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Show HONTANH PAPER CALLS TIGHT ON MRS. EDDY CASE Of "AFTER DOUGH" .... . ' ; AFTER THE DOUGH. (Daily Missoulian, Missoula, Mont) In the old granite State of New Hampshire a sentinel hawk sits on the limb of a blasted pine and notes with rolling eye the doings of the world. It is not so swift of wing as it once was, but it is just, as strong of beak and ( talon. Of late years it has been a conn-' selor among birds of prey. It has directed di-rected attention to the quarry; here the rabbit and there the pig the one plump with innocent herbage, the other fattened with swill with tidbits. The sentinel hawk sees everything that flies and moves' and creeps, or swims or dives or burrows, and directs the other hawks by wave of wing or dissonant note what to do; and it is done. This old hawk used to be in Washington, and occasionally flies back there to perch of the capitol to see what is going on, but he prefers to remain in his own aerie, and others also prefer that he should. If the New Hampshire bird were accused ac-cused of pernicious activity no difficulty diffi-culty would be found in securing conviction. con-viction. He recently cast a wistfnl eye. in the direction of Concord, with the result that there has been none of it since then. In Concord lives the head of the Christian 8cience church, Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy. This wo- man has a large .and unusually intelligent intelli-gent following in' the United States. She is an old and feeble woman, but from all that can be learned her mental men-tal powers are unimpaired and she' is as capable now of directing not only her own affairs but the affairs of the church of which she is the acknowledged head, as she ever was.' It is the belief that this woman has accumulated a large sum of money. She probably prob-ably has. And ijt she has it has been accumulated, in a legitimate manner. It is not tainted money, but the odor of it was snifted by the old hawk and he called the, other birds of prey to him for consultation. Then they sang the old minstrel doggerel: "There lies a horse on yonder plain, and he has been just late ly slain. We '11 perch ourselves on his. backbone and pick his eyes out one by one;" the usual chorus of caws following. The result is known. A bill of equity has been brought against trustees and directors di-rectors of the Christian Science church by relatives of Mrs. Eddy, with a view of obtaining an accounting of funds. This is at it appears on the surface. Mrs. Eddy has a son, George W. Glover of Lead, S. D. grandchildren, a nephew and other relatives, all of whom ostensibly appear to be those who are anxious to learn the true condition con-dition of Mrs. Eddy's finances. It is doubtful if Mr. Glover or any of Mrs. Eddy's relatives would have taken the initiative in these proceedings. There is something behind all of this. In the minds of fair men there is no question but what there is a deliberate attempt to pull the leg of the Christian Science church, vulgarly speaking. Several Sev-eral months ago the New York World contained an article stating in substance sub-stance that Mrs. Eddy was virtually a prisoner in the hands of the directors of the church, and they, had secured a woman to impersonate her, Mrs. Eddy being so feeble that she was unable to attend to business. In other words, it was broadly intimated that the di- rectors of the Christian Science church were Jfuilty of practicing an imposition imposi-tion on the faithful; that there was a mercenary gang which was looting the coffers of the church. It was then that the old hawk rolled his eyes and the other hawks began sounding their discordant cries. This article, clearly inspired, led to the proceedings which have created such a sensation. Mrs. Baker undoubtedly has earned, large sums of money through her writings. writ-ings. It is probable that large sums have also been obtained through voluntary volun-tary offerings. Admitting this is not to admit that this money does not belong be-long to the wonderful woman who has built up and is at the head of the pow erful church organization. But the old hawk and the other hawks think differ ently. They want some of it. Attor neys' fees in large undertakings are not usually small. There is no reason tc suppose that they will be in this case Dispatches intimate, that it is prob able that Mr. Glover; Mrs. Eddy's son! will be tendered a large sum of money to drop proceedings. If he is as honesi as he claims to be he will accept this money, settle with his attorneys and let the matter rest. His attorneys will advise against this. The pickings will be larger if their advice is followed-J-but not for Mr. Glover. There is something about these proceedings pro-ceedings that has an unsavory odo. It looks too much like an attempt upon the part of a few persons to pry into affairs which do not concern them1, being moved solely by an offensive curiosity. cu-riosity. It looks too much like the passage pas-sage of a religious rate bill by a self-constituted self-constituted legislative body, which seeks an accounting of pew rents and voluntary offerings. If successful a pernicious precedent will have been established. It looks too much like enjoying, en-joying, the right to worship God according ac-cording to the dictates of your own conscience and prohibiting others from doing the' same thing. It looks too much like an effort to bring discredit upon an organization, the existence 6f which is considered as ' a menace o other similar organziations. In short it looks like persecution.' |
