MRS. EDDY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 10

MRS. EDDY.

VICTIM OF HYSTERIA SINGE CHILDHOOD. 5 ■'■ S A STRANGE STORY. o 3 . D Many people aro curious about the 3 rights and wrongs of Christian Science,- " and it is just as well that they should , know .something about tho remarkable . woman who has been so' intimately asl sociated with the First Church of Christ. Her "'strange story iB set forth in the "Life of Mary Baker C. Eddy," by Georgino Milmino, which comes r from tho press of Hodder and Steughton, London. Mrs'. Eddy was born in 1821, near Concord, in New Hampshire, United States of America. Her father 1 was Mark Baker, a man out of the ordinary, with great natural force, and [ strong convictions, but cursed with a childishly passionate temper and a deep perversity of mind. Heard "Voices." As child and woman she suffered from this condition, and its existence explains some phases of her nature and. certain of her acts which otherwise might be difficult to understand and impossible to estimate. Like little Samuel, she received ghostly visitations in early youth. She writes: For some twelve months when I was about eight years old, I repeatedly, heard a voice, calling me distinctly by name three times in an ascending scale. 1 thought this was my mother's voice, and sometimes went to her, beseechiug her to tell me what she wanted. Her answer was always: "Nothing child! What do you mean?" Then I would say:'"Mother, who did call me ? • I heard somebody call Mary, three times." This continued until I grow discouraged, and my mother was perplexed and anxious. Mary continued, as she grew to girlhood, to have her own way. Her hysteria was her most effective argument in securing her way. Like the sword of Damocles, it hung perilously over tho household, which constantly surrendered and conceded and made shift with Mary to avert tho inevitable climax. Confusion and excitement and agony of mind lest Mary should die was the invariable consequence of her hysterica) , outbreaks, and tho business of the house and farm was at a standstill until tho "tragedy" bad passed. - These attacks, which continued until Mrs. Eddy was growing very old, have been described by many eye-witnesses to Goorgine Milmine, some of these witnesses having watched by. her bed- < side and treated, her with Christian Science for' her affliction. At times the attack resembled convulsions. Mary fell headlong to tho floor, writhing and screaming in' apparent agony. Again she dropped as if lifeless, and lay limp and motionless till restored. ,At other times she became rigid like a cataleptic, and continued for a time in a state of" suspended animation. At home the family worked over her, and the doctor was sent for, and Mary invariably recovered rapidly after a few hours, but year after year her relatives fully expected that she would 'die in one of these spasms. Nothing had the power of exciting Mark Baker like one of Mary's fits. His neighbours remember him as he went to fetch Dr. Ladd, how he lashed his horse down the hill, stand- . ing upright in his wagon and shouting in his tremendous voice, "Mary is dyingl" Mary's Nerves. Outside the family; Mary's spells did not inspire the same anxiety. The unsympathetic called thom "tantrumß," after a better acquaintance with her,' and declared that she used her nerves to get her own way. In later years Mark Baker came to share this neighbouring opinion, and on one occasion, ; after Mary had grown to womanhood, ' ho tested her power of self-control by allowing her to remain on the floor, where she had thrown herself when ; her will was crossed, and leaving her ] to herself. An hour later, when he i opened the door, the room was deserted. Mary had gone upstairs to her ] room ( and nothing was heard from her - until sho appeared at supper, fully re- i covered. After that Mary's nerves i lost their power over her father to a i great extent, and when hard put to ' it ho sometimes complained to his i friends. A neighbour passing the-house ] one morning, stopped at Mark's gate i and inquired why Mary, who was at ] that moment rushing wildly up and 1 down the second story piazza, _ was so 1 excited; to which Mark replied bit- < terly: "The Bible says Mary Magdalen < had seven devils, but our Mary has ] got ten!" 1

j Unquestionably, Mary's attack represented to a great degree a genuine affliction. Though Dr. Ladd sometimes impatiently diagnosed them as "hysteria, mingled with bad temper," he was without doubt deeply interested in her caso. Ho dabbled a little in mesmerism, and sometimes experimented on Mary, whom he- found a sensitive subject. Ho discovered that he could partly control her movements by mental suggestion. "I can make that girl stop in tho street any time, merely by willing it,'.' he used to tell his friends, and he often demonstrated that- ha could do it. When Mary was twenty-one years old sho married George Washinton Glover, a masou, but her husband dying, Mary was left with a baby boy, to whom she showed an unnatural aversion from tho beginning, and went back to her relatives. Sometimes Mrs. Glover Was so nervous that sho could not have anybody in tho room with hor, and then,the boy would tie a string to the seat and swing her from outside her bedroom door. Mark Baker and . John. Varney were obliged often to carry her in their arms and walk tho Uoor with hor at night to soothe her" excitable nerves, and when everything else failed, Mark, used to send for old "Boston John" Clark to come and. quieten Mrs. Glover by mesmerism. Mrs. Glover tried her hand at selfsupport by' beraming a teacher. Pupils of hers who are still'living are fond of relating anecdotes :of the days when they went to school to Mrs. Glover. They all remember ' that. the teacher required tho class to march round tho room singing tho following refrain:—

"We will toll Mrs. Glover How much we love her; By the light of the moon We will come to her." And so tho story goes on of this abnormal being who afterwards became the Apostle of a Church. Sho ■ next married Dr. Patterson, a dentist,- who doserted her.. Asa Gilbert Eddy, the third husband of tho founder of the Christian Science Church, was a weaver with a turn for \ spiritualism.—Tho "Weekly Scotsman."