The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-14

nedler OF portland, Me-, IN the 'DOS
and early SOS. In January, 1866 Mr..
Quimby died from the effects Of a tu-
NOR. at his home in Belfast, Me. Sub
sequently Mrs, Eddy discovered and
founded Christian Science. Some years
later, when Christian Science had be-
gun TO assume proportions prophetic of
its present hold on public interest, a
student of Mrs. Eddy's undertook to
plagiariZe her book and was enJoined
by court process. Then a former patient
10 the late Mr.. Quimby came to his de-
Tense with the statement that Mrs.
Eddy had herself plagiarized from the
teachings and writings of p p. Quinn
by. and declared his statements could
be proved by writings I'm the said
Quimbys hand which were in exist
ence. But this he failed to do.
The Quimby manuscripts have ever
since been talked about, however, writ
ten about and apparently quoted from.
A book has been written on the phil
OsOphy of P. P. Quimby, and many
other books have been written purport-
ing to be deductions and engagements
on Quimbyism. The history of Mental
Science in the United States processes
TO date back to the Quimby manu-
scripts, and Quimby is declared by GER
tain writers to be the first man in this
country to teach the belief that mind
had power over matter. So far has this
lQea spread IIlL IL Is almost lifiDOSSl-
BILE today to speak OF Mrs. Eddy and
Christian Science without the question
Immediately being asked But she
got it all from man named Quimby,
did she nOt?"
Are They Tradition and a Myth?
George A. Quimby. the son of Phin-
cas- p. Quimby, is living today I'm Bel
fast, Me. He is a well-liked and much
respected citizen Of that town Of sew
eral thousand inhabitants.
Ii is my conviction, after a long and
entirely pleasant interview with George
a. Quimby. that ne is himself victim
of the Quimby manuscript tradition.
Socially engaging and intellectually in
teresting, he is on this one subject bit
ter. intense, almost morbid. AS he
talks his face flushes, his hands shake
his voice trembles. He strikes the arm
of his chair with his closed fist and
cries out that Christian Scientists are
liars, and Their spells the word to give
# emphasis. He declares in one breath
that his father was the first man in
the country TO teach mental healing
and in the next that he can prove moth
ing. and leans back in his chair, ex-
hausted by the intensity of his own
emotion.
Agreed to Show the ouimby Papers.
Mr.. Quimby agreed, over the long
distance telephone from Boston, to
show the writer the Quimby manu-
scripts. 1t is difficult to reach Belfast
in the winter time, the town being on
a branch line and the journey there
involving stOp-overs at dreary little
functions. For this reason the inter
viewer made a specific request that the
manuscripts might be seen if the jour
ney was undertaken. Mr.. Quimby was
Informed accurately who his visitor
would be, that he might not change his
mind. and he most courteOusly agreed
TO exhibit the Quimby manuscripts,
with the provisO that no quotations
should be copied from them.
1t was a Saturday afternoon and Mr.
Quimby was alone in his office, no
business being transacted on this half
holiday. He gave the writer a chair at
a desk and sat down at his own desk, |
saying:
IF all the people who have come to
see me in the past twenty years about
these manuscripts of my fathers were
fishes. and were laid head and tail to- |
gether, they would stretch from here
TO Montana. If all the letters that have
been written to me on the subject were
spread out they would make a plaster |
that would cover the country"
why don't you print them so that |
all the world can see them?" I asked |
you could settle the question then for /
all time"
Because I won't" said Mr. Quimby, /
dogmatically. II have said / would |
never print them while that woman |
lives, and 1 never SHALL"
Meaning Mrs Eddy?'
That's just who / mean"
But you have the manuscripts?"
II have. And here is one that you
may look at"
Mr.. Quimby took from a drawer In
his desk a copybook such as school |
children use to write essays in. 1t was
in good state of preservation. not yell
lowed by age, and was written in from |
cover to cover in a neat, copyists hand.
There were no erasures nor interlinea-
tons, no breaks for para graphs and
very few headings. There were dates
at the end of the articles, of which
there appeared to be two or three diff
ferent ones in the book. The dates
were 1861 and 1868.
rs this your fathers handwriting?"
asked Mr.. Quimby.
1T is not. That is my mothers, I
believe. and here is one in the hand
writing of one of the Misses Ware" 4
Mr.. Quimby went to a great iron safe
built in the wall and brought out six or
eight more books of a similar charac-
ter. /;
The writer glanced through the pages
and saw that all We're written i'm this
style, with some variation in handwrit-
ing. and then asked:
"Are none of these in your fathers
handwriting"
NO. they are all copies of copies" [
But. Mr.. Quimby, what l came to s
Belfast for was to see your fathers ,
manuscripts You agreed TO let me see
them. and have particular reason
for wishing TO do So"
These are the only manuscripts I I
have shown TO anyone, and the only /
ones 1 will show" said Mr.. Quimby, q
Facing the floor. 7
But there has recently been printed S
fac SMILES of your fathers manu- q
scripts. over the date 1863. in which ap- /
pears the words Christian Science '
particularly wished to see that manu- G
script. If you allowed other magazine [
writer's TO see il, why will you not let e
me?" 4
II am showing YOU exactly what / I
showed other magazine writer's There {
Is the very page that was photo
c-rc nhaH