Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1907-01-26
MRS. Eddy'S Reply
To the January
Mcclure Article
Concord, N. H., Jan. 5.


lish the early life of the Reverend
Mary Baker Eddy, leader Of the Chris
tian Scientists, and her family, has
been brought to the attention of Mrs.
Eddy. She has taken the pains to
correct the matter, and has sent out
the following statement over her own
signature:
1t is calumny on Christian Science
TO say that man is aroused to thought
or action only by ease, pleasure, or
recompense. Something higher, nobl-
err, more imperative. impels the inn
pulses of Soul. 1t becomes my duty
to be just to the departed and to tread
not ruthlessly on their ashes. The
attack on me and my late father and
his family in McClure's Magazine,
January, 1907, compels me as a duti-
full child and the Leader of Christian
Science to speak.
McClure's Magazine refers to my
fathers "tall, gaunt frame, and
pictures "the old man tramping dog
gedly along the highway regularly
beating the ground with huge walk
ing stick. s9@
My fathers person was erect and
robust. He never used a walking
stick. To illustrate: One time when
my father was visiting Governor
Pierce, President Franklin Pierce's
father, the Governor handed my father
gold headed walking stick as they
were about to start for church. My
father thanked the Governor, but de-
clined to accept the stick, saving: 81
never use a cane.
Although McClure's Magazine at
tributes to my father language I'M
seemly, his household law, con-
stantly enforced, was no profanity and
no slang phrases. McClure's Maya
zine also declares that the Bible was
the only book in his house. On the
contrary, my father was a great read
err.
The man, whom McClure's Maya
zine characterizes as Ignorant, dom
mating, passionate, fearless, was
uniformly dignifed-a well-informed,
intellectual man, cultivated in mind
and manners. He was called upon to
do much business for his town, max
ing out deeds, settling quarrels, and
even acting as counsel in a law suit
involving question OF pauperism be-
tween the towns of Loudon and Bow,
N. H. Franklin Pierce, afterward
President of the United States, was
the counsel for Loudon and Mark Bak-
er for Bow. Both entered their pleas,
and my father won the suit. After it
was decided, Mr.. Pierce bowed to my
father and congratulated him. For
several years father was chaplain of
the New Hampshire State Militia, and
as l recollect it, he was Justice of the
Peace at one time. My father was a
strong believer in States Rights, but
slavery he regarded as a great sin.
Mark Baker was the youngest of his
fathers family, and inherited his
fathers real estate, an extensive farm
situated in Bow and Concord, N. H.
1t is on record that Mark Bakers
father paid the largest tax in the col
ony.
McClure's Magazine says, describing
the Baker homestead at Bow: 1.-THE
house itself was small, square box
structure of rudimentary architect
ure. f." My fathers house had slop-
ing roof after the prevailing style of
architecture at that date.
McClure's Magazine states: "Alone
of the Bakers, he (Albert) received a
liberal education. = Mary Baker
passed her first fifteen years at the an
cestral home in Bow. 1t was lonely
and unstimulating existence. The
church supplied the only social diver
sion, and district school practically all
the intellectual life"
Let US see what were the fruits of
this lonely and unstimulating exist
ence. . All my fathers daughters
were given an academic education,
sufficiently advanced so that they all
taught school acceptably at various
times and places.
My brother Albert was a dlstin-
guished lawyer. In addition to my
academic training, l was privately
tutored by him. He was member
of the New Hampshire Legislature,
and was nominated for Congress, but
died before the election.
McClure's Magazine calls my
Youngest brother, George Sullivan
Baker, "a workman in a Tilton WOOL
en- mill" AS a matter of fact he
was joint partner with Alexander Til
ton, and together they owned large
manufacturing establishment in Tilton.