icient, he
was indifferent to literature, and knew nothing of art; he was dumb upon
all subjects but one, indifferent to all except that one--the Nebular
Theory. Upon that one his flow of words was full and free, he was a
geyser. The official astronomers disputed his facts and deeded his
views, and said that he had invented both, they not being findable in
any of the books. But many of the laity, who wanted their nebulosities
fresh, admired his doctrine and adopted it, and it attained to great
prosperity in spite of the hostility of the experts."--The Legend of the
Man-Mystery, ch. i.

CHAPTER I

JANUARY, 1903. When we do not know a public man personally, we guess him
out by the facts of his career. When it is Washington, we all arrive
at about one and the same result. We agree that his words and his acts
clearly interpret his character to us, and that they never leave us in
doubt as to the motives whence the words and acts proceeded. It is the
same with Joan of Arc, it is the same with two or three or five or six
others among the immortals. But in the matter of motives and of a few
details of character we agree to disagree upon Napoleon, Cromwell, and
all the rest; and to this list we must add Mrs. Eddy. I think we can
peacefully agree as to two or three extraordinary features of her
make-up, but not upon the other features of it. We cannot peacefully
agree as to her motives, therefore her character must remain crooked to
some of us and straight to the others.

No matter, she is interesting enough without an amicable agreement. In
several ways she is the most interesting woman that ever lived, and the
most extraordinary. The same may be said of her career, and the same
may be said of its chief result. She started from nothing. Her enemies
charge that she surreptitiously took from Quimby a peculiar system of
healing which was mind-cure with a Biblical basis. She and her friends
deny that she took anything from him. This is a matter which we
can discuss by-and-by. Whether she took it or invented it, it
was--materially--a sawdust mine when she got it, and she has turned it
into a Klondike; its spiritual dock had next to no custom, if any at
all: from it she has launched a world-religion which has now six hundred
and sixty-three churches, and she charters a new one every four days.
When we do not know a person--and also when we do--we have to judge his
size by the size and nature of his achievements, as compared w