The Washington herald., 1907-03-27

had the thought; that Is the point"
And that is the very point. II would
be necessary 10 see those thoughts in his
own handwriting to prove that they were
your fathers thoughts
You can't prove anything" declared
Mr. Quimby, wrathfully, Il tell you they
have all been after those manuscripts,
Arens. Dresser. Minot J. Savage. Pea
body. and these recent newspaper and
magazine Investigators. But I have never
shown them. DR. Savage wrote me that
I owed II 20 the world to produce them.
And did you not think 50, too?'
mo"
an Obstiaate Refusal.
Mr.. Quimby." / said, walking over to
where ne sat by his desk. Il ask you seri-
ously. and it shall be for the last time. TO
let me see your fathers papers. I agree
not 10 copy anything from them or TO
handle them other than you permit.
Mr Quimby's answer was an obstinate
shake Of the head
"Do you think your father was the
author of Christian Scienee?'' was my
next question. after dropping the manu-
script discussion.
Il think this; If Mrs. Eddy had never
visited my father. Christian Science would
never have been born. She took his ideas
and hitehed her religious trolley onto
them and made up her so-calied science. -
"Was your father religious man?'
We'll" said Mr.. Quimby. that de-
pends upon what you mean by religious
Mr.. Quimby here told a story about
man who was "a believer In religion, but
not theology by 2 d. sight His eX-
PLANTATION Of his fathers attitude was that
he (P p. Quimby) believed Jesus mis-
sion to the world was to bring health
and healing, not 10 establish religion.
/ will interrupt my interview with Mr..
Quimby at this point to state that Mrs.
Eddy has said frequently in writing and
TO her students that she gave as freely
Of her own ideas to Pbineas p. Quimby
as she took suggestions from him. That
she wrote many manuscripts for him and
corrected others, and that she signed his
name freely to such writings. She thinks
that many of these were afterward copied
by other patients. Her belief and her
word IS therefore set over against Mr..
George A. Quimbys who was then a lad
of nineteen, not particularly interested in
philosOphic speculation.
Was DR.. quimby "a Mesmerist!
Mrs Eddy has stated that P P. Quimby
was a mesmerist; that he mesmerized her
body and hynotized her thought She has
said that she did not completely recover
from the hypnotic effect of his thought
until after his death. when she seriously
applied herself to the formulation Of her
own doctrine of Christian Science which
had been revealed TO her by divine inspi-
ration after she had suffered a serious in
jury by a fall on d slippery pavement in
Lynn. She was a number Of years af-
fected by the tinge Of Quimby's mesmeric
ideas before she threw his influence off
absolutely and. giving her book TO the
world, was the first enunciator Of absO-
lutte mind science And Christian Science
was founded. its textbook written be-
fore the modern school of mental scien-
lists was heard Of These writers ap-
pear to have reconstructed Quimbyism
through backward reasoning from Mrs
Eddy's teachings.
To know the true Quimby. the writer
visited various old citizens of Belfast and
asked them to relate what they could re
member of P p. Quimby and his pTac-
tice. He IS remembered there only as a
mesmerist. The registrar Of deeds George
McCrillis, a man over seventy years old,
remembers Z. p. Quimby as vividly as
though he had talked with him the dav
before. He illustrated to the writer how
p p Quimby treated his patients. He
would sit down in front Of you and look
you squarely In the eye, said Mr.. Me
Crillis And he had a piercing glance,
fine, clear eye. Then he would make
passes across your forehead and down
your shoulders and the length of your
arms shaking his hands after every pass
made. Ny whole body would tingle with.
his electricity, but he never quite put
me to sleep. for he said I had too strong
d will He was a good man and a fine
citizen, but entirely wrapped up in his
healing experiments"
There are many other old residents Of
Belfast who unequivocally state that
Quimby was known as a mesmerist and
hypnotist all his life.
What Mrs. Eddy Says of DIR. Quimby.
Having failed to unveil the clustered
Quimby manuscripts by personal investi-
cation. but having received emphatic as
surance that no one else had seen them,
and having by interviews and eonversa-
tions with respected citizens of Belfast
shown what the local reputation of P. P.
Quimby has been, 1t seems right to let
Mrs Eddy speak for herself on the Quinn
by influence on her life. She says:
In 1852, when ! first visited Dr. Quinn
by, of Portland, Ne, his scribblings We're
descriptions of his patients and comprised
the manuscripts that in 1887 I advertised
/ would pay for having published. Before
his decease, in 1866, he had tried TO get
them published and failed The quota
items contained in the article-purp0rting
to be DR.. Quimby's own words-were writ
ten while | was his patient IN Portland
and holding long conversations with him
on my views of mental therapeutics.
Some words in these quotations certainly
read like words that I said to him. and
at his request TO correct his copy had
added thereto. In his conversations with
me and in his scribblings. the word sci
ence was not used at all, till one day de-
clared TO him that back of his magnetic
treatment and manipulation of patients
there was a Science and Il was the
science Of Mind; that Ii had nothing to
do with matter. electricity. or physics.
After this I noticed he used that word
as we'll as other terms which 7 employed
which seemed at first new to him. He
even acknowledged this himself. and
startled me by saying what I cannot for
get-it was this:
! see now what you mean. and I see
that ! am John and that you are Jesus
AT that date I was stanch orthodox,
and my theological belief was offended
by his saving, and I entered a demurrer
that rebuked him But afterward l con-
cluded that he only referred to the COM
ing anew of their teachings, which we
both desired; for in some respects he was
quite seer. and understood what I said
better than some others dld-and. for one
so uniearned. he was a remarkable man.
Had his remark related 20 my personality.
should still think it was profane At
first my case improved under bis treat
ment, but Telapsed. I was gradually