During the eighteen months that the Mother Church was building, its membership, recruited from the churches in the field, continued to increase. At the second annual business meeting, held in Copley Hall, October 2, 1894, the clerk reported a total membership of 2,978—1,476 having been admitted during the year.
The original Mother Church[1] is a solidly built structure of gray granite, with a seating capacity of 1,100. In its equipment it is very like any other modern church of its size. Its one unique feature is the "Mother Room," since 1903 called the "room of our Pastor Emeritus." This room, consecrated to Mrs. Eddy's personal use, is finished in rare woods, marble, and onyx, and contains a superfluity of white-and-gold furniture. In the alcove are a stationary wash-stand and a folding-bed—in which Mrs. Eddy has slept once. All the plumbing in this alcove is gold plated. A stained-glass window represents Mrs. Eddy seated at her table in the old skylight room at Lynn, engaged in searching the Scriptures; through the open skylight shines the star of Bethlehem, enveloping her in its rays. Before this window hangs the Athenian lamp which was formerly kept burning night and day.
This room was fitted up for Mrs. Eddy by the children of Christian Scientists, who were organised into a society called the "Busy Bees" and who maintained a fund for the purpose of furnishing and caring for the Mother Room. After the fittings of the room had been paid for, the children wished to continue to express their affection for Mrs. Eddy, and their
- ↑ The original Mother Church now forms the front of an entirely new building. dedicated in 1906. The old church is still called the Mother Church, while the new structure, although many times larger than the old, is called the Annex.
