The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-11-02
REPORTER VISITS
MRS, MARY B. EDDY
Butthe "lnterview" is Not
What He Expected.
She Was Able to Go
Driving However.

Concord N. H., Oct 30.-Mrs. Mary
Baker Eddy, high priestess of the
Christian Science cult, as stated in
these dispatches last night is very
sick woman with physical strength
weakened by the ravages of years, and
with her wonderful mentality slowly,
but none the less surely, giving way
under the heavy strain of the duties
! she has discharged so long. She
granted an audience of exactly fifty
| seconds duration to staff correspond
ent of the Publishers Press Associa-
| ton, because, as her advisers put it,
I'VE want to prove to you how utterly
untrue are the stories that Mrs. Eddy
is not her old self" But the inter-
view proved just the opposite. The
| interrogator had three questions Civ
en- her by Mr.. Wilson, the general
press agent of the scientists. They
| consisted of:
Mrs. Eddy, are you now in per-
feet health?"
Mrs. Eddy, have you now, or have
you had any other physician than
| God?"
Mrs. Eddy, do you drive out every
day?"
The correspondent was ushered into
one of the beautiful front parlors of
/ the Eddy home. 1t is a restful ap-
| pearing room. Done in quiet colors,
with the only pictures those of relig-
ious objects, chief being a head of
Jesus in oils, bearing every evidence
of being the work of master painter,
the room satisfies every sense of the
artistic He was told that Mrs. Eddy
would walk downstairs in his pres
! ence and that she would come right
| into the room to greet him, but just
| efore she came a curtain closed the
view through the door. There was a
| wait of possibly FIVE minutes, and
| then the curtain swung back with
| a snap and the emaciated form of
Mrs. Eddy was visible in the door
way There could be no question Of
| her identity. It was the mother of
| the cult, and she looked every day of
| her SO years. Her form was sughtly
! bent, her figure was shaking from
| bodily weakness, and were it not for
| the support of Frye, who stood with
his hand under one of her arms, and
| her tight deathlike clutch on the cur
! tain across the door, it seemed as
though she must have fallen to the
ground
| Mrs. Eddy did not try TO enter the
| room. She could not. Her palsied
limbs, we're not strong enough to do
more than support her, and she clung
to the curtain, pathetic, but touching
sight, waiting for-she knew not what
Mrs. Eddy" began her questioner:
-wha-what?" was the very
| faint response.
DO you now enjoy perfect health ?"
continued the strong voice of the
young woman.
There was a pause. 1t lasted but a
second, and then from the old lady
came the reply in trembling tone:
Yes, /" The sentence was not
| finished, and the second question as
| to her physician being God alone, was
| asked. This struck the keynote of
the sainted old lady, and for brief
second of time there was a fire in her
| eye, as she replied:
MY God is my physician. | rest
| in his everlasting arms"
Silence fell in the group Mrs. Ed
| dy, propelled by the strong arm of
| the attendant Frye and the nurse, had
started toward the waiting carriage.
The next question fell unanswered in
an empty doorway.
Today's interview confirms merely
the fact that Mrs. Eddy is just what
she could be expected to be ct her
time in life, an aged, tired woman,
whose weight of years are beginning
to weigh heavily upon her. The gen.
eral opinion is simply that she is
suffering from senile decay and this
Isl a malady that neither Christian
Science nor medical science has ever
| been able to find remedy for
IN NEW YORK.
J New York, Oct, 30.-Christian Sci,
entists in this city declared they did
not expect Mrs. Mary G. Eddy to live
forever, that they were not disturbed
by the report that she was all but
dead from cancer The interest in
whether Mrs. Eddy, the founder OF
Christian Science, lives or dies origi.
mated, they explained, in the popular
conception that she must show actual
physical immortality to justify her
theories as to the superiority of the
spirit over matter.