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To the Editor of The Sun—Sir: There was recently...
Sun
To the Editor of The Sun—Sir: There was recently published in The Sun a letter from Mrs. Jessie Crounse Hitchcock of Omaha, Neb., to the effect that after having suffered for years from a malady, growing constantly worse in spite of the efforts of her physicians, she finally consulted a celebrated specialist in Chicago, only to be told that her complaint was incurable; that as a last resort she applied to a Christian Science practitioner, and was cured in a very short time and at a cost little more than what she had paid the Chicago specialist for an hour's consultation; that her "healer" could not be induced to take more than the prescribed fee—a dollar for each treatment—but that if she were worth a million dollars she would be glad to give it all to the Cause of Christian Science, although she was not a member of a Christian Science church, and at the time evidently did not expect to become a member.
Mrs. Hitchcock's father is himself an ex-Senator of the United States, an ex-Governor of the State of Nebraska, and an ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of that State. Her husband is at present a member of Congress and is owner and editor of the Omaha World-Herald. Mrs. Hitchcock herself is a woman of rare culture and accomplishment. I hope that there is no indelicacy in stating these facts, for they give sanction to her testimony, and her letter was published over her full name.
No one compelled Mrs. Hitchcock to resort to Christian Science. When she did so she expected to pay the small amount charged by the practitioner, not for his "prayers to God," but as a fair equivalent for the time actually employed and to enable the practitioner to supply his modest wants and devote his life and faculties to the healing of the sick. If payment was predicated on the prayers themselves, or on the results achieved, money would have afforded no standard of value. But so long as she did not complain of the charge why should Mr. Chandler become exercised about it? Would he compel a Christian Science practitioner to give his time for nothing, or trust to an honorarium for his compensation, as was formerly done in the case of lawyers and physicians? For a practitioner to accept gratuities might indeed enrich the practitioner, but the tendency would be bad for reasons too numerous to catalogue and sufficiently obvious to all who are not blinded by prejudice. It would not do to permit a practitioner to accept gratuities lavished in the first glow of gratitude for restored health. It would tend to corrupt the practitioner and unfit him for his work, and would finally bring him into disrepute. It is enough for Mr. Chandler to know that the whole subject has been thoroughly considered and that the wisdom of a small uniform charge has been thoroughly vindicated. To expect in this age of steam and electricity to adjust relationships to the customs of the year one, strikes me as puerile.
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July 13, 1907 issue
View Issue-
AN EVERY-DAY RELIGION
CLARENCE. W. CHADWICK
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TESTIMONIES
WALTER A. GREEN
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THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE READING ROOM
HOLMES HOGE
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THE QUICKENED LIFE
JENNIE M. STEVENS
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FALSE WITNESS
CAPTAIN GEOFFREY WILKINSON
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THE OLD TRAIL
J. RAYMOND PROSSER
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THE LECTURES
with contributions from Mayor Thomas, L. A. Watrous, Richard Hawkins, Cecil J. Armstrong, Stella Hadden Alexander
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WORSHIP
MARY MC D. SANTLEY
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MRS. EDDY TAKES NO PATIENTS
Editor
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AS SEEN BY AN INQUIRER
Archibald McLellan
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A DISTINCTION
Annie M. Knott
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THE NATURAL
John B. Willis
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LETTERS TO OUR LEADER
with contributions from Lillian M. Happny, Annie M. Knott, Frank R. Kinsley, Bicknell Young, Arthur A. Hall, Emma F. Burgess, Alice Florence Wills, Ida A. Shoots, Theodora Dickson, Zillah Cooper, F. T. Vaughan, May Sides, Ida A. R. Stephens, H. F. Bailey
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AMONG THE CHURCHES
with contributions from B. F. Mulkey, John C. Ryan
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THE SHEPHERD
BEN. HAWORTH-BOOTH
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With a heart overflowing with love and gratitude I give...
Minnie Marion Collins
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Sometimes blessings come to us disguised as misfortunes....
Clara A. Orrill
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On the third day of September, 1905, I commenced...
Enoch Shipley
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I may truthfully say that I never was free from some...
Virginia Ross
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Some six years ago, while spending a ten-days vacation...
E. M. Longcope
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I became interested in Christian Science in 1905...
Effie B. Nichols
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About two years ago I had occasion to go to a dentist...
Frances G. Smith
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It behooves me in my new sense of things to express in...
May McArthur Price with contributions from Emily D. Pierson
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I cannot tell how grateful I am for what God has done...
Emma Peterson
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I write this, hoping it may do good and bring some one...
Eugene S. Weaver
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During the severe winter of 1898, while in Boston, Mass...
Bessie H. Schaaf
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I feel it my duty to express through the Sentinel my...
E. S. Shoebotham with contributions from Lillian A. Niemann
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THE WINNER
Lilla Elizabeth Kelley
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FROM OUR EXCHANGES
with contributions from Benjamin F. Trueblood, P. T. Forsyth, Davis Wesgatt Clark, A. L. M.