The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy/Chapter 07
CHAPTER VII
DR. AND MRS. PATTERSON IN LYNN—THEIR SEPARATION—MRS. PATTERSON AS A PROFESSIONAL VISITOR—SHE TEACHES HIRAM CRAFTS THE QUIMBY "SCIENCE"—MRS. PATTERSON IN AMESBURY
Although after Mrs. Eddy's second visit to Quimby in the early part of 1864 she always desired to teach his doctrines and could think and talk of little else, it was not until 1870 that she was able to establish herself as a teacher of metaphysical healing. The six years intervening are important chiefly as the period of Mrs. Eddy's novitiate. During that time she drifted from one to another of half a dozen little towns about Boston; but amid all vicissitudes one thing remained fixed and constant, her conviction that she was the person destined to teach and popularise Quimbyism.
Mrs. Patterson's long visit at the home of Mrs. Sarah Crosby, at Albion, Me., has already been referred to in the fourth chapter of the present volume. She went to Mrs. Crosby's house in May, 1864, remaining there most of the summer and leaving in the early autumn. She then rejoined her husband, Dr. Patterson, at Lynn, Mass., where the doctor had begun to practise and had taken an office at 76 Union Street. In the Lynn Weekly Reporter, of June 11, 1864, the following advertisement appears for the first time:
DENTAL NOTICE
Dr. D. Patterson
Would respectfully announce to the public that be has returned to Lynn, and opened an office in B. F. & G. N. Spinney's new building, on Union St., between the Central Depot & Sagamore Hotel, where he will be happy to greet the friends and patrons secured last year while in the offices of Drs. Davis and How, and now he hopes to secure the patronage of "all the rest of mankind" by the exhibition of that skill which close study and many years of first-class and widely-extended practice enable him to bring to the aid of the suffering. He is aware that he has to compete with able practitioners, but yet offers his services fearlessly, knowing that competition is the real stimulus to success, and trusting to his ability to please all who need Teeth filled, extracted or new sets. He was the first to introduce LAUGHING GAS in Lynn for Dental purposes and has had excellent success with it. Terms lower than any where else for the same quality of work.
Dr. Patterson and his wife first boarded at 42 Silsbee Street, where they remained for some months, afterward moving to the house of O. A. Durall, in Buffum Street.
The doctor's dental practice in Lynn was fairly good, and people liked him for a bluff, jovial fellow, none too clever, but honest and kind of heart. Both he and his wife were at this time prominent members of the Linwood Lodge of Good Templars, at Lynn, and old members of the lodge remember the active part which Mrs. Patterson took in their meetings. She was often called upon to read, or to speak on matters under discussion, and was always ready to do so. Her remarks never failed to command attention, and the Good Templars of Lynn considered her "smart but queer." Members of the lodge who are still living say that she discussed Quimbyism whenever she found opportunity to do so, and, although they were considerably amused by her extravagant metaphors and could make nothing of her "philosophy," they had no doubt that it was very profound and recondite. It was when she was returning from one of these Good Templar meetings, February 1, 1866, that Mrs. Patterson had the fall from the effects of which she says she was miraculously healed. She, with a party of fellow Templars, was passing the corner of Oxford and Market Streets, when she slipped upon the icy sidewalk and fell. She was carried into the house of Samuel Bubier, where Dr. Cushing attended her, and the next day, at her urgent request, she was moved to the house on the Swampscott Road, where she and her husband were then boarding. It was on the following day, according to Mrs. Eddy's account, that she received her revelation, and in this house Christian Science was born. In the following spring the Pattersons took a room in the house of P. R. Russell, at the corner of Pearl and High Streets, Lynn. Here, after about two months, Dr. Patterson finally left his wife, and they never lived together after this time. In referring to her husband's desertion of her, Mrs. Eddy says:
In 1862[1] my name was Patterson; my husband, Dr. Patterson, a distinguished dentist. After our marriage I was confined to my bed with a severe illness, and seldom left bed or room for seven years, when I was taken to Dr. Quimby, and partially restored. I returned home, hoping once more to make that home happy, but only returned to a new agony, to find my husband had eloped with a married woman from one of the wealthy families of that city, leaving no trace save his last letter to us, wherein he wrote "I hope some time to be worthy of so good a wife."[2]
After leaving his wife, Dr. Patterson went to Littleton, N. H., where he practised for some years. Afterward he led a roving life, wandering from town to town, until he at last went back to the home of his boyhood, at Saco, Me., where he secluded himself and lived the life of a hermit until his death in 1896.
Bitter experience awaited Mrs. Patterson after her husband's desertion. Whatever may have been the cause for his leaving, Mrs. Patterson did not, at that time, claim the sympathy of her friends on account of it, and to her landlord and his wife she maintained silence on the subject, merely saying in answer to inquiries, that he had gone away. According to Mrs. Patterson's relatives, her husband went about the separation deliberately, announcing his intention and his reason[3] to her family, and making what provision he was able for her support.[4]
In the fall of 1865 Mark Baker, Mrs. Patterson's father, died, and at about the same time her sister, Mrs. Tilton, closed her door forever against Mrs. Patterson.[5] Her only child, George Glover, at that time a young man, she had sent away in his childhood. Mrs. Patterson was, therefore, for the first time in her life, practically alone in the world and largely dependent upon herself for support. Untrained in any kind of paid work, she fell back upon the favour of her friends or chance acquaintances, living precariously upon their bounty, and obliged to go from house to house, as one family after another wearied of her. For a while she stayed on at the Russells', but as she was unable to pay even the $1.50 a week rental which they charged her, she was served with eviction papers and dispossessed of her room within a month after Dr. Patterson's departure. Mr. Russell, her landlord, says that the matter of the rent was merely a pretext. He wished Mrs. Patterson to go because his wife, who had greatly admired her when she first came into the house, soon declared that she could not endure Mrs. Patterson's remaining there. His father, Rev. P. R. Russell, also strongly objected to Mrs. Patterson's presence.
The month of August, or a part of it, Mrs. Patterson spent with Mrs. Clark, in Summer Street, Lynn, and it was there that Dr. Cushing treated her for a severe cough. She next stayed with Mrs. Armenius Newhall, but soon afterward left the house, at Mrs. Newhall's request.
Mrs. James Wheeler of Swampscott, in her own town known as "Mother" Wheeler from her gentle qualities and her eagerness to help and comfort every one, then offered Mrs. Patterson a shelter.
At the Wheelers', as elsewhere, Mrs. Patterson talked continually of Quimby and declared that it was the ambition of her life to publish his notes on mental healing. Mrs. Julia Russell Walcott, a sister of Mrs. Patterson's former landlord, and an intimate friend of Mrs. Wheeler, says in her affidavit:
Mrs. Patterson was the means of creating discord in the Wheeler family. She was unkind in her language to and treatment of Mrs. James Wheeler, at the same time exacting extra personal service and attention to her daily wants.
One morning I sat in the parlour at the Wheeler house when Mrs. Patterson came down to breakfast. The family breakfast was over, but Mrs. Wheeler, according to her usual custom, had prepared a late breakfast for Mrs. Patterson. Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Patterson, and myself were alone in the house. I had come in late the previous evening and Mrs. Patterson did not know of my presence in the house. She entered the breakfast room from the hall, and began at once, and without any apparent cause, to talk to Mrs. Wheeler in a most abusive manner, using violent and insulting language.
I immediately went into the breakfast room and commanded her to stop, which she did at once. I indignantly rebuked Mrs. Patterson and in formed her that I should tell Mrs. Wheeler's family of her conduct.
Mrs. Vheeler did not respond to Mrs. Patterson. To me she said, "Thank God, Julia, that you were here, this time. I have often borne this."
Mrs. Patterson was, soon after this, requested to leave the Wheeler house, and did so. Mrs. Wheeler received nothing in payment for Mrs. Patterson's board. When Mrs. Wheeler asked Mrs. Patterson for a settlement, Mrs. Patterson replied to the effect that she had "treated" a wounded finger for Mr. Wheeler and that this service was equivalent to what she had received from Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, in board, lodging, etc.
Upon leaving the Wheelers, Mrs. Patterson took refuge with the Ellis family. Mrs. Mary Ellis lived at Elm Cottage, Swampscott, with her unmarried son, Fred Ellis, master of a boys' school in Boston. Both she and her son were cultivated persons, and they felt a certain sympathy with Mrs. Patterson's literary labours. Wherever she went, Mrs. Patterson was preceded by the legend that she was writing a book. During the time which she spent with Mrs. Ellis, she remained in her room the greater part of each day, working upon the manuscript which eight years later was to be published under the title, Science and Health. In the evening she often joined Mr. Ellis and his mother downstairs, and read them what she had written during the day, telling them of Dr. Quimby and his theories of mind and matter, and explaining how she meant to develop them.
While in Lynn Mrs. Patterson continued to take an interest in Spiritualism. The older Spiritualists of Lynn remember her taking part as a medium in a circle which met at the home of Mrs. George Clark in Summer Street. Mrs. Richard Hazeltine says:[6]
My husband, Richard Hazeltine, and I went to the circle at Mrs. Clark's and saw Mrs. Glover[7] pass into the trance state, and heard her communicate by word of mouth messages received from the spirit world, or what she said and we believed were messages from the spirit world. I cannot forget certain peculiar features of these sittings of Mrs. Glover's. Mrs. Glover told us, as we were gathered there, that, because of her superior spiritual quality, and because of the purity of her life, she could only be controlled in the spirit world by one of the Apostles and by Jesus Christ. When she went into the trance state and gave her communications to members of the circle, these communications were said by Mrs. Glover to come, through her as a medium, from the spirit of one of the Apostles or of Jesus Christ.
Mrs. Mary Gould, a Spiritualist medium in Lynn, remembers that at one time Abraham Lincoln was one of Mrs. Glover's controls.
In the winter of 1866-67 Mrs. Patterson met Hiram Crafts at a boarding-house in Lynn. Crafts was a shoe-worker of East Stoughton, who had come to Lynn to work in a shoe factory there for the winter. Mrs. Patterson tried to interest every one she met in Quimby's theories and saw in the serious shoe maker a prospective pupil. What she told Crafts of this new system of doctoring appealed to him strongly; he was a Spiritualist and was deeply interested in psychic phenomena. After he returned home, he sent for Mrs. Patterson to come to East Stoughton and teach him. She joined the Crafts, accordingly, in the early part of 1867, and lived for some months in their home at East Stoughton—now Avon—instructing Mr. Crafts in the Quimby method of healing.
| TO THE SICK.
DR. H. S. CRAFTS, Would say unhesitatingly, I can cure you, and have never failed to cure Consumption, Catarrh, Scrofula, Dyspepsia and Rheumatism, with many other forms of disease and weakness, in which I am especially successful. If you give me a fair trial and are not helped, I will refund your money. The following certificate is from a lady in this city, Mrs. Raymond:— H. S. CRAFTS, Office 90, Main street: In giving to the public a statement of my peculiar case, I am actuated by a motive to point out the way to others of relief from their sufferings. About 12 years since I had an internal abscess, that not only threatened to destroy my life at that time, but which has ever since continued to affect me in some form or another internally, making life well nigh a burden to bear. I have consulted many physicians, all of whom have failed to relieve me of this suffering, and in this condition, while growing worse year by year, about three weeks ago I applied to Dr. H. S. Crafts, who, to my own, and the utter astonishment of my friends, has, in this incredibly short time, without medicines or painful applications, cured me of this chronic malady. In conclusion, I can only quote the words of a patient who was healed by his method of cure: "I am convinced he is a skillful Physician, whose cures are not the result of accident." I reside in Taunton, at Weir street Railroad Crossing. ABIGAIL RAYMOND. Taunton, May 13, 1867.—my14-dT&S&wlm |
An advertisement of Hiram S. Crafts, which appeared in a Taunton newspaper, May 13, 1867. Mr. Crafts had moved from East Stoughton to Taunton, taking his wife and Mrs. Eddy with him.
Early in the spring Crafts went to Taunton, taking his wife and Mrs. Patterson with him, and opened an office. He was the first of Mrs. Eddy's students to go into practice. His advertisement in a Taunton paper is reprinted herewith. Mrs. Patterson did not practise herself, but remained with the family to teach and advise Crafts. Concerning Mrs. Patterson and her relation to the Crafts,[8] Ira Holmes, brother of Mrs. Crafts, makes the following affidavit:
Ira Holmes, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I am 76 years of age. I reside in Stoughton, Massachusetts. I first met Mrs. Mary Patterson, now known as Mary Baker G. Eddy, of Concord, New Hampshire, in the year 1867. She was then living at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram S. Crafts in East Stoughton, which is now called Avon. Mrs. Hiram S. Crafts is my sister, and Hiram S. Crafts is a brother of my wife, Mrs. Ira Holmes. The two families were, therefore, intimately connected, and I was acquainted with what occurred in the Crafts home.
Hiram Crafts and his wife, Mary Crafts, told me that they first met Mary Patterson in a boarding house in Lynn, Mass., where Hiram and Mary Crafts lived temporarily while Hiram Crafts was working in a Lynn shoe manufactory. Mr. and Mrs. Crafts were Spiritualists, and they have told me that Mrs. Patterson represented to them that she had learned a "science" that was a step in advance of Spiritualism. She wished to teach this science to Hiram Crafts, and after Mr. and Mrs. Crafts had returned from Lynn to their home in East Stoughton, Massachusetts, Mrs. Patterson came to their home for the purpose of teaching this new science to Hiram Crafts. I have heard her say many times, while she was living at Crafts' that she learned this science from Doctor Quimby. I have heard her say these words: "I learned this science from Dr. Quimby, and I can impart it to but one person." She always said this in a slow, impressive manner, pronouncing the word "person" as if it were spelled "pairson."
From my sister, Mary Crafts, and her husband, Hiram S. Crafts, I learned that Hiram Crafts had entered into an agreement with Mrs. Patterson to pay her a certain sum of money for instructing him in Quimby's science.
After Hiram Crafts had learned it, he took some patients for treatment, in East Stoughton, but in a short time he, with Mrs. Crafts and Mrs. Patterson, moved to Taunton, Mass., for the purpose of practising the healing system which Mrs. Patterson had taught him. I never knew of Mrs. Patterson treating, or attempting to treat, any sick person. I understood, from her and from Mr. and Mrs. Crafts, that she could not practise this science, but could teach it, and could teach it to only one person.
While Mrs. Patterson lived in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Crafts, she caused trouble in the household, and urged Mr. Crafts to get a bill of divorce from his wife, Mary Crafts. The reason Mrs. Patterson gave for urging Mr. Crafts to divorce his wife was, that Mrs. Crafts stood in the way of the success of Mr. Crafts and Mrs. Patterson in the healing business. Mrs. Crafts, my sister, was gentle, kind, and patient, and in no way merited Mrs. Patterson's dislike of her. Mrs. Crafts waited upon Mrs. Patterson, did the housework and marketing, and in every way sought to advance the interests of her husband, Hiram S. Crafts. When Mrs. Crafts discovered that Mrs. Patterson was attempting to influence Mr. Crafts to apply for a divorce, she, my sister, Mary Crafts, prepared to pack up her possessions and to leave her husband's house. The result of this was that Mr. Crafts would not consent to lose his wife, and as Mrs. Crafts would not remain unless Mrs. Patterson went away, Mrs. Patterson was obliged to leave the home of Mr. and Mrs. Crafts. This was while they were residing in Taunton, Mass. After Mrs. Patterson's departure, Mr. and Mrs. Crafts returned to East Stoughton to live, and Hiram S. Crafts no longer practised the healing system taught by Mrs. Patterson.
I make this statement of my own free will, solely in the interest of justice.
Ira Holmes.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
NORFOLK, SS:
Stoughton, February 7, 1907.
Then personally appeared the above named Ira Holmes and acknowledged the foregoing instrument by him subscribed, to be his free act and deed, before me.
Geo. O. Wentworth, Notary Public.
Many years afterward, when the Crafts were living in Hebron, N. H., and Mrs. Eddy had retired to Concord, N. H., she sent for Mr. Crafts and paid his expenses to Pleasant View to deliver into her hands his copy of the manuscript which she had used in teaching him,—probably a copy of the Quimby manuscript,—which he did.
After leaving the Crafts, Mrs. Patterson seems to have gone to Amesbury to the home of Captain and Mrs. Nathaniel Webster. Concerning Mrs. Webster and Mrs. Patterson's stay at her house, Mrs. Mary Ellis Bartlett, a granddaughter of Mrs. Webster, makes the following affidavit:
Mary Ellis Bartlett, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
I am 55 years of age, and I am a citizen of Boston, Massachusetts. I am the daughter of William R. Ellis and Mary Jane Ellis, and the granddaughter of Captain Nathaniel Webster and Mary Webster, who for many years resided in Amesbury, Massachusetts. In the years between 1865 and 1870 my grandparents, Captain and Mrs. Webster, were living in Amesbury, Mass., at what is now No. 5 Merrimac Street. Captain Webster was a retired sea captain, and at that time was superintendent of cotton mills in Manchester, New Hampshire, of which E. A. Straw, his son-in-law, who was later Governor of New Hampshire, was agent for many years. My Grandmother Webster was a well-known Spiritualist. Grandfather Webster was away from home, attending to his business in Manchester, much of the time, returning home to Amesbury about once in two weeks, to remain over Sunday. My grandmother was, therefore, much alone, and because of this, and for the further reason that she was deeply interested in Spiritualism in all its forms, she had at her house constant visitors and charity patients who were Spiritualists. Invalids, cripples, and other unfortunate persons were made welcome, and my grandmother took care of them when they were ill and lodged and boarded them free of charge. She had, or believed she had, spiritual communications in regard to their various ailments, which she followed in prescribing for them and in her treatment of them. My grandmother was what was called a "drawing medium" and a "healing medium." She drew strange pictures under the influence of the spirits. Many of these pictures are now in existence, and some of them are in my possession, having been given to me by my grandmother.
Grandmother Webster had a room in her house which was used for spiritual'séances, and for all grandmother's spiritistic work. This room was on the ground floor, situated in the rear of the front parlour. It was decorated in blue, according to the direction of grandmother's spirit control,—blue being a colour favoured by the spirits. The room was furnished with the usual chairs, tables, couch, etc., but this furniture was called by my grandmother and her Spiritualist friends, "spiritual furniture," because it was used only for spiritual purposes. There was a couch which grandmother called her "spiritual couch." She thought she could sleep upon it when she could not sleep elsewhere. Upon it she took her daytime naps, and sometimes during a restless night she was able to sleep if she lay upon this couch. There was a table in the room which was used for the laying on of hands by the Spiritualists at the'séances held in the room, and there was an old chair which had belonged to Captain Webster's mother, in which grandmother always sat for her spirit communications. Above this room, which was known as the "spiritual room," was a bedroom.
One night in the autumn of 1867, as nearly as I can fix the date, a woman, a stranger, came to my grandmother's door, and told her that she had been led by the spirits to come to her house, for the reason that it was "a nice, harmonious home." My grandmother, who was sympathetic and hospitable, and, above all, a devoted Spiritualist, who would never turn another Spiritualist away, upon hearing this, exclaimed, "Glory to God! Come right in!" The woman thus admitted told my grandmother that she was Mrs. Mary Glover, a Spiritualist, and that she had been drawn as above described to my grandmother's house. Mrs. Glover did not explain further why she came and did not say from what place she had come. My grandmother gave her the use of the bedroom over the spiritual room, and also the use of the spiritual room. Here grandmother and Mrs. Glover continued to hold spiritualistic'séances, in which Mrs. Glover took an active part, passing into the trance state and giving what grandmother believed to be communications from the spirits.
Mrs. Glover became permanently settled at Grandmother Webster's house. She was treated as a guest, was waited upon, and was cared for in every respect. My Grandfather Webster, coming home and finding Mrs. Glover established in the house, was displeased because she was there. He told my grandmother that he did not want Mrs. Glover to remain. . . . But Mrs. Glover continued to live in the house, and after a few months, during which my grandmother's admiration for Mrs. Glover had begun to grow less, Mrs. Glover informed my grandmother that she had learned a new science which she thought was something beyond Spiritualism. She said she had learned it from Dr. Quimby of Portland, Maine, and that she had brought copies of some of his manuscripts with her. She talked about it and read the manuscripts to my grandmother, who did not, however, believe that the "science" was an improvement or a step beyond Spiritualism. From that time forward Mrs. Glover talked of Quimby's science. She was writing what she told grandmother was a revision of the Bible. She always sat in the spiritual chair at the spiritual table in grandmother's spiritual room to do her writing, and sometimes after she had written for hours, she would gather up all the pages she had filled with writing and tear them up, because she could not make them read as she wished.
My father, William R. Ellis, was in 1867 living in New York, with his three children—myself, my sister, and my brother. My mother had died three or four years before. Our family had always spent the summer school vacation at my grandparents' home in Amesbury, Mass., and when it was time for us to leave New York, my father always went to Amesbury in advance of the rest of us, in order to clear my grandmother's house of broken-down Spiritualists and sick persons, so that we might have enough room in the house and because he thought the atmosphere of so much sickness and Spiritualism was unwholesome for young children.
My father, upon first seeing Mrs. Glover in the house, had told my grandmother that she, Mrs. Glover, should not be permitted to remain. . . . . . . . . . . My grandmother, upon being urged by my father and grandfather to dismiss Mrs. Glover, at last told her that she was no longer welcome and asked her to go away. Mrs. Glover ignored my grandmother's request and continued to live in the house . . . . . . . .
Failing to succeed in getting Mrs. Glover to leave the house, my grandmother sent for my father. He arrived in the early evening of the following Saturday. When grandmother had told him of the trouble and how Mrs. Glover refused to go away, she asked my father to see if he could not make Mrs. Glover leave the house. My father commanded Mrs. Glover to leave, and when she steadfastly refused to go, he had her trunk dragged from her room and set it outside the door, insisted upon her also going out the door, and when she was outside he closed the door and locked it. I have frequently heard my father describe this event in detail, and I have heard him say that he had never expected, in his whole life, to be obliged to put a woman into the street. It was dark at the time, and a heavy rain was falling. My grandparents and my father considered it absolutely necessary to take this step, harsh and disagreeable as it seemed to them.
The above statement is made partly from my own personal knowledge, and partly from hearing it many, many times from my father, my grandmother, and my Grandfather Webster, who have related it to me and others of the family until it has come to be a well-known part of our family history. I make this statement of my own free will, solely in the interests of justice.
Mary Ellis Bartlett
STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS,
SUFFOLK, SS:
Personally appeared the above named Mary Ellis Bartlett, and made oath that the foregoing statements covering eleven sheets, each of which is subscribed by her, are true to the best of her knowledge and belief, this sixth day of February, 1907.
Herbert P. Sheldon, Notary Public.
When Mrs. Glover was thus left without a lodging-place for the night, Mrs. Richardson, another of Mrs. Webster's Spiritualist guests, who was in the house at the time, was moved to compassion and took Mrs. Glover down the street to the house of Miss Sarah Bagley, a dressmaker, who was a fellow Spiritualist.
DR. ROUNDY AND WIFE, CLAIRVOYANT, Magnetic and Electric Physicians, have recently furnished a house on Quincy avenue, in Quincy, Mass., where they are still Healing the Sick with good success. Board and treatment reasonable. Address, Quincy, Mass. 6w*—June 6. ANY PERSON desiring to learn how to heal the sick can receive of the undersigned instruction that will enable them to commence healing on a principle of science with a success far beyond any of the present modes. No medicine, electricity, physiology or hygiene required for unparalleled success in the most difficult cases. No pay is required unless this skill is obtained. Address, MRS. MARY B. GLOVER, Amesbury, Mass., Box 61. tf†—June 20. MRS. MARY LEWIS, by sending their autograph, or lock of hair, will give psychometrical delineations of character, answer questions, &c. Terms $1.00 and red stamp. Address, MARY LEWIS, Morrison, Whiteside Co., Ill. June 20.—20w*. |
The above advertisement, in which Mrs. Eddy offers to teach a new kind of healing based on a "principle of science," appeared July 4, 1868, in the Banner of Light, the official organ of New England Spiritualists. Mrs. Eddy was then living at the home of the Websters in Amesbury, and the number of Captain Webster's post-office box was 61.
| |||
| Photograph by H. F. Currier |
MARY BAKER G. EDDY
| From a photograph taken in Amesbury, Mass., in 1870 | From a tintype. Mrs. Eddy helping an Amesbury photographer to get a successful picture of a baby. |
Miss Bagley took the friendless woman into her home, and here, in addition to the small sum which she paid for her board, Mrs. Glover taught Miss Bagley the Quimby method of treating disease. Miss Bagley developed such powers as a healer that she soon abandoned her needle and began to practise "professionally." Mrs. Glover was generally known in Amesbury as a pupil of Dr. Quimby, and it was rumoured in the village that before Mrs. Glover was through with her "science" she was going to walk on the waters of the Merrimac. Two Amesbury girls were so interested in this report that, one afternoon when Mrs. Glover attended some merrymaking on the river bank, they went down and lingered on the bridge, hoping that she might be tempted to try her powers on that festal occasion.
To-day the Christian Scientists of Lynn draw a pathetic picture of the persecuted woman, driven from door to door, carrying her great truth in her bosom, and finding no man ready to receive it. And it is not to be wondered at that those who regard Mrs. Eddy as the recipient of God's most complete revelation, find here material for legend, and liken her wanderings to those of the persecuted apostles.
There is no indication that these harsh experiences ever, in the least, subdued Mrs. Glover's proud spirit. Wherever she went, she took her place as the guest of honour, and she consistently assumed that she conferred favour by accepting hospitality. She did not hesitate to chide and reprimand members of the families she visited, to criticise and interfere with the administration of household affairs. She seems never to have known discouragement or to have felt apprehension for the future, but was content with dominating the house in which she happened to be and with striving to win a following among the friends of the family. While she certainly cherished a vague, half-formulated plan to go out into the world some day and teach the Quimby doctrine, her imperative need was to control the immediate situation; to be the commanding figure in the lodge, the sewing-circle, the family gathering. The one thing she could not endure was to be thought like other people. She must be something besides plain Mrs. Glover,—invalid, poetess, healer, propagandist, guest; she must be exceptional at any cost. Even while she was dependent upon precarious hospitality, Mrs. Glover managed to invest her person and her doings with a certain form and ceremony which was not without its effect. She spent much time in her room; was not always accessible; had her meals prepared at special hours; made calls and received visitors with a certain stress of graciousness and condescension. She had the faculty of giving her every action and word the tone of importance. She was now a woman of forty-seven; her wardrobe was shabby and scant; she still rouged her cheeks; the brown hue of her hair was crudely artificial; her watch and chain and several gold trinkets were, with the Quimby manuscripts, her only treasures. Certainly, neither village gossips nor rustic humourists had spared her. But the stage did not exist that was so mean and poor, nor the audience so brutal and unsympathetic, that Mrs. Glover could not, unabashed, play out her part.
- ↑ Letter to the Boston Post, March 7, 1883.
- ↑
From Mrs. Eddy's statement it is impossible to tell whether by "that city" she means Sanbornton Bridge, where she returned after her first visit to Quimby, or Lynn, where she joined her husband after her second visit. Neither in Lynn nor Sanbornton Bridge do the people who know the Pattersons recall any elopement on Dr. Patterson's part. P. R. Russell, in whose house the Pattersons were living when the Doctor deserted his wife, says in his affidavit:
"While they were living at my house, Dr. Patterson went away and did not return. I do not know the cause of his going. I never heard that he eloped with any woman, and I never heard Mrs. Patterson say that he had eloped with any woman. Mrs. Patterson never said anything whatever to me on the subject of her husband's departure. I never heard anything against Dr. Patterson's character either then or since."
- ↑ To her family Dr. Patterson said that he was unable to endure life with Mrs. Patterson any longer.
- ↑ For several years after their separation Dr. Patterson gave his wife an annuity of $200, which was paid in small instalments.
- ↑ When Mrs. Tilton, who had taken care of Mrs. Patterson from childhood and supported her in her widowhood, finally turned against her sister, she was as hard as she had been generous before. "I loved Mary best of all my sisters and brothers," she said to her friends, "but it is all gone now." The bitterness of her feeling lasted to the day of her death. She instructed her family not to allow Mary to see her after death nor to attend her funeral, and her wishes were carried out.
- ↑ From the affidavit of Mrs. Richard Hazeltine of Lynn.
- ↑ Although Mrs. Patterson did not divorce Dr. Patterson until 1873, she resumed her former name of Glover soon after he went away.
- ↑ Hiram Crafts died last year. His widow is now living with a brother in Brockton, Mass.