Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/395

Rh eighty years of age, she again permitted the students to gather at Pleasant View after the June communion. On this occasion three special trains, leaving Boston for Concord, carried her guests. In June, 1903, several special trains carried about 10,000 Christian Scientists to Concord. As the great multitude approached Pleasant View members of her household went to the gates and requested the students to enter the grounds and Mrs. Eddy sent word that she would address them from the balcony outside her study. When she entered the balcony she stood looking down on the great throng of people for a moment in silence, then stretched out her hands to them in a gesture characteristic of her great heart’s love, seeming to say in that mute appeal, “All that I have I give unto you.” She spoke briefly, addressing them as though they were indeed the lambs of the Lord whom she would feed with heavenly manna. Here and there a student wept; all hung upon her words and her voice carried to the remotest listener. As she stepped back into her room, many began to write down the words they remembered, and as they compared their notes, each one seemed to have caught a special and personal message. This was the last time Mrs. Eddy received her students en masse at Pleasant View.

There was, however, in 1904 a large concourse of students in Concord to celebrate the dedication of the Concord church, a structure of virgin granite near the central square of the capitol. This church edifice was the gift of Mrs. Eddy to her students in that city, and is one of the most beautiful of the