Article January 29, 1910 Issue

A burglar can arouse us, if our house is on fire and we...

World-Herald

A burglar can arouse us, if our house is on fire and we are asleep in it, and we are very thankful to him. We never inspect the moral record of the profane sea-captain who pilots us safely across the stormy sea. We do not look a gift-horse in the mouth, unless it be out of sight of the donor, and then we do it merely to gratify the propensity of curiosity. We never scrutinize the pedigree of the mathematician who has worked out rules that assist us in many ways through life, and we say nothing against the spots on the sun while enjoying the many blessings resulting from its light. But let any one offer us a political or religious truth that will benefit us, and the first and the last thing we do to him is to search for the weak points in his life and history and then talk and write about them until our benefactor, unless he is thoroughly on to his job, hunts his hole.

A writer in the Boston Transcript, reviewing another book launched against Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, Leader of Christian Science, joins the army of critics who for years have been bombarding the personal character of this great woman. The old charge that she is a plagiarist is taken up with renewed enthusiasm. A whole column is devoted to the personality of Mrs. Eddy, and not a line to the Principle which she teaches. If we should only pay attention to the words of those who have wings, we wonder how far this critic could fly into the public confidence.

This raising of our porcupine quills against political and religious benefactors, while accepting the favors of all other philanthropists with thanks, has long been one of the peculiarities of human nature. If we are manufacturing stage-coaches when a railroad is invented, we do not get mad and fight the inventor, but we take stock in the improved service and adjust ourselves to the new order of things. Yet we assassinate the statesman and crucify the prophet.

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