Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/214

172 woman." By means of his good management Gilbert was able to purchase from his parents the deed of their farm, which at his own death went by will to his wife, Mary Baker G. Eddy, who sold it for $1,500 to Stephen Houghton, a neighbour of the Eddys in Londonderry.

It was while Gilbert was acting as sewing machine agent in East Boston that he heard of Daniel H. Spofford as a healer and went to him as a patient. Spofford talked with him about the method he practised and when Eddy became interested, Spofford advised him to study the system and become a practitioner himself. Eddy eagerly accepted the advice and Spofford introduced him to Mrs. Glover, who at once enrolled him as a member of her next class.

People who knew Eddy well in Lynn describe him as a quiet, dull little man, docile and yielding up to a certain point, but capable of a dogged sort of obstinacy. He was short of stature, slow in his movements, and always taciturn. When he first came to Lynn people remarked upon his old-fashioned dress and singular manner of wearing his hair. He usually wore a knitted Cardigan jacket and a long surtout gathered very full at the waist and a light cinnamon in colour.

From their first acquaintance he and his teacher manifested a cordial regard for each other. He alone of all her students was permitted to call her by her first name, Mary, and she addressed him as Gilbert, often speaking of him to other pupils, and extolling his willingness and obedience. After Mr. Spofford's patients had been transferred to Eddy, some of Mrs. Glover's students began to feel that her interest in the new practitioner was out of all proportion to his usefulness in the