The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy/Chapter 24
CHAPTER XXIV
MRS. EDDY ADOPTS THE TITLE OF "MOTHER"—BEGINNING OF THE CONCORD PILGRIMAGES—MRS. EDDY HINTS AT HER POLITICAL INFLUENCE—THE BUILDING OF THE MOTHER CHURCH EXTENSION
A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of our land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.[1]
—Motto upon the cover of the Christian Science Sentinel.
After the opening of the Mother Church in Boston, Christian Science was generally recognised as an established religion. The church had now a general membership of 1,500 and a substantial house of worship; and although the very foundation and fabric of the church was a denial of the visible and material, nothing served to give it recognition and standing like this actual sign of its existence. At the World's Congress of Religions in Chicago in 1893, Septimus J. Hanna, who was then pastor of the Mother Church, read an address, composed of selections from Mrs. Eddy's books, which attracted favourable attention, and Mrs. Eddy, as the founder of the church, became an object of public curiosity and interest. In 1895 she adopted the title "Mother,"[2] and instituted the Concord "pilgrimages" which later became so conspicuous. By this time the church membership had so increased that most of Mrs. Eddy's followers had never seen their leader, and as Mrs. Eddy did not attend the annual communion[3] of the general membership in the Mother Church, she telegraphed an invitation, after the June communion in 1895, to the congregation, to call upon her at Pleasant View. Accordingly, one hundred and eighty Christian Scientists boarded the train at Boston and went up to Concord. Mrs. Eddy threw her house open to them, received them in person, shook hands with each delegate, and conversed with many.
After the communion in 1897, twenty-five hundred enthusiastic pilgrims crowded into the little New Hampshire capital. Although the Scientists hired every available conveyance in Concord, there were not enough carriages to accommodate their numbers, so hundreds of the pilgrims walked out Pleasant Street to Mrs. Eddy's home. Mrs. Eddy again received her votaries, greeted them cordially, and made a long address. The Journal says that her manner upon this occasion was peculiar for its "utter freedom from sensationalism or the Mesmeric effect that so many speakers seem to exert," and adds that she was "calm and unimpassioned, but strong and convincing." The Journal also states that upon this occasion Mrs. Eddy wore "a royal purple silk dress covered with black lace" and a "dainty bonnet." She wore her diamond cross and the badge of the Daughters of the Revolution in diamonds and rubies.
In 1901[4] three thousand of the June communicants went from Boston to Concord on three special trains. They were not admitted to the house, but Mrs. Eddy appeared upon her balcony for a moment and spoke to them, saying that they had already heard from her in her message to the Mother Church, and that she would pause but a moment to look into their dear faces and then return to her "studio." The Journal comments upon her "erect form and sprightly step," and says that she wore "what might have been silk or satin, figured, and cut en traine. Upon her white hair rested a bonnet with fluttering blue and old gold trimmings."
The last of these pilgrimages occurred in 1904, when Mrs. Eddy invited the pilgrims to come, not to Pleasant View but to the new Christian Science church in Concord. Fifteen hundred of them gathered in front of the church and stood in reverent silence as Mrs. Eddy's carriage approached. The horses were stopped in front of the assemblage, and Mrs. Eddy signalled the President of the Mother Church to approach her carriage. To him, as representing the church body, she spoke her greeting. Her voice was very weak and she had aged visibly since her last official appearance. This was her last meeting with the general congregation of her church.
The yearning which these people felt toward Mrs. Eddy, and their rapture at beholding her, can only be described by one of the pilgrims. In the Journal, June, 1899, Miss Martha Sutton Thompson writes to describe a visit, which she made in January of that year to the meeting of the Christian Science Board of Education in Boston. She says:
When I decided to attend I also hoped to see our Mother. . . . I saw that if I allowed the thought that I must see her personally to transcend the desire to obey and grow into the likeness of her teachings, this mistake would obscure my understanding of both the Revelator and the Revelation. After the members of the Board had retired they reappeared upon the rostrum and my heart beat quickly with the thought "perhaps she has come." But no, it was to read her message. . . . She said God was with us and to give her love to all the class. It was so precious to get it directly from her.
The following day five of us made the journey to Concord, drove out to Pleasant View, and met her face to face on her daily drive. She seemed watching to greet us, for when she caught sight of our faces she instantly half rose with expectant face, bowing, smiling, and waving her hand to each of us. Then as she went out of our sight, kissed her hand to all.
I will not attempt to describe the Leader, nor can I say what this brief glimpse was and is to me. I can only say I wept and the tears start every time I think of it. Why do I weep? I think it is because I want to be like her and they are tears of repentance. I realise better now what it was that made Mary Magdalen weep when she came into the presence of the Nazarene.
After the pilgrimages were discouraged, there was no way in which her devoted disciples could ever see Mrs. Eddy. They used, indeed, like Miss Thompson, to go to Concord and linger about the highways to catch a glimpse of her as she drove by, until she rebuked them in a new by-law in the Church Manual: "Thou Shalt not Steal. Sect. 15. Neither a Christian Scientist, his student or his patient, nor a member of the Mother Church shall daily and continuously haunt Mrs. Eddy's drive by meeting her once or more every day when she goes out on penalty of being disciplined and dealt with justly by her church," etc.
Mrs. Eddy did her last public teaching in the Christian Science Hall in Concord, November 21 and 22, 1898. There were sixty-one persons in this class,—several from Canada, one from England, and one from Scotland,—and Mrs. Eddy refused to accept any remuneration for her instruction. The first lesson lasted about two hours, the second nearly four. "Only two lessons," says the Journal, "but such lessons! Only those who have sat under this wondrous teaching can form a conjecture of what these classes were." "We mention," the Journal continues, "a sweet incident and one which deeply touched the Mother's heart. Upon her return from class she found beside her plate at dinner table a lovely white rose with the card of a young lady student accompanying on which she chastely referred to the last couplet of the fourth stanza of that sweet poem from the Mother's pen, 'Love.'
| " | Thou to whose power our hope we give |
| Free us from human strife. | |
| Fed by Thy love divine we live | |
| For Love alone is Life," etc. |
Mrs. Eddy now achieved publicity in a good many ways, and to such publications as afforded her space and appreciation she was able to grant reciprocal favours. The Granite Monthly, a little magazine published at Concord, N. H., printed Mrs. Eddy's poem, "Easter Morn," and a highly laudatory article upon her. Mrs. Eddy responded in the Christian Science Journal with a request that all Christian Scientists subscribe to the Granite Monthly, which they promptly did. Colonel Oliver C. Sabin, a politician in Washington, D. C., was editor of a purely political publication, the Washington News Letter. A Congressman one day attacked Christian Science in a speech. Colonel Sabin, whose paper was just then making things unpleasant for that particular Congressman, wrote an editorial in defence of Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy inserted a card in the Journal requesting all Christian Scientists to subscribe to the News Letter. This brought Colonel Sabin such a revenue that he dropped politics altogether and turned his political paper into a religious periodical.[5] Mr. James T. White, publisher of the National Encyclopedia of American Biography, gave Mrs. Eddy a generous place in his encyclopaedia and wrote a poem to her. Mrs. Eddy requested, through the Journal, that all Christian Scientists buy Mr. White's volume of verse for Christmas presents, and the Christian Science Publication Society marketed Mr. White's verses. Mrs. Eddy made a point of being on good terms with the Concord papers; she furnished them with many columns of copy, and the editors came to realise that her presence in Concord brought a great deal of money into the town. From 1898 to 1901 the files of the Journal echo increasing material prosperity, and show that both Mrs. Eddy and her church were much more taken account of than formerly. Articles by Mrs. Eddy are quoted from various newspapers whose editors had requested her to express her views upon the war with Spain, the Puritan Thanksgiving, etc.
In the autumn of 1901 Mrs. Eddy wrote an article on the death of President McKinley. Commenting upon this article, Harper's Weekly said: "Among others who have spoken [on President McKinley's death] was Mrs. Eddy, the Mother of Christian Science. She issued two utterances which were read in her churches. . . . Both of these discourses are seemly and kind, but they are materially different from the writings of any one else. Reciting the praises of the dead President, Mrs. Eddy says: 'May his history waken a tone of truth that shall reverberate, renew euphony, emphasise human power and bear its banner into the vast forever.' No one else said anything like that. Mother Eddy's style is a personal asset. Her sentences usually have the considerable literary merit of being unexpected."
Of this editorial the Journal says, with a candour almost incredible: "We take pleasure in republishing from that old-established and valuable publication, Harper's Weekly, the following merited tribute to Mrs. Eddy's utterances," etc. Then follows the editorial quoted above.
In the winter of 1898 Christian Science received great publicity through the death, under Christian Science treatment, of the American journalist and novelist, Harold Frederic, in England. Mr. Frederic's readers were not, as a rule, people who knew much about Christian Science, and his taking off brought the new cult to the attention of thousands of people for the first time.
In December, 1898, the Earl of Dunmore, a peer of the Scottish Realm, and his Countess, came to Boston to study Christian Science. They were received by Mrs. Eddy at Pleasant View, and Lady Dunmore was present at the June communion, 1899. According to the Journal, Lady Dunmore's son, Lord Fincastle, left his regiment in India and came to Boston to join his mother in this service, and then returned immediately to his military duties. Lady Mildred Murray, daughter of the Countess, also came to America to attend the annual communion. A pew was reserved upon the first floor of the church for this titled family, although the Journal explains that "the reservation of a pew for the Countess of Dunmore and her family was wholly a matter of international courtesy, and not in any sense a tribute to their rank."
In these prosperous years the Rev. Irving C. Tomlinson, in commenting in the Journal upon Brander Matthews' statement that English seemed destined to become the world-language, says: "It may be that Prof. Matthews has written better than he knew. Science and Health is fast reaching all parts of the world; and as our text-book may never be translated into a foreign tongue, may it not be expected to fulfil the prophet's hope, 'Then will I turn to the people a pure language,' " etc.
In January, 1901, Mrs. Eddy called her directors together and charged them to send expressions of sympathy to the British government and to King Edward upon the death of the Queen.
Truly the days of the Lynn shoemakers and the little Broad Street tenement were far gone by, and it must have seemed to Mrs. Eddy that she was living in one of those New York Ledger romances which had so delighted her in those humbler times. Even a less spirited woman than she would have expanded under all this notoriety, and Mrs. Eddy, as always, caught the spirit of the play. A letter written to her son, George Glover, April 27, 1898, conveys some idea of how Mrs. Eddy appeared to herself at this time:
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., April 27, 1898.
Dear Son: Yours of latest date came duly. That which you cannot write I understand, and will say, I am reported as dying, wholly decriped and useless, etc. Now one of these reports is just as true as the others are. My life is as pure as that of the angels. God has lifted me up to my work, and if it was not pure it would not bring forth good fruits. The Bible says the tree is known by its fruit. But I need not say this to a Christian Scientist, who knows it. I thank you for any interest you may feel in your mother. I am alone in the world, more lone than a solitary star. Although it is duly estimated by business characters and learned scholars that I lead and am obeyed by 300,000 people at this date. The most distinguished newspapers ask me to write on the most important subjects. Lords and ladies, earles, princes and marquises and marchionesses from abroad write to me in the most complimentary manner. Hoke Smith declares I am the most illustrious woman on the continent—those are his exact words. Our senators and members of Congress call on me for counsel. But what of all this? I am not made the least proud by it or a particle happier for it. I am working for a higher purpose.
Now what of my circumstances? I name first my home, which of all places on earth is the one in which to find peace and enjoyment. But my home is simply a house and a beautiful landscape. There is not one in it that I love only as I love everybody. I have no congeniality with my help inside of my house; they are no companions and scarcely fit to be my help.
I adopted a son hoping he would take Mr. Frye's place as my bookkeeper and man of all work that belongs to man. But my trial of him has proved another disappointment. His books could not be audited they were so incorrect, etc., etc. Mr. Frye is the most disagreeable man that can be found, but this he is, namely (if there is one on earth), an honest man, as all will tell you who deal with him. At first mesmerism swayed him, but he learned through my forbearance to govern himself. He is a man that would not steal, commit adultery, or fornication, or break one of the Ten Commandments. I have now done, but I could write a volume on what I have touched upon.
One thing is the severest wound of all, namely, the want of education among those nearest to me in kin. I would gladly give every dollar I possess to have one or two and three that are nearest to me on earth possess a thorough education. If you had been educated as I intend to have you, to-day you could, would, be made President of the United States. Mary's letters to me are so mis-spelled that I blush to read them.
You pronounce your words so wrongly and then she spells them accordingly. I am even yet too proud to have you come among my society and alas! mispronounce your words as you do; but for this thing I should be honoured by your good manners and I love you. With love to all
Mary Baker Eddy.
P. S.—My letter is so short I add a postscript. I have tried about one dozen bookkeepers and had to give them all up, either for dishonesty, or incapacity. I have not had my books audited for five years, and Mr. Ladd, who is famous for this, audited them last week, and gives me his certificate that they are all right except in some places not quite plain, and he showed Frye how to correct that. Then he, Frye gave me a check for that amount before I knew about it.
The slight mistake occurred four years ago and he could not remember about the things. But Mr. Ladd told me that he knew it was only not set down in a coherent way for in other parts of the book he could trace where it was put down in all probability, but not orderly. When I can get a Christian, as I know he is, and a woman that can fill his place I shall do it. But I have no time to receive company, to call on others, or to go out of my house only to drive. Am always driven with work for others, but nobody to help me even to get help such as I would choose.
Again,
Mother.
The idea of her own possible political power was evidently rather pleasing to Mrs. Eddy, for in a letter to the editor of the Concord Monitor, October 2, 1897, she had already suggested it. "It would seem," she writes, "as if Christian Science were engirdling the earth. London lords and ladies throng to learn its teachings, it is in the White House of our national capital, in Windsor Castle, England, and the leading minds in almost every Christian land are adopting its essential theological points. . . . As it is, if you were a candidate for the Presidency, mayhap I could give you one hundred thousand votes for the chair in Washington, D. C." While Mrs. Eddy was working out her larger policy she did not forget the little things. The manufacture of Christian Science jewelry was at one time a thriving business, conducted by the J. C. Derby Company of Concord. Christian Science emblems and Mrs. Eddy's "favourite flower" were made up into cuff-buttons, rings, brooches, watches, and pendants, varying in price from $325 to $2.50. The sale of the Christian Science teaspoons was especially profitable. The "Mother spoon," an ordinary silver spoon, sold for $5.00. Mrs. Eddy's portrait was embossed upon it, a picture of Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy's signature, and the motto, "Not Matter but Mind Satisfieth." Mrs. Eddy stimulated the sale of this spoon by inserting the following request in the Journal:[6]
On each of these most beautiful spoons is a motto in has relief that every person on earth needs to hold in thought. Mother requests that Christian Scientists shall not ask to be informed what this motto is, but each Scientist shall purchase at least one spoon, and those who can afford it, one dozen spoons, that their families may read this motto at every meal, and their guests be made partakers of its simple truth.
Mary Baker G. Eddy.
The above-named spoons are sold by the Christian Science Souvenir Company, Concord, N. H., and will soon be on sale at the Christian Science reading rooms throughout the country.
Mrs. Eddy's picture was another fruitful source of revenue. The copyright for this is still owned by the Derby Company. This portrait is known as the "authorised" photograph of Mrs. Eddy. It was sold for years as a genuine photograph of Mrs. Eddy, but it is admitted now at Christian Science salesrooms that this picture is a "composite." The cheapest sells for one dollar. When they were ready for sale, in May, 1899, Mrs. Eddy, in the Journal of that date, announced:
It is with pleasure I certify that after months of incessant toil and at great expense Mr. Henry P. Moore, and Mr. J. C. Derby of Concord, N. H., have brought out a likeness of me far superior to the one they offered for sale last November. The portrait they have now perfected I cordially endorse. Also I declare their sole right to the making and exclusive sale of the duplicates of said portrait.
I simply ask that those who love me purchase this portrait.
Mary Baker Eddy.
The material prosperity of the Mother Church continued and the congregation soon outgrew the original building. At the June communion in 1902 ten thousand Christian Scientists were present. In the business meeting which followed they pledged themselves, "with startling grace," as Mrs. Eddy put it, to raise two million dollars, or any part of that sum which should be needed, to build an annex.
In the late spring of 1906 the enormous addition to the Mother Church the "excelsior extension," as Mrs. Eddy calls it was completed, and it was dedicated at the annual com munion, June 10, of that year. The original building was in the form of a cross, so Mrs. Eddy had the new addition built with a dome to represent a crown. The auditorium is capable of holding five thousand people; the walls are decorated with texts signed "Jesus, the Christ" and "Mary Baker G. Eddy" these names standing side by side.
| |
| Copyright by Detroit Publishing Co. |
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, BOSTON
The Mother Church
- ↑
This verse is taken from Longfellow's Filomena, which was written as a
tribute to Florence Nightingale's work in the hospital at Scutari. In St.
Thomas' hospital in London there is a statuette of Florence Nightingale in
nurse's dress, holding in her hands a night lamp such as she used in making
her rounds in Scutari. Upon this statuette, which is called The Lady with
the Lamp, is inscribed Longfellow's verse.
The cover design of the Christian Science Sentinel contains a conventionalised
figure of a woman holding a Greek lamp. Under it is inscribed the motto
quoted above.
- ↑ The Title of Mother. In the year 1895 loyal Scientists had given to the author of their textbook, the Founder of Christian Science, the individual, endearing term of Mother. Therefore, if a student of Christian Science shall apply this title, either to herself or to others except as the term for kinship according to the flesh, it shall be regarded by the church as an indication of disrespect for their Pastor Emeritus, and unfitness to be a member of the Mother Church.—Church Manual, Article XXII, Section 1.
In 1903 Mrs. Eddy issued a new by-law, which stated that "owing to the public misunderstanding of this name, it is the duty of Christian Scientists to drop the word mother, and to substitute Leader." This action was taken not long after Mark Twain, in the North American Review, had called attention to the title, cleverly ridiculing it. Mrs. Eddy and other Christian Scientists replied to Twain's articles, but the shaft had touched a vulnerable point and the title was dropped.
- ↑ This communion was originally observed once each quarter and then twice a year. Since 1899 it has been observed but once a year, on the second Sun day in June. No "material" emblems, such as bread and wine, are offered, and the communion is one of silent thought. On Monday the directors meet and transact the business of the year, and on Tuesday the officers' reports are read. As most members of the branch churches are also members of the Mother Church, thousands of Christian Scientists from all over the United States visit Boston at this time.
- ↑ At the 1898 communion there was no invitation from Mrs. Eddy, but a number of communicants went up to Concord to see her house and to see her start out upon her daily drive. In June, 1899, Mrs. Eddy came to Boston and briefly addressed the annual business meeting of the church. In 1902 and 1903 there were no formal pilgrimages, although hundreds of Christian Scientists went to Concord to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Eddy upon her drive.
- ↑ Colonel Sabin's popularity with Mrs. Eddy and her followers was short lived. Some months later, Sabin repudiated Mrs. Eddy's leadership and started an independent healing movement, and Mrs. Eddy at once withdrew her support and that of all Christian Scientists.
- ↑ February, 1899.