Article January 26, 1899 Issue

Christian Science in Chelsea

The Christian Scientists of Chelsea, Mass, held their first morning service in their home city Sunday, January 15. Fifty or sixty of them had been for some time regular attendants at the Mother Church in Boston, and it was with some questioning as to the number who could be counted on to form the new congregation that arrangements were made for meeting in Gould Hall, on Broadway, near the Postoffice building. But the number of those present when it came time for the service to begin was a surprise and a re-assurance. Not only were the sixty seats that had been first provided quickly filled, but four settees and almost a score of chairs had to be brought in from an ante-room. The hall was filled from platform to rear wall. Where it had been thought that possibly seventy might attend this first service, one hundred and twenty-seven were there. Several of the friends from the Boston Church who have been specially associated with the Chelsea Scientists were present to see the new branch well started, but they, though welcome, were not numerous enough to account for the special size of the gathering. The excess was composed of those who, though interested, have not associated themselves in any way with the Mother Church or been regular attendants there; and their number was taken as an immediate guarantee that the Chelsea Church has a work of its own to do.

Aside from the success in numbers, which carried with it a world of encouragement and cheer, there were other features of the morning that were pleasant. The little hall in which the service was held was perhaps as well adapted to its purpose as any place in the city not already used for religious worship. It is in a good location, and because of the fact that it is the meeting-room of one of the secret orders, it is well-furnished and devoid of a certain bareness that characterizes many halls. On Sunday, moreover, the room was flooded with sunshine, as if to assure a warm welcome to the new occupants. A soloist had been secured, and it was thus possible to follow the same order of service to which all attendants at the Mother Church had been accustomed. The generous offering of money was taken as an indication of the general spirit of enthusiasm under which the start was made. The Weekly and the Quarterly were on sale at the hall, and several copies of each were called for.

After the service the cordial spirit that pervaded the gathering made itself more evident than ever, and it was long after the close of the service before the friends finished their greetings and words of mutual encouragement.

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