Article January 21, 1911 Issue

Whatever may be the final estimate of the life of Mary Baker Eddy...

Decatur (Ill.) Herald

Whatever may be the final estimate of the life of Mary Baker Eddy by those without the fold of the church which she established, it must be generally admitted that in many respects she was a remarkable woman. Relentlessly criticized and even persecuted as she was, assailed by the keenest minds and the sharpest intellects, her beliefs attacked and her theology condemned, she nevertheless maintained her prestige and saw her church grow from one small community of worshipers to thousands upon thousands. Today Christian Science churches are represented in nearly every city in the land by stately edifices and loyal and devoted members. Mrs. Eddy had to a remarkable degree that ability as an organizer which is essential in any great undertaking. Once her church was established, she remained the recognized head of it.

She possessed a large amount of business acumen. This even her bitterest enemies stood willing to admit. Four years ago, when an attempt was being made to show that Mrs. Eddy was being unduly influenced by a "clique," a commission was sent to visit her at her Concord home. It was the report of this commission which largely influenced those behind the action to drop the case. Mrs. Eddy was then an elderly woman, who might have been expected to have lost touch with business matters, but her replies to questions as to how and why she invested her money, were worthy of the shrewdest banker. This is an age of tolerance, if not of the widest charity. Heretics no longer are burned, and we do not send to the rack those whose religious beliefs differ from our own. Mrs. Eddy's enemies have attacked her and attempted to riddle Science and Health, but beyond declaring that her followers were strangely deluded they have had little to say regarding those who accepted her beliefs. She drew to her not only women, but men—men of great intellect, business men, scholars, men prominent in the professions, and in everyone she found a defender.

It is probable that no leader or cause in history was ever more ably or systematically defended. Christian Science never antagonizes, but permits no statement against it to pass unquestioned. Its press system excites only admiration. It is altogether improbable that Mrs. Eddy's work will languish with her demise. It will be taken up by strong and willing hands and carried forward, and this the more easily for the reason that Mrs. Eddy had worked out her plans and left her house in order.

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