Article December 14, 1899 Issue

Home of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy

Henrietta H. Williams in the New England Magazine.

New York Daily Tribune

Pleasant View, the home of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, Founder of Christian Science, stands in one hundred acres of carefully cultivated ground on the brow of one of the southwestern hillslopes of Concord, N. H., about a mile out, though within the city limits. As one drives out by way of Pleasant or School Street, shaded avenues that wind over the western hills into a fine boulevard, the recent gift of Mrs. Eddy to the city, the appropriateness of the name of her home becomes apparent. From the bouleverd to the White Farm road in the valley, and from the valley to Bow in the distance, is a view over hills and meadows of surpassing loveliness. No effort has been made at Pleasant View at landscape effects, though few home sites are richer in natural effectiveness. Above acres of waving grasses and long lines of fine old orchard trees, from rose garden, lawns, and shrubbery to a copse of pine and hemlocks in the valley, then on over a vista of villagedotted hills and dusky river banks framed in the purple shadow of distant mountains, the scene is beautiful indeed, and its deepest note is peace. The enchantment of these broad perspectives commingles with the charm of oldfashioned flowers and the scent of freshly mown hay, orchard sweetness and all the restfulness of a quiet home. The air is redolent of pines that fringe the lawns, and daisies, buttercups, and clover in the fields beyond; more than a hundred apple-trees outline the meadows, sending up their fragrance to mingle with that of beds of lilies, sweet peas, and alyssum, hyacinths and a profusion of simple home flowers plentiful in New England.

An indefinable sense of stillness broods over these broad acres as gentle as the morning breeze which lifts the heads of the bending grasses. Beyond a trim hedge, hothouses on the farm and neat barns and stables appeal to one's sense of symmetry in the rounding out of the prosperous homestead. Above a spring a windmill supplies water for an artistic bit of pond in the valley; and a somewhat merry contrast to the author's busy and serious days is a little cedar skiff, in a gay dress of crimson plush and silken awnings, moored in an ornamental boathouse — the gift of some of her followers. A neat walk winds from the valley to the broad verands, that are arched in woodbine. A wealth of color everywhere greets the eyes. Arbors, shaded in clematis and roses, dot the lawns in the foreground, and midway is a young elm planted by the author herself.

To the right, in front of the tower, a bronze fountain sends up its refreshing spray to the summer warmth. On the western slope of the grounds, beyond the tamarax shrubs and tall catalpas, beds of mignonette, petunias, and roses vie in sweetness with the honeysuckle that winds above the window ledges. From the clean cut driveways to the grape and raspberry border heading the orchard all is order and simplicity, and there is a nice blending of the practical with the lovely never wanting in the author's environment. Mrs. Eddy's pets are four horses and the goldfish in the fountain. All know her voice, and a word serves to show the fondness alike of great and small for the nature whose every impulse is kindness.

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