Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/279

Rh and ill-advised methods realize. The students themselves lost by the transaction. The publication of the book was temporarily interrupted and the author left without means to finance the second edition which was still in press. When the second edition finally came out it was found to be a slim book, labelled Volume II, though there was no Volume I. It was wellnigh a failure; its typographical errors were legion.

Now it is not necessary to inquire rigidly into the mental state of Daniel Spofford at that time to understand what had happened. He complained later that Mrs. Eddy did not understand the situation; he said that she was a woman and surrounded by many advisers, and would suggest that her life was in small like a queen’s court where suspicion and jealousies are rife and that one could not act for her firmly and steadfastly and bring about satisfactory results. Doubtless he had some business trials, doubtless there were many difficulties in financing a book of this character, and doubtless there was unwarrantable interference from the various students who wanted the text-book, wanted to see it circulated speedily and widely. But a man of ability should have silenced the intruders, should have worked patiently and purposefully, and should not have wound up so important a business as had been intrusted to him by rash precipitation.

Mrs. Eddy was justly indignant at his gross mismanagement of her affairs and his extraordinary method of accounting. He left her stranded without the means to forward a second edition. This might