Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/410

356 should forever put a stop to quackery. There has been but one side of this case presented by the newspapers. We wait to hear from the other side, trusting that attenuating circumstances will be brought to light. Mrs. Abby H. Corner never entered the obstetrics class at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. She was not fitted at this institute for an accoucheur, had attended but one term, and four terms, including three years of successful practice by the student, are required to complete the college course.

The members of the Christian Scientists' Association, in the main, felt that Christian Science practice itself was being tried before the courts in the person of Mrs. Corner, and lent her their cordial support. Mrs. Corner had incurred an expense of two hundred dollars in defending her case, and the members of the Association wished to pay this out of the Association funds, thus distributing the burden among the flock. Mrs. Eddy objected to this, ruling that if the members wished to aid Mrs. Corner financially, they could do so by personal contribution. In the end, however, Mrs. Corner's lawyer was paid from the Association treasury.

Mrs. Eddy's action, if not just, was politic. By repudiating Mrs. Corner she averted any reproach which, as a result of the scandal, might have attached to Christian Science practice, and left Mrs. Corner to meet as best she could the consequences of the method she had been taught. But her students regarded it as traitorous, and complained bitterly. They remembered that while their teacher advocated the practice of Christian Science in all cases, and taught them to believe they were persecuted if interfered with by the law, she took ample care to protect herself, by refusing to take patients for