A night watchman

Psalms 102 verse 7 from the King James Version tells us: "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top" while the New Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version) puts it like this: "I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop."

This reminds me of John Salchow's experience in Mary Baker Eddy's household. His wish was that he would anticipate his Leader's needs, and he was often able to do this without any direct communication with her.

A son of a farmer, he was a faithful and dedicated student and reliable helper. He frankly and humbly shares with his readers that his "day at Pleasant View [Mrs. Eddy's home of many years] started at about three-thirty to four o'clock in the morning in the summer and possibly an hour or half an hour later in the winter. I would hoe the garden, milk the cows, and feed the pigs. Then August Mann would give the horses their grain, and I would groom them. By that time it would be nearly seven o'clock, and I would stop for breakfast. After that there were the lawns and gardens to take care of, ice to take up to the house and cottage, or necessary repairs at the house, barn, or cottage, such as plumbing, electric wiring, carpentering, etc. In the evening I milked the cows again and watered the lawn if necessary. It was not often in the summer that my day was over before ten at night" (page 376, We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Volume 1, Expanded Edition).

Salchow also shares insights into the practicality of Mrs. Eddy's teaching. For instance, he explains the ways he was able to replace an unsatisfactory carriage step (see pp. 391-393). He writes that "error was always trying to tell those who worked for Mrs. Eddy that they could not carry out her instruction. She herself talked with me and taught me how to resist these arguments and to meet the belief of reversal... I ... learned to be awake to the error and to protect myself against it. ... Mrs. Eddy talked to her family very freely and often on this question of reversal, reminding her students not to forget to be alert and watchful" (pp. 393-394).

This alertness helped him to find an ingenious way of rigging up a doorbell after electricians had given up (p 394) and it gave him the ability to step into the role of night watchman following a break-in at the home. The break-in occurred in 1903 and disturbed the household very much. Mrs. Eddy was not told of the incident but everyone "agreed that there ought to be someone to watch at night" (p. 396). Well, John Salchow volunteered. He now extended his long day to include his sleeping hours, making a small adjustment of lying down to sleep from supper until ten! When he "found [himself] so overcome by sleep that [he] did not dare to sit down or lean against anything because [his] eyes would immediately close" he rigged up an alert system that served to jolt him awake if he fell asleep (ibid)! 

This continued on until one day Mrs. Eddy requested that the household have a watchman. She was never told what her selfless "dear John" had done for her, but I think her awareness and alertness would have given her the presence of mind and loving intuition to take this latter step for the good of all.

Julie Swannell

Faithful servant of God

Why would someone choose to serve a church faithfully and joyfully over many decades? Calvin C. Hill (1864-1943) served the Christian Science church in many ways, including holding the position of "Sunday School Superintendent of The Mother Church ... for fourteen years" and also serving "on the Finance Committee from 1902 to 1943" (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy Vol 1 Expanded Edition).

His introduction to Christian Science is related on pages 323 and 324 of that same book. He writes that his "religious training at home and in the Presbyterian church [had] prepared [him] to accept and appreciate Christian Science when it was presented to [him] in an hour of great need."

Nevertheless, when a colleague "who had been healed by reading Science and Health" (the textbook of Christian Science, written by its Discoverer Mary Baker Eddy) would speak to him about the good results he could expect from its application, "for three years [he] refused to listen to any great extent to what was said to [him] by this friend." However, after five years of disappointment with other methods of healing, Hill decided to "give [it] a trial."

After experiencing wonderful results, he longed to know more. He relocated to Boston where he found that "[t]he more [he] studied Mrs. Eddy's writings, together with the Bible, and the more [he] heard Christian Science discussed by its adherents and saw it exemplified in their daily lives, the more convinced [he] became that it was what Christ Jesus knew, taught, and proved in many wonderful works of healing" (p. 324-5).

However, he had become "prejudiced against Mrs. Eddy" (p. 325) due to having read derogatory newspaper and magazine articles about her. This changed during a meeting he attended when one of her students stated that "You can no more separate Mrs. Eddy from Science and Health than you can Moses from the Commandments, or Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount" (ibid).

Mr. Hill recounts with affection his first meeting with Mrs. Eddy in his capacity as a carpet salesman. He had brought her a little momento, which she received "as graciously as if it were a costly gift" (p. 328) and in return he received from her "one of the silver souvenir spoons which had been made available to Christian Scientists the previous December" (p. 328) and which were engraved with a special motto: "Not matter but Mind satisfieth" (ibid). 

Later in his story, Calvin Hill recalls his job of finding helpers for Mrs. Eddy. He was looking for "qualities of thought [such as] love, orderliness, promptness, alertness, accuracy, truthfulness, fidelity, consecration, and humility" (p. 352). It seems obvious that Mr. Hill himself exemplified just these qualities. He had found the "pearl of great price" (Matthew 13: 46) and he gave his all for that. 

Julie Swannell


   

The high bar and "necessary effort"

Alfred Farlow speaks of "the folly of excuses". He had to swallow some humble pie when rebuked for an error which at first did not seem to be his. He writes: "Of course, no person ever progressed without some mistakes. Nevertheless, our experience with the Leader of the Christian Science movement demonstrated the fact that one can approximate perfection far beyond the ordinary belief ... if he realizes the importance of it and makes the necessary effort" (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy Vol. 1, Expanded Edition, p. 209).

Right...

Julie Swannell

Annie Knott - Christian Science healer

The reminiscences of Mary Baker Eddy's students in the book We Knew Mary Baker Eddy are delighting and inspiring and stopping me in my tracks. There are many valuable lessons shared; insights recounted.

Scotland-born Annie Knott is an example of someone coming to Christian Science through the healing of a friend, followed by "many [other]  cases of healing" (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy book 1 expanded edition p. 158), including her one and a half-year-old son who had swallowed carbolic acid. The doctors "said there was no hope" (ibid, p. 159), but he was completely healed through the application of Christian Science. 

After taking "class instruction [in CS] from one of Mrs. Eddy's students" (ibid), Mrs. Knott soon had "patients coming to [her] daily for help" (ibid).

In early 1887, Knott received a request from Mrs. Eddy to come to Boston. This seemed impossible to her, especially as she had only returned from taking Normal Class in Boston just a few weeks before. However, a follow-up request conveyed the urgency of the demand for obedience and, despite its seeming "sacrifice of time and money" (p. 167), the "address at the meeting of [Eddy's] students in Tremont Temple was wonderful" (p. 168). Knott notes that at this time several of Eddy's students were actively trying to destroy Christian Science.

Mrs. Knott mentions three necessary qualities for progress: perception, reception, and conception - see page 173-4.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, she offers two joyful examples of barrenness reversed (pp. 176-7) and she shares her part in the successful resolution of proposed medical legislation to restrict the practice of Christian Science in Michigan - see pp. 185 ff. She was able to provide convincing proof of the efficacy of CS healing in a case of contagion.

Julie Swannell