Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/483

Rh but now that she worked through other people, her plans were not executed so rapidly, and she had time to change her mind before her first decision was made public. It was now possible for her executives to present questions to her with some care. They kept Mrs. Eddy informed upon the affairs of the Boston church and upon what went on in the field, but petty annoyances they kept from her. Her inability to interfere hourly gave her assistants an opportunity to execute her wishes temperately and successfully. Mrs. Eddy, the "Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science," was still in the field, through her executives, as active and powerful as ever; while Mrs. Eddy, the woman, with her disturbing personal idiosyncrasies, was safely housed at Pleasant View, surrounded by devoted and sympathetic persons whose constant care it was to calm and soothe her.

After she first took up her residence at Pleasant View, Mrs. Eddy visited Boston four times, and on each occasion remained in the city only a few hours. In her retirement she has not been cut off from such of her followers as she has wished to see. By a by-law of the church, Mrs. Eddy is empowered to send for any Christian Scientist, wherever he may be, and to bring him to Pleasant View, to serve her for as long as twelve months, if need be, in whatever capacity she may designate; his recompense