Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/42

12 A sunny garden surrounded the front door in which in summer were lilacs and roses and old-fashioned marigolds. To the East was the orchard enclosed by a stone wall three feet broad, part of which is still intact, though necessarily it has been rebuilt and repaired innumerable times. The breadth of the walls tells the story of the labor involved in clearing the farm not only of timber but of rocks. Across the road were pastures and grain fields, while to the North and beyond the orchard and stables were woodlands.

That the house was well constructed and comfortable was attested by its century-old frame which stood swept by storm and brooded over by sunshine on the untenanted lands still belonging to Baker descendents until 1910. The sheds were torn away and only the shell remained. It was removed to a place by itself on the edge of the pasture land, and one old apple tree bloomed each spring at the chamber window where Mary Baker first saw the light and throughout the period of her earthly existence. The author ate of its fruit while Mrs. Eddy yet resided at Pleasant View.

The day of her birth was July 16, 1821. Mary was the youngest child. Her brothers were Samuel, Albert, and George; her sisters, Abigail and Martha. The children were not far apart in years. Albert was ten and Abigail scarcely more than six when Mary was born. Albert and Abigail, of them all, were especially tender to the baby sister, and in the years to come exercised greater care for her, — the brother in her education, and the sister during her invalid widowhood.