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Calvin Frye, seen here in his office at Chestnut Hill, was the chief of a battery of secretaries who handled the voluminous correspondence addressed to Mary Baker Eddy. The quantity was staggering, even though only mail requiring her direct attention was placed on her desk. Most routine inquiries were answered by secretaries on Mrs. Eddy’s behalf – sometimes with a form letter. Calvin or one of the other secretaries would open and sort her morning mail and bring it to her shortly after she settled at her desk. After her daily drive a batch of letters from the afternoon delivery would be brought to her.

Sometimes crusty and curt, Calvin was not popular with everyone. But Mrs. Eddy esteemed him as totally honest and faithful. She told one of her workers: “Calvin is invaluable to me in my work, because he would not break one of the ten commandments.” He was also valuable as a long-time comrade in arms, toughened by the battles of the earliest days of the movement. A 1902 entry in Calvin’s diary reads: “Mrs. Eddy told me today that I have done more for Christian Science than any other person on earth except herself.”

Adam Dickey’s snapshot was taken as he turned in for the night. The alarm clock on the chair beside his bed was perhaps set to wake him for his turn on the "watch." Clara Shannon commented that what Christian Scientists might call “working,” Mrs. Eddy called “watching and praying.” Clara wrote, “There was a great need for the Church and our Leader…and as our Leader and those with her were in the front rank of the battle, it meant watching and praying without ceasing.” The metaphysical workers were organized to do this work through the night, assigned to what Mrs. Eddy termed the “watch” — set periods of systematic prayer about specified problems. Mrs. Eddy might dictate brief instructions which would then be typed up for each member of the “watch.” Depending on the need, watchers were scheduled for two-hour periods: 9-11pm, 11pm-1 am, 1-3 am, 3-5 am. Adam Dickey was called to Chestnut Hill in February 1908, discovering en route that his term was to be three years, rather than the one year he and his wife had expected. He never wavered, serving those three years as Mrs. Eddy’s confidential secretary. One worker recalled, “Mr. Dickey had a tender, loving attitude towards our Leader, which I shall always remember.” In November 1910 Mrs. Eddy’s last official act before her passing was to appoint him as a Director of The Mother Church, a position he held for over fourteen years.

Laura Sargent served in Mary Baker Eddy’s household longer than anyone except Calvin Frye. She was a trusted assistant and courier for Mrs. Eddy for many years and a constant companion to her at Chestnut Hill. As with many, it was a need for healing that had brought Laura to Christian Science. In 1883, in Oconto, Wisconsin, poor health had made Laura a near invalid. A family friend had visited a Christian Science practitioner in Milwaukee and had been healed. Traveling to the same practitioner, Laura, too, returned well. Her sister, Victoria, was healed while reading Laura’s copy of Science and Health – as was their mother, who was healed of a broken ankle and promptly urged her daughters to take up the religion they had found. In Chicago in May 1884, Laura enrolled in the only primary class Mrs. Eddy ever taught in the West, and she studied further with Mrs. Eddy in Boston. In 1890 Mrs. Eddy asked if Laura would join her household. She came immediately. Serving Mrs. Eddy, often day and night, occupied much of Laura Sargent’s life for the next twenty-one years — the longest continuous period being from June 1903 to December 1910.

The easy relationship between all levels of the staff is caught in this snapshot of Irving Tomlinson stopping to listen to Nellie Eveleth playing piano in the parlor. Note the pile of pianola rolls. This was one of three pianos at Chestnut Hill. Another upright was in the upstairs sitting room, the so-called “pink room” where Mrs. Eddy liked to relax with members of her household family, and where Ella Rathvon or one of the others often played and sang for her. Also, William Rathvon recalled pleasant evenings when he and other workers would gather in the sitting room next to the kitchen and sing together around the piano there. Tomlinson, who had been a Universalist minister with a growing disillusionment toward traditional theology, found and studied Christian Science in the 1890s and became a Christian Science practitioner, teacher, and lecturer. Having served Mrs. Eddy in various capacities, including associate secretary in her household, he authored the reminiscence, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy.

Note: This photo was a cyanotype print, which was typically blue-tinted.

Not all was toil and care in the household. Workers had some leisure time to relax and even take up hobbies like photography and astronomy. Mrs. Eddy encouraged this, purchasing the best telescope available so that members of the staff could go on the roof in the evenings to study the stars. The staff had time to befriend a scraggly but persistent squirrel, who appeared at the kitchen door with almost no fur and its tail almost stripped clean. They nicknamed the animal “Spiketail.” Adopting her as a pet, the staff fed and cared for her so well that her fur filled in. When “Spiketail” no longer fit her full and fluffy tail, she was re-named “Spike.” The tame squirrel would come running when its name was called and would run in and out of men’s pockets looking for the treats they carried for her. In this snapshot “Spike” is diverting Irving Tomlinson from his photography.

Mrs. Eddy insisted that her staff get out for walks and drives as often as work permitted. Members of the staff went off on an occasional day trip, including a visit to an air show at Squantum Airfield on Boston Harbor. Mrs. Eddy was very interested in their report of the newly invented airplanes exhibited there. In Mrs. Eddy’s open-top touring car (which she herself did not use, preferring her horse-drawn carriage) are (l. to r.): Frank Bowman, John Salchow, Jonathan Irving, Mrs. Salchow, Mrs. Bowman, Martha Wilcox, Lula Phillips, Elizabeth Kelley, and Katherine Retterer.

Mrs. Eddy’s carriage ride gave her a daily respite from her labors. She was often accompanied by Laura Sargent or another member of the household, with Calvin Frye invariably seated beside the coachman. She tried the new motor car once, but preferred her horses. At 1 o’clock the coachman would drive around to the side entrance, where she stepped from her private elevator and entered the carriage. Her drive seldom lasted more than half-an-hour during the Chestnut Hill years, although sometimes she stayed out longer, depending on the demands of the day. One day she was driven to where she could view the great dome of the recently-completed Mother Church Extension in the distance. She said her daily drives were not for pleasure, but “to refute consistent charges that she was dead or incapacitated,” telling her secretary Adam Dickey, “I do not take this drive for recreation, but because I want to establish my dominion over mortal mind’s antagonistic beliefs.” During the first year at Chestnut Hill, the coachman was Adolph Stevenson who, according to one household member, “took such lovely care of the horses and carriage…it was a joy to see him drive up to the house.” Frank Bowman replaced Stevenson in December 1908 and continued through December 1910.

Laura Sargent (r) and her sister Victoria (l) had become students of Christian Science due to Laura’s healing in 1883. Victoria had been healed while reading Laura’s copy of Science and Health. Both were actively involved in starting a Christian Science church in Oconto, Wisconsin — the first group to build an edifice for Christian Science services. They are seen here lunching on the back veranda at Chestnut Hill.

In December 1910, Laura had been in Mrs. Eddy’s household continuously since June of 1903 — over seven years. Laura, along with Adelaide Still, stayed on at Chestnut Hill after Mrs. Eddy's passing in 1910, living there as caretakers. For many months at that time Calvin Frye came daily from Boston to work in his office there. In 1913 Laura Sargent was chosen to teach the Normal Class of the Christian Science Board of Education. Later, after Laura’s passing, Victoria moved into the Chestnut Hill home as its custodian.

The Chestnut Hill home, its grounds, carriages, and carriage house stand today as a reminder of all those faithful household workers, whatever their status or position, who gladly served their Leader in whatever way she needed. One of them was grounds keeper and general handyman, John Salchow, the son of a German immigrant farmer in Kansas. He began working at Pleasant View in 1901 and served there and at Chestnut Hill until December 1910. In the mid-1880s Salchow learned of Christian Science and took to reading Science and Health. According to Salchow, after the first few pages he found himself healed of an acute attack of stomach trouble, a condition which had bothered him for years. He soon became a student of Christian Science. Later Salchow was recommended to Mrs. Eddy as a staunch individual who would be a good grounds keeper. He received the letter asking him to come to Pleasant View about ten o’clock on a January morning. By noon he was on his way. In later years he was pointed to as the “man who left his plow in the field and came to serve his Leader.” After her passing, Salchow continued to serve her by working for her Cause in any way he could. He was appointed a utility man at the Christian Science Publishing Society, and performed his humble tasks there, as he said, “with a heart full of love for Mary Baker Eddy and reverent gratitude for all the blessings which Christian Science has brought to me.”