Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/195

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CHAPTER X

MRS. GLOVER'S INFLUENCE OVER HER STUDENTS—QUIMBY DISCREDITED—DANIEL HARRISON SPOFFORD—MRS. GLOVER'S MARRIAGE TO ASA GILBERT EDDY

Whatever disagreement Mrs. Glover had with individual students, their number constantly increased, and for every deserter there were several new adherents. Her following grew not only in numbers but in zeal; her influence over her students and their veneration of her were subjects of comment and astonishment in Lynn. Of some of them it could be truly said that they lived only for and through Mrs. Glover. They continued to attend in some manner to their old occupations, but they became like strangers to their own families, and their personalities seemed to have undergone an eclipse. Like their teacher, they could talk of only one thing and had but one vital interest. One disciple let two of his three children die under metaphysical treatment without a murmur. Another married the woman whom Mrs. Glover designated. Two students furnished the money to bring out her first book, though Mrs. Glover at that time owned the house in which she lived, and her classes were fairly remunerative.

The closer students, who constituted Mrs. Glover's cabinet and bodyguard, executed her commissions, transacted her business, and were always at her call. To-day some of these who

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