Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/441

Rh of Oratory to learn the use of the voice. She called him "Bennie" and he addressed her as "mother."

Dr. Foster Eddy was sometimes called upon to attend Mrs. Eddy in her illnesses, and he, like the other members of the household, spent his spare moments in treating her against that old foe, malicious animal magnetism, which was always infesting the house. He also made himself useful about the house, and sometimes helped Miss Morgan with the dishes.

When Mrs. Eddy had a bad day, Dr. Foster's new home was a difficult place to live in, but the storms were usually for gotten in the smiles and calm which followed. Mrs. Eddy could be the most agreeable of hostesses and of mothers when she chose, and from the days when she told a young man of Swampscott that if she could put on canvas her ideal of Jesus Christ the face would look like his, she never underestimated the human appetite for flattery. She could unblushingly refer to the "touch of fairy fingers" or the "music of footfalls," and could deliver the most threadbare euphuisms with a smile that warmed the heart of the recipient and covered him with foolish happiness. After having fretted herself to sleep the night before, she would sometimes arise in a mood almost beatific, and would greet the object of yesterday's invective with a benediction and a smile. In such a humour she would promise the pardoned offender a larger place in her life and a greater control of her affairs, telling him that he, more than any one else, had understood the true meaning of her teachings and the real significance of her life, and that she must perforce look to him to carry on her great work after her. It was the same old story that Mrs. Eddy had breathed to Spofford,