Impossible Conditions

Alfred Farlow

Boston Herald

To the Editor of The Herald.

A dispatch from Amesbury, Mass., appearing in The Herald of Wednesday and reporting the death of Miss Sarah O. Bagley of that town, alleges that she taught the Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy "her first lessons in the healing art" some thirty years ago, when Mrs. Eddy was so-journing in that town.

To correct this rumor I have received from Mrs. Eddy the following statement:—

"I taught my first student in 1867 in Lynn, Mass. I never saw Miss Bagley until about the year 1870, while I was stopping in Amesbury, Mass. Then she, Miss Bagley, applied to me for admission to a class in Christian Science that I was preparing to open, but I declined to accept her as a student. She was a Spiritualist and a so-called medium when I knew her."

This false claim, so often refuted, that Mrs. Eddy did not discover Christian Science but learned it from some one else, seems to still seek circulation, though its authors change and the names of the alleged tutors of Mrs. Eddy change. First it is asserted that Dr. Quimby discovered Christian Science and gave Mrs. Eddy her first lessons on the subject. Now it is declared that Miss Bagley gave Mrs. Eddy her first lessons in Christian Science. Just how both of these persons could have been Mrs. Eddy's first teacher is somewhat of a puzzle. Regarding this subject it is important to note that Mrs. Eddy's alleged teachers are not named until they are dead and gone, and therefore not here to speak for themselves and credit to Mrs. Eddy that which belongs to her.

Alfred Farlow. Boston Herald.

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