Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/377

Rh or died. Logically there was nothing extravagant about her conduct. The martyrdoms of a thousand years have proved what men and women can do and endure under the tyranny of an idea.

Whoever studies the old files of the Journal from 1883 to 1887 must note the rapid growth of Mrs. Eddy's sect during those years. In the first number of the Journal, April, 1883, appear the professional cards of fourteen authorised healers; in April, 1885, forty-three professional healers advertise in this way; and in the Journal of April, 1887, are the cards of one hundred and ten Christian Science practitioners. In 1887 nineteen Christian Science "institutes" and "academies" are advertised. The graduates of these schools usually went at once into practice, although sometimes they first went to Boston to take the normal course in Mrs. Eddy's college. These preparatory schools were located in various cities in California, Nebraska, Colorado, Wisconsin, Ohio, Massachusetts, and New York. In 1886 the National Christian Scientists' Association was formed with representatives from almost every State in the Union, which will be discussed in a later chapter.

In the Journal of 1887 and 1888 one notices certain articles and editorials signed J. H. W., or Phare Pleigh, the initials and pen-name of the Rev. James Henry Wiggin, who, in 1885, became Mrs. Eddy's literary adviser. Mr. Wiggin was graduated from the Meadville Theological Seminary in 1861, and became a Unitarian minister. In 1875 he retired from the active ministry and devoted himself to writing and editing. An old friend of John Wilson, of the University Press, Mr. Wiggin found plenty to do in proof-reading, revising, and