Regarding a Recent By-law

The following editorial comment in the Troy (N. Y.) Press is a timely and proper rebuke, not only to those newspapers which have commented upon the recently published By-law, in the manner indicated, but also to those persons whose conduct in the past has made such a By-law necessary. The editorial is to the point, and the writer of it has our thanks.

"A great many of our contemporaries have discussed Mrs. Eddy's very reasonable request, and almost invariably in a would-be humorous and derisive vein. The matter of gallantry, decency, and courtesy involved seems to have been entirely overlooked in a silly attempt to heap ridicule upon this venerable woman.

"Mrs. Eddy is in the eighties, and has for years been accustomed to take a ride every afternoon. To have her route habitually lined with curiosity-seekers, trying to get 'a good look' at her, and making rude remarks which are often overheard, is an exhibition of vulgarity which must be trying to any well-ordered mind. Whether her religion is founded upon folly or wisdom, she has a right to it in this free country, and no one has the right to persecute her upon this account. The fame of Mrs. Eddy is so great that countless thousands are anxious to see her, no less among her opponents than her own followers, and the effort to do so has degenerated into a daily nuisance. It would appear as though about everybody who visited Concord has made it a business to try to get a glimpse of the author of Science and Health before leaving that beautiful town.

"Mrs. Eddy, therefore, makes a mandate for her followers to abstain from this impertinence. She has no authority over others, and can only appeal to their manliness and womanliness—to the respect due her sex. While there may be those who are insensible to all claims of gallantry and politeness, we feel sure that ladies and gentlemen of every sect, and of no sect, will be conspicuous only by their absence from the ignorant and vulgar people who may still persist in haunting the route of Mrs. Eddy's carriage in the effort to see its owner." M.

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Editorial

Symbol and Substance

July 23, 1904

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