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Imparting a fresh impulse: Preparing the next generation

<i>Imparting a fresh impulse</i>: Preparing the next generation

Imparting a fresh impulse: Preparing the next generation This newly-installed exhibit at Principia College, in Elsah, Illinois, is based on one currently on display at Longyear Museum. It features a pastel portrait of Mary Baker Eddy and eleven photographic portraits of some of the younger students in her last class, held in November 1898. Exhibit labels tell the stories of these young pioneers, including their introduction to Christian Science and the roles they played in furthering the Cause of Christian Science. This exhibit will be on display in the main hallway of the School of Government through the 2010-2011 academic year.

Exhibit Introduction Introductory text provides the viewer with some context for significant steps Mrs. Eddy took for the Christian Science movement in 1898, including the establishment of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship, the Christian Science Sentinel, and the Board of Education. It also sets the scene for Mrs. Eddy’s decision to teach again, and to invite seventy students to attend the class.

“You have been invited hither to receive from me one or more lessons on Christian Science.… This opportunity is designed to impart a fresh impulse to our spiritual attainments, the great need of which I daily discern. I have awaited the right hour, and to be called of God to contribute my part towards this result” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, 244:7).

Invitation and Class Roster The exhibit includes a reproduction of one of the original invitations sent by Mrs. Eddy from Pleasant View, asking participants to convene at Christian Science Hall in Concord, New Hampshire. A roster of those who attended is also displayed.

“The purpose of the gathering was not to teach the letter of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy said, for the members were supposed to possess that knowledge. It was rather to spiritualize the Field, and she remarked to me afterward that her work with that class changed the character of the entire Field” (Irving C. Tomlinson, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy [Amplified Edition], 99).

“You would not often see a group of such refined, distinguished people collected together anywhere else in this country. All were noble and highly intellectual. But the sweetest thing to me was to see those young men — just leaving all for Christ” (Sue Harper Mims, We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, 129).

The “Quartette” Mrs. Eddy referred to these four students as “My beloved Quartette” in an 1898 letter addressed to all four, thanking them for the gift of a parasol. Clockwise from top: James A. Neal, C.S.D., Daphne Knapp, C.S.B., John C. Lathrop, C.S.B., and Carol Norton, C.S.D.

Five of the Young Pioneers Included in this group are, top row, left to right: Emma Easton Newman, C.S.D., Emma C. Shipman, C.S.B., and Abigail Dyer Thompson, C.S.B. Bottom row, left to right: Joseph G. Mann, C.S.D., and Irving C. Tomlinson, C.S.B.

Miss Shipman recalled, “When Mrs. Eddy was asked why she chose so many young people for the class, she replied, in substance, Because I want my teaching carried on” (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, 144).

The Teacher and Nine of her Students The main section of the exhibit features Mrs. Eddy, the four students she referred to as the “Quartette,” and five others.

Mary Baker Eddy This color pastel portrait of Mrs. Eddy, by William B. Closson, depicts the way she looked around 1898. The artist consulted photographs of Mrs. Eddy and observed her on her daily drives through the streets of Concord, New Hampshire.

Daisette Stocking McKenzie, C.S.B., and William P. McKenzie, C.S.B. The final two portraits are of Daisette Stocking McKenzie, C.S.B., and William P. McKenzie, C.S.B. Daisette met William at a social gathering, when William was a young and troubled clergyman, and introduced him to Christian Science. They became Readers at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Toronto. Soon afterward, they met again in Concord, New Hampshire, where they had come to attend the 1898 class. They were married three years later, in 1901.

The two quotations included in this section of the exhibit describe the lessons Mrs. Eddy taught her students in what would be her last class:

“We glimpsed as never before the true import of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. No two days were ever filled with such practical instruction and heavenly inspiration. We had been blessed beyond words by the spiritual awakening which was ours as the result of our teacher’s explanation of divine Principle” (George Wendell Adams, We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, 110).

“When the lessons finished, we were fully convinced that Mrs. Eddy had broken the bread of Life with us…” (Emma C. Shipman, We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, 143).

Mrs. Eddy’s Comments on Teaching The exhibit concludes with two quotes from Mrs. Eddy:

“Do not dismiss students at the close of a class term, feeling that you have no more to do for them. Let your loving care and counsel support all their feeble footsteps, until your students tread firmly in the straight and narrow way” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, 454:25).

“The students in my last class in 1898 are stars in my crown of rejoicing” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, 125:21).

Planning the Exhibit Layout Chrissie Sydness, a Longyear employee and Principia College alumna, makes preparations for the Principia College exhibit in April 2010.