Page:The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy.djvu/70



MRS. PATTERSON FIRST HEARS OF DR. QUIMBY—HER ARRIVAL IN PORTLAND—QUIMBY AND HIS "SCIENCE"

Dr. and Mrs. Patterson were living in Rumney, it was announced in the village that a new healer, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby of Portland, Me., would visit Concord, N. H., to treat all the sick who would come to him. Stories of the marvellous cures he was said to perform had spread throughout New England. Stubborn diseases, which had resisted the skill of regular physicians, were reported as yielding promptly to the magic of the Quimby method. This new doctor, so the story ran, used no medicines, and never failed to heal; and upon hearing these tales the sick and the suffering—particularly those who were the victims of long-standing and chronic diseases—took heart and tried to reach him. Among these was Mrs. Patterson. Her husband wrote to Dr. Quimby from Rumney on October 14, 1861, that Mrs. Patterson had been an invalid from a spinal disease for many years. She had heard of Quimby's "wonderful cures," and desired him to visit her. If Dr. Quimby intended to come to Concord, as they had heard, Dr. Patterson would "carry" his wife to see him. If not, he would try to get her to Portland.

Dr. Quimby did not visit Concord, and Dr. Patterson soon went South, but in the following spring (May 9, 1862) Mrs. Patterson herself wrote to Quimby from Rumney,