discredited with the Philadelphia following by letters from Boston. It was his mother's way not to tell him frankly that she was through with him, though, after he reached his destination, she dropped the old endearing appellations, and no longer signed herself "Mother," but wrote to him in the following tone:
Dear Doctor, I have silenced every word of the slander started in Boston about that woman by saying that I had not the, least idea of any wrong conduct between you and her, for I know you are chaste. . . . This silly stuff is dead. Always kindly yours.
Dr. Foster left Boston by water, and on the day he sailed away Mrs. Eddy sent flowers to the boat, and a crowd of Christian Scientists were at the wharf to see him off. But as the adopted son stood by the deck-rail with his bouquet in his hands, and watched the water widen between him and Boston, he realised the import of this cordiality, and knew that, through the crowd on the shore, his mother had waved him a blithe and long adieu.
After Dr. Foster reached Philadelphia and found that Christian Scientists there had been warned to have nothing to do with him, he went back to Concord to lay his wrongs before Mrs. Eddy. She granted him an audience in the house in which, a few months before, he had been master, but cut short the interview and went upstairs while he was speaking.[1] Dr. Foster
- ↑ After this interview Mrs. Eddy wrote Dr. Foster the following letter, in which she accuses him of "keeping his mind on her" and weakening her, as she used to charge Spofford and Arens with doing:
"Pleasant View,"Concord, N. H., March 17, 1897.
"Dr. Foster Eddy—My dear Benny: I was not 'falsely' referring to your mind on me. I am not or cannot be mistaken now in whose mind is on me. My letter was dated the 8th of March. I shall not soon forget that time. When you went to Phila. at my request I made everything ready for your success, even in the Church rules, Art. 8, Sec. 14, that nothing should impede you. One of your first acts was to consult ——— in your movements and not to consult me before doing it.
"This laid the foundation of what followed. Had my letter that I sent by you to that church been read in the Church of Philadelphia on March 14, as I told you to have it, it would have saved you being kicked out of the readership. You never named to me you intended to stop till Monday in Boston. You conceal from me all you should tell—and which I would save you from doing—and then when you get into difficulty come to me for help. You had everything in your power whereby to control the situation. See Church Manual, pp. 13, Secs. 3 and 16, Sec. 10, edition 5.
"But you were governed by hypnotism to work against me and yourself and take me as your authority for so doing. Then turn all your papers of the fight and the burden of its settlement on to me and yourself go on a pleasure trip to Washington, and after all this tell me that you cared not for yourself in the case but for me!
"The church has written me a loving letter with regrests [regrets] that they had to do by you as they did.
"You say those with whom you now are love you. I hope this will continue to be so. As ever, lovingly,
Mother."N. B.—I open this letter to speak briefly of the apochryphal gospel. I read till disgusted and stopped. 'Hermas' is an imaginary character, and the 'old woman' has no more relation to me than Pilate's wife; both are depicted as good representative characters for that time and under those circumstances. They may or may not have been human beings.
"Such reading tends to foster the disease of moral insanity or idiocy that the magic of Mohammedism and the hypnotism of our time are engendering.
"The ethics of the dialogues in that spurious book are excellent and that makes the book dangerous lest they cause the stuff that accompanies them to take form in thought as veritable characters and history, and even prophetic—which it is not.
M. B. E."
