Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/500

442 an object of public curiosity and interest. In 1895 she adopted the title "Mother," and instituted the Concord "pilgrimages" which later became so conspicuous. By this time the church membership had so increased that most of Mrs. Eddy's followers had never seen their leader, and as Mrs. Eddy did not attend the annual communion of the general membership in the Mother Church, she telegraphed an invitation, after the June communion in 1895, to the congregation, to call upon her at Pleasant View. Accordingly, one hundred and eighty Christian Scientists boarded the train at Boston and went up to Concord. Mrs. Eddy threw her house open to them, received them in person, shook hands with each delegate, and conversed with many.

After the communion in 1897, twenty-five hundred enthusiastic pilgrims crowded into the little New Hampshire capital. Although the Scientists hired every available conveyance in Concord, there were not enough carriages to accommodate their numbers, so hundreds of the pilgrims walked out Pleasant Street to Mrs. Eddy's home. Mrs. Eddy again received her votaries, greeted them cordially, and made a long address. The Journal says that her manner