Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/412

364 The particulars of the complaint are too largely a matter of legal technics to be recounted save in summary. It is sufficient to say that it was set forth in the bill that Mrs. Eddy was forcibly detained and constrained to do the will of strangers, that her large estate was manipulated improperly by her secretaries, and that she was in a feeble mental state which prevented her comprehending what disposition was being made of her affairs. The plaintiffs prayed that the defendants be required to give account of all their business transactions, and if they had wrongfully disposed of any property that they be made to restore it; that they be restrained from any further business dealings in Mrs. Eddy’s name, pending the suit, and that a receiver be appointed to take possession of all Mrs. Eddy’s property.

So this son, who was alienated from his mother in childhood because his rugged health and boisterous spirits were declared by relatives to be unendurable in a home where she was an invalid, was now in her advanced years stirred up against her by what motive it is difficult indeed to determine, but by the method of arousing a false fear for her welfare through his unfamiliarity with the enormous social interests involved. But Mrs. Eddy was not supine under the peculiar and extraordinary attack. She came forward to meet the issue with the deliberation of a superbly clarified intellect and her procedure was so wise in every detail as to win the applause of the most judicial as well as the most worldly of her critics.