longer exiiecr. When
I retired from the field of labor it was a
departure. Socially, publicly and finally,
from the routine of such material modes
as society, and our societies demand. Ru
mors are rumors—nothing more. I am still
with you on the field of battle, taking for
ward inarches, broader and higher views,
and with the hope that you will follow.
All our thoughts should be given to the
absolute demonstration of Christian
science. You can well afford to give me
up since you have in my last revised edi
tion of "Science and Health” your teacher
and guide.’ Although these lines.” said
Judge Smith, "were written years ago.
they are true to-day and will continue to
he true. But it becomes my duty to an
nounce that Mrs Eddy passed from our
sight last night at quarter before 11
o'clock at her home ou Chestnut hill.”
Only those who sat through the service
with the knowledge of the momentous
event of a few hours before heard the
benediction. Then the greater part of the
congregation left their seats in silence.
There were no words of sorrow, although
many a tear was shed. The great organ
pealed its recessional as joyously and
triumphantly as even. As the church-goers
scattered after the services, the question
of future leadership was referred to with
great reserve by the leaders and others.
Those who expressed a view said that
there would be no change in the methods
of carrying on the work, that Mrs Eddy's
teachings and instructions would be im
plicitly followed, and that the church that
she founded would continue to grow in the
future as it had in the past.
It was pointed out that with the excep
tion of a few routine matters the actual
direction of the church work had been re
linquished to a great degree by Mrs Eddy
for years previous to her death, although
she continued to keep in dose touch with
those to whom site had intrusted the work
and had a dear understanding of how it
was being performed. The notice which
was read at the morning service of the
mother church was repeated at the even
ing service at an unusually large congrega
tion. and was also read at many of the
other Christian science churches in the
vicinity.
Dr George L. West, the medical exam
iner, who was called to the home of Mrs
Eddy, and who filled out the death certifi
cate, made the following statement Sunday
night: "I was called to the hottie of Mrs
Eddy early this morning and arrived there
in my automobile about 9.30 o'clock. I
was met at the door by Calvin A. Frye
and others of the household, who directed
me to a bed chamber on the second floor.
Here I met Mrs Sargent. I found the
body of a woman of about tM) years, lying
on the bed. her hands crossed over her
breast. The face was somewhat wasted,
but kindly, and in repose. I talked with
Mr Frye, who said, 'Mrs Eddy had been
in error about a week and passed away
very quietly.' Mr Frye described the
symptoms and spoke of an inflammation of
the chest, which led to the conclusion that
pneumonia had been the contributory cause
of death.”
LIFE STORY OF MRS EDDY.
Christian Science Leader Did not Flr
ure Prominently Vntil Alter 50
Yearn of Age.
Perhaps the most remarkable woman of
her time, in many respects. Mrs Eddy was
born in 1821, the year of Napoleon's death
at St Helena, and had she lived until
July 1(1 next she would have reached the
great age of 90. Her birthplace was Bow.
N. H , and she was christened Mary A.
Morse Baker. Her father. Mark Bilker,
was a typical New Englund farmer of the
upright, austere sort, but he was dogmatic
and high-tempered. The mother. Abigail
Bernard Ambrose, was a most estimable
woman, capable, gentle and unselfish. She
was the sister of the grandmother of Gov
Hoke Smith of Georgia. Concerning the
family genealogy. Sibyl Wilbur, the biog
rapher of Mrs Eddy, writes:—
"Mary Baker Eddy's ancestry can be
traced clearly through six generations to
the first Baker in America, her earliest
emigrant ancestor being John Baker, who
was freeman in Charlestown. Mass., in
1834. The generatiouH succeeding, elim
inating all but the direct line, are Tbomns
of Roxbury, a second Thomas of Roxbury,
who married .Sarah Pike. Joseph. Ison
1714. deacon of the Congregational church,
who hold a captain’ll commission. He was
the surveyor of several towns in that part
of the -olouy of New Hampshire which
was claimed lar Ma waehuscttvi-among the
rest, of Pembroke, where he afterward
settled. He married. 1739. Hannah Lovp
wtdl. only daughter of (’apt John Lovewvll.
Hannah vras%orn 1721, was heir to one
tbird the estate of Capt Lovewell and
inherited with her husband the lands as
signed to her distinguished father in Pem
broke. Capt Joseph Raker had a son Jo
seph. lM>rn 1740. who married Marion
Moor McNeil, a descendant of the Scotch
covenanters. They settled in Bow. Their
youngest son was Mark Baker, born 1785.
He was the father of Mary Baker. So
the generations run thus: Mary. .Mark.
Joseph. Joseph. Thomas. Thomas. John,—
which takes the record back almost to
Plymouth Rovk."
Mrs Eddy’s sisters and brothers were
Samuel. Albert. George. Abigail and
Martha. Samuel learned the trade of ma
son and developed steadily into a con
tractor of considerable importance. He
built many brick buildings and rows of
houses which still stand in Boston. Albert
was the scholar of the family. He grad a-
We .
u - *
L. i
IK
V J
MRS MARY BAKER EDDY.
ated from Dartmouth and studied law
with Franklin Pierce. He was a member
of the New Hampshire Legislature, ami
was nominated for Congress. He died from
kidney disease before the election was
held. George was a partner of Alexander
Hamilton Tilton, who married Abigail
Baker. Martha married Luther C. Pills
bury of Concord, a deputy warden of the
state prison of that place. Mary, the
youngest child, was delicate. Much of her
studying was done at home, because she
was of a highly nervous temperament and
could not endure the severe routine of the
district school, with the noisy, brawling’
children, nor witness the frequent brich
ings which occurred in those days. Her
brother Albert was of some assistance
in educating her and Mrs Eddy in later
life said that he taught her the rudiments
of Latin, Greek. Hebrew and philosophy.
This instruction, however, must have been
very elementary and imperfect since het
writings have never indicated that she
was a person of much early culture in
books or classical studies. On the other
hand, injustice would doubtless be done
her. if one accepted literally the state
ment of one of her old schoolmates that
"Mary Baker completed her education
when she had finished Smith's grammar
and had reached long division in arithme
tic.”
Becomes Y’lllawc Belle.
When Mary was 15 her father removed
with his family to Sanbornton Bridge,
now Tilton, renamed for the family into
which her sister Abigail married. They
Jived for a time on a farm about a mile
from the village, and then removed to the
village, where tier father had built a large
frame house in colonial style, which still
stands in Tilton in excellent preservation.
The young girl soon blossomed Out into
the village belle, writes one student of her
career. "Of medium hight, slim and grace
ful. exquisitely molded even to her hands
and feet, features regular and refined,
big blue eyes which could flash black ou
occasion, the fresh bloom of a pure com
filexion, an abundance of bright brown
lair, escaping in ringlets from beneath
her bonnet, always gowned in good taste
and yet mindful of observers, Mary Ba
ker was the cynosure of every eye as she
came tripping every Sunday into church.
Already conscious of the power which has
given her a distinctive place among wom
en. she invariably took the center of the
stage. She exjiected and accepted the pe
culiar consideration given to her instinc
tively by everybody in the family ami
friendly circle. When her sweetness and
her charm, however, were not adequate
to win the influence desired, she knew
how to challenge and command. High
strung and hysterical, she knew when to
employ the arts of the neurotic. Imperi
ous ami masterful in girlhood ns in wom
nnhood, she always plnyed the game of
life to win. Independent in her judg
ments even then, she won exemption from
belief in predestination, when at the age
of 17 she joined the Tilton Congregation
al church.”
The first of the three marriages of this
woman took place in 1843 when Mary
Baker became Mrs George Washington
Glover. They went to Charleston, 8. C„
to live and there the husband died in less
than a year of yellow fever. Helped
North by the Freemasons. Mrs Glover
returned to her father's home in New
Hampshire and in the September follow
ing gave birth to her only chilj, a son,
whom she named for his father.
Mrs Eddy’s career has given rise to manv
controversies, and one of the first to be
met is tbst concerning her treatment of
her son. Her official biographer writes
Hint the boy remained with her until her
father married n second time. "The child
was not a welcome member of that reor
ganized family, nor was he in the home of
her sister. Mrs Tilton, where Mrs Glover
lived at times. Mrs Tilton had children
of her own, which may have accounted
for the lack of harmony. Mrs Glover
was still very frail and rapidly fulling into
an invalidism which was to continue for
nearly 20 years. She allowed the child to
be placed in tlie care of the nurse who
had attended her nt its birth, but she
grieved for him mid bad him brought to
see her until the Cheneys, foster parents,
removed to Groton.” With these care
takers, the lad. nt the age of 13, removed
to Minnesota. lie fought in the civil
war. a good soldier, afterward became u
prospector nnd miner, was n Fnited States
marshal for a time, and finally made his
home in Lend, S. D.. where, in 1902. hie
mother built a home for him. A few years
ago, Mr Glover came East and attracted
ur.'ional attention by a legal suit iu New
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY. DECEMBER 8, 1910.
Hampshire for an accounting of his moth
er’s business affairs. The suit was unsuc
cessful. but it was understood that Mrs
Eddy’s legal advisers ami “nest friends’*
reached an agreement with Mr Glover by
which there should be no legal tight over
her estate after her death.
Mrs Glover, as she was from 1543 to
1853, lived with relatives and friends for
some time after the son had been disposed
of and she had failed, on account of health,
in an effort io teach school. A critical
and perhaps unsympathetic writer. Rev
Lyman I*. Powell, in his book on “Chris
tian Science.” says of this period in her
life: —
She lived with one relative for a time
and then passed on to the next who would
receive her. Poor relation as she was in
every home, she acted steadily as though
her presence was a privilege to be impressed
on those with whom she lived. She took
the best they had to give as though it were
her right. She had the family life adjusted
to her nerves. _ She made herself the center
of each situation. She gave the servants
extra trouble if there were servants in the
house. If there were not. she let it some
times fall upon a hostess old enough to be
her mother. If the thought of helping on,
as others do who fall into her plight, ever
crossed her miml. she caoefully safeguarded
it from practical expression. To. spend
your time, writing books and entertaining i
callers while your hostess plays the drudge,
to queen it at the sewing circle and the
■’lodge" when there are duties to be done
in the home where you are staying, does
not tend to the perpetuation of the wel
come, however gladly it mny at first have
been given. And so in all those bitter
years, which ran on from 1843 to 1870,
Mrs Eddy was engaged almost continuously
in wearing out lier welcome and in saying
good-by to the past. She sometimes re
ceived attention from the other sex. She
had to have it. Admiration was the breath
of life to her. She touched at last the
heart of an itinerant dentist. Dr Daniel
Patterson, who was rough but genial, and
when he gave her sympathy in her forlorn
ness and her invalidism, she married him
in 1853.
Patterson Marriage a Failure.
The marriage with Dr Patterson was a
failure. They lived an itinerant existence,
and his practice in various small towns
was very small. In 1862, they separated,
and the doctor went to Virginia to see war
as a spectator. He was captured by the
confederates and confined in Libby prison.
After his return the couple were reconciled
for a time and lived in Lynn, but a final
separation took place in 1866. and Mrs
Patterson secured a divorce in 1873.
The 20 years of her life between the
death of her first husband and the first
separation from her second were a tragic
period of gloom and sordid wandering, the
woman all the time falling deeper into a
chronic invalidism. In the summer of
1862 she was well past 40 in age. and the
prospect was that sne would drift rapidly
into a miserable old age. if death did not
release her and her friends. Perhaps the
most wonderful aspect of Mrs Eddy’s life
is that her real work in impressing herself
on the world was done altogether after
she was 50. But, the great turning point
came in that summer of 1862. when Dr
Patterson went South. She was sorelv
afflicted with various disorders of body
and mind, either real or imaginary, ac
cording to one's view of such things; and
it was then that she visited Portland. Me.,
a nervous wreck, attracted by the stories
of the “wonderful cures” a certain Dr
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby had been mak
ing without the use of drugs.
In his book, Rev Mr I’oweil says: When
Mrs Eddy, then Mrs Patterson, was helped
up the stairs in October, 1862, to Dr Quim
by's office, she was “a frail shadow of a
woman.” The beauty of her early wom
anhood was gone. Pale, emaciated, .shab
by, the stamp of poverty as well as ill
ness on her face ami form, her first re
quest of Quimby was to assist her to se
cure an inexpensive boarding place. Three
weeks later she left him. a well woman,
—well in body and in miml. Quimby had
cured her of her nervous trouble, but that
wns the least that he had done for her.
He had given her the idea which was to
dominate her whole life, the rock on which
she was by ami by to build her church,
against* which she had been wont ever
since stoutly to assert “the gates of hell
shall not prevail.”
Mrs Patterson was nn ardent admirer
of Dr Quimby at that period nnd gave
him the utmost credit for ©mt be had
done for her. How- she came to regard
him in biter life, however, appears from
Sibyl Wilbur's treatment of Quimby in
the official "Life.” She has written:
Quimby bns been delineated that he may
have bis dm- -Quimby, the illiterate mes
merist. Quimby, the blundering sml stum
bling reasoner, tpiimby, the kindly, sym
pathetic healer: nhorc all. Quimby, the
unconscious hypnotizin'. Ignorance will
cover nil his errors, good intentions nil
his accomplishments. He would never
have claimed to have originated anything
hnd he known all there was to be known
of Mesmer. Quimbyhmi wns but tin ex
i resience on the natural growth of men
till suggestion from Mesmer to the Nnmy
seliool. Quimbyism is not embryonic
('hriatian Hcienec; it is merely mesmerism
gone astray *
Her Visit to Qulnihy.
When Mnry Baker entered Mr Quimby'a
office he sat down beside h<< as was bis
♦ custom with his patients, to get into the
• sympathetic and clairvoyant relation with
her nature which he called rapport. Gaz
. iug fixedly into her eyes, he tohl her. us
he had told others, that she was held in
( bondage* by the opinions of her family ami
। physicians, that her animal spirit was re
flecting its grief upon her l>ody and calling
it spinal disease. lie then wet his hands
; in a basin of water and violently rubbed
‘ her head, declaring that in that manner he
! imparted healthy electricity. Gradually he
1 wrought the spell of hypnotism, and under
. that suggestion she let go the burden of
i pain just as she would have done had
i morphine been administered. The relief
j was no doubt tremendous. Her gratitude
I certainly was unbounded. She was set
free from the excruciating pain of years.
' (Quimby himself was amazed at her snd
• den healing: no less win he amazed at the
. interpretation she immediately placed uiam
j it. that ; t had been accomplished by
. Quunby’s mediators!)ip between herself
• and Gott.
Sh > had come to Quimby prepared to
find him a saint who healed by virtue of
his religious wisdom, and as soon as she
met him she completed her mental nic
tnre. endowing him with her own faith.
Thus the hypnotist had almost nothing to
do. Her faith ’“turned unon her. flood
ing her with radiance, healing her of her
pain.
Out of that episode has grown the fa
mous controversy of.the “Quimby manu
scripts.’’ which may take on a fresh in
tensity and importance now that Mrs Eddy
is dead. Quimby’s son. who is still living
in Maine, has various noienooks, and he
claims also original writings by his father,
which are alleged Io show that Mrs Eddy
may have plagiarized the essential ele
ments of her Christian science text-hook.
“Science and Health.’’ from the man who
cured her. It is certain that Mrs Eddy
when in Portland hail access to the Quim
by writings, and that she copied many of
them. The Human Übe articles by Sibyl
Wilbur described a visit she made io
Quimby’s son in Maim a Few years ago,
and reported a conversation with him. as
follows:—
When I asked Mr Quimby for permiasiou
to see these much-talk<*d-of manuscripts,
he took from a drawer in his desk a copy
book such as school children use to write
essays in. It was in a good state of pres
ervation. not yellowed by age. and was
written in from cover to cover in a neat
ronvi^f^ hand. Thore were no erasures
or interlineations, no breaks for para
graphs and very few headings. There
were dates at the end of the articles, of
which there appeared to be two or three
different ones in rhe book. The dates
were 18(51 and 1563.
“Is this your father's handwriting?” I
asked Mr Quimby.
“It is not: that is my mother’s. I be
lieve. and here is one in the handwriting
of one of the Misses Ware.”
Mr Quimby went to a groat iron safe
in the wall of his office and brought out
six or eight more books of a similar char
acter. I glanced through the pages and
saw that all were written in this style
with some variation in the handwriting
ami then asked:—
‘‘Are none of these in your father’s hand- ,
writing?”
“No. they are all copies of copies. . . /
These are the only manuscripts I have
shown to any one and the only ones I will
show.”
“But.” I objected, “there have recently
been printed facsimile reproductions of
your father’s manuscripts over the date
1863, in which appear the words ‘Chris
tian science.’ I particularly wished to
seo that manuscript.’’
“I am showing yon exactly what I
showed others. That is the very page that
was photographed.”
“And in whose writing is this?”
“My mother’s. I believe, or possibly one
of the Misses Ware: . . . they are
copies of things my father wrote. He
ysed to write at odd moments on scraps ■
;of paper whatever rmne into his miml.”
J ‘And have von those papers now?”
“Yes. I have.”
“Will you let tn 6! se& a few pages of
them ?”
“No. I will not. No one has seen them
and no one shall I tell you they
have all been after theih. Arens. Dresser.
Minot J. Savage, Pegbody and these re
cent newspaper and magazine Investiga
tors. But I have never shown them. Dr
Savage wrote me that I owed it to the
world to produce them.”
“And did you not think so?”
“No. I have said I will never print
them while that woman lives.”
“Do you mean Mrs Eddy?”
“That is just who I mean.”
The Fall on an Icy Sidewalk, ’
In later years Mrs jCddy dated her dis
covery of Christian science, not to her
cure by Quimby, but to her experience in
Lynn in 18GH. when she slipped and fell
on an icy sidewalk, sustaining a nervous
shock. The physician summoned was Dr
A. M. Cushing, later a well-known prac
titioner in this <ity. who is living here
to-day. Dr Cushing has always claimed
4hat Mrs Patterson, as she then was. in
a fortnight was cured. But her memory
of the case was very different. She was
critically ill. in her own view. She de
scribes in some detail how she depended
solely upon God. read the story in the
Bible of the healing of the palsied'man by
Jesus Christ, caught “the lost chord of
truth, healing, as of old. from the divine
harmony,” and the third day rose as one
from the dead.
In 1870, Mrs Patterson was again in
Lynn. By this time she had conceived
her great idea of writing “Science and
Health.” and was constantly talking of
rhe subject of healing. With a young man
named Richanl Kennedy, whom she in
structed, an office was ojienbd to receive
patients. Kennedy was a born healer and
the couple met with much success. “At
the end of 18 months she who had been
a poor relation and a professional visitor
practically all her adult life found to her
credit in the bank the sum of $6000.” In
1875. the first edition of “Science and
Health” was published.
Such was the beginning of the work for
which the life of Mrs Eddy now stands.
In 1881 Mrs Eddy moved from Lynn to
Boston, living first at 569 and afterward
at 571 Columbus avenue, until, in 1887.
she bought a house in the fashionable
Back Bay district, 385 Commonwealth
avenue. As soon as she was well settled
in the city, she organized a Christian sci
ence church, at first holding services in
Hawthorn hall, on Park street, overlook
ing the Common the “Church of the Holy
Elevator,” as a newspaper critic profane
ly termed it; ami later in Chickering hall,
153 Tremont street. About the same tiimf
she established her Metaphysical college
and her students’ associations, enlarged
“Science and Health,” published several
smaller books, and set in motion the (’hris
tiau Science .h> :n;il. Of Mrs Eddy ns a
teacher and lecturer in the earlier days,
Georgine Mihnine his written:—
“The closer students, who constituted
Mrs Glover’s cabinet and bodyguard, ex
ecuted her commissions, transacted her
business, am) wore always at her call. To
day some of these who have long been
accounted as enemies by Mrs Eddy, ami
whom she has anathematised in print and
discredited on the witness stand, still de
clare that what they got from her was
beyond equivalent in gold and silver. They
speak of a certain emotional exaltation
which she wag aiile to impart in her clnss
| room: a feeling so strong that it was like
the birth of a new umhu-standing ami
seemed to open to them a new heaven
I and a new earth.”
The third marriage to Asm G. Eddy came
jon New-year’s day. 1877. Mrs Eddy was
< then 56 and the third spouse 40. It is
; one of the humora of history that thite*meel|
। and colorless num’s name should have beeii
। gi^yn to the movement which his wife was
'inspiring and propelling. He hud been a
• sewing machine agent and then a can
-1 vass<T for “Science .m<] Health.” He was
' CMsentially a “handy man.” Mr Powell
writ< s of him:
“Hp would solicit students for his wife
o«‘ take ini the collection at the Suminy
service when she preached the sermon.
His sister-in-law remembers that *he could
do up a shirt as well as any woman.’
Dull but thrifty, slow but steady, stolid
but dutiful, superstitious but amiable. Mrs
Eddy’s third husband furnished a letter
• background for her erratic brilliancy than
she had ever had before. Not even in her
. wildest dreams could Mrs Eddy foresee
in her docile helpmate, as in Mr Spofford,
a potential rival. No one would be likely.
' in all human probability, to rally tu the
1 rebel standard of a slow little man in a
i cinnamon-colored overcoat and a fur cap,
1 which he was known to wear, without
i sense of incongruity, even in summer. The
, marriage was a genuine surprise to all. To
I he sure, the grand dame bad allowed the
i little man to call her ‘Mary* in the class
-1 room, but even then the announcement of
« the engagement was too sudden to be
1 credible. When Mr Spofford received from
• Eddy’s hand the note that brought the
; news he remarked: ‘You’ve been very
quiet about all this. Gilbert.’ ‘lndeed. Dr
Spofford.* the prospectice groom replied,
I didn't know a thing about it myself un
| til last night.’ ”
Mr Eddy died in 1882. Christian sci
ence was now flourishing and beginning
to attract critical attention from its foes.
The metaphysical college in Boston was
closed in 1889. having bad some
students during its existence. In 1876, the
, first Christian science association hail
| been founded, and the national associa
' tion was founded in 1886. In 1879, the
First church of Christ Scientist, was
founded in Boston. The original “moth
er church” edifice was built in 1894. at
a cost of S2tHMMMI. ami a few years ago
the large and beautiful Christian science
temple adjoining rhe “mother church” was
constructed at a large expense. Then* are
now about branch crurches and so
' pieties.. Mrs Eddy served as editor for
some years of the Christian Science Jour
nal. founded in 1883, and the Christian
Science Sentinel, founded in 1898. She
was awarded a grand prize and a diplo
ma of honor by the French government
in recognition of her work as founder of
Christian science ami. in 1907. was dec
urated as an officer d’Academie. Her list
of books is as follows;—
‘‘Science ami Health with Kev to the
Scriptures.” Boston, editions of 1875. 1881.
1883.1888. 1898. 1905. 1906; “Miscellaneous
M ritings.” Boston. 1902; “ Retrospection
and Introspection,” Boston. 1900: “Pulpit
and Press.” Boston. 1005; “No and Yes.”
Boston. 1906; “Rudimenta! Divine Sci
ence,” Boston. 1906: “Christian Science
Versus Pantheism.” Boston. 1996: “Unity
of Good.” Boston. 1906; “Christ and
Christmas.” Boston. 1906; “Church Man
ual.” Boston. 1906.
“Science and Health” has run into edi
tions numbering between 400 and 500, and
its sale made Mrs Eddy a millionaire. In
1889. she left Boston, and made her home
in Concord. N. 11. A few years ago she
took a residence at Chestnut Hill, near
Boston, and there passed the last days.
Very much in detail might be written
about Mrs Eddy’s system of absolute
government in her church and the form
which she has given to the practice of her
religion. In closing this sketch, however,
it is worth while to call attention to the
philosophic basis of her chief text-book,
“Science ami Health.” Writes Kev Mi
Powell; “The philosophy of Christian
science is not difficult to state. It is mere
ly a distinctive form of idealism. It is. in
plain words, the theory, almost as old as
man. that there is no reality save thought.
India had the general idea before ever
Gautama took his seat beneath the bo
tree. Democritus of Abdera as early as
436 B. C. remarked: ‘Man lives plunged in
a world of illusion and of deceptive forms
which the vulgar take for reality.* Plato
aroused a thoughtful interest in it among
the metaphysical. The Zend-Avesta is
tinged with idealism. The Neo-Platonists
made much of it in the early Christian
centuries.
“Bishop Berkeley, without denying the
external world which we know, gave it a
new vogue 200 years ago. Spinoza’s ‘Uni
versal Substance’ is substantially Mrs
Eddy's ‘lnfinite Mind.* Kant went so far
as to lay down the proposition that ‘the
laws of nature which physical science
studies are the creations ot our own un
derstanding. acting upon the data of the
senses.’ Lotze said that ‘matter is nothing
but an appearance for our perception.’ The
transcendentalists were wont to speak of
‘the supremacy of mind over matter.’ But
none of them ever dreamed of doing what
Mrs Eddy has accomplished in a single
generation, making the philosophy of ideal
ism in the minds of thousands a revelation
handed down from heaven at a definite
time and place, and the basis of a new and
startling faith. . . . One may agree or
disagree with Mrs Eddy, but one cannot in
this case fail to understand her meaning.
She means exactly what she says, that
matter has no real existence.”
And what she did was to turn theory
into practice.
THE PRESIDENT AND HIS PARTY.
[From Washington Letter to the Boston
Herald.]
The president has stated that he pro
poses soon, when the judicial nominations
have been determined, to get into touch
with his party and ascertain something of
; prevailing sentiment. He will find a will
* ingness on the part of republican senators
and representatives to co-operate, as far
, as the regular wing is concerned. It should
not be said that they look to him with
: much confidence. They are doubtful of his
i ability to save a situation, due to fac
i tionalism and defeat. But he is the na
[ tional leader, and if he can do aught to
i guide the party to a more satisfactory
i status, the regulars will rally vigorously
' to his standard.
j The distrust of the regular republicans
■ has been emphasized by indications that
| the president is disposed to train with the
1 insurgents. Everybody in Washington is
j watching for confirmation on that score.
Interest is enhanced by the fact that in
surgents seem just as determined as ever
j to repudiate the president. His restoration
1 of patronage to them and the harmony
i words ho uttered dating the summer and
i autumn have not soothed their resent
, ment.
i Cummins. Bristow. Norris and others
' of insurgent proclivities appear to be more
aggressively hostile to the White House
than when Congress adjourned. They be
lieve the President cannot bp re-elected,
j and. as a matter of fact, they do not even
want him renominated. If. by hammering
away at him and his administration, they
। can prevent his renomination, they reason
that they will further the prospects of
nominating an insurgent, and thus lending
। the party captive to the insurgent faction.
The president’s political plight is there
■ fore grave. It may not be ns grave ns was
‘ Grover Cleveland's in 1894, when the
democratic narty divided into two hostile
; factions and the republicans captured the
f House of Representatives amF forthwith
. obtained so fifm a grip upon the ma
• chinpry of legislation that it took 16 years
। to dislodge them. But his plight is worse
than was President Harrison's. Assurances
। of confidence in the president comp, in
some degree, from the conntrv. They do
। not extend, however, tn the politician class
I that must b^ar the brunt of the battling
if the narty is maintained in power.
’ Furthermore, many old lenders nnd
' standard bearers, upon whom most presi
dents must rely to further legislation and
[ also to build up his cause with the peo
i pie. arc retiring nnd have no disposition
to como to his aid. ’ He must deal, in largo
i measure. with now mon. The stale organi
-1 zations a’v demoralized by factionalism
[ and recent defeats. 1n a national way the
I president bns to deal with those condi
| tlons.
f . _
William Thaw, 3d. and Miss Gladys
' Virginia Bradley of Bridgeport, Ct., were
I married recently at the Hotel St Regis
’ in New York. The bridegroom is a neph
i ew of Harry K. Thaw, although the two
; are nearly of an age. The bride was id
tended only by her father, Charles Hen
’ derson Bradley; Frank Dorman of Pitts
-1 burg was best man. Rev Daniel Dorehes
; ter of Christ church, Pittsburg, came on
, to fend the service. The ceremony was
' simple, and there Were neither ushers nor
. bridemnids. About 150 guests attended,
1 most of whom were Thaws, Bradleys or
Drexels nnd Biddles of Philadelphia two
families related by marriage to the bride.
IN MEMORY OF TWAIN.
I
I
I MEETING AT CARNEGIE HALL.
I HOWELLS ACTS AS CHAIRMAN.
Champ Clark Delivers an Address
I Upon Clemens as a Lobbyist-—
Tribute by Henry Watterson.
j The intellect, the power and the wealth
' of the land gathered at Carnegie hall. New
i York, Wednesday night to pag' tribute to
' the memory of Mark Twain, whom the
world loved because he made it laugh.
William Dean Howells presided. Uncle
Joe Cannon, the speaker that is. and
Cham]) Clark, the speaker that may be,
spoke from the same platform. Robert
Underwood Johnson, editor of the Cen
tury magazine, Dr Henry van Dyke of
Princeton, Henry Watterson. George W.
Cable, Daniel C. French, the sculptor,
Edwin H. Blashtield, the painter. Booth
Tarkington, Irving Bacheller, John Luther
Long, Charles Dana Gibson, J. Pierpont
Morgan, and many others were among
those invited. The meeting was held
under the auspices of the academy of arts
and letters.
William Dean Howells, as chairman,
spoke briefly. “I believe I can safely prom
ise,” he said of the commemoration, “that
it will not be formal and will not be fu
nereal. The man himself could not more be
formalized than flame. His vivid genius
ranged at will through all the ways of life.
Now that it is freed to the pathless ampli
tude of the skies, it could hardly offer the
pattern of a conventional observance. If
the mind and make of our commemoration
could be left to him. we might imagine him
saying: ‘Why. of course you mustn’t make
a solemnity of it; you mustn’t have it that
sort of obsequy. 1 should ‘want you to be
serious about me—that is. sincere; and you
couldn’t be sincere if you ran to eulogy.
But we don’t object here to an.v man’s af
fection : we like to be liked as well as ever,
and if any of you can remember some cred
itable thing about me, I shouldn't mind
his telling it, provided always he didn’t
blink the palliating circumstances, the miti
gating motives, the selfish considerations
that always accompany every noble action.
I shouldn't like to lip made out a miracle of
humor, cither, and left a stumbling block for
any man who was intending to be moderate
ly amusing and instructive hereafter. At the
same time. I don't suppose a commemora
tion is, exactly the occasion for dwelling on
a man's shortcomings in his life or his lit
erature.’ ”
Mr Howells continued: “It seems to me
we are met to-night not so much to com
memorate a groat man as one who still
lives in us as a contemporary. Others
hereafter may prove him the greatest hu
morist. the kindest and wisest moralist
who ever lived. We who were of his ac
quaintance can best offer by our collective
reminiscence a composite likeness of him
which will keep him real and actual.”
Joseph H. Choate recalled that Darwin
used to say that he kept two remedies for
sleeplessness at the head of his bed—the
Bible and Innocents Abroad. “And Dar
win said he didn’t know which he read
the more,” continued Mr Choate. “But
the story that earned undying fame for
the author was the jumping frog story.
Not even Lincoln's two-minute speech at
Gettysburg has been read so much or com
mitted to memory so often as that remark
able story. Mark Twain’s hatred for
shams and charlatans was as intense as
his love for truth and honesty. I be
lieve he and Franklin learned more in the
printing shop than the average boy in col
lege. lie • graduated from the printing
shop high school and then spent years
in the pilot-house. Those four years were
his university course and were more in
structive to him than Yale or Harvard
could have been. And he realized it him
self.”
“It is in keeping with the eternal fitness
of things,” said Champ Clark in his ad
dress, “that a Missourian should partici
pate in paying honor to the most famous
Missourian that'ever lived. With me it is
a labor of love. I consider it my good
fortune to have known this illustrious and
lovable man personally at all. and my
bail fortune not to have known him for it
longer period. He was bora within a few
miles of my congressional district, at the
confluence of the three forks of Salt river,
a stream of evil omen to candidates, upon
whose briny bosom many of them sail into
the gulf of oblivion. He was reared at
Hannibal, which adjoins my district, and
his celebrated eave, rendered immortal by
his pen. is in Ralls county, the northern
most county in the district, which I have
the honor to represent. I had read with
avidity every word he ever wrote, and
counted him among the world’s benefac
tors. but luck or fate or fortune so or
dered things that I never beheld him in
the flesh until he wns in the gorgeous sun
set days of his long, useful and glorious
life.
“The way I came to know Mark Twain
personally is that three or four years ago
he visited Washington as a lobbyist. Let
not the prudish ami squeamish shudder at
the term, for Mark Twain was not only a
lobbyist, hut a very prince of lobbyists.
He did honor not only to the lobbyist, but
also to those with whom he lobbied. So
it came to pass that on a memorable day
Mark Twain, lobbyist, with his world-wide
reputation as his avant courier descended
upon the eapitol in gorgeous attire, and
swept everything before him. Solomon in
all his glory was not arrayed as wns this
groat Missourian, for in the dead of winter
he.wore a suit of white flannels, white ns
the snow which filled the air. while all the
world wondered. He created a tremendous
sensation—as lie no doubt intended to do—
n sensation which, so far as lie was con
lerned. was strictly utilitarian in chnrnctor
and cunningly planned for effect upon hard:
headed, mntter-of-fact Solomons.
“The subject matter of his lobbying was
improvement in the copyright laws, which
wore sadly in need of improvement. It
wns a subject near bis heart. He was
intensely in earnest—persistent, enthusias
tic. optimistic. Mr Speaker Camion grace
fully and graciously turned over one of bis
rooms to Mark Twain, and in it ho held
bis court, somewhat, it must be confessed
to the demoralization of business in Coin
gress. for so long as he remained in the
eapitol it win almost impossible Io main
tain a quorum in the House, so eager were
members to look into his face, shako his
hand, form his acquaintance ami listen to
his conversation. \H men and nil women,
mid even little children in the streets, vied
w ith each other to do him honor.
“The grent-hearted Missourian enjoyed
it to the limit. He talked with perfect
abandon on a multitude of subjects, and
nil the while he lobbied—lobbied skilfully
--lobbied in delightful manner—lobbied
with side-splitting yarns—lobbied with
philosophical remarks—lobbied with wealth
of reiiilnlseence—lobbied with fetching ar
gument for ju^tiie—and aeconiplished the
substance of what he sought—a rich bene
faction to American authors. I think my
self happy to have been able to nid him
in liis self-imposed task of aiding Hie
American writers. They have in their
kindness done me honor overmuch. The
men to whom your gratitude is primarily
and in largest port due are the members
ot the I'omnfittee on patents, heiiddd on the
republican side by Mr Chairman Currier of
New Hampshire and on the democratic
side by Hon William Sulzer of New York."
Col Watterson spuke in port as follows:
"Although Murk Twain ami I,'' said Mr
Watterson, “calliMl each other 'coiiHin' nmj
claimed to be blood relatives, Hie connec
tion between us was by marriage. A
greut-iincle of his married n great-aunt of
mine; his mother was named oltur and
reared by this great-aunt, and the children
of the marriage were, of course, his cou
sins and mine. Though the familv became
widely separated, we were lifelong and
'ery dear friends; passed much time to
gether at home and abroad: and had many
common ties and memories. Just after
the successful production of his play. ‘The
Gilded Age.’ and the uproarious hit of the
comedian. Raymond, in its leading role.
I received a letter from him in which he
told me he hail made in ‘Col Mulberry
Sellers* a close study of a certain mutual
kinsman and thought he had drawn him
to the life, ‘hut for the love of heaven.’
he said, ‘don’t whisper it. for he would
never understand or forgive me, if he did
nof^ thrash me on sight.’
“The pathos i>f the part, and not its
comic aspects, had most impressed him.
lie designed and wrote it for Edwin Booth.
From the first and always lie was dis
gusted by the Raymond portrayal. Ex
cept for its popularity and money-making,
he would have withdrawn it from the
stage, as, in a fit of pique. Raymond him
self did. while it was still packing the
theaters. The original ‘Sellers’ had partly
brought him up and been very good to
him; a second Don Quixote in appearance
and not unlike the knight of La Hancha
in character. How much of melancholy
lay hidden behind the mask of the hu
morist it would be hard to say. llis griefs
were tempered by a vein of philosophy.
He was a medley of contradictions. Un
conventional to the point of eccentricity,
his sense of his own dignity was all-suffi
cient. Though lavish in the use of money,
lie had a full realization of its value anil
made close contracts for his work. Like
‘Sellers,* his mind soared when it sailed
financial currents. He lacked sound busi
ness judgment in flip larger things, while
an excellent economist in the lesser.
“His marriage was the most brilliant
success of his life. He got the woman of
all the world hp most needpd; a truly lovely
and wise helpmeet, who kept him in
bounds and headed him straight and right
while she lived: the best of housewives and
mothers, and thp safest of counselors and
soundest of critics. She knew his worth,
she understood his genius; she clearly saw
his limitations and angles. Her death was
a grievous disaster as well as a stagger
ing blow. He never quite survived it.
“Mark Twain’s place in literature it is
not for us to fix. We are here the rather
to commemorate his character and his
personality: his courageous and upright
inanhQod. as strong as Scott’s, as primi
tive as Carlyle's, as unassuming and sim
ple as Irving’s and Whittier’s: integrity
the bedrock, hard and fast, quite hidden
under thp verdure of sentiment and the
flora of (he loyal and the gentle.
“With the fine, unerring phrasing of his
penetrative insight, Mr Howells calls him
‘the Lincoln of our literature.* 1t is a
striking title, and ns suggestive and appo
site* as striking. Thp genius of Clemens
and the genius of Lincoln possessed a kin
ship outside the circumstances of their
earlv lives; the common lack of tools to
work with: the privations and hardships
to be endured and to be overcome; thp way
ahead through an unblazed and trackless
forest: every footstep over a stumbling
block and each effort saddled with a han
dicap. But they got there—both of them
—they got there, and mayhap somewhere
beyond the stars the light of their eyes is
shining down upon us here to-night.”
“Uncle Joe” Cannon was warmly greet
ed. “I’ll read my remarks,” he said. “It
is the first time I’ve ever read a manu
script to an audience, and I congratulate '■
yon on the fact that it won’t be long.”
The speaker said he had known Mark
Twain personally and he described how
Clemens went to Washington in the inter
est of the copyright law. “Finally,” said
Uncle Joe, “he tried to persuade me to
allow him to lobby on the very floor of
Congress and wrote me a letter and
brought it to me in the speaker’s room.”
As read by Mr Cannon the letter ran:—-
Dear Uncle Joseph: Please get me the
thanks of Congress, not next week, but
right away. It is very necessary. Do accom
plish this at once by persuasion if you can,
by violence’if you must, for it is absolutely
necessary that I get on the. floor for two
or three hours and talk to the congressmen
man by man. I have arguments with me.
Also a barrel with liquid in it. I have stayed
away from Congress and let it alone for 71
years, and I am entitled to Its thanks. Con
gress knows this well, and it never has pub
licly acknowledged its appreciation. Send
me a reply at om e with an order on the ser
geant-at-arms. With love and benediction.
Mark. Twain.
“Uncle Joe” added with a smile that he
had sent his messenger to summon the
congressmen to the speaker’s room, “and
1 helped Mark Twain to lobby,” he said.
“In less than five minutes when the con
gressmen knew who wanted to see them,
there wasn’t a quorum left in the House.”
Dr Henry van Dyke read the following
original poem, entitled “Mark Twain”:—
We knew you well, dear Yorick of the West
The very soul of large and friendly jest,
That loved and mocked the broad grotesque
of things,
In this new world where all the folks are
kings.
Your breezy humor cleared the air with
sport.
Of sham that haunt thp democratic court,
For even where the sovereign people rule
A human monarch needs a royal fool.
Your native, drawl lent flavor to your wit,
Your arrows, lingered, but they always hit,
Homeric mirth, around this circle ran,
But left no wound upon the heart of man.
We knew you. kind in trouble, brave in pain,
We saw your honor kept witliout a stain:
We read this lesson of our Yorick's years.
True wisdom comes with laughter and with
tears.
SOME RARE PICTURES.
Twenty-five From the Dun Estate to
Go to the .Metropolitan Museum.
The Metropolitan museum of art at New
Y’ork has been fortunate enough to have
25 paintings, valued at $250,000, turned
over to it by the executors of Robert Gra
ham Dust Many of them are of the Bur
bizon school. This gift will greatly
strengthen the museum along certain lines,
as, considering the size and importance of
the institution, eonpoisseurs believe it has
not an adequate representation of the
great group whose members, reaching out
from the little French village of Barbizon,
had so important an influence upon the art
of the world. The museum now has sev
eral Millets, several of the smaller can
vases of Rousseau, one important example
of Corot and a smaller one, and works by
Diaz.
The most important painting in the Dun
collection, in the opinion of those familiar
with it, is a large landscape by Rousseau,
for which .Mr Dun gave $50,000. There
is also a picture by Daubigny, "The
Marsh,” for which be paid $40,000. There
are two tine Corots, which cost 25 years
ago $15,000 and $25,000. The latter is
called "Prairie on the Border of the For
est.” Most of tlie large canvases were
bought from M. Knoedler & Co in the
’Bos. Others 'were obtained at a sale of
pictures by that firm held under the aus
pices. of the American art association,
while others were obtained at various sales
held by tlie association for other collectors
or their estates. When the paintings of
Miss Mary J. Morgan were dispersed, Mr
Dun got for $12,200 "Calf ami Cow,” by
Rosa Bonheur. Ue bought for a few thou
sand dollars Millet's "iVasherwomen,” in
1885, when the George I. Senev art treas
ures were scattered, while the Wall-Brown
collection yielded him a tine example in
Dupre's "Peasniit Giris In the Field.”
There is also a tine Henner portraying the
familiar auburn-haired model.
Other canvases which will soon become
the property of the museum through Ilie
generosity of Mr Dim nre Bo'.ißitereai?«
“Awakening of Cupid," Trovotrs “Shep
herd and Sheep, I'he Wedding Partv,”
by Firmin-Girard. “The Stick Dance,” ‘by
Goreine. and "Surprise,” by Merer von
Bremen.
< ape I own once lived under so severe
f code of sumptuary InwiL that anything
like displays was restricted to the governor
and his immediate circle.