Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-10

| Il
say that man is aroused to thought
or action only by ease, pleasure or
recompense. Something higher, nobler,
more imperative, impels the impulse 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 s
Magazine, January, 1907, compels me as
u dutiful child and the leader of
Christian Science to speak.
McClure's Magazine refers to my
fathers tall, gaunt frame" and pic
lures "the old man tramping doggedly
along the highway regularly beating the
ground with huge walking stick"
My fathers person was erect and ro-
bust. He never used walking-stick.
To illustrate: One time when my
father was visiting Governor Pierce
President Franklin Pierce's father. the
governor handed him gold-headed
walking-stick as they were about to
start for church. My father thanked
the governor, but declined to accept the
stick, saying, II never use a cane"
Although McClure's Magazine attrib-
utes to my father language unseemly,
his household law, constantly enforced,
was no profanity and no slang phrases.
McClure's Magazine also declares that
the Bible was the only book in his
house. On the contrary, my father was
a great reader.
The man. whom McClures Magazine
characterizes as Ignorant, dominating,
passionate, fearless" was uniformly
dignified-a well-informed, intellectual
man, cultivated in mind and manners.
He was called upon to do much business
for his town, making out deeds, settling
quarres, and even acting as counsel in
a lawsuit involving question of pau
perism between the towns of Loudon
and Bow, N. H. Franklin Pierce, after
ward president of the United States,
was the counsel for Loudon and Mark
Baker 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 1 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.
Points to Inaccuracies
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 colony.
McClure's Magazine says, describing
the Baker homestead at Bow: THE
| house itself was a small, square box
structure of rudimentary architecture"
My fathers house had a sloping roof
after the prevailing style of architecture
at that date.
McClure's Magazine states: alone of
the Bakers, he (Albert) received a lib
eral education. Mary Baker
passed her first fifteen years at the an
cestral home at Bow. 1t was lonely
and unstimulating existence. The
church supplied the only social diver
sion, the district school practically all
the intellectual life"
Let us see what were the fruits of this
''lonely and unstimulating existence
All my fathers daughters were given
an academic education, sufficiently ad-
vanced so that they all taught school
iacceptably at various times and places.
My brother Albert was distinguished
lawyer. In addition to my academic
| training, l was privately tutored by
him. He was a member of the New
| Hampshire Legislature, and was NOM
mated for congress but died before the
election.
McClure's Magazine calls my youngest
brother, George Sullivan Baker, "a
workman in a Tilton wooden mill" AS
matter of fact, he was joint partner
with Alexander Tilton, and together
they owned a large manufacturing
establishment in Tilton, N. H. His
military title of Colonel came from ap-
pointment on the staff of the governor
of New Hampshire.
| My Oldest brother Samuel d. Baker,
l
Mass
Regarding the allegation by McClure's
Magazine that all the family, except
ing Albert, died of cancer" l will say
that there was never a death in my
fathers family reported by physician or
post-mortem examination as caused by
cancer.
Book Resembles Author
McClure's Magazine says that "the
quarrels between Mary, child 10 years
old, and her father, a gray-haired man
of So frequently set the house In an
uproar," and adds that these ''fits"
were diagnosed by DR.. Ladd as 'hys-
teria mingled with bad temper"
My mother often presented my dis
position as exemplary for her other
children to initiate, saying. when do
you ever see Mary angry?" When the
| first edition of Science and Health was
published DR.. Ladd said to Alexander
Tilton Read it, for 1t will do you
good 1t does not surprise me, 1t so
resembles the author"
L will relate the following incident,
which occurred later in life, as illus
trative of my dsposition
While 1 was living with DIR. Patter-
son at his country home in Rumney,
N. H., girl, totally blind, knocked
at the door and was admitted. She
begged to be allowed to remain with
me, and my tenderness and sympathy
were such that 1 could not refuse her.
Shortly after however my good house,
keeper said to me:
"if this blind girl stays with you
I shall have TO leave; she troubles ma
so much"
1t was not in my heart to turn the
blind girl out, and so lost my house,
keeper.
My reply to the statement that the
clerks book shows that 1 Joined the
Tilton congregational church at the
| a aa 90 ~ 10 that NV religious eXDeri-