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I was informed then, that Mrs. Eddy had quite a large household
and that those serving in any capacity in her home came under
a line of malpractice that existed nowhere else on earth. The
difficulty of discovering people who would meet the requirements
and who possessed the necessary qualifications for performing this
work for our Leader made it necessary for the Directors, acting
under Mrs. Eddy’s instruction, to appoint a committee whose sole
purpose was to scour the country, if need be, in order to find
suitable persons. Our Leader in her great work for humanity found
it necessary that her time and thought be fully given to the work in
hand, and that she should not be occupied or annoyed with petty
details of household management. The members of this
committee, usually three in number, of which my caller was at that
time the traveling representative, interviewed many people in their
effort to find any who were qualified to perform this work. They
must be willing to leave homes and friends and take up their
residence in the home of our Leader. (“And every one that hath
forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an
hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” Matt. 19:29)

1
MEMOIRS
OF
MARY BAKER EDDY
by
Adam H. Dickey
This transcript is based on the Christian Science textbook
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
Unless otherwise noted, the quotations in this transcript are
from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.
All quotations from the Bible are from the authorized King
James Version.
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
Prayer and Practice:
Association Address of 1910
2
CONTENTS
Historical Note
Preface
Chapter I
The Summons to Duty
Chapter II
The Journey East
Chapter III
First Meeting with Mrs. Eddy
Chapter IV
“General Quarters” at Home
Chapter V
The Ideal of Orderliness and Regularity
Chapter VI
Generosity — A Lifelong Characteristic
Chapter VII
“Wit, Humor, and Enduring Vivacity”
Accuracy in Thought and Deed
Chapter VIII
Reluctance of Mrs. Eddy to Change Her
Writings in Response to Criticisms
Chapter IX
Changes in the Writings
3
Chapter X
The Twilight Hour
“Awake Thou That Sleepest”
Chapter XI
Leadership and Devotion to Her Cause
Chapter XII
Childhood Experiences
4
HISTORICAL NOTE
Adam H. Dickey was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1864.
During the latter part of the 1800’s the Dickey family moved to
Missouri. Mr. Dickey became interested in Christian Science after
he witnessed its healing effects. Both he and his wife, Lillian S.
Dickey, entered the healing ministry in Kansas City, Missouri, and
became listed as Christian Science practitioners in The Christian
Science Journal ...in 1900. Two years later they went through
Normal Class with Edward A. Kimball, and became teachers of
Christian Science. Soon afterwards they opened the Intra-State
Christian Science Institute, with offices in both New York City and
Kansas City.
In February, 1908, Mr. Dickey was called to Chestnut Hill,
Massachusetts, to serve Mary Baker Eddy in various capacities.
He was the last confidential secretary to join her staff before she
passed on in December, 1910.
Mrs. Eddy appointed Mr. Dickey to be one of the five
Directors of The Mother Church in Boston, a position he held for
fourteen years. He also served as Treasurer of The Mother Church
and as a Trustee under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy.
While Mr. Dickey was at Chestnut Hill, Mrs. Eddy secured a
promise from him under oath that he would write a history about
his years of service with her. The real purpose of such a history
was to show the cause of Mrs. Eddy’s death to be mental murder.
Sixteen years later he wrote these memoirs from records made
while he was with her. He did not live to finish the book nor to
elaborate on Mrs. Eddy’s urgent and specific request. His widow
published the unfinished manuscript in 1927, a year after his death,
and copies were distributed to Christian Scientists whom Mr.
Dickey had taught.
Mrs. Dickey did not consult the Board of Directors of The
Mother Church concerning the publication of these memoirs. The
Directors declared upon reading it that its issuance was a grave
5
mistake. They insisted that Mrs. Dickey stop distribution of the
book and withdraw every copy that had been distributed. They
claimed that Mr. Dickey could have complied with Mrs. Eddy’s
request by writing his memoirs for the church archives. The Board
soon acquired the copyright to the book, the Dickey pupils were
requested to turn in their copies to The Mother Church, and the
book was promptly buried in the archives.
A few printed and photostated copies remained in circulation,
however, and copies of the book were quietly passed from hand to
hand among Christian Scientists for many years. In 1980, it was
once again put into print and so made to the public. This printing
is a copy of the 1927 publication, with the spelling and
capitalization left as it was in the original. The three items in
brackets ([-]) have been inserted by the publisher.
This book is unique among the many memoirs and
biographies about Mrs. Eddy in that she requested Mr. Dickey to
write it. Indeed, she made him promise to do so. This request was
most unusual. There are records to show that she was very
reluctant to agree to the publication of Sibyl Wilbur’s biography,
The Life of Mary Baker Eddy. She discouraged other students
from writing about her, because she did not feel they were broad
enough — that is, they did not understand her well enough to write
her life story.
It would appear that she opposed a human account of her life
by those who did not fully understand her or her discovery. But in
the case of Mr. Dickey, she must have considered him sufficiently
discerning that he could go beneath the surface of events and
detect the real cause of her passing on. Unfortunately, he left the
book unfinished, and therefore he did not fulfill his promise to
relate her death to mental assassination. Even so, these memoirs
are invaluable as a historical document, for they tell of the many
obstacles that Mrs. Eddy faced in working to secure the future of
her beloved Cause. Although Mr. Dickey’s book falls short of its
6
original goal, it gives fascinating insights into the many aspects of
Mrs. Eddy’s last two years.
7
PREFACE
Writing a book always seemed to me a tremendous task. A
book in a way looks so formidable, and the thought of sitting down
in the endeavor to write one has ever been almost appalling to me.
Perhaps if I should set aside the thought of book writing and look
upon it merely as recording some of the incidents in the life and
experience of our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, that I know must be
preserved, the task would seem lighter. If, however, what I have to
say is properly recorded, I know that it will be read and perhaps
consulted or referred to for many years to come. As long as there
is an interest in the life and works of Mary Baker Eddy, the
memoirs of one who lived in her home as her private secretary for
nearly three years should be at least interesting. To many of those
who read this book I am known personally, and to many others I
am known by name; but in years to come this will not be the case,
and I feel that the reader who is expected to accept as facts the
things which I shall here relate will have a right to know who it is
that is asking him to accept his statements regarding the life of the
greatest benefactor to humanity that has lived since the time of
Jesus of Nazareth.
Concerning Mary Magdalene Jesus said, “Wheresoever this
gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this,
that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” (Matt.
26:13) I therefore feel that the author of this book will necessarily
come in for some share of publicity. Then if the reader of the
present day will pardon some reference to myself, I will make a
few statements for the benefit of future readers who may have no
means of acquaintance with the author other than what is said here.
I was born in Toronto, Canada, in the year 1864, the second
son in a family of nine children, six boys and three girls. My
father’s name was Nathaniel Dickey, and he was a native of the
town of Lisburn, Ireland, a devout and consecrated Christian of the
early days. My great-grandfather’s name was also Nathaniel
8
Dickey. His forebears were natives of Scotland and in the time of
King James were part of a colony which went to settle in the north
of Ireland, having been given a grant of land by the King. He was
one of the signers of a petition asking for lay representation in the
Presbyterian Church and was dismissed from membership for
daring to question church authority. He was converted to
Methodism under John Wesley and accompanied Wesley for a
considerable time during his tour of Ireland. He became a class
leader and a lay preacher in the Methodist Church.
My father came to the United States in the year 1848, and
afterward went to Toronto, Canada, where he engaged in the ironfoundry
business. I never knew a better man than my father. He
was clean in thought and in language. I never knew him to utter
even a slang expression. His life was one of uprightness and purity
and he was admired and respected by all who knew him. After he
passed on his children found in his diary under the date of August
7, 1859, the following entry, which gives a better insight into my
father’s character than I ever could:
August 7th, 1859.
In the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy
Gost I thus solemly inter into a covenant with my
Creator & Redeemer, having for its end the Glory of
God & the salvation of my soul.
And that I may be directed aright at this time, I
Beseech Thee Heavenly Father to grant me the
enlightening influences of thy Holy Spirit, Both to
dictate the course most proper to be pursued & to
strengthen me that I may be kept faithful in the
discharge of the following duties, for Jesus sake,
Amen.—
1st I give myselfe Body Soul & Spirit into the hands of
my Creator to be used as Gods will may direct,
9
2nd That I will at least twice every day approach him
in prayer for the pardon of my sins & full developement
of my Christian character,
3rd That I will at least once each day read & endevour
to understand some portion of his holy word,
4th That I will endevour to become reconciled to any
with whome I may be at variance and make restitution
to such as I may have in any way injured . . .
5th That in all matters of doubt or uncertainty I will
keep the example of Jesus before me & endevour to act
according to my knowledge of his will,
6th That I will keep a journal in which to record my
observations & reflections, For it is evident I have lost
much by not having kept any record of the various
events of my life.
My mother was a descendant of George Soule who came
over in the “Mayflower.” Her mother, Sarah Ann Soule, married
Robert Simpson, a young Englishman, who settled in Ontario,
Canada. On her mother’s side she was a descendant of
Revolutionary stock and also of those who for many years fought
in the early American colonial wars. She was the mother of nine
children, of whom I was the second. My mother was scrupulously
honest and frank. I never knew her to deceive one of her own
children, even in the many trifling ways wherein parents
sometimes think it best to misinform their children. The Bible was
an open book in our household, and the custom of family prayer
and Bible reading, established in early years, remained with our
family until the children were grown and had left home. I have
always had a fondness for the Bible and while still very young
attached myself to the Methodist Church, continuing active in
young people’s meetings and class work until I came into Christian
Science.
10
A Commission from Mrs. Eddy
It was the custom of our Leader to lie down for an hour each
afternoon and rest. Sometimes she would fall asleep, and upon
awakening would seem mentally refreshed after her labors of the
day. Many times when important matters were under consideration
she would, on awakening from these short naps, come to a quick
determination as to the right method to pursue in whatever she had
in hand.
On Tuesday, August 25, 1908, my bell rang, calling me to
Mrs. Eddy’s apartment. When I entered her study she was lying on
the lounge where she usually took her rest. Requesting Mrs.
Sargent, Mr. Frye, and a third student to leave the room, she
beckoned me to approach. She extended her hand to me, took
mine in both of hers, and asked in a deep, earnest voice, “Mr.
Dickey, I want you to promise me something, will you?
I said, “Yes, Mother, I certainly will.”
“Well,” she continued, “if I should ever leave here — do you
know what I mean by that?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“If I should ever leave here,” she repeated, “will you promise
me that you will write a history of what has transpired in your
experiences with me, and say that I was mentally murdered?”
I answered, “Yes, Mother, I will.”
“Now, Mr. Dickey, do not let anything interfere with your
keeping this promise. Will you swear to me before God that you
will not fail to carry out my wish?”
I raised my right hand and said, “Mother, I swear before God
that I will do what you request of me, namely, write a history of
what I have seen, and heard from your lips, concerning your life.”
“That will do, dear. I know now that you will not fail me.”
Her whole demeanor was one of solemn intensity, and there
was an eagerness in her voice and manner such as I seldom saw.
11
I returned to my room and pondered deeply over what she
had said. In a few minutes one of the workers and Mrs. Sargent
brought me a sealed envelope. In it was a penciled note reiterating
the statement that she had made in our conversation of a short time
before.
I knew that Mrs. Eddy had an aversion to having her private
life spread before the public. I knew also that on several occasions
the proposition had been made to her by others to write a history of
her life and experiences, all of which she firmly declined to
consider. Her reply to proposals of this kind was, “The time has
not yet come for my history to be written. The person to whom
this important work should be entrusted is not here yet and I will
not give my consent to its being done at this time.” This was the
nature of the reply she invariably made whenever some of her
loving students proposed to her that her life history should be
written.
In the request she had just made of me, I felt that Mrs. Eddy
did not intend me to write a detailed history of her life; but I know
she wanted the incidents and the circumstances of which I was a
witness to be given to the world. I also felt then, and feel now, that
there is no alternative but for me to put on record the experiences
and incidents which transpired in her life of which I was an
eyewitness, and which she related to me with her own lips.
I have hesitated to begin the narration of these incidents, but
have always been determined in my own mind that it should be
done, and have felt that when the time came, I should have no
difficulty in proceeding.
Sixteen years have come and gone since this promise was
made. A great many changes have take place in our Movement,
but the Cause has still gone on and flourished in spite of the attacks
made upon it. Because of the extremely personal nature of what I
shall be compelled to write I still have a strong reluctance to record
my memories, although I know this hesitancy is not my own
thought, but comes from without. The recollection of my solemn
12
promise impels me to take up this work now at this late date and
turn back to the record I made while in our Leader’s home of the
events that are set forth. I am making use of nothing that is not
authentic, and although I am unable to include more than a part of
what I had written down, I am confident that there is sufficient to
carry out the obligation which our Leader placed upon me.
ADAM H. DICKEY
13
MEMOIRS OF MARY BAKER EDDY
by
Adam H. Dickey
Chapter I
THE SUMMONS TO DUTY
During the year 1907, while serving as First Reader in First
Church of Christ, Scientist, Kansas City, Missouri, I received a call
from a gentleman from Boston, who spent a few hours, Sunday
afternoon, in our home. He informed me of the nature of his
errand in Kansas City, which was to the effect that he was looking
for people to go to Concord, New Hampshire, to live in the home
of Mrs. Eddy and there to serve her in different capacities.
He explained to me that it was difficult for our Leader to find
suitable persons to assist in her household. When she needed a
personal maid, there were always plenty of volunteers, but very
few who could pass the requirements. The same situation existed
in regard to other work in the household, — difficulty in finding
persons to do the necessary cooking, serving, and other general
tasks.
I was informed then, that Mrs. Eddy had quite a large household
and that those serving in any capacity in her home came under
a line of malpractice that existed nowhere else on earth. The
difficulty of discovering people who would meet the requirements
and who possessed the necessary qualifications for performing this
work for our Leader made it necessary for the Directors, acting
under Mrs. Eddy’s instruction, to appoint a committee whose sole
purpose was to scour the country, if need be, in order to find
suitable persons. Our Leader in her great work for humanity found
it necessary that her time and thought be fully given to the work in
14
hand, and that she should not be occupied or annoyed with petty
details of household management. The members of this
committee, usually three in number, of which my caller was at that
time the traveling representative, interviewed many people in their
effort to find any who were qualified to perform this work. They
must be willing to leave homes and friends and take up their
residence in the home of our Leader. (“And every one that hath
forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an
hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” Matt. 19:29)
Our Leader was very strict in her requirements. For instance,
if one had formerly suffered from a belief that had incapacitated
him, even though he had been healed and restored apparently to
perfect health, she did not want such a person in her house. Her
reason for this has already been alluded to, — that as soon as the
individual entered Mrs. Eddy’s employ he came under a certain
malicious mental malpractice that he had never encountered before,
and our Leader was unwilling to subject anybody to this trial, who
might be liable to a relapse or return of a diseased belief.
One might easily ask the question, why should not Mrs. Eddy
immediately heal one of the old belief in case it should return?
Very true, Mrs. Eddy could have done so, but healing the sick in
Christian Science is not a pastime, nor merely a wish, unaccompanied
by earnest effort, as every practitioner can testify. It requires
special time and attention, and our Leader had other things to do
than to heal sick people who had come down under such claims in
her home. People were not invited to Mrs. Eddy’s house for their
own improvement. They were invited there to work, and what she
required of them was not that they should work for themselves, but
that they should work for her and for the Cause of Christian
Science. Therefore, experience taught her that it was wiser and
better at the outset to decline to receive people who were liable in
any way to an attack from mortal mind, than to accept such
15
individuals and have them struggling with a belief of illness after
they had arrived at her home.
Hence it was incumbent on the committee, who had charge of
this work, to investigate thoroughly those whom they were considering
for positions of this kind and ascertain, before employing
them, that they would meet all the requirements. Sometimes such
an investigation had to be made with the prospective worker
unaware of why he was being questioned, and this was not always
a very easy task.
In his conversation with me my visitor frankly told me what
Mrs. Eddy’s requirements were and asked me if I knew of any
Christian Scientist whom I thought would successfully pass such
an investigation as would have to be made. My reply at that time
was, “I know many people who would be glad to go there, but I
know of no one at present that I think would be good enough to go
into our Leader’s home and serve her in the capacity of personal
maid,” the position which he was seeking to fill at that time.
Who would not have jumped at the opportunity to go to Mrs.
Eddy’s home and work for her! Hundreds would offer themselves
for this position if they had only known when it was open. One
difficulty in connection with this series of investigations was that
many people upon learning that there was a prospect, however
remote, of serving Mrs. Eddy took pains to conceal from the
committee the fact that they were subject sometimes to attacks
from mortal mind. They felt that if they could only get under our
Leader’s roof ,they could thereafter bask in the sunshine of her
smile and forever be beyond any possibility of an evil attack.
Teachers many times eagerly recommended their own students
with the thought that it would be quite a distinction to have a
student serving our Leader. How little they really knew of the
situation may be estimated from what has already been said of the
claims of malicious attack to which the workers were subjected.
Every one who was in Mrs. Eddy’s home was there because
of his ability to work and to perform the tasks that were set for
16
him. Many people seemed to be inspired with a belief that there
could be no pleasanter occupation in the world than to work for
Mrs. Eddy. They failed to realize that what Mrs. Eddy wanted and
actually required of those about her was the mental support which
she found necessary to receive from students in order that she
might be uninterrupted in her work for her Cause and for mankind.
Mrs. Eddy was at the head of a great Movement, a Church that had
grown up under divine direction and was designed, eventually, to
destroy all evil and bring to suffering humanity a remedy for every
form of sickness and sin. The same form of evil that attacked the
work of Jesus and cried out, “What have we to do with thee, thou
Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us?” (Mark 1:24), was
by no means lacking in connection with Mrs. Eddy’s experience.
She was in a position somewhat similar to that of the general of a
large army, who is fighting for its existence. The attacks of the
enemy would be made, if possible, on the leader of the defending
army. Usually in such cases the commanding officer occupies a
safe point of vantage far in the rear of his fighting troops, from
which he can issue orders and send forth his commands,
unmolested and unthreatened by the attacking forces. In times
gone by, the general of an army was required to be in the front of
the battle leading his men, but in such events he was invariably
surrounded by an able bodyguard sufficient to protect him from
every possible attack. The members of this bodyguard were not
weaklings, nor soldiers who had been disabled and had not
regained their full strength. He was surrounded by the very flower
of the army. The best fighters and most capable workers were at
his elbow constantly.
Mrs. Eddy was in much the same position in the leadership of
this Movement. She could occupy no convenient retreat from
which to direct the movements of her slender battalions. She must
be in the front rank in the thick of battle every day, and she needed
to be surrounded by the best workers she could find, who virtually
acted as a bodyguard and a protection for her in order that she
17
might be able to give her undivided attention to the work necessary
to properly safeguard her Church. Thus it was that every person
who went to Mrs. Eddy’s home had to be tried and tested before he
assumed his duties.
The committee member’s visit with me at Kansas City
brought the first intimation I had ever had that such precaution was
necessary, or indeed, that Mrs. Eddy required reinforcement in her
home. I had always imagined that Mrs. Eddy lived quietly, as any
other elderly woman would live, surrounded by comforts and
luxuries, and by those friends whom she wished to invite to share
her home with her. I had no idea that she was constantly besieged
by all the forces of evil and that she had to be in the front line of
battle, day and night, throughout all the years of her leadership. It
was very interesting to me to learn how these things were being
done. After my guest’s departure, we corresponded occasionally,
and sometimes he would call me on the telephone when passing
through the city. Each time he would ask me if I had been able to
think of anybody who would fill the requirements. Later on he was
looking for someone to assist with the housework. Again, a cook
was needed or someone for work of that sort, but always I was
impressed by the fact that it was difficult to obtain such material as
that for which he was looking.
Shortly after these interviews, I visited Boston, in June of
1907, to attend the communion service and Annual Meeting. Here
again I met the student who had called upon me in the west, and
for the first time learned that while he was quizzing me about other
people, who might be employed to work for Mrs. Eddy, he was
quietly sizing me up as a possible choice for an assistant in Mrs.
Eddy’s home in connection with secretarial work. When in Boston
on this occasion I was invited to step into the Treasurer’s office,
which at that time was in The Mother Church, and there I was
interviewed by a committee of three. They questioned me quite
closely with regard to my own work and the length of time I had
been in Science, and what I felt I had accomplished, and then
18
asked me if I would be willing to respond to a call from the
Directors, in case they should see fit to invite me to work in Mrs.
Eddy’s home. I told them I had no higher aim in life than to be of
service to Mrs. Eddy and the Cause of Christian Science, and that
if they needed somebody to shovel the snow off her front sidewalk,
I would drop everything else and give all my time to her service in
any capacity whatever. I remember my reference to shoveling
snow brought forth a little laugh, and one of the members of the
committee remarked that they didn’t seem to have much difficulty
in getting people to shovel snow, but it was with regard to work of
an entirely different nature that they were concerned. They asked
me if I could use a typewriter and I replied in the affirmative. This
interview was, of course, a private one, and I dismissed the subject
when it was over, and thought no more of it until my first
questioner reappeared in Kansas City, January 26, 1908. He was
still looking for the household workers for Mrs. Eddy and had been
traveling over the country quite a good deal with that end in view.
On January 29, 1908, I received a special delivery registered
letter from the Board of Directors of The Mother Church, which
read as follows:
January 26, 1908
MR. ADAM H. DICKEY, C.S.B.,
The New York,
12th & Paseo,
Kansas City, Mo.
Dear Brother:
The Directors hereby extend to you a loving call to
serve our beloved Leader, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy,
according to the terms of the By-law Article XXII, Sect.
10 of the Church Manual.
19
If you will come sooner than the ten days, it will be
very much appreciated.
As soon as you can after receiving this letter, will
you please telegraph me at what time you will be in
Boston? And upon your arrival, call me by telephone
at Back Bay 1470 between the hours of 8:00 and 12:00
A.M. and 1:00 and 5:00 P.M. and at Back Bay 1506 at
other times.
Very sincerely yours,
WILLIAM B. JOHNSON,
Secretary.
Immediately I replied that I would leave Kansas City for
Boston the following Monday.
My sense of duty in connection with this call prompted me to
say nothing to anyone about it. At the time, I was serving as First
Reader of First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Kansas City,
Missouri, and to sever my connection with church duties, to
abandon suddenly a large practice without giving some reasonable
explanation for my departure and continued absence, was not an
easy task. The By-law referred to in the letter stated that I must
serve for one year, and I felt it would be wiser not to announce my
destination before leaving, but to explain my absence after I had
reached Boston. Arriving at this conclusion, I packed my trunk
with the thought of being absent for a year and took my departure.
Chapter II
THE JOURNEY EAST
20
On Monday, February 2, 1908, I left Kansas City bound for
Boston, with high expectations of the wonderful experiences which
lay before me. I arrived in Chicago the following morning. There
I had some time to spare, and having been unable to purchase a
copy of the latest Manual in Kansas City, before leaving, I visited
the Reading Room, a magnificently furnished apartment on the top
floor of a building on South Michigan Ave. I did not make myself
known to the Librarian, but, observing a consignment of new
Manuals which had just arrived, I purchased one and turned to
Article XXII, Section 11. Somewhat to my surprise I saw that the
wording had been changed, so that the person accepting the call,
instead of remaining with Mrs. Eddy for one year, unless she
requested otherwise, the By-law read, should remain for three
years. [This By-law was changed in 1905 in the 49th edition of the
Church Manual. It is now numbered Section 2.]
This furnished me with much food for thought, but having
put my hand to the plow, I could not turn back. Besides, the
thought of being chosen to serve the Leader of the Christian
Science Movement for one year or a dozen seemed such a precious
opportunity to me that even the prospect of being absent from my
home for three years could offer no possible deterrent to me on this
momentous trip.
I had much time to ponder the situation as the train carried
me eastward. Mrs. Eddy I had seen but once, on July 4, 1907,
when she invited the members of The Mother Church to visit her at
Pleasant View, in Concord, New Hampshire, and now I was to see
her again, and perhaps enter her household and serve her in some
capacity, I did not know what. My thoughts were buoyant and
hopeful and I felt that no greater blessing could fall to me than to
receive such a call.
The country was covered with snow, which fell during all the
trip. Trains were delayed and traffic generally interfered with
because of the constant snowfall. Instead of reaching Boston at
three o’clock in the afternoon, the train pulled into the station at
eleven in the evening.
21
In accordance with instructions in the letter from Mr. William
B. Johnson, Secretary of the Board of Directors, I called him by
telephone at his home. He directed me to a hotel and said he
would call for me at 6:30 the next morning, and asked if I could
be ready. At the appointed hour I was on hand, although it was
still dark. Mr. Johnson had inquired at what hour the first street
car left for Chestnut Hill, and we boarded it as it passed the hotel.
At Lake Street on Commonwealth Avenue a horse and sleigh from
a nearby livery stable met us, and we were drawn through heaps of
snow until we arrived at Mrs. Eddy’s front door. Mr. Johnson
alighted with me and we were admitted to the home. The family
was at breakfast when we arrived. Mr. Frye, who sat at the head of
the table and assumed the position of host, invited Mr. Johnson to
breakfast with us, but he declined and returned immediately to his
home.
After meeting Mr. Frye, I was introduced to Mrs. Laura
Sargent, whom I already knew, and to three other members of the
household including the gentleman who was serving temporarily as
secretary to Mrs. Eddy. After breakfast he told me many things
about Mrs. Eddy’s household that were new and interesting to me.
In fact, he was the only one who ventured to talk to me concerning
my sudden entrance into the household, and what I might expect as
a result. I learned afterward the reason for the reticence that was
assumed by the other members of the household. I was a
comparative stranger, little known to any of them. They knew I
had been sent for on Mrs. Eddy’s call. They also were aware that I
would have to pass the customary examination, through which
everyone passed who was brought to Mrs. Eddy’s home with the
expectation of serving her. None of them knew whether I would
remain after the interview long enough to unpack my valise, or
whether I would remain for three years. Many of the people who
came to our Leader’s home scarcely crossed the threshold, while
others were interviewed by Mrs. Eddy and remained perhaps a day
or two, and when she saw their services were not to be desired,
they were allowed to depart and return home.
22
During this first breakfast, conversation turned on my trip
eastward, and I learned that I had been expected to arrive the day
before, Mrs. Eddy having been caused some concern over the
delay. They asked me in rather a pointed way if we had encountered
much snow on the trip. I explained that the whole country
was covered with a blanket of snow, which was responsible for my
delay. Mr. Frye at once said, “We must tell Mother about that.” I
wondered at the time what there was in that little discussion that
could interest Mrs. Eddy. I afterward learned that she had an
aversion to heavy snowfalls, and that they were the damaging
results of error and ought not to be tolerated. It seems that this
particular snowfall had been the cause of considerable damage, and
the workers in her household felt that they might be excused for
their failure to control the snow if Mrs. Eddy were informed that
the storm was almost country-wide and not confined to New
England.
I had never seen Mr. Frye before, except as he occupied the
seat beside the coachman, as Mrs. Eddy took her daily drive in
Concord on the occasion of my last visit there. He was a short,
stout man with pale and thoughtful countenance, indicating that he
was accustomed to an indoor rather than an outdoor life. He was
quiet, even to taciturnity, — extremely non-communicative, — and
with an abruptness in his short answers that might have given the
impression to a stranger that he was impatient with his questioner.
I soon found, however, that this was not the case, but that at the
time of my arrival he had been serving our Leader for a period of
perhaps twenty-five years, and long association with her had taught
him to mind his own business and he expected others to do the
same. There was another side to Mr. Frye’s character, also, and at
times he was quite genial and friendly in his relations with the
other members of the household. He possessed a keen sense of
humor, and he was a man who liked his little joke quite as well as
did others of a more mirthful disposition.
Mrs. Sargent I had met when she was the custodian of the
room that had been furnished by the children for our Leader in The
Mother Church. My wife and I visited this room in 1907, and it
23
was Mrs. Sargent who showed us through the apartment. Her
engaging manner and pleasant disposition made such a deep
impression upon us then that we always thought of her as
particularly amiable and loving. I found her devoted to Mrs. Eddy.
She seemed to have but one thought and that was to serve, and the
members of Mrs. Eddy’s household who recall her, will always
think of her as the loving and devoted Laura Sargent.
Another of the workers I had never met before, and I found
her a wholesome, loving Christian Scientist who had been in our
Leader’s household for nearly a year. She remained but a short
time after my arrival, returning to her home city where she had
been long engaged as a teacher and practitioner. She will always
be lovingly remembered by those who knew her best.
The student who was serving as secretary I already knew,
having heard him read in one of the Churches of Christ, Scientist,
in New York City. He was there temporarily filling the place of
secretary, which had just been vacated by my predecessor, and I
found that he was awaiting my arrival in order that he might return
to his work in New York.
After breakfast this gentleman took me under his wing, as it
were, and gave me a glimpse of the house as far as it was practicable
at that time. Many, who have visited Mrs. Eddy’s home
since her departure, will remember it as a large stone structure,
massive in its lines. The front door opens from a porte-cochere
into a vestibule, and thence into a large hall, which extends to the
rear of the house, leading through French doors on to a balcony
overlooking a wide expanse of territory, with the Blue Hills in the
distance. On the right of the hall are two large rooms, the front one
of which was used as the library, and the rear one as a dining room.
Between these two rooms is a small transverse hall, leading out to
the side door and the kitchen, which is crossed through large
openings in which are hung heavy portieres. The windows in the
dining room also look out over the rear of the estate toward the
Blue Hills.
On the left of the front hall is an aperture, or little hall, about
ten feet square in which stands the stately hall clock, surmounted
24
by the Ambrose coat of arms of our Leader’s mother’s family.
From this antechamber one enters the large drawing rooms
extending from the front to the rear and giving an idea of space and
expansion to the whole house. In these rooms tastefully displayed
are many beautiful rugs, paintings, and other ornaments, which
have been presented to our Leader from time to time by her
devoted followers. The windows at the rear of these two rooms
open, as do those of the dining room, on to the balcony referred to,
and a large opening on the right enables one to pass through the
spacious hall into the dining room, and in this way to make the
complete circuit from room to room of the lower floor. The house
was newly furnished and carpeted throughout, this arduous labor
having been performed under the supervision of a member of The
Mother Church who was selected for this particular work.
From the front of the hall on the right rises the large colonial
staircase, easy of ascent and extending well back to the second
floor with its old, high ceilings. After being shown the lower floor,
I was taken to the room which was to be mine, directly over the
library at the front of the house and on the same floor with the
rooms occupied by our Leader. I found it equipped as an office, as
well as a bedroom. There were house telephones connecting with
every room in the house except those occupied by Mrs. Eddy. The
room was large, light, airy, and well furnished. My guide soon
seated himself with me at the desk and began to give me an outline
of what my duties were to be. This was the first intimation I had
had that there was a possibility that I might serve Mrs. Eddy in a
secretarial capacity. There were numerous letters on the desk from
various places, all of which had been opened by the secretary pro
tem. He told me many interesting things regarding our Leader’s
daily routine, — the hour when she arose, when she breakfasted,
when she received and read her mail, as well as many others of her
daily tasks, which were performed at a set hour. I have always felt
grateful for this friend. He was the first and only one, other than
Mrs. Eddy herself, to give me any satisfactory explanation as to
why I was there, and why others were there also. He gave me a
25
short sketch of the people in the house and also gave me bits of
information that proved valuable to me afterward.
Remaining for a little over two weeks, this student then
returned to his home in New York, and shortly afterward his place
was taken by another worker who came at our Leader’s request and
was accepted as a member of her household.
I was informed of Mr. Frye’s association with Mrs. Eddy, and
was told that he had been in her employ for about twenty-five
years. Mr. Frye originally worked in one of the shoe shops of
Lynn, Massachusetts, where he operated a machine of some
description. He was a man of meager education, but through
reading and observation had cultivated a high degree of
understanding. He was religious and devout by nature, and was
identified with a church in Lynn when he became interested in
Christian Science. This occurred shortly after the passing on of his
wife, and upon learning something of the teachings of Christian
Science, he went through a class with Mrs. Eddy in the year 1881,
and manifested a deep interest in her work. His devotion to the
Cause of Christian Science attracted the attention of our Leader,
and being at the time without any secretarial help, she turned to
Mr. Frye to perform many little services for her, which he did with
such eagerness and thoroughness that she eventually employed him
as a sort of factotum, and he finally became a member of her
household. He assisted her in arranging and calling her classes; he
tended the furnace, and in fact, did everything he could in the way
of service to relieve our Leader from thought-taking or annoyances
in connection with her great work. When she moved to Concord,
New Hampshire, he went with her and always accompanied her on
her daily drives, so that Calvin Frye came to be a household
necessity with Mrs. Eddy. She told me that she found him
scrupulously honest and trustworthy, and eventually she turned
over to him the keeping of her accounts. He was her bookkeeper
and cashier, as well as her secretary. At the time of my entry into
Mrs. Eddy’s household, Mr. Frye sat at the head of the table and
was virtually the host, so that when my informant whispered to me,
“If I were you, I would cultivate Frye,” it spoke volumes, and
26
showed me that because of his intense devotion and service to Mrs.
Eddy, he was one of the most valued members of her household.
Chapter III
FIRST MEETING WITH MRS. EDDY
The morning mail had just arrived, and one of my first
discoveries was that everything in the way of mail, packages, and
things to be receipted for, came into the house via the secretary’s
office. I was almost startled to see the acting secretary pick up a
letter opener and begin opening Mrs. Eddy’s mail. He then
explained that he was doing this under Mrs. Eddy’s direction, and
that if I were to continue as her secretary, she would give me
similar instructions.
About this time a knock came at the door and Mr. Frye informed
me that Mrs. Eddy wished to see me. I think my heart gave
27
a few extra flutters, for this was to me the supreme moment in my
Christian Science career. I arose and followed him. He led me
along the upstairs hall from the front of the house, diagonally
across to a large room at the left and rear which was occupied by
Mrs. Eddy as a study. Mr. Frye entered this room and I followed
him. Mrs. Eddy was seated in a large chair beside her desk and as
we entered she rose and extended her hand in greeting. After
introducing me, Mr. Frye left the room.
Mrs. Eddy motioned me to a chair, and we had our first
conversation. She was a woman of rather below medium height,
slender, and having the appearance of a person between eighty and
ninety years of age. Her complexion was clear and her eyes were
bright. She talked with a most beautifully modulated voice. At
times, when she was saying some unusually impressive thing, it
took on qualities deep and orotund. It seemed like one of the best
trained voices I had ever heard. Her hair was gray and becomingly
arranged, and one thing that impressed me deeply was the
daintiness and neatness of her attire. She wore the well-known
diamond cross at her throat and a large marquise ring, set with
diamonds, that she seemed to think a great deal of. Her dress was
of heavy silk and cut and made without regard to the modes and
fashions of that day. She wore a ruching about her neck, which I
afterward learned was replaced every morning. She seldom
appeared in the same dress on successive days and seemed to have
a complete and inexhaustive wardrobe. In short, I soon discovered
that Mrs. Eddy was fond of dress, and that she believed in
daintiness, neatness, and order in connection with all her wearing
apparel. Her hands were small and her fingernails were well
manicured, a task which she imposed upon herself every morning.
After I was seated she asked me many questions, among
which were, what my age was, my birthplace, my schooling, and
under what circumstances I had come into Christian Science. She
asked who my teacher was, what my success had been in healing,
and many other interrogatories, which bore no particular
28
significance to me at that time, but which I afterward learned she
felt were important. She seemed pleased to know that I had not
come into Christian Science in search of health, and was also
interested to hear that I was one of nine children, all of whom were
still living, with the father and mother, who had attained to a
healthy old age. She was impressed with the fact that we rarely if
ever had need for a physician in our family and that the fear of
sickness and disease had been almost unknown.
She then gave me a brief outline of some of the duties she
would expect of me, and asked me if I would like to come and live
in her household and become a member of it, and enter her service
as a mental worker. I told her I would be most happy if she would
employ me in any capacity whatever. After a few more words she
excused me and I left her study.
Upon reaching my own room I sat down and was meditating
on what had occurred when I heard the sharp ringing of a bell four
times in quick succession. Presently, Mr. Frye appeared at my
door and said, “Mr. Dickey, that is your signal to come to Mrs.
Eddy’s room. Whenever you hear four bells, it means for you to
respond at once to her call.” I immediately went to her and she
again spoke to me, — this time a little more intimately, about her
personal affairs. She explained that as the Leader of a great
Movement, she had naturally acquired many enemies, and that she
was having considerable to meet by way of aggressive mental
suggestion, intended to injure or affect her physically. This
seemed a very startling disclosure at that time, but nevertheless I
accepted it. After receiving some directions as to how I should
work for our Leader, I again returned to my room and pondered
over the things she had said to me.
The followers of a great leader usually feel, as they have a
right to, that they are well acquainted with and thoroughly
understand the person whom they are following. This, however,
was not true in the case of Mrs. Eddy. Very few people really
knew her at all intimately, with the exception of perhaps two or
29
three of those who spent a great deal of time with her, and even
then she was often heard to say that those who had been with her
the longest seemed to know her the least. It was generally believed
among Mrs. Eddy’s followers that she stood erect physically and
mentally at all times and simply spoke the word to error and it
would entirely disappear. There were occasions when she did rise
to this height, but there were also times when she seemed to bend
beneath the heavy load that mortal mind had placed upon her, and
it was then that she really yearned for human aid and sympathy.
She seemed to feel that she was more or less alone in her sphere of
work and that those by whom she was surrounded did not really
understand her or sympathize with her in the way in which she
truly wished. Mrs. Eddy was not what might be called a worldlywise
woman, and yet whenever a question of any kind arose that
required a decision from the standpoint of wisdom, she was always
able to appeal to the divine Mind and get her answer.
I arrived at the residence in Chestnut Hill, Thursday morning,
February 6, 1908. On Sunday, the 9th, the coachman, who lived in
a small cottage at some distance from the house, had not made his
appearance, and someone whose duties took him to the barn
brought the information to Mr. Frye that the horses had not been
cared for that morning. An investigation was started, and it was
nearly noon before it was discovered that the coachman had passed
on some time during the night with a claim of heart failure, and
when found rigor mortis had already set in.
This seemed to be one of the cases where there was so much
anxiety on the part of the worker to obtain employment with Mrs.
Eddy, that the unfortunate man informed the committee that he was
in excellent health and had always been sound and well, although
he had in times past been subject to attacks of this sort. He
evidently did not realize that entering the employ of Mrs. Eddy
would subject him to more vigorous attacks in this direction than
he had ever sustained before. The discovery was made apparently
too late to render the man assistance. In one short week he fur30
nished an illustration of how quickly error would strike at those
who undertook to render a service to our Leader.
After dinner, Mr. Frye came into my room and said that Mrs.
Eddy was greatly disappointed in not being able to take her drive.
“Why can’t she take her drive?” I asked. “There is nobody to drive
her.” “Can’t you?” I questioned. “No,” he replied, “I never have
driven a horse attached to a sleigh, and Mother is not willing for
me to undertake it.” “Would she like me to drive?” “Can you do
it?” asked Mr. Frye. “Yes,” I said, “I have been accustomed to
horses all my life.” When he informed Mrs. Eddy, she sent for me
at once and questioned me about my ability to drive horses. I
assured her that I was quite capable of performing this service for
her and would be overjoyed to do it. This was my first experience
in acting as coachman for Mrs. Eddy, but I was inwardly pleased to
know that such a slight service meant so much to her.
In commenting upon the passing on of her coachman she
opened Science and Health, and turned to page 187, line 13, and at
the same time she said to me, “Mr. Dickey, when I turn to this
book, I am like a mechanic who turns to his tools and picks up the
one he wants. This reference on page 187 has a direct bearing on
the case. When it occurred I knew where it came from, for it presented
itself clearly to me in thought.” After a short discussion of
the subtle claims of malicious mental malpractice, she dictated
what now appears in Science and Health (page 442, line 30-32).
I drove the sleigh each day until a new coachman was installed,
which was on Thursday, February 13.
It was Mrs. Eddy’s custom to arise promptly at six o’clock
every morning. She rang the bell for her maid at that hour and one
touch of the bell always called her. One could almost set his watch
by the regularity with which this bell was rung. Mrs. Eddy did not
breakfast with the family. Her meals were taken in her own
apartment, and her light breakfast was served by her maid at seven
o’clock, which was also the hour for the family breakfast.
31
The system of bells in Mrs. Eddy’s house was a great institution.
I think it must have been improvised by Mr. Frye, and at
first thought, one would be inclined to believe that a much better
device might have been arranged. On longer acquaintance, however,
it was found that this crude system of bell ringing was about the
only one that could be effectively put into operation. A single cord
with a button was located at a convenient place on Mrs. Eddy’s
desk and the bells were connected in series, that is to say, when
one touch was given to the button, one bell rang in the maid’s
room, in the upper hall, in the lower hall, and in the kitchen. This
was done so that in whatever part of the house the maid may have
been at the time the bell was rung, it would not escape her
attention. Each worker had a definite ring, three, four, or five, or
whatever the number might be, and if any worker left the home, his
successor inherited the same number of bells. When Mrs. Eddy
desired to call all of her workers together at one time, she usually
gave the bell ten or fifteen taps, which always resulted in the quick
appearance of her mental workers.
The first morning I experienced this wholesale calling was a
few days after my arrival, when I heard the bells ringing apparently
all over the house. I was still wondering what the commotion was
about when Mr. Frye shoved his head through my door and said,
“That means everybody.” I responded with alacrity and found that
others had arrived before me because of my ignorance as to what
this sudden call meant.
Mrs. Eddy opened the Bible and read to us James 1, verses
21-25. Then she gave us all a talk on being “doers of the word,
and not hearers only,” deceiving ourselves. She dwelt especially
on the passage referring to a man beholding his natural face in a
glass and straightway forgetting what manner of man he was. This
brought out a new meaning to me that affected the whole passage,
and I saw the right idea of man as never before. Our difficulty
seems to be that we look at the reflection mortal mind sends back
and accept this as our true being, forgetting that man is spiritual
32
and not material. She said to us, “You are not doing your work as
you should and I shall not instruct you further until you have
demonstrated something more of what has been taught. It would
be a poor teacher that would take students up into the higher
branches of mathematics before they had proved addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division. Therefore, until you
demonstrate in better fashion what you have already been taught, I
shall teach you no more.” This is one of the gentle means of
persuasion our Leader so often employed in endeavoring to get us
to do better work. The reader here should understand that the
people employed in Mrs. Eddy’s home were there for but one purpose,
and that was to serve their Leader and to protect her against
malicious attacks of mortal mind in her endeavors to give to the
world the religion of Christian Science. At this point I can almost
hear some critical reader say, “What nonsense! Who is trying
maliciously to attack Mrs. Eddy?” Remember the people’s reply to
Jesus, “Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?” (John
7:20.) Many times she struggled with some physical argument that
had to be met before she could proceed with her regular work of
directing the Movement. Not only was it incumbent on her to keep
a clear thought of the demands made upon her in her direction and
control of The Mother Church and its branches, but she also had to
keep her head above the malicious and intentionally directed
attacks made upon her personally, having for their purpose and
sole object the interruption of her work and the attempt, if possible,
to destroy her life.
On the following morning she spoke to me about the determination
we should exercise in doing our mental work. She said,
“Never fear a lie. Declare against it with the consciousness of its
nothingness. Throw your whole weight into the right scale. This
is the only way to destroy evil.” She then picked up a lead pencil
from her desk, and grasping it in the middle with her thumb and
forefinger, she balanced it there like a pair of scales. Then she
touched the point with one of her fingers and pressed it down,
33
forcing the other end of the pencil up, and said, “You can see that
whatever you put in one end of the scale always throws the other
end up. Now remember this, and never admit anything that will
weigh against ourselves. When we admit a lie, we put the weight
into the wrong scale, and this operates against ourselves.”
Chapter IV
“GENERAL QUARTERS” AT HOME
I was beginning now to become better acquainted with my
duties and with what was expected of Mrs. Eddy’s workers at
Chestnut Hill. The household consisted at this time of about
twelve members besides Mrs. Eddy. Included among the twelve
were two gentlemen and two ladies; Mrs. Eddy’s personal maid;
another, who, with her own hands, prepared our Leader’s meals;
the house man, who was Mrs. Eddy’s trusted servant; the night
watchman; the housekeeper; and the coachman who took care of
the stables. All of these dear people had left their homes and had
come as associate workers in our Leader’s house to serve her and
the Cause of Christian Science.
34
Occasionally changes took place in the personnel of the
household, it becoming necessary for one cause or another to bring
in new workers, and allow the older ones to return to their homes.
At times the number of those present went as high as sixteen or
eighteen, so that there was quite a house full of people.
The main object in the thought of everyone was to do what he
could to serve Mrs. Eddy. She was endeavoring to live and carry
on the work which God had given her to do, and when things went
well with her, there was a spirit of cheerfulness and activity
throughout the household that seemed to be reflected in the
conduct of each individual member; but when Mrs. Eddy seemed
to be laboring under the oft-repeated attacks of evil, the members
of her household kept busily at work.
The most important work in connection with our Leader’s
home was that done by the mental workers, who were there
because of their experience in the field as practitioners and of their
ability to handle the claims of evil as they presented themselves.
This work was done under the direct supervision of our Leader,
and through her secretary she informed the other workers just what
phases of error she felt should be given special attention. Her
secretary, at her request, prepared what was denominated a
“watch.” This consisted of typewritten sheets of paper containing
in numerical order the names or description of the phases of error
that Mrs. Eddy wished them to handle. She was being constantly
assailed by mental malpractice, and it was necessary for someone
to take up this work and aid her in freeing herself from these
different attacks. She seemed to be the only one who was able to
discern the course that error was pursuing. Sometimes she learned
this through suffering, but she always knew it and would by means
of these “watches” notify the workers what their mental work
should be. Many times, while our Leader was working on the
problems connected with the government of her Church, the
physical effects of the discord she wished to overcome seemed to
manifest themselves in her body, and often she was prostrated with
35
suffering, apparently caused by the chemicalization of the
conditions of thought she was endeavoring to meet, and which
seemed to culminate in her own thought.
Some of the most important By-laws of The Mother Church
formulated themselves in the thought of our Leader while she was
under a claim of suffering, which continued until the By-law was
ready to be passed upon by the Directors. Then the suffering
disappeared and everything went on harmoniously without a single
trace of what our Leader had passed through.
These experiences occurred when she changed the By-laws,
doing away with the Communion Service in The Mother Church,
and also on the occasion when she disbanded the executive
members of The Mother Church. She suffered greatly in both
these instances, but the moment she arrived at a decision and
framed the By-laws which treated with these two conditions, her
relief was instantaneous and she arose immediately, healed. This
caused me to ponder much, and I recalled the quotation from Isaiah
(53:4-5) where he says: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Calvin Frye told me that these experiences always came to
Mrs. Eddy in this way and that whenever any great revelation came
to her, concerning that which seemed necessary for the welfare of
our Cause, these struggles appeared in her body. This corroborates
what she told me about feeling the needs of the Movement in her
body.
On one of these occasions, when her suffering seemed
severe, she called us all into the room and quoted a passage from
Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas’d,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
36
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuff’d bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
It was at this time that she said to us, “You don’t any of you
realize what is going on. This is a dark hour for the Cause and you
do not seem to be awake to it.” She said, “I am now working on a
plane that would mean instantaneous death to any of you.”
Each mental worker in the home occupied his own room,
which was large, airy, and comfortably furnished, with private bath
connected. The injunction, “Never forsake your post,” was one
that was strictly obeyed by every mental worker in our Leader’s
home. Each was always to be found in his own room, and when a
change was proposed in the line of mental work to be taken up,
Mrs. Eddy would give her secretary the language of the “watch,”
or perhaps it would be sent to his room by Mr. Frye, Mrs. Sargent,
or Mrs. Eddy’s maid, whichever one happened to be convenient
when the inspiration reached our Leader. Carbon copies were
made of these “watches” and one was taken directly to the room of
each worker, as a guide to him in his mental work. The subjects
covered by these “watches” were endless in their variety. One
thing in particular that our Leader requested her workers to care for
was the weather, and this was done in addition to the work of the
committee in Boston appointed for that special purpose. During
some of the severe New England winters when a greater amount of
snow than usual was falling, our Leader would instruct her workers
that they must put a stop to what seemed to be the steadily
increasing fall of snow which she looked upon as a manifestation
of error. She had an aversion to an excessive fall of snow. She
considered it as an agent of destruction, an interference with the
natural and normal trend of business. We are quick to recognize
the fact that an unusually heavy fall of snow in any community is a
disastrous thing. It clogs the wheels of commerce, interferes with
37
traffic, interrupts the regular routine of business affairs, and breaks
in upon the harmony and continuity of man’s peaceful existence.
Millions of dollars are spent annually in many places to remove the
effects of heavy snowfalls, and so this was one of the points that
was covered by Mrs. Eddy’s mental workers. One of the
“watches” issued January 15, 1910, requested her mental workers
to “Make a law that there shall be no more snow this season.”
When our Leader first came to live at Chestnut Hill in the
spring and summer of 1908, thunder storms and electric disturbances
seemed to be unusually prevalent. This was another form of
error which our Leader disliked very much. A gentle rainfall was a
delight to her, but a destructive, electrical storm she abhorred. She
evidently looked upon it as a manifestation of evil and a
destructive agency of mortal mind. Mrs. Sargent was the one to
whom was especially assigned the work of watching the weather
and bringing it into accord with normal conditions. For the three
years during our Leaders’s stay in Chestnut Hill, and for several
years thereafter, the recollection of the writer is that there were
fewer and fewer thunder storms until they almost ceased to be.
Upon one occasion after she had given her workers some
instructions regarding the weather, and after we had all repaired to
our several rooms to continue, a succession of taps on her bell
called us all back into her sitting room, where, as was our custom,
we arranged ourselves in front of her chair very much as the oldfashioned
class in school arranged itself in front of the
schoolmaster. Pointing with her finger to the first one in the class,
which happened to be myself, she said, “Mr. Dickey, can a
Christian Scientist control the weather?” “Yes, Mother.” To the
next person, “Can a Christian Scientist control the weather?”
“Yes, Mother.” To the next, “Can a Christian Scientist control the
weather?” “Yes, Mother.” “Mr. Frye, can a Christian Scientist
control the weather?” “Yes, Mother.” To the next person, “Can a
Christian Scientist control the weather?” “Yes, Mother.” This
question was put to each member of the class with the same reply.
38
After we had all repeated our answers, an expression of rejection,
not to say scorn, came upon her face, and she said with emphasis,
“They can’t and they don’t.” This brought a look of surprise to the
face of each member of the class, for we had just been instructed,
as we thought, how to take care of the weather. She repeated the
statement, “They can’t,” but immediately she added, “but God can
and does. Now,” she said, “I want you to see the point I am
making. A Christian Scientist has no business attempting to
control or govern the weather any more than he has a right to
attempt to control or govern sickness, but he does know, and must
know, that God governs the weather and no other influence can be
brought to bear upon it. When we destroy mortal mind’s belief
that it is a creator, and that it produces all sorts of weather, good as
well as bad, we shall then realize God’s perfect weather and be the
recipients of His bounty in that respect. God’s weather is always
right. A certain amount of rain and sunshine is natural and normal,
and we have no right to interfere with the stately operations of
divine Wisdom in regulating meteorological conditions. Now I
called you back because I felt you did not get my former
instructions correctly and I want you to remember that the weather
belongs to God, and when we destroy the operations of mortal
mind and leave the question of regulating the weather to God, we
shall have weather conditions as they should be.”
Every Christian Scientist will see the force of our Leader’s
instruction in this respect. Mortal mind’s attempts to take out of
the hands of the Creator of the universe His dispensation of
weather should be met and overcome through the realization of
what really constitutes God’s government regarding the weather.
I have heard our Leader describe in a number of instances
how she has dissipated a thunder cloud by simply looking upon it
and bringing to bear upon mortal mind’s concept of this manifestation
of discord what God really has prepared for us, and she
illustrated this by a wave of her hand indicating the total
disappearance of the thunder cloud and its accompanying threat.
39
As time went on, the serious nature of our work at Chestnut
Hill dawned upon my thought. I saw that we were there filling one
of the most important positions that could be assigned to human
kind.
The Leader and Founder of a great Movement was casting
her thought over the welfare of the whole world. Christian
Science, if it means anything, is designed to save the world from
the penalities of its own sins and shortcomings, as exhibited in
sickness, sin, and death. Its purpose is to destroy and annihilate
the claims of evil of every sort. Then it is not surprising that evil,
which has a belief of intelligence, would retaliate by training its
guns on the citadel of Christian Science and attempt to destroy that
which is surely and effectually ridding the world of evil and all
kindred beliefs. To have an assignment, then, as a protector and
body-guard of the Leader of this Movement, and be permitted to
share in the defence of its Discoverer and Founder, is an
assignment of no small moment. Many times our Leader was
attacked through mental influences of the most sinister and wicked
nature.
In olden times the occupants of a fortress were attacked from
without by means of bombardment of missiles of all sorts. There
were intrigue, treachery, conspiracies, and plans brought into
execution that had for their object the downfall of the citadel which
was being attacked. The commandant of the fortress was aware of
these methods of attack, and it was no difficult thing to provide
against the onslaught of the enemy by reinforcing the battered
walls and throwing up a shield of defense against the visible
material missiles that were hurled against them, but in these days
of cultivated thought, when the power of a mental assault is
recognized, when mortal mind has changed its basis of attack from
material missiles to mental shafts, they cannot be turned back by
material walls. The defence of the headquarters of the Christian
Science Movement must be conducted in a vastly different way
from that of the old-fashioned fortress. The educated and liberated
40
mortal thought of today is employing its weapons of mental
warfare surely and effectually as it did the more grossly material
weapons of former years, unless the Christian Scientist builds a
strong defence. From the time Mrs. Eddy first began to preach and
teach Christian Science, every conceivable form of weapon was
turned against her in the hope that her work could be stopped and
that evil would be left to its own devices in its attempts to control
mankind.
When the stones were first hurled through the windows of
her lecture room and onto the platform where she stood, she
realized that she was fighting an uphill fight and that she had
enlisted in a warfare, the purpose of which was the destruction of
the highest forms of evil. In the later years of her Leadership there
was no cessation or even diminution of these mental attacks upon
her, but they continued with ever-increasing volume in the attempt
to destroy her life and obliterate her work. It was for this reason
that Mrs. Eddy called effectual workers around her. For this
reason also they were sought out, examined, and questioned in
regard to their ability to prove the teachings of Christian Science,
and then brought to Chestnut Hill to form a body-guard or a
defence for our Leader in the continuation of her work.
41
Chapter V
THE IDEAL OF ORDERLINESS AND REGULARITY
Mrs. Eddy had lived for so long in her comparatively small
home in Concord, New Hampshire, that the transition from this
rather diminutive residence to the large, commodious home in
Chestnut Hill introduced a sudden change in her daily routine that
at times made it a bit awkward for her. It is true that the plan of the
house at Chestnut Hill bore a striking resemblance to the one she
had just vacated in Concord so far as the location of the rooms was
concerned, but everything seemed so gigantic and extensive to our
Leader that these circumstances troubled her not a little. She,
therefore, decided to have some alterations made, and an architect
from the west was sent for to effect the needed changes.
42
Her study at Concord was a room perhaps fourteen by sixteen
feet, while the corresponding room in her Chestnut Hill house,
which was used by her as a study, was at least twenty feet by
twenty. Mrs. Eddy’s desk and chair were located in the circular
bay window and the door, by means of which workers entered the
room, was in the corner diagonally opposite. In complaining about
the size of the rooms, our Leader humorously said that when she
called a student to come to her, she could not wait while he walked
across such a great expanse of carpet from the door to where she
sat, and something must be done to conserve her time. It was too
valuable to waste in waiting for people to walk across a large
room. Happily, through the architect’s skill the changes were
easily designed, and Mrs. Eddy moved her suite to the third floor,
while the necessary alterations were being made in her own
apartment. The changes consisted in reducing the size of her
study, in cutting down the dimensions of her bedroom, and in
taking enough from the latter and adding it to Mr. Frye’s room so
that he might have a bedroom and a sitting room instead of one
large room.
Orderliness, neatness, and dispatch were among the leading
characteristics of our Leader, and to discommode herself, by
moving to the third floor, where the ceilings and the walls of the
room conformed to the slant of the roof, meant no little change in
her environment. Here she lived for nearly three weeks, while the
workmen labored night and day to make the needed changes on the
floor below. A large staircase was constructed leading from the
second to the third floor, space for which was taken out of her
study. Partitions had to be removed and others erected. Gas pipes
and electric conduits had to be cut and changed; the floors had to
be somewhat torn up in places, and an electric elevator installed
from a small entry leading from her study to the porte-cochere
below, at the side entrance of the house, from which our Leader
took her daily drive.
43
The carpenters, plumbers, gasfitters, electricians, painters,
paper hangers, and iron workers all did their work smoothly and
well, so that the whole change was effected expeditiously and with
a degree of harmony that is seldom seen in alteration work of this
character. The move back to her own rooms on the second floor
was accomplished with little difficulty, every member of the
household lending a willing hand. The pictures had to be rehung,
the ornaments on the mantel and elsewhere in the room had to be
placed in their proper positions, and with this I learned something
about the character of our Leader, which was most interesting and
helpful to me.
I had always heard that it was difficult for her to find people
who would carry out her orders implicitly, and when I entered her
employ, one of the obligations I placed upon myself was to obey
her absolutely, without question, no matter what she might ask me
to do. It did not take Mrs. Eddy long to discover this quality of
obedience in my thought, and she at once evidenced a pleasure in
having me do things for her, so that when she moved into her new
room and settled it, I was privileged to stand at her hand and place
everything where she wished it. She herself named the spot on the
mantel where each ornament should rest, while I, overjoyed at this
rare privilege, moved things back and forth at her command until
everything was placed as she desired it. She superintended the
hanging of all the pictures in her house, but was more careful of
those hung in her bedroom, study, and sitting room. They, too,
were changed many times until she had them just where she
wanted them. The ornaments on her bookcase and chiffonier were
also changed about until they suited her, indicating to me that she
looked upon each object as an expression of thought, and she
wanted that thought to harmonize with the mental atmosphere of
her room.
Sometimes a thoughtless assistant in cleaning or tidying her
room would leave something out of place, and Mrs. Eddy, upon her
return, would immediately notice the disarrangement, asking why
44
things were not as she had left them. She seemed to feel that a
room was out of balance mentally. Occasionally the one who was
responsible for this displacement would insist that everything had
been returned exactly as it was before the room was disturbed.
This resulted in two annoying situations. In the one instance our
Leader felt that her assistant had not the right mental attitude
toward her, while on the other hand the assistant felt that Mrs.
Eddy was unnecessarily exacting, or that it was a caprice on her
part, and that she was not always right in her criticisms. Never
have I found our Leader to be wrong, however, in a case of this
kind.
By reason of my close association with her, there grew up an
intimacy between our Leader’s thought and my own that furnished
me opportunities for observation and acquaintance with her methods
and caused me to see that she was always right whenever a
difference of opinion existed between her and any of her followers.
It was the custom of the workers in the house, when it
became necessary to sweep and dust Mrs. Eddy’s rooms, to
perform this service while she was out on her daily drive, so that
when she returned all evidences of the cleaning operation would be
removed. The workers soon found by experience that it would not
do to replace anything that had to be moved in a disorderly or
slovenly manner. Experience taught them that unless everything
was returned to its proper place, there would be a reprimand
forthcoming from our Leader, and this occurred so frequently that
the attendants were troubled in their efforts to get everything back
exactly as they found it. In order, then, that no mistakes should be
made and that they might not yield to the argument of error that
they could not please Mrs. Eddy, a tiny brass tack was driven into
the floor through the carpet, marking the place where each piece of
furniture belonged, and always when she returned she would find
everything just as she had left it. When once this habit of
orderliness was formed by the houseworkers, they found their tasks
lighter and everything made easier by reason of the fact that the
45
furniture could be quickly put back in its rightful place and no time
be consumed in guessing or wondering if things looked just right.
They also discovered that Mrs. Eddy was always right in her
complaints about the misplaced furniture, for after they adopted the
placing of brass tacks, no more objections came from her.
If our Leader had not insisted that everything should occupy
its proper place, one can easily see how error would so have
handled the workers that her room would never have been orderly,
or arranged twice in the same way. This may seem like a small
matter for Mrs. Eddy to complain of, but when we study the situation
and see that her room represented to her a condition of
thought, it at once becomes explicable. To her every picture, every
ornament, and piece of furniture in her rooms represented a
thought, and when these were rightly adjusted, her thought was
undisturbed, but to disturb the furniture would be to disturb her
thought, and this is why she insisted that everything must be
properly arranged and duly adjusted. This illustrated the fact that,
even in such a simple thing as sweeping a room and rearranging
the furniture, the following of a definite rule of Principle makes
everything easier.
Orderliness and promptness grew to be a habit with the
members of Mrs. Eddy’s household. There was a clock in every
room. Each member of the household had his own timepiece, and
it was expected to be always in perfect running order. In Mrs.
Eddy’s sitting room there were three clocks. In her bedroom there
were two, one of which was an old-fashioned alarm clock which
she had fastened to the foot of her bed. This was done so that in
the night, by simply turning on the light, she would know instantly
what hour it was. On a table beside her bed she kept a tablet of
paper and a pencil, and many times thoughts that came to her in the
night were written down for preservation. This obviated the
necessity of her doing what she did when the title of her Textbook,
Science and Health, came to her. (Message for 1902, page 15, line
25.)
46
Breakfast for the household was served promptly at seven
o’clock every morning, and no one needed to be called or sent for.
No announcement was made that breakfast was served. The fact is
that at seven o’clock the members of the household walked into the
dining room, and promptly at seven o’clock the associate worker
placed the breakfast on the table. At noon the same general order
prevailed, and everyone presented himself promptly in the dining
room at twelve o’clock. No gong was sounded, no dinner bell, no
summons of anyone. They were all there at the right time. This
was also the case in the evening, so that everything at Chestnut Hill
moved with the promptness and regularity of clockwork. There
was no confusion, no friction, no lost time. Indeed, the question of
meals and mealtime occupied very little space in the thought of the
members of Mrs. Eddy’s household. They grew into the habit of
being in their place at the proper time. No matter what the
obligation or duty was which had to be performed, if it could be
arranged so as to be done in regular order, it was so arranged, and
in this way tasks were lightened and duties were made a pleasure
by having a regular hour at which to perform everything.
Notwithstanding the fact that our Leader’s time was greatly
taken up with the most exacting and arduous labors for her Cause,
she nevertheless seemed to have ample time to devote to the
appearance of her house, both inside and out. She noticed that one
of the trees on her place did not appear to thrive, but was drooping
and showing every evidence of dying. She learned that the
superintendent of her grounds proposed to cut the tree down and
remove it. Immediately she sent word to him to do nothing of the
kind, but to do what he could for the tree in his way, while she
took the question up according to Christian Science. In a
remarkably short time the tree began to grow and thrive, and today
it occupies a place on her grounds.
Her driveway claimed a share of her attention, and at one
time she stopped the workmen from constructing a cement gutter
from the gate to the house. Afterward I was obliged to inform her
47
that three of the trustees, in whose hands she had placed the
management of her entire estate, had approved and accepted the
contract made by her superintendent for the construction of the
cement gutter in question. It seems that the trustees had been
informed that Mrs. Eddy had given her consent to the installation
of the gutter, which was a mistake. Hence, the objection that came
from our Leader. A note in her own handwriting reads, “Obtain
for me the legal consent of the Directors to defer the job on this
side of the driveway ‘til I say in writing I am ready for it.” There
was something about this particular piece of work that was
objectionable to Mrs. Eddy and her thought rebelled against it.
On another occasion, when Mrs. Eddy noticed that the iron
work on exposed parts of her house needed painting, she called me
to her and said, “This iron work should be painted in order that it
may be properly protected from rust, which is so prevalent near salt
air.” Whereupon she dictated the following letter to Mr. Archibald
McLellan:
Beloved Student:
Send me a painter to simply paint some iron outside.
I want him just as soon as you can get him.
Lovingly yours,
MARY BAKER
EDDY.
One would think that the leader of a great movement would
have little time to spare for such material incidentals as the
foregoing, but Mrs. Eddy’s active thought seemed to take in
everything that was necessary for the protection of her home, and
incidents of this nature were of more or less frequent occurrence.
Mrs. Eddy never let down on anything. She kept everything
up to the highest point of perfection, — her appearance, her hair,
her finger-nails, her house, her horses and carriage, — in fact, none
of the evidences of age or neglect were ever allowed to show
48
themselves. She admired pretty things and beautiful things as one
may infer from a letter to the St. Louis church, in which she points
out that it is not evil to enjoy good things but that it is evil to be a
slave to pleasure. (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and
Miscellany, page 197, lines 1-2.) A short while before she left us
she ordered a new carriage, while the old one seemed to me in
perfectly good condition. She seemed to realize thoroughly that
things are thoughts, and that the most beautiful things express the
clearest and most advanced thought. It was a law with Mrs. Eddy
that everything had its rightful place and must always be in that
place.
Upon answering my bell one day, I found our Leader in her
parlor adjoining the study, sitting facing an old-fashioned whatnot.
“Mr. Dickey,” she said when I approached her, “I have been
thinking of this whatnot. It seems so childish, and I believe I had
better part with it. What do you think about it?” I saw that she
was fond of this quaint bit of furniture and replied reassuringly,
“Mother, everything on that whatnot represents someone’s love
and appreciation for you, and there is no reason why you should
not have it.” This seemed to satisfy her, and after a pause, she said,
“Mr. Dickey, you always say the right thing. I’ll keep it.” And it
stands today just as she left it.
After her removal from Concord to Chestnut Hill, our Leader
set the time of taking her daily drive at one o’clock. At this hour
her carriage always drove to the side entrance, where she was
accustomed to enter the vehicle. One thing was not definitely set,
and this was the duration of her drive. She seldom remained out
longer than half an hour and returned as the demands upon her
time appealed to her. It was a long drive from her home to The
Mother Church, and only once during her residence at Chestnut
Hill did she take the time to drive to Falmouth and St. Paul Streets,
and then she did not alight, but had her first view of The Mother
Church [Extension] from her carriage.
49
A daily drive with Mrs. Eddy was not a pleasure, nor in any
sense a recreation. She did it because she felt obligated to do so in
order to refute the constant charges that she was dead or
incapacitated. She knew that as long as she appeared in her
carriage every day, it would satisfy mortal mind and meet the
charge that she had already departed and was no longer with us.
There were times when it was a very severe task to take this drive.
Indeed, as time went on, this obligation grew more irksome to her,
and on many occasions she drove when she did not seem
physically able to do so, but she did it nevertheless and always
succeeded in meeting the attacks upon her so that she returned
master of the situation.
On one occasion, just prior to her leaving the house for her
drive, my bell rang and I responded immediately to find her seated
in a chair dressed for her drive, painfully drawing on her gloves.
She said to me, “Mr. Dickey, I want you to know that it does me
good to go on this drive.” Instantly she felt my questioning
thought and she replied, “I do not mean that the physical going for
a drive does me good, but the enemy have made a law that it hurts
me to go on this drive, and they are trying to enforce it, while I
want you to take the opposite stand with God and know that every
act I perform in His service does me good. I do not take this drive
for recreation, but because I want to establish my dominion over
mortal mind’s antagonistic beliefs.” I at once saw the point she
was making and replied to her with encouraging statements of
Truth from her own book, and in a few moments every trace of the
attack had disappeared, and she was herself again, ready to take her
departure. Before doing so, however, she said, “Mr. Dickey, I
want you to see what we have done. We have routed the enemy
and broken the belief that it injured me to go on this drive. Now
take this lesson to yourself, and whenever anything happens to you
of an unfortunate nature, do not admit anything on the wrong side,
but instantly declare that the experience does you good. Even if
you should fall down and break your leg, get up and say, “I am
50
better for this experience.” This is the Truth as God would declare
it, for every attempt of evil, when surmounted and destroyed, helps
the one who is attacked, and your quick and right declaration to the
effect that instead of harming you, it has done you good, breaks the
claim of evil, and you become a law to yourself that evil cannot
harm you.”
Chapter VI
GENEROSITY — A LIFELONG CHARACTERISTIC
A more generous person than Mrs. Eddy, I never knew. She
endeavored in every way to love her enemies and do good to those
who sought to injure her. This was made evident on one occasion
when it was brought to Mrs. Eddy’s attention that a neighboring
woman, through a belief of curiosity, was training a pair of field
glasses on Mrs. Eddy’s windows in the hope that she might see
something that would interest her. She was also making it a
practice to watch for our Leader when she took her daily drive with
the anticipation of obtaining a view of her. Without discussing the
question at all, or exhibiting the least evidence of annoyance, Mrs.
51
Eddy sent this prying neighbor a basket of beautiful fruit, and
when the coachman delivered it and told the woman that it was
from Mrs. Eddy, she said, “Did that dear old lady send this fruit to
me?” He replied, “Yes,” and with a tearful voice the woman said,
“Won’t you give her my love and tell her I do appreciate this gift
and thank her most kindly for it?” From this time on no attempt
was made from that quarter to intrude upon Mrs. Eddy’s privacy.
Our Leader loved to share what she had with others. When
people sent her beautiful flowers, it was a rare thing for them to
remain on her desk very long, and after she had admired and
enjoyed them for a few moments, she would always thank the
donor and pass them along to someone else. She would frequently
send them to the rooms of some of the workers in the house or to
the home of neighboring Christian Scientists whom she knew. Her
thought seemed to be that in passing these gifts along, she was
making them do double service and distributing the love and joy
that their presence brought.
To the students who were close to her, she frequently made gifts
of money, or some valuable article of jewelry, rings, pins, and so
on. It just seemed to be her nature to want to give and it was an
inclination that she did not attempt to curb. Many times her
monetary gifts were quite substantial. This characteristic of giving
was one which followed Mrs. Eddy from early years. She told me
that when she was a child she used to give away her playthings to
poor children, and sometimes even her dresses, until her mother
had to threaten her saying that she would have to punish her if she
did not stop giving away her belongings.
When the little book of poems, in the white and gold with the
wild rose design, first appeared, it was privately printed by our
Leader, and the copies were sent to Chestnut Hill. These were
received as usual at the secretary’s office, and I immediately
carried in one of the books for our Leader to see. At once she
asked me to read something from it. I opened to the poem called
“Constancy,” and read this. When I had finished reading, I looked
52
up and saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Mr.
Dickey,” she said feelingly, “that was written after I lost my
husband.” Then she autographed the first copy, numbering it “1,”
and gave it to me.
Not only in little things, but in more important directions
Mrs. Eddy showed her generosity. She was a constant contributor,
through Mr. Frye, to various charitable institutions, and the callers
at her home asking for such contributions were very numerous.
Sometimes her generosity was imposed upon. Shortly after her
arrival in Chestnut Hill, at a friend’s request, she gave her check
for five hundred dollars as a contribution toward the Newton City
Hospital. This was done in the spirit of good citizenship, since she
remarked as she handed me the check, “I don’t know why I am
doing this, but I presume it is to please my friends.”
At one time Mrs. Eddy received an invitation from the promoters
of the Lincoln Memorial at Washington to join as a founder.
The invitation solicited a subscription to the cost of the
Memorial, and stated that contributions were being made by the
most prominent citizens of our country. It was beautifully
engraved, and when I took it to Mrs. Eddy she asked me what I
thought about it all. I said, “Mother, I think people should be
constructing a memorial to you and your work instead of your
contributing to anything of this kind for somebody else.” “Yes,
Mr. Dickey,” she replied, “but these things are needed in the world
today and it is natural for the citizens of the United States to
recognize the greatness and grandeur of Abraham Lincoln’s
character. I shall send them a check for one hundred dollars.” And
she did so. That is the way she followed my advice.
53
Chapter VII
“WIT, HUMOR, AND ENDURING VIVACITY”
ACCURACY IN THOUGHT AND DEED
From what has previously been said, the reader must not
think that there was never anything but work of a strenuous kind at
Chestnut Hill. There were days, and even weeks, when the clouds
seemed to lift and the workers in the home had time for selfadvancement,
and even for some little recreation. Mrs. Eddy was
naturally of a bright and vivacious disposition. She had a
wonderfully keen sense of humor, and never failed to see that side
of an incident. Even while she was stimulating and admonishing
her workers to better efforts, sometimes the serious look on their
faces would bring forth a smile on her part. Even in the midst of
54
the most serious admonition she would with difficulty restrain a
smile, and I could see by the twitching of her lips that she saw the
funny side of the situation and was amused within herself at the
protestations and promises of better work on the part of her
students. On one occasion when we all protested that we would do
better, she smiled and said, “I am afraid you are like the Irishman
that used to work on my father’s farm. He was so useless about the
place that my father finally called him and said, ‘Mike, I shall have
to let you go. You’re not earning what I am paying you and it is
not right for me to keep you under the circumstances.’ Rather than
be discharged, the Irishman pleaded to be kept in my father’s
employ. He said, ‘If you’ll only keep me, sir, I will work for my
week’s board.’ ‘But,’ replied Mr. Baker, ‘you don’t earn your
board in a week.’ ‘Well, sir,’ he said, ‘if I can’t earn it in one
week, I’ll do it in two.’” Our Leader continued, “That is what your
promises sound like to me. You are not doing your work as you
should, and you protest that if you haven’t done it heretofore, you
will hereafter.”
To illustrate the grasping nature of mortal mind, Mrs. Eddy
told us upon another occasion of a neighbor who wanted to sell her
father a horse. He was also an Irishman and represented the horse
as perfectly sound, gentle in disposition, and having all the
qualities of a family carriage horse. “My father said, ‘I am afraid
he is too skittish for me. My family needs a quiet animal that
would not be frightened at anything.’ ‘Oh,’ replied the neighbor,
‘Mr. Baker, you couldn’t scare this horse, no matter what you did.’
My father replied, ‘Why, that horse would jump if you were to say
‘boo’ at him.’ The man stoutly denied this and offered to put the
case to a test. It was arranged that Mr. Baker should crouch behind
a large stump in the field and the owner was to ride the horse by
the stump, when Mr. Baker would jump out and shout ‘boo.’ The
arrangements were made, and the horse loped down by the stump,
whereupon Mr. Baker jumped out, and throwing his arms in the air,
yelled a vigorous ‘boo.’ The horse made a sudden lunge, and
55
throwing his rider, dashed off across the country. The Irishman got
up and brushing the dirt from his clothes said, ‘Well, Mr. Baker,
that was too big a ‘boo’ for such a small horse.’”
One of the chief characteristics displayed by Mrs. Eddy was
her accuracy in everything she undertook to do. She left nothing
unfinished or uncertain, but carried everything out with most
painstaking exactness. She was unusually careful in her choice of
words and would many times hold a letter for hours, refusing to
allow it to go out until she had found the exact word to express her
meaning. Sometimes two or three different dictionaries would be
consulted, and then after the letter had been changed several times,
she would recall it and make still another change. On these
occasions, which were numerous, she would apologize to her
secretary and say, “Mr. Dickey, won’t you forgive me if I ask you
to bring that letter to me again?” I always assured her that I was
perfectly delighted to make every change she suggested, for I
always saw the improvement in what she was giving out. It was no
task for me to write a letter for her, and the mere circumstance of
coming into her room in response to her bell was always a joy to
me. Frequently she would quote that well-known phrase attributed
to Michelangelo, “Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no
trifle.”
Shortly after the completion of The Mother Church
Extension, the Directors obtained Mrs. Eddy’s permission to place
a marble statue of a woman kneeling in an attitude of prayer on a
pedestal above the organ in The Mother Church [Extension].
When the statue was completed, the Directors wrote Mrs. Eddy to
that effect, stating that they would like to have her final permission
to have the statue placed in position. In reply to this letter she
wrote declining to give her consent. When it was explained to her
that the statue had been ordered with her permission, and that the
Directors felt under obligation to take it, this brought forth from
her a very decisive letter which ended the incident, and the statue
never appeared.
56
While the letter was being prepared, she made several
changes in it, each one being an improvement on the former
phrasing. After the letter had been finished, and even signed by
her, she called me back again, and said, “Mr. Dickey, I must
apologize to you for calling you so frequently, and troubling you
so much, but won’t you kindly bring that letter back to me?” I
responded quickly and eagerly. Taking the letter, she glanced over
it, drew her pencil through a word and replaced it with another.
“There,” she said with a triumphant smile, “that is exactly what I
want to say.” I took the letter from her to rewrite it, but before I
could turn around, she reached forward and took it from my
fingers, and placing it on her tablet she wrote the following words
across the top of the letter: “Remember that the so-called human
mind is expected to increase in wisdom until it disappears and
Divine Mind is seen to be the only Mind.”
“There,” she said, “you may have that.”
Mrs. Eddy realized that what was disturbing the Directors
was the fact that she had changed her mind about something that
they had considered quite important, but it seems that the changing
of her mind was a privilege that our Leader reserved for herself,
and she exercised it without any regard whatever for what had
gone before, or what had been said. She declared, “Is a leader any
less of a leader because she changes her mind?”
Then she said to me, “Mr. Dickey, people say I am changeable,
— that I change my mind frequently, but when I do, it is
always God that changes me. Sometimes I will be headed in one
direction, like a weather vane, and will stay that way for several
days. The next time you see me, I will have turned completely
around and am going the other way, but in the meantime God has
given me additional light and has led me to make the change.” She
said, “There have been times in working out a problem when I
have not known just what step to take and finding it necessary to
make a move of some sort, I have taken a step as nearly as I could
in the right direction. Perhaps I would find out shortly that it was
57
wrong, but this gave me a new point of view that I would not have
had, had I not taken it as I did. I would not condemn myself,
therefore, for what seemed a mistake, but would include it as part
of the working out of the problem.”
This thought, as expressed by our Leader, reminds me of an
incident that took place some time afterward. The Committee on
Publication for The Mother Church was preparing a very elaborate
statement, showing the difference between Christian Science and a
phase of Christian psychology, so-called. He sent his article to
Mrs. Eddy for her approval. It passed through my hands and I took
it to her, stating that the author wished to issue this in printed form
for extensive circulation. Without a moment’s hesitation she said,
“No, this is not the thing for him to do. Tell him that I say to
publish his article in one of the well-known daily newspapers and
then await the result.” I returned with her message to the
Committee, and he remarked in a very loving way that he thought
that Mrs. Eddy had not seen the situation from his point of view,
and again expressed the hope that she would give her consent to
his printing the article as he at first planned. When I brought his
proposal to her again, she was most emphatic in her rejection of it.
She said, “Mr. Dickey, he is trying to accomplish too much by one
bound.” Then she said to me, “Did you ever take such a long step
that you fell to the ground?” I said, “Yes, Mother, I have.” Then
she asked, “Would it not have been better if you had taken two
steps and retained your equilibrium? “It most certainly would,” I
replied. “Now,” she continued, “this student is trying to do
something at one step, which is not right, and I want him to do it as
I first suggested. Please tell him again to publish this in a daily
paper with a large circulation, and then leave it in the hands of
God. He may never have to take another step.” Again I communicated
with the Committee, and he gladly accepted our Leader’s
proposal. The outcome was that the whole thing was settled as she
predicted and nothing more was heard on the subject.
58
In reference to Mrs. Eddy’s exactness in her statements of
Science, and her requirement that those about her should be exact
in their statements also, I recall that she put a high value on the
verbal utterances of a practitioner and usually preferred that the
mental workers should make their statements audibly. If there was
any flaw in their work, she could instantly detect it and set the
student on the right track. A carelessly worded treatment bespeaks
a careless or indifferent thought, and any form of carelessness or
inexactness of thought or expression was quickly corrected by our
Leader. On one occasion when she was in need of encouragement
I said to her, “Mother, you cannot have a return of an old belief.”
Up came the warning hand: “Don’t put it that way,” she said. “At
one time I had a belief of excellent health, and your declaration, if
carried out, would prevent me from expressing that belief of health,
and that is what I am striving for.” So I promised her I would
never again be so careless.
What I should have said was, “diseased belief,” and that error
and mental malpractice could not cause the return of a diseased
belief; or, “You cannot be made to suffer from a law of malpractice
declaring that you shall have a return of an old belief of sickness.”
Upon another occasion, when our Leader was having trouble
with her throat, she called me in to help her. At once I saw that the
belief was that there was a gathering of phlegm in her throat, and I
began to declare that mortal mind could not create and that there
was no such thing as phlegm in her throat. She stopped me at once
and said, “Do not say that; there is a natural and normal secretion
of phlegm in the throat, and if we declare against that, we are likely
to interfere with the natural function of the glands of the throat.”
Then I changed my statement and said, “There is and there can be
no such thing as an abnormal secretion of phlegm in your throat.”
This she approved.
I remember that on one occasion when a student in Mrs.
Eddy’s house was corrected because of an unscientific statement
she made, Mrs. Eddy called her severely to account for her work in
59
the presence of a number of others who were at that time under
Mrs. Eddy’s instruction. The student began to cry, and said, “I
don’t like you to talk to me like that; I want you to love me.” Mrs.
Eddy replied, “I do love you and that is the reason why I am
talking to you in this way. If I did not love you, I would not take
the time to correct you. It is because I want to have you be right
and do right that I am correcting you,” — and with that she
dismissed her.
60
Chapter VIII
RELUCTANCE OF MRS. EDDY TO CHANGE HER
WRITINGS IN RESPONSE TO CRITICISMS
By reason of the fact that much of what our Leader has
written conflicts with the general thought of mankind, many people
wrote letters to Mrs. Eddy suggesting that she change her books in
various places and improve them by adopting the suggestions of
her correspondents. Here again, our Leader’s determination to be
guided by divine Wisdom alone showed itself. One of her marked
characteristics was that she rarely allowed anybody to criticize any
of her writings, or call attention to what he considered an
inappropriate expression. Even if there seemed good reason for a
criticism, she was loath to accept it and in the majority of cases
resisted what she considered to be interference from her critics.
She wanted her book to be the product of her own thought and not
a mixture of what mortal mind felt or believed on the subject. It
seemed to me that this attitude of thought was really necessary
because there were numerous instances when people thought Mrs.
Eddy was making mistakes in her writings, with the result that she
received more demands to change her statements than would
ordinarily be sent to writers of books. Had she been any less wise
than she was in her handling of this question, her book might
indeed have presented much confused thought by reason of the
interpolations of uninspired critics.
There were occasions, however, when Mrs. Eddy did make
changes in Science and Health at the suggestion of others, but
these were the exception, and not the rule. One of the many
proposals which came to her was a letter from her publisher, Mr.
Allison V. Stewart, advising Mrs. Eddy that a correspondent had
called his attention to her use of the word “hecatombs,” where she
speaks of “hecatombs of gushing theories” on page 367 of Science
and Health. I confirmed Mr. Stewart’s definition of the word by
61
consulting the dictionary, where it defined “hecatomb” as “a
sacrifice of the slaughter of one hundred cattle or oxen at the same
time.” It seemed at that time to me that this criticism was well
founded, and when Mrs. Eddy received her mail on that day, I
included this letter, which had in it a recommendation that our
Leader use some other word, but the moment I presented it to her,
her visage changed and instantly she said, “No, Mr. Dickey, I will
make no alteration in that word. People do not always understand
my sense of humor. This statement is used in a sense of ridicule.
The word conveys exactly the sense I wish to present, namely, —
that a great slaughter of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed
speeches, and the doling of arguments are but so many parodies on
legitimate Christian Science.” Afterward, in further investigating
the meaning of this word, I found that a well-known dictionary
defines it as “a great slaughter.” It was then quite clear to me that
our Leader’s version was upheld and that no change should be
made in the word.
A Christian Science healer, who was formerly a practising
physician, wrote me a letter in which he stated that Mrs. Eddy had
not employed the right use of the word “cicatrized” on page 162,
line 21, of Science and Health, where she formerly stated
“cicatrized joints have been made supple.” He said “ankylosed”
was the proper word and no doubt this is what our Leader meant. I
showed the letter to her, and she demurred at making the change,
but after a careful inspection of the dictionary, she allowed the
change to be made. She explained to me that she had used the
word “cicatrized” purely from memory without investigating its
real meaning, and she expressed gratitude for having had this
called to her attention.
A letter received from a lady in England called attention to a
statement made by Mrs. Eddy in Miscellaneous Writings in reply to
an English critic. She referred to him as a “beer-bulged, surly
censor,” and my correspondent thought it was unkind for Mrs.
Eddy to use the word “beer-bulged,” as it seemed to her like
62
employing an epithet, when Christian Scientists should express
nothing but love. Mrs. Eddy did not like the tone of the letter, nor
the suggestion contained therein, but nevertheless the criticism did
appeal to our Leader and she revised the article, leaving out the
word in question.
63
Chapter IX
CHANGES IN THE WRITINGS
Mrs. Eddy used to make slight changes from time to time in
Science and Health, as Christian Scientists were aware. She was a
constant student of her own writings, and after reading a passage,
if it seemed to her that it could be illuminated or made plainer by
some slight alteration she would make it. These alterations, like
everything else that emanated from Mrs. Eddy’s pen, were most
carefully handled, and great pains were taken to see that everything
was just as she expressed it.
During the first part of my stay with her these changes were
handled by Mr. Frye, but later on they passed through my hands.
Our Leader would first make the change in lead pencil in her book;
then a letter was prepared to Mr. Stewart, her publisher, requesting
that the change be made. This letter was signed by Mrs. Eddy, as
her publisher would under no circumstances make any alteration in
her books except in response to a direct request from her. The
proposed change was then sent to the printer and a proof sheet
made, which was in turn sent to our Leader for her approval. After
this was obtained, the order was put through for a change in the
plates, and when this was done, Mrs. Eddy was notified that the
final arrangements were completed, and then the editions
containing the change were issued. I am giving this detail in order
that the reader may know how much care was exercised whenever
a change was to be made in Science and Health.
Upon one occasion our Leader called me to her study and I
found that she and Laura Sargent were discussing an alteration in
Science and Health that Mrs. Eddy had just proposed. They both
seemed quite pleased with the change and asked me what I thought
of it. I said at once that I thought it clarified the meaning of the
text to me. The change was made at the top of page 503 of Science
and Health in the chapter “Genesis.” Our Leader had with her
64
pencil erased the word “unfolding” in line 1, page 503, and
substituted the word “reflection,” and instead of the word
“reflected” in the third line, she used the word “unfolding,” making
the text read: “This creation consists of the reflection of spiritual
ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind
and forever unfolding.”
After expressing my pleasure at the contemplated change, I
left the room and afterwards looked for this alteration in subsequent
editions of the book, but for some reason, unknown to me,
the change never appeared. This particular work was not at that
time under my care, and it may be that our Leader decided later to
leave the text as it stood, but whatever was done I am sure was
with her sanction and approval.
No lesser degree of care was exercised in all articles prepared
by Mrs. Eddy for publication. There were many letters received by
her from students in the field, which she read with a great deal of
pleasure. I found that in her isolated position she came in very
little contact with the outside field, and only through the avenue
opened by these letters to our Leader did she come in touch with
the individual workers. These letters, usually expressing the
gratitude of someone who had been healed or rescued from a
critical situation in which mortal mind had placed the writer, were
always read by Mrs. Eddy with pleasure and interest. If she
wanted a letter published, she turned the page over and wrote
“Eddy” across the back. Sometimes she would write, “Publish
this,” but these letters were always carefully scrutinized by her and
whenever she wrote her name across the back or across the letter, it
indicated that the editor was at liberty to use it in his make-up of
the Sentinel.
One morning after she had called the class into her room, she
opened Science and Health at random, to page 221, and began to
read at line 1. In a moment she paused, looked up at the class
smilingly and said, “Perhaps you will be interested to know that I
am the woman who adopted that system.” This was quite a
65
surprise to us all. But she very quickly passed the incident by and
made no further remarks in explanation of it. I learned afterward
that in her first edition of Science and Health, referring to this
same illustration, she used the editorial “We,” thereby indicating
that she herself was the person referred to. In subsequent editions,
however, she spoke of “knowing a woman who when quite a
child,” and so forth. A short while after the above incident took
place, she called me into her room and proceeded to change the
text of Science and Health so that instead of “I knew a woman who
when quite a child,” and so on, it read, “I knew a person who when
quite a child,” and so forth. All through this page, 221, and the
following page she changed the pronoun so that in each instance it
referred to the person. Then with a very knowing smile she handed
me these changes and asked me to send them to her publisher and
have them executed in Science and Health. I saw clearly at once
why she made the change; it was because she thought in telling
five or six persons that she was the individual referred to, she had
to a greater or lesser extent liberated this information in human
thought and that it might become knowledge that it was she herself
who was referred to. This did not suit her and she at once made the
changes on these two pages, so as to turn the thought of mortal
mind away from herself.
On one occasion Mrs. Eddy called me into her room and I
found her considering a change in the title of her book, Science
and Health. Instead of having it Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures, she proposed making it read, “Science and Health,
Key to the Scriptures.”
She asked me what I thought of the idea and if I understood
the import of it. I told her that I did indeed, and that I thought it
would be a splendid change as it would at once convey to people
the thought that her whole book was the “key” which unlocked the
Scriptures, and not chapters 15, 16, and 17, as would appear from
the inscription “Key to the Scriptures” found on page 499 of her
book as it stood at that time.
66
Mrs. Eddy was quite pleased with the idea and spoke favorably
of it. She talked it over with her publisher and explained that
she would like to make this change in the title of her book,
provided it did not conflict in any way with her copyrights.
Mr. Stewart, her publisher at that time, made inquiry from
Mrs. Eddy’s Boston lawyers, and the word came back that they
would not advise her to do this as it might materially affect the
copyrights of her book.
Thus our Leader abandoned one of the inspired thoughts that
came to her and which would have enlarged considerably the
thought of all Christian Scientists regarding her book, Science and
Health. I shall always look on the whole book as “Key to the
Scriptures,” as I am sure she desired that Christian Scientists
should do.
On one occasion she was looking through the Christian
Science Hymnal, where her poem “The Mother’s Evening Prayer”
is set to music. She made a change in the words “mother finds her
home and far-off rest” by erasing “far-off” and inserting the word
“heavenly” as it now reads. She asked me what I thought of the
change. I told her that to me it conveyed a much better thought
than as it was then written. I said that “her home and far-off rest”
carried the impression that she had a long and toilsome way ahead
of her. She said, “That is just the thing I want to get rid of.”
I must confess that the words “heavenly rest” did not appeal
to me immediately and I hesitated somewhat in replying to her
question about what I thought of the words “heavenly rest.” She
noticed this hesitation in my manner and immediately her pencil
was in action and she wrote the word “heavenly” as she had already
designed, and in a determined way she said, “That’s the
word that shall go in.”
At one time there went out by mistake to the field the
impression that the first edition of Science and Health had been
called in. In opening the mail one morning, I came upon a copy
sent in by a woman responding to what she supposed was a call for
67
the book, and inclosing a beautiful note. I carried both the package
and the note in to Mrs. Eddy. She took the book in her hands,
opened it, read a few lines, turned the leaves fondly, read again for
a little, and as she did so I could see that past experiences were
filling her thought. If ever you have seen a mother take down from
a shelf or cupboard the first little shoes her baby wore, and fondly
touch them with love in her eyes, you can imagine how Mrs. Eddy
appeared when she looked at that book. At length she closed it
slowly, gently, and placing it in my hand again, said with deepest
feeling and tears in her eyes, “Take it, and put it away, Mr. Dickey,
— no one will ever know what it has cost me to write that book.”
Chapter X
68
THE TWILIGHT HOUR
“AWAKE THOU THAT SLEEPEST”
If our Leader had any favorite hour in the day, I think it was
after the evening meal, at twilight, when she loved to sit quietly in
her room and gaze from her window at the lengthening shadows.
She invited me to come in at this hour whenever my work
permitted me to do so, and on these occasions she always extended
a greeting hand and asked me to sit down beside her. Often she
told me many things of interest in her life. We had bright electric
lights installed on the gateposts where her driveway entered the
street, and she would sometimes make remarks about the vehicles
that passed her residence. It might seem that these were idle
thoughts for the Leader of a great Movement, and that such
commonplace things as the traffic that passed her door could be of
no possible interest to the Discoverer and Founder of Christian
Science, but when we consider that Mrs. Eddy virtually lived in
three rooms, and seldom, if ever, gave any thought to the simple
activities of the world about her, she might be excused for
indulging in such trifles. She used to sit in her chair beside her
desk, with her own room darkened so that she could the better see
what was going on outside. At her elbow on her desk was a tiny
clock with a small electric light in front of it so that when she
pushed a button, the dial would be illuminated and she could tell
the hour. Our Leader retired early and it was seldom that she was
not in bed by nine o’clock. The watchers were ready to take up
their work at that time, and the one who covered from nine to
eleven usually sat in her study outside of her bedroom door.
One evening, shortly after Mrs. Eddy had retired, Mrs.
Sargent came to my door in great trepidation, informing me that
she had found Calvin Frye unconscious on the lounge in his room
and that she had been unable to arouse him. I hurriedly accompanied
her and found Mr. Frye stretched on the lounge in a most
uncomfortable attitude, speechless and eyes closed, apparently
69
breathless and with no pulse or indication of life whatever. We
continued our efforts to arouse him but with no success. We called
to him, shook him, and used every means at our command. Finally
another worker came in and united his efforts with ours, but we
could gain no response of any kind in our efforts to call Mr. Frye
back. We hesitated about letting our Leader know of his condition,
but we saw that inasmuch as we were making no headway, we
must inform her of the circumstances.
This was done by Mrs. Sargent. Mrs. Eddy was in bed, but
she hurriedly rang her bell for her maid and started to arise and
dress herself, when she was seized with a sudden determination,
and dropping back into bed she said, “I cannot wait to dress. Bring
him to me.” Mrs. Sargent said, “But, Mother, he is unconscious.
We cannot rouse him.” She said, “Bring him to me at once.” On
receiving this instruction, the one who had come to our aid lifted
the senseless form of Calvin Frye and placed him in a low rockingchair.
Then we dragged him around through the hall, through Mrs.
Eddy’s study, into her bedroom. She sat up in bed with a shawl or
some kind of a robe over her shoulders, and we drew Mr. Frye
right up to her side where she could both touch and speak to him.
It was an interesting moment. The workers stood around the small
room and watched the proceedings. Our Leader reached out her
hand and placed it upon Mr. Frye’s shoulder and addressed him in
a loud voice. “Calvin, Calvin, wake up. It is Mother who is
calling you. Wake up, Calvin, this Cause needs you, Mother needs
you, and you must not leave. Calvin, Calvin, wake up. Disappoint
your enemies. You shall not go. I need you here. Disappoint your
enemies, Calvin, and awake.” All this time Mr. Frye’s head was
hanging limp on his shoulder. I had hold of the back of the
rocking chair in which we had placed him to steady him. I placed
my hand on his head to lift it up. Mrs. Eddy instantly stopped me
and said, “Do not touch him. Leave him entirely to me.” Again,
she repeated her calls to him to arouse himself and remain with her.
It was now something like half an hour since Calvin had first been
70
found, and while those who were looking on at our Leader’s efforts
to arouse him, had not the slightest doubt that she would succeed
in awakening him, yet the time seemed to pass without any
appreciable response to her work. This did not discourage her.
She redoubled her efforts and fairly shouted to Mr. Frye her
commands that he awake. In a moment he raised his head and
drew a long, deep breath. After this his respiration became regular
and he was restored to consciousness. The first words he uttered
were, “I don’t want to stay. I want to go.” Mrs. Eddy paused in
her efforts and turning her gaze to the workers around the room,
said, “Just listen to that.” She again turned to Mr. Frye and in her
commanding tones insisted that he awake and remain here.
Never shall I forget the picture that was before us in that
small bedroom, the light shining on the half-scared faces of the
workers, and our Leader’s intense determination to keep Mr. Frye
with her. I had heard of similar occasions when rumors had
reached the workers in the field that at different times our Leader
had restored prominent students to life after experiences of this
kind, but of this incident I was an eye-witness, and from the very
first my attention was not diverted for one second from what was
going on, and I am simply relating this event exactly as it occurred.
It had been rumored that Mrs. Eddy’s power of healing was
lost, but those who were present on this occasion have a different
story to tell. Our Leader rose to the occasion like a giant, and in
commanding tones she demanded that her servant should live, and
he responded. When Mr. Frye became fully conscious, she turned
him over to one of the workers who remained with him through the
night. The next morning he was about his accustomed duties. Not
one in the house, that I know of, said anything to Mr. Frye
concerning his experience. We do not know whether he realized
how far he had gone or whether, indeed, he knew of the work that
had been done for him. No questions were asked him as we felt it
would not be well to recite the experience to him, but the fact
remains that Calvin Frye had passed through what mortal mind
71
calls “death,” and the grave had been cheated of its victim by our
Leader’s quick and effective work.
Chapter XI
LEADERSHIP AND DEVOTION TO HER CAUSE
72
Frequently our Leader was called upon to make a decision of
great importance at a moment’s notice that would perhaps affect
the future of her Cause for years. She seemed rarely to weigh in
her thought what the consequence of her action might be. Her sole
desire was to get the Divine leading and follow that unhesitatingly.
Often the reasons for which our Leader took action in certain
directions were not clear to the workers about her. It would seem
as if the reason advanced by her was a poor one and not worthy of
the action she was taking. This, of course, was mortal mind’s
analysis of her work, and if she were acting from a spiritual
impulse, it is not at all surprising that her reasons would not appeal
to the judgment of onlookers. It always turned out, however, that
her action was right, regardless of the reason assigned, which
convinced those who were familiar with her work that her
judgment was unerring in every detail, and that in following the
direction of divine Wisdom, she never made a mistake. Often I
heard her say with great impressiveness that in over forty years of
church leadership, she had not made a mistake, a record that is
most truly remarkable.
A story is told of Charles M. Schwab, the steel magnate, who
was reared under the tutelage of Andrew Carnegie. One day, the
story goes, when Mr. Schwab was Carnegie’s chief lieutenant, he
described to his superior some action he had taken and then started
to explain why he had taken it. “Oh, never mind the reason,
Charlie,” Carnegie broke in, “what you do is always right, but your
reasons for it are always wrong.”
Mrs. Eddy’s ideas of church government differed greatly
from those of the general run of mankind. She knew that her
Church, established as it was under Divine direction, would incur
the hatred and opposition of every known form of religion, which
has been evolved according to the wisdom of man. In order to be
perpetuated, her Church must necessarily follow Divine inspiration
and not be the product of legal enactments or worldy-wise evolu73
tions. She told me that every government, every organization,
every institution of whatever kind or nature, to be successful, must
have one responsible head.
This is why she placed herself at the head of her own Church,
because mortal mind could not be trusted to conduct it. This is
why she did away with First Members, and later Executive
Members, for to place enactments of holy inspiration in the hands
of groups of individuals was to incur the possibility of the Divine
idea being lost sight of, and human wisdom taking its place. This
is also why she reduced the authority of the conduct of The Mother
Church into the narrowest possible compass. Indeed, she told me,
with pathos and earnestness, that if she could find one individual,
who was spiritually equipped, she would immediately place him at
the head of her church government. Asking me to take a pencil she
slowly dictated the following, as I wrote it down: “I prayed God
day and night to show me how to form my Church, and how to go
on with it. I understand that He showed me, just as I understand
He showed me Christian Science, and no human being ever
showed me Christian Science. Then I have no right or desire to
change what God has directed me to do, and it remains for the
Church to obey it. What has prospered this Church for thirty years
will continue to keep it.”
It was her child, her offspring; and her constant concern, day
and night, was what was to become of this Cause. Those of her
followers who were present in her home can testify to her anxious
thought in this direction. On several occasions, when she was
trying to get her followers to see the import of this and what it
meant, she would say, with a gesture of despair, “What is to
become of this Cause?” And again, when troubled about the future
of the Cause she would say, “If error can do this to me, what is it
going to do to you?” She saw the possibility of future attacks of
mortal mind upon her beloved Church, and her constant anxiety
was for its preservation and future unfoldment. She told me that
she had constantly watched the growth of this Church as would a
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parent the development of its offspring. She said that in all things
while she was the Leader of the Christian Science Movement, she
actually felt the needs of the Movement in her body just as the
mother of a young infant would feel the needs of the infant and
supply them. Instantly, detecting that I did not receive the full
import of what she was telling me, she explained herself by saying
that the mother of a young babe always knew by the condition of
her breast when her child needed nourishment, and she said she
also felt the same way in regard to the needs of the Christian
Science Movement. The needs of her Church were frequently met
through the enactment of some By-law, which, though it startled
the Christian Science field, yet it seemed to be the imperative
demand of Wisdom made upon our Leader. At times these
decisions were arrived at after long nights of prayer and struggle.
There is no question that the By-law abolishing the
Communion Service of The Mother Church came under this
category. Our Leader had been suffering intensely for several days
before this By-law came out, and even when she dictated to me the
words included in it, she was lying on the lounge wrestling with a
malicious attack of unusual severity. I took the proposed By-law,
as she dictated it, to my desk and after transcribing it, I returned
with it immediately to her room and was overjoyed to find her
seated at her desk, wreathed in smiles, pursuing her regular work
with her usual vigor. I saw that something out of the ordinary had
taken place and afterward I learned from Mr. Frye that on many
occassions, when our Leader instituted improvements for her
Church government, her action had been accompanied by severe
manifestations such as appeared in the present instance, and yet not
one word of complaint passed her lips. She was willing to take the
suffering if she could only succeed in obeying the voice of God.
Not long after this, when she was wrestling with what
seemed to be a physical disturbance, I was trying to help her and in
talking over the situation with her, I said, “Mother, you cannot be
made to feel the effect of mortal mind thought and mortal mind
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cannot make you feel its argument.” At that time she was lying
down with closed eyes, but as soon as I made the statement,
“mortal mind can’t make you feel its argument,” she looked up,
and raising her hand in warning said, “Don’t say that, Mr. Dickey.”
Then she went on in her loving and quiet way to explain that when
she was able to feel what mortal mind had in thought, it enabled
her to do that thing which was most helpful to the Cause of
Christian Science. This, I think, exemplified the loving, selfsacrificing
thought of our Leader. She was willing to endure the
sufferings mortal mind imposed upon her, for thereby she was
enabled to take some action that would be helpful to her Cause.
How much we all owe to this dear soul, who thus offered herself as
a perpetual sacrifice for the good of humanity, we may never
know. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon
him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
At the time when our Leader was compelled to live in two of
her attic rooms at Chestnut Hill, she was looking forward to her
return to her own apartments on the second floor. I remember how
pleased she was when I told her a few days before that she would
be in her new rooms by the following Saturday. There was much
to be done, but every member of the household was working
eagerly to bring about the desired event, and on Saturday, March
14, upon returning from her drive, she was duly esconced in the
new apartment. She was greatly pleased with the modification of
the size of the room, the additional stairway to the third floor, and
the new elevator, which dropped her immediately to the portecochre
where she took her carriage.
In an earlier chapter I referred to the fact that I learned much
while arranging the furniture, pictures, and ornaments under Mrs.
Eddy's personal direction. It was not like arranging the furniture
of an ordinary room. Here was where the most wonderful woman
that the world has ever produced, was to spend her time and
thought in the direction and government of the greatest Christian
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Movement that was ever known. I could see clearly the working of
divine Principle, even in the arrangement of the ornaments on her
mantel. There was a reason for everything, and it was all worked
out so beautifully and harmoniously that the experience was most
uplifting to me, while at the same time it gave me the opportunity
of getting closer in thought to our revered Leader than I had done
before.
In my own home, when I hung a picture, I used a simple
device which I had invented that I called a picture stick. It
consisted of flat hooks on the end of a long stick, which enabled
me to set the picture hook on the end of the stick, and immediately
place it where desired. It could be taken down and put back with
such ease that the labor of picture hanging was reduced to a
minimum. This little device pleased Mrs. Eddy very much and
drew forth from her the remark that after all, it was Mind that hung
the picture.
One of the last pictures placed in the room was a remarkably
well-executed one entitled “The Return from the Crucifixion." It
represented the return of the women from the cross. It showed the
beloved disciple ascending the steps of his home, sustaining the
drooping form of the mother of Jesus, whom the latter had
entrusted to John’s care. The faces of the group shown in the
picture, with the exception of Jesus’ mother, were anxiously turned
toward a hill beyond the walls of Jerusalem, where silhouetted
against the sky appeared three crosses, which stood as mute
witnesses of the dreadful day’s experience. After leaving Mrs.
Eddy’s study, I was recalled in a few minutes, and, pointing with
one hand to the picture just described and placing the other on her
breast, she said in a voice deep and earnest in its subdued tones, “
Mr. Dickey, I think you had better remove that picture. It suggests
too much for me. Won’t you kindly put another in its place?” This
I did, and removed the offending picture to the hall on the second
floor outside of her room, where it remains to this day.
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Later in the evening, about half past eight, she called for me,
and taking both my hands in hers she said, “Now dear, if you keep
your watch tonight, you may go to The Mother Church tomorrow
morning.” I said, “Mother, I really don’t care to go to The Mother
Church.” She said, “I would like you to go because I think you
would enjoy it.” I assured her that I would much prefer to remain
where she was and that I could learn much more by hearing the few
words dropped from her lips than I could by listening to a Lesson
Sermon read in The Mother Church.” This decision seemed to
please her, and she said, “Very well, Mr. Dickey, let that be as you
will.”
At this time there were four mental workers in the house, in
addition to Mr. Frye, and the hours of the night were divided into
four separate watches, so-called. The first watch was from 9:00 to
11:00 P.M.; the next, from 11:00 to 1:00 A.M.; the next, from 1:00
to 3:00; and then, from 3:00 until 5:00 in the morning. These
watches were assigned to different mental workers, and their task
was to counteract the malicious evil influence of mortal mind
directed towards our Leader and her establishment during their two
hours. When a watch was kept, or in other words, when the mental
worker was successful in freeing our Leader from attacks during
that time, she always knew it, and the one keeping the watch was
commended the next day. If the watch was not kept, and they were
far more frequently not kept than kept, a corresponding rebuke was
administered to the one who failed. This may look like strenuous
work, but be it remembered that no one in that household worked
half so hard as our Leader did, and we were there to do this work
and rejoiced when it was accomplished. It was a constant battle for
our Leader even to live in order that she might devote her time and
energies to the conduct and welfare of the great Cause, which had
grown up as a result of her foundational work.
On many occasions all the workers were called in and
admonished because of their seeming inability to meet the
prevailing conditions. It was our Leader’s custom, when she went
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to her study in the morning, to first open the Bible and read
whatever appeared on the page before her. This was apparently
done at random, and yet she seemed directed in this work so that
the reference on most occasions was particularly fitting to the
subject under discussion. One passage especially seemed to thrust
itself forward on these occasions. It was Matthew 24:43, “But
know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what
watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would
not have suffered his house to be broken up.”
One morning after she read this passage to us, our Leader
said, “We must watch and pray. Prayer means desire. We can
have words without the desire, but that is not prayer. Prayer must
have no selfishness in it. Hanging pictures and arranging furniture,
for another’s pleasure is unselfishness, and to the degree that it is
unselfish, it is like God. To be able to dress and adorn one’s self
beautifully is selfishness. To do it for another is unselfishness.”
Then she quoted lines 30 and 31, page 192 of Science and Health.
Afterward, she told us that a student had been sending her
fresh eggs, which he wanted to furnish her free. “Do you want me
to do a wrong thing by taking your eggs without paying you for
them; or, will you do right by accepting from me what is just?”
At one time, when we were all called into her room, she said,
“Mr. Dickey, have you sent a certain letter to be published?”
“No,” I replied. “Do not send it,” she said. “This matter of
students coming here for a few days and then going away and
proclaiming what wonderful things they have learned is a menace
to the Cause. When they learn anything, they stay here. They are
not sent away. When they are sent away and give out the idea that
they know so much, they are over-reaching themselves, and
deceiving others. Where all students have failed is in not knowing
how to handle animal magnetism. If we don’t break the belief that
mesmerism has power, we are still the victims of mesmerism, and
it is handling us. Now then, the main point is to keep your watch.
Keep your watch. Jesus said, Could ye not watch with me one
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hour?” (Matthew 26:40.) Then again she quoted, “‘If the good
man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come,
he would have watched.’” (Matthew 24:43.) “If you can defeat
the mesmerist in this, you can defeat him in all things,” she
continued. “He boasts that he can make a law for you, six months
ahead, and then work to cover every hour in the night. You must
break their supposed laws that they can produce suffering asleep or
awake.” After a long talk and many illustrations and admonitions,
we were dismissed. We were all recalled in a few moments and
asked, “Now what is the great necessity I have been impressing on
you?” I replied, “Demonstration.” Others said something else.
She said, “No, you are all wrong. You have missed the importance
of the lesson I have just given you. I felt it and called you back to
show you your ignorance. The lesson is this, — keep your watch.”
Then we were dismissed. Shortly we were called back again, and
she said, “What I have to meet, you will all have to meet, now or
again. Therefore, know that the mesmerist cannot afflict either you
or me with erroneous beliefs.” We all solemnly promised to keep
our watch. Our Leader responded, “Amen.” During the course of
the talk, she said, “If you will keep your watch, I shall be a well
woman. If you stay here until you learn to handle animal
magnetism, I will make healers out of you. I had to do it, and did it
for forty years, and you must do it. You must rise to the point
where you can destroy the belief in mesmerism, or you will have
no Cause. It tried to overcome me for forty years and I withstood it
all. Now it has gotten to the point where the students must take up
this work and meet animal magnetism. I cannot do it for you. You
must do it for yourselves, and unless it is done, the Cause will
perish and we will go along another 1900 years with the world
sunk into the blackest night. Now will you rouse yourselves? You
have all the power of God with you to conquer this lie of
mesmerism. The workers in the field are not healing because they
are not meeting animal magnetism which says they cannot heal.”
Then she turned to each one and said, “Will you keep your
80
watch?” They all answered, “Yes.” She turned to me and said,
“Mr. Dickey, will you keep your watch?” I said, “Yes, Mother, I
will.” She leaned forward in her chair and took my hand in hers,
and I knew from the pressure, as well as the look she gave, she
knew I would keep my watch. In explanation she said, “To keep
your watch doesn’t only mean to be awake at that hour and be
working mentally. It means to do the work and succeed in breaking
the mesmerism for the two hours assigned. If you don’t
succeed, you haven’t kept your watch.”
I have been trying to record many of our Leader’s words as
nearly verbatim as possible, but I am unable to record more than a
small portion of her sayings. The one thing she has impressed on
her students is that they must handle animal magnetism and defeat
the mental murderer and mental assassin who are working to defeat
this Cause.
At another time she said, “There is a new form of sin or
malpractice that has been revealed to me that nobody has ever
discovered before, and that is that evil is trying to produce sudden
death in sleep. The serpent typifies evil, and the moccasin snake
will lie right beside a person who is awake, and never touch him,
but as soon as he falls asleep, he will attack.”
Chapter XII
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES
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Mrs. Eddy told me much of an interesting nature about her
childhood home. She was the youngest of six children, who were
as follows: Samuel, born in 1808; Albert, in 1810; George, in
1812; Abigail, in 1816; Martha, in 1819; and Mary, in 1821. The
children were reared in a most religious atmosphere. The clergy
were always welcomed at their home, and family Bible reading and
prayer were a daily exercise.
Mrs. Eddy’s mother, Mrs. Mark Baker, had a neighbor who
was a most devout and pious woman. Her name was Sarah Gualt,
and she and Mrs. Baker used frequently and regularly to meet and
talk over religious matters and pray together audibly. During these
meetings Mrs. Baker many times told her neighbor, Mrs. Gualt,
that she felt herself to be a most wicked woman because of the
strange thoughts she had regarding her youngest child, which was
yet unborn. (Mrs. Eddy related the circumstance of her birth which
was similar to that referred to in Hebrews 11:11.) She told Mrs.
Gualt that she could not keep her thought away from the strong
conviction that this child was holy and consecrated and set apart
for wonderful achievements, even before her birth. She said, “I
know these are sinful thoughts for me to entertain, but I cannot
shake them off.” Then these two devout women would talk the
question over and pray together, asking God’s direction and
blessing on this subject.
When Mrs. Eddy was still a child, her elder brothers frequently
quarreled among themselves, as brothers sometimes will,
and even went so far as to use their fists in settlement of their
difficulties. These altercations greatly disturbed their little sister,
Mary, and whenever they quarreled, she industriously undertook to
bring about a reconciliation between the disputants. She told me
that she never failed in these endeavors. When the breach seemed
wide and the brothers were far apart in thought, this would not
dismay her in the slightest. She went resolutely from one to the
other, and back and forth, she carried their messages until they met
and asked each other’s forgiveness. She would say, “George, you
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love Sam, don’t you?” He would say, “Yes,” and then she would
say, “You don’t want to quarrel, do you?” George would
invariably reply, “No.” She would then go to Sam and say, “You
love your brother, George, don’t you?” “Yes, Mary, I do,” he
would answer. “Then you don’t want to hold any ill-will, do you?”
“I certainly don’t.” “Then, why don’t you tell him so?” In that
way this little child persisted in bringing the brothers together and
settling their quarrels.
This inborn proclivity, which asserted itself thus in childhood,
clung to her throughout her after years, and quarrels or
misunderstandings of any kind were always abominations to her.
Whenever questions in dispute came under her observation, she
said she never failed to effect a reconciliation.
There were many incidents of an unusual nature which
attended Mrs. Eddy’s childhood. Her father used to attempt to
break her will, but in this she was invariably protected by her
mother who would say, Mark, you must not antagonize Mary. You
know she is always right and I cannot allow you to be overbearing
or cruel to her. Mrs. Eddy told me that even when a child, she had
an indomitable will and this continued throughout all her future
years. It was recognized and respected by her parents, especially
her mother, who always remembered her early prayers and experiences
concerning the unusual thoughts she had attending Mary’s
birth.
The determined quality of thought on her part to abide by her
own sincere convictions was shown a few years later, when she
united with the Congregational Church, where she refused to
change her theological views, even though it might result in her
being left out of church fellowship. She stoutly maintained that
she would take her chance of spiritual safety with her brothers and
sisters, none of whom had professed religion, but she could not
change her creedal doubts. In after years this strong determination
on our Leader’s part stood her well in hand, protecting and
defending the Cause she espoused. A person without such strong
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conviction and forceful determination could never have stood the
opposition and antagonism of those who were opposed to her
revelations. A weak and vacillating individual never becomes a
successful reformer.
The question has often been asked, “Why was Christian
Science discovered by a woman?” Since my acquaintance with
Mrs. Eddy, it has always been perfectly plain and clear to me why
it must be that a woman should give birth to this new religion and
stand and defend it against the world. Is it not evident that
throughout the whole animal kingdom the female of the species has
always been the defender of the offspring? Hunters of wild
animals much prefer to meet the father than to encounter a lioness
or tigress who is protecting her young. A mother bear with cubs is
a much more dangerous antagonist than Bruin himself. The
instinct of motherhood and readiness to protect her offspring have
been strong characteristics in our Leader’s whole career. I doubt if
any man could have been found who would have stood and
defended this Movement as she has done. Thus we see that from
early childhood the qualities necessary for the protection of this
great Cause seemed to be inherent in Mrs. Eddy’s thought.
An incident illustrating Mary Baker’s unusual mental development,
as a child, is shown in the following. The family had a
dog in the house named “Ben,” and when they were assembled in
the sitting room, the dog was made to understand that he must
always lie under the table. Sometimes he would disregard this
injunction and would come out and sit before the fire with the
family. Mrs. Eddy said she found out that by mentally addressing
the dog, he would obey her without her speaking a word aloud.
When she saw that Ben was in for trouble, because of his presence
in the room, she would mentally say, “Ben, go under the table and
lie down,” and immediately the dog would rise and walk under the
table and lie down. This, she said, occurred many, many times,
and was one of the incidents of her childhood which she always
kept to herself.
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Her father seemed to know that she was an unusual child and
that even when very young, she seemed to possess healing qualities.
She told me that once while her elder brother, Sam, was
chopping wood, the axe glanced and inflicted a severe wound in
his leg. He was put in bed and remained there for many days, the
wound apparently refusing to heal. When the family were about to
despair of the boy’s recovery, Mary’s father picked her up and
approaching the bed, he turned aside the covers and gently placed
Mary’s hand over the wound, holding it there for some little time.
From that moment Sam’s leg grew rapidly well, while Mary for
several days suffered with a high fever and delirium, as a result of
this experience. Her extreme sensitiveness to the sufferings of
others began even in childhood, and thus in a way seemed to
forecast the future that lay before her.
When Mary Baker was still a very young child, perhaps not
over eight years of age, she was a close and devoted student of the
Bible. Her mother used to read to her the story of Daniel and how
he prayed three times a day with his window open toward
Jerusalem. This made such an impression upon the child that she
also decided to pray every day to God, not only three times, but
seven times. She knelt before God and poured out her little soul to
Him in prayer, and in order to be free and uninterrupted in this
devotional work, she would leave the house and retire to the
woodshed, where she could be alone, and there she knelt and
prayed seven times, daily. In order that she might not fail in
fulfilling her obligation, she kept a small piece of chalk and
marked on the side of the shed each time, so that she might not
miss even one of the seven prayers she had obligated herself to
make. As she related this incident to me, her whole face lightened
with a joyous expression and she said, “Just think of that little tot
praying seven times a day and making a record of each prayer so
that she would not miss one! Did ever you see or hear of such a
thing!” I assured her that I had not, and as I talked with her about
it and expressed my pleasure in hearing of the incident, I said,
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“That is very characteristic of the devotion that many of us have
seen you display in your work as Leader of The Christian Science
Movement.” She replied, “Yes, I have always been devoted to
what I had in hand, and considered that everything I did to forward
this Movement was an obligation to God that had to be sincerely
kept.”
Another childhood incident, which had already been told me
a number of times before I learned it from Mrs. Eddy’s lips, proves
interesting enough to bear repeating. She told me that on cold
winter nights, when the little pigs in the sty outside were squealing,
she asked her mother’s consent to go out to the sty and sing the
little pigs to sleep. At first, her mother objected, but having
learned, as she herself said, never to interfere with anything Mary
wished to do, she gave her consent. Putting a shawl over her head,
the little girl went out and crouching near the sty sang to the little
pigs until they stopped their squealing and went to sleep, and as
she sang, she prayed, and her efforts never failed.
On page 95 of Miscellaneous Writings, Mrs. Eddy refers to
the fact that her life was always attended by phenomena of an
uncommon order. This recalls an incident she related to me on one
occasion. She told me in detail all the circumstances connected
with the statement she makes in Retrospection and Introspection,
page 8, under the caption, Voices not our own. After finishing she
said, “I have never told to any one the circumstances that followed
my answer, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth, but I will tell you
what took place.” She then related in a voice filled with awe, that
when she made the reply, a most unusual phenomenon took place.
Her body was lifted entirely from the bed, on which she lay, to a
height, it seemed to her, of about one foot. Then it was laid gently
back on the bed. This was repeated three times. As a child she
was afraid to tell the circumstance to anybody, but she pondered it
deeply in her heart and thought of it many years afterward, when
she was demonstrating the nothingness of matter and that the claim
of the human body was a myth.
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The foregoing narratives of incidents in the life of our Leader
are but some of those related to me by Mrs. Eddy during the
memorable twilight hours when we sat and talked together in her
study at Chestnut Hill.
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