Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/150

112 the force of her nature and she talked Quimbyism to the exclusion of all other topics. In Warren she even gave a lecture on Quimby’s “science” in the town hall, defending him from deism and Spiritualism; and in an interview with the editor of the Banner of Light, the Spiritualistic organ, she continued this defence, much to his bewilderment. For what was she, an avowed philosophical Christian, working, this gentleman asked. How could she claim to be the pupil of a disbeliever in Christ’s Christianity — a clairvoyant and a magnetic healer? If Quimby was not such, as all who knew him believed, but something else which he could not fathom, as Mrs. Patterson held, then he wished to see this “defunct Spiritualist” and look into this new doctrine. Thus in those days, Mary Baker’s divine impulse seemed to bring confusion to others.

In May Mrs. Patterson went to Albion to visit Mrs. Crosby. Here a family of numerous members dwelt in a large roomy farmhouse and life was carried on in the patriarchal spirit of the American Colonial period. Mrs. Crosby lived with her husband’s family and spent much of her time in the big sunny nursery while her mother-in-law directed the work of the household. She was delighted to have Mrs. Patterson with her, and after years of experience in the world, she still looks back to this summer and her companionship with Mary Baker as one of the most stimulating, interesting, and inspiring periods of her life.

Her little daughter Ada became Mrs. Patterson’s shadow, following her everywhere, about the house,