Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/274

232 help both their author and their object, thoughts born of malice influence only those who originate them."

Although no open rupture occurred between Mrs. Eddy and Daniel Spofford until the summer of 1877, by the spring of 1877 Mrs. Eddy's feeling for him had begun to cool. It will be remembered that she had turned a number of her students over to Mr. Spofford for instruction in the Interpretation of the Scriptures. As a teacher, Mr. Spofford proved so popular that Mrs. Eddy repented the authority she had given him. His success in practice also made her restive,—doubtless one of the causes which led her to insist upon his turning his practice over to Asa Gilbert Eddy and devoting his time to pushing the sale of her book. It would be scarcely fair to draw the conclusion that Mrs. Eddy resented the success of her students in itself, but she certainly looked upon it with apprehension if the student showed any inclination to adopt methods of his own or to think for himself. Mrs. Eddy required of her students absolute and unquestioning conformity to her wishes; any other attitude of mind she regarded as dangerous. She often told Mr. Spofford that there was no such thing as devotion to the principle of revealed truth which did not include devotion to the revelator. "I am Wisdom, and this revelation is mine," she would declare when a student questioned her decision.

In July, 1877, Mr. Spofford closed out the stock of Science and Health, which he had received from George H. Barry and Elizabeth M. Newhall, the students who had furnished the money to publish the book. Mr. Spofford paid over the money which he had received for the books, something over six hundred