Libraries (and I include Christian Science Reading Rooms here) have always been places of discovery for me. I love them and seek them out when possible wherever I go.
While I've not visited The Mary Baker Eddy Library in person, this month's focus on its website is helping me (and I hope you too) gain a richer appreciation for the work done by those engaged in its mission.
They have a rich -- and seemingly endless -- store of material from which to work. If one is ever tempted to believe that their days are busy, the we'd have to agree that the days of the Leader of the Christian Science movement were exceedingly more so.
It has always been of interest to me to know how others combine their study and practice of Christian Science with raising children. The Mary Baker Eddy Library addresses this very question!
Under the heading "From the Papers", there is a short entry titled "Work and parenting in 1885". I am so grateful that correspondence between Mary Baker Eddy and several mothers have been published in this section.
Especially dear is the correspondence between M. Bettie Bell and Mrs. Eddy. Mrs. Bell's twin babies had been taken with "remitting fever" but were soon "entirely well". With gratitude Bell "rejoiced [in her] recent instruction" which had equipped her to "handle the question of Animal Magnetism with surprising success". She concluded - "'The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want' -- many thanks for your patience, charity and tenderness".
Mrs. Eddy wrote back: "God bless the dear ones...."
Bell's response speaks volumes of the tone in her household. She wrote: "My Daisy four years old says - Mama the 'treatment' I like the best is this 'God is Love. He will wash me and make me whiter than snow'". (Ed. Some punctuation changed for ease of reading.)
How the child-like thought enriches our practice!
Julie Swannell
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