INTRODUCTION

The Christian Science church appears to be under attack. Although the church does not provide statistics, the press reports that the denomination is dwindling in size. At the same time, under the rubric of "child cases," Christian Science parents have been prosecuted for the deaths of their children in Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, and California. Recent cases have reached the supreme courts of Michigan and Minnesota. The apparent response of the church has been the tremendous expansion of its media activities. The Christian Science church is best known as the publisher of the venerable, respected newspaper The Christian Science Monitor. Starting in the mid-80's, the church "downsized" the newspaper, created a series of radio news programs for American Public Radio, built the world's largest private shortwave radio system, launched a monthly magazine, provided the evening news program for the Discovery Channel on cable television, purchased its own television station, produced a series of public affairs television programs, packaged the various programs into its own cable channel (The Monitor Channel) and attempted to distribute the channel nationwide. These actions have been criticized and the controversial media expansion has divided the church. One of the earliest actions was the trimming of The Monitor, apparently to shift resources to the new media ventures. This resulted in the widely reported resignations of the top three editors, one of whom was Kay Fanning, the editor-in-chief. She had just completed a term as the first woman president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The venture into cable television collapsed in the spring of 1992.

The expansion of the publishing activities of the church into the secular media bears some resemblance to the establishment of The Christian Science Monitor, a secular newspaper, in 1908 amidst attacks on the church and its founder, Mary Baker Eddy. Defenders of the controversial media ventures referred to the circumstances of the establishment of the newspaper as justification for their actions. Thus, the circumstances surrounding the birth of The Christian Science Monitor deserve further investigation. Was the newspaper the result of Eddy's spiritual inspiration, or a reaction to the attacks upon Eddy and the church in the yellow press, or the culmination of a longer period of gestation?

Christian Science was discovered in 1866 by Mary Baker Eddy, who established the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston (also known as The Mother Church) in 1892, the Christian Science Publishing Society (the publishing arm of the church) in 1898, and the daily international newspaper. The Mother Church is administered by a five member Board of Directors while the Publishing Society is directed by a three member Board of Trustees, appointed by the Directors. Since its establishment in 1908, the newspaper has won various prizes for quality journalism (including several Pulitzer prizes), near-universal respect from journalists and scholars, and a solid reputation for the quality of its coverage, particularly its extensive international reporting and analysis. However, The Monitor was not the first church publication. The Christian Science Journal, a monthly religious magazine and "the official organ of the First Church of Christ, Scientist", was started in 1883; The Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly religious magazine, was started in 1898; Der Herold der Christian Science, the first of a number of foreign language religious magazines, was started in 1903. What makes The Monitor different is its clearly secular nature. Religious content is limited to a single one-column daily religious article toward the back of the paper.

While the founding of the paper seemed to engender little controversy, it was established in the midst of a period of grave crisis in church history. By December 1908, Eddy had survived a tumultuous barrage of criticism in the public press, particularly the newspapers and magazines of Joseph Pulitzer, culminating with a dramatic lawsuit sponsored and paid for by the New York World, which pitted her son, George Glover, against the administrators of her personal estate and her church. The suit is known in church history as "the Next Friends suit." Given the circumstances of the founding of the newspaper, one wonders if the current boom in the media activity of the church is a repetition of the earlier pattern.

This paper explores the founding of The Christian Science Monitor. There is disagreement among historians of the denomination and the church over the genesis of the newspaper. There are three distinct views on the founding of the newspaper. Some argue that it was the sole result of Eddy's divine inspiration and guidance. Others argue that it was no more than an immediate reaction to contemporaneous press attacks on Eddy and the church. However, Eddy's writings on the subject, as limited as they are, suggest that she may have been thinking about a newspaper for a decade or more. Simply stated, was the Monitor the result of inspiration, reaction or gestation? This paper examines if Mary Baker Eddy established The Christian Science Monitor and its "brand" of journalism in immediate response to the attacks directed at her in the yellow press of Joseph Pulitzer and others, and in lawsuit sponsored by Pulitzer's New York paper.

Because of the void in scholarly material about the establishment of The Christian Science Monitor one has to look at the historical material, including Eddy's own writings, the writings of her associates, and the biographies of Eddy and her associates for guidance. The "official" history of The Monitor is found in Commitment to Freedom: The Story of The Christian Science Monitor, by Erwin Canham. Canham was the most renown editor of the paper who also served as a president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The most detailed biography of Eddy is the three-volume Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery; The Years of Trial; and The Years of Authority by church historian Robert Peel.

THE CIRCUMSTANCES

Mary Baker Eddy left little guidance on the founding and purpose of The Christian Science Monitor. On August 8, 1908, Eddy sent the following directive to the Board of Trustees of the Christian Science Publishing Society:

Beloved Students: -- It is my request that you start a daily newspaper at once, and call it The Christian Science Monitor. Let there be no delay. The Cause demands that it be issued now.

You may consult with the Board of Directors [of The Mother Church], I have notified them of my intention.

Lovingly yours,

Mary B. G. Eddy

In an October 17, 1908 editorial in The Christian Science Sentinel, Archibald McLellan, editor of the religious periodicals, publicly announced the new paper to the denomination:

We are pleased to announce that, with the approval of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, The Christian Science Publishing Society will shortly issue a daily newspaper to be known as The Christian Science Monitor. In making this announcement we can say for the Trustees of the Society that they confidently hope and expect to make the Monitor a worthy addition to the list of publications issued by the Society. It is their intention to publish a strictly up-to-date newspaper, in which all the news of the day that should be printed will find a place, and whose service will not be restricted to any one locality or section, but will cover the daily activities of the entire world.

As to the motive which has led to the establishment of a daily paper of this character, there is nothing we could say that would be so forceful or so timely as the announcement made by Mrs. Eddy when she established The Christian Science Journal. We quote as follows from her article, "A Timely Issue," as it appears in "Miscellaneous Writings":

"Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper, at the price which we shall issue it, we shall be able to reach many homes with healing, purifying through."

It will be the mission of the Monitor to publish the real news of the world in a clean, wholesome manner, devoid of the sensational methods employed by so many newspapers. There will be no exploitation or illustration of vice and crime, but the aim of the editors will be to issue a paper which will be welcomed in every home where purity and refinement are cherished ideals.

 

Eddy presented her vision for the newspaper in the lead editorial in the first issue of the paper on November 25, 1908:

I have given the name to all the Christian Science periodicals. The first was The Christian Science Journal, designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor, to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent. The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.

The new paper was staffed and the first issue printed in under 100 days. Eddy is reported to have told members of her household: "When I established The Christian Science Monitor, I took the greatest step forward since I gave Science and Health to the world." According to the church directors, "Our Leader [Mary Baker Eddy] established our newspaper as an essential part of our church to forward its purpose. The Monitor is fully embraced with the provisions of the Church Manual."

THE CONTESTED INTERPRETATIONS

There are distinct views on the founding of the newspaper. The general church view, propounded in biographies of Eddy published by the Christian Science Publishing Society, is that the establishment of the newspaper was a direct and sole result of divine guidance or inspiration. The alternative view, propounded by Eddy's early critics, is that the newspaper was no more than a human response to the devastating journalistic and legal attacks upon her and the church. More recent publications of the church and statements by church leaders have taken a middle ground, suggesting that the paper was the result of a process of gestation, perhaps occurring over a decade or longer. Likewise, there are three views about the purpose of the newspaper. Critics have claimed it is a denominational propaganda vehicle, used to manipulate members of the church. One group of defenders considers it a secular newspaper, albeit with a set of standards they consider different from the norm in print journalism. Another group of defenders, including the founder, believe that, through its different approach to journalism, the Monitor ultimately serves a denominational purpose.

Edwin Dakin, who wrote a highly critical biography of Eddy after her passing, sets forth the critics' version of the paper's purpose:

Undoubtedly it was the scandalous attitude of the newspapers toward Mrs. Eddy and her church during the litigation and the other untoward events of 1906 and 1907 that brought to her the idea of publishing a newspaper of her own -- a paper that would carry to her disciples news of the day without thrusting under their eyes in banner headlines the story of Mrs Eddy's sensational struggles with generally recognized realities.

Dakin carried the criticism one step further by arguing that Eddy's motive was to isolate the members of the faith from the "truth" or secular criticism about her. "With appearance of this daily it became thenceforth unnecessary for any one of Mrs. Eddy's followers ever to obtain news regarding the world's activities and ideas from any other sources than Mrs. Eddy's own organization." The implication of this position goes beyond isolating Christian Scientists from the world. It also suggests a vehicle whereby Eddy could control her followers. Canham's history of the paper specifically disagrees:

The Christian Science Church does not publish a newspaper for the purpose of maintaining contact with its members, or for stimulating them to deeper religious zeal or greater church activities.

Takashi Oka, a long time Monitor correspondent and former editor of Newsweek's Asian edition, presented a similar explanation in the church's monthly religious magazine:

Of all the Christian Science periodicals, the Monitor is the only one devoted to secular news. Except for one daily religious article, the Monitor's articles do not explicitly show the reader how to heal himself or others. Rather, they are concerned with news of general public interest, with what is going on in all meaningful areas of human society -- government, business, social and race relations, education, home, the arts, sports, the theater, books.

An earlier article in the same church periodical, which is aimed at the denominational audience, discussed the purpose of the newspaper in religious terms:

The Christian Science Monitor typifies moral and physical cleanliness....

In holding a mirror to humanity's diverse goals the Monitor aims to assist its readers in assessing values. The challenge is how to differentiate between the domination of unholy, self-willed intransigence and the dominion of righteousness, as embodied and taught by the Messiah....

Isn't this, in a degree, what the Monitor is doing -- impartially and objectively reporting the baffling human scene in such wise and sane ways that spiritual reality gradually quickens conscience and inspires to higher views? The Monitor does not preach. It is not a religious house organ.

This great international daily goes into the world to sharpen the distinction between the true and the false. In uncovering error, the Monitor discriminates between bravery and imprudence. "Humane" Monitor waters baptize human thought....

In an editorial discussing the format, design and content changes that occurred in 1988 following the resignations of Kay Fanning and her top editors, current editor Richard J. Cattani restated the purpose of the paper:

Spreading Science "undivided" [a reference to Eddy's original editorial statement] implies bringing to all parts of human experience the clarifying effect of truth; it implies furthering the intellectual, moral, and spiritual understanding which is vital to the living of universal brotherhood. This suggests a far broader mandate than the winning of converts. The effort to "bless all mankind" [another reference to Eddy's first editorial] leads the paper away from narrowness, sectarianism, polemics, and personality to a discussion of public issues that contributes to their resolution....Our mission -- to report to the world what it is up against and wherein its progress lies -- remains unchanged.

This position is not held by church members alone. Non-Christian Scientists have written about the newspaper.

More recently Mrs. Eddy founded The Christian Science Monitor, a daily newspaper, published every afternoon except Sunday, described in the advertisement as "a daily newspaper for the home." It is a distinctive departure in journalism, making a speciality, if one may so say, of the good in human achievement.... Its policy of unselfishness and cleanliness not only gives it a warm welcome among all classes of society, but gains for it the confidence of government offices at home and abroad.

This author did not specifically associate the lawsuit and journalistic attacks with the founding of the newspaper. At the end of his monograph, he wrote:

It is regrettable to be obliged to record that the representatives of a New York newspaper persisted in intruding upon her retirement and then spread outrageous misrepresentations concerning her. It was necessary for Mrs. Eddy to have a mass of affidavits collected refuting these misrepresentations, and to submit to an interview with some fifteen newspaper men and women in the presence of her banker, her lawyer, the mayor of Concord [N.H.] and some members of The Mother Church. The newspaper men were then taken all over the house and were shown the evidences of her simple home life.

Mrs. Eddy was further attacked by a suit in the name of her own son and some associates to have her adjudged incapable of managing her own affairs. The suit, after dragging a weary length for almost a year, was suddenly withdrawn by the complainants.

The " inspired" interpretation of the newspaper's founding is recorded in church literature. The report of the 1984 Annual Meeting of The Mother Church included: "Ultimately God revealed to Mrs. Eddy the necessity for a daily publication, The Christian Science Monitor -- to assist the Christian Scientist in effectively and consistently blotting out images of mortality." Although this position appears opposite to Dakin's, it seems to support his assertion that the purpose of the paper was to "blot out" images of the world that Christian Scientists should not be allowed to see.

One biographer, in a church-published biography, stated that Eddy "prepared to inaugurate an international daily newspaper. She drank in much of divine wisdom before making her plan known to others. Her thought was clear, her decision considered, her step certain." Another biographer wrote, "As Mrs. Eddy prayed to be shown how best to bring this truth to humanity, the answer came to her. Periodicals would meet the need." Mott, in history of American magazines, associated the tremendous growth of the religion in the 1890's with the periodicals: "Its gains were made in some part through active publication." The biographer also wrote:

When Mrs. Eddy discussed with some of her household the advisability of the publication of a daily newspaper, they very generally counseled against it. They spoke of the great expense, of the large number of employees necessary, and of her own burdens, which at her age seemed sufficient, without taking on additional ones. Her reply was, "God calls upon me to found a daily newspaper," and The Christian Science Monitor was founded.

The lay manager of the Christian Science Publishing Society, the element of the church responsible for all of the church's publishing and media activities, told a Christian Science audience in Chicago:

The Monitor, at its best, alerts us to insist on freedom, to commit ourselves to it -- not only to political freedom but to economic, social, mental, moral, religious, and spiritual freedom for all humanity. It alerts us to challenges that are posed to free societies not only by outside forces but by elements without societies. In doing so, it may stir each of us in different ways at different times. The Monitor, in this sense, is a two-edged sword. It carries the truths of Christian Science into the world; but it also awakens Christian Scientists to the deep issues of the world.

The middle road between reaction and inspiration has been paved by newspaper's various editors. Canham acknowledged that "certainly the irresponsible yellow journalism...was one of Mrs. Eddy's prime motivations in founding the paper." Richard A. Nenneman, the current Editor-in-Chief, sets forth both reasons, thereby striking a middle position:

There are multiple reasons for this step. One immediate one was probably her recent experience with the New York press. A vicious lawsuit backed by Joseph Pulitzer attacked her privacy, had as its aim the discrediting of Christian Science, and cost her close to $100,000 (about a tenth of her accumulated financial assets at the time) to defend successfully.

But a more important reason was her realization that Christian Science had an even larger mission in the world than the healing of sickness. That, she said, was only its bugle call to action, the proof that her system was the original Christianity that Jesus had preached. For her, as for many other religious leaders over two thousand years, the main action was in overcoming the sins of the world, in seeing more evidence of the kingdom of heaven active in the affairs of men....

The purpose of the Monitor has not always been well understood. Many Christian Scientists themselves misconceive of it as being mainly a missionary for Christian Science.... However, it does not appear that Mrs. Eddy saw that as the main goal of her daring venture into daily journalism. The instructions she gave the Monitor are slim...she left the details of how the new venture would be staffed and edited largely to others. What seems to have been most on her mind was at least threefold: first, to establish a standard of honest journalism; second, to coax the thought of Christian Scientists out of a concern with their individual well-being into some acceptance of their responsibility as practicing Christians to take the whole world and its needs into their thought; and, third, to give an example through Monitor journalism of the kind of healing influence Christian Science could bring to world affairs.

Stephen Gottschalk, a church historian, has noted that Eddy's establishment of the Monitor was part of the Christian Science movement's commitment, admittedly in a limited way, to the ideal of social concern then growing in Protestantism. "[I]t reflects a significant reorientation of the thought of the movement away from the personal and private to the social and universal, a genuine broadening of the Scientists' concerns." Like Nenneman, Gottschalk acknowledges "another standpoint":

[I]t can be seen as an instrument of progressive reform in the field of journalism. In the years before she founded the Monitor Mrs. Eddy had had much experience with the press, most of it bad. The whole experience of the "Next Friends Suit" together with the muckraking attacks on her that had preceded it was one of the most difficult that Mrs. Eddy had ever undergone. But it did have one constructive effect; for it was in part responsible for her decision in the early summer of 1908 to found a newspaper. During this period she said to a student referring to the role of the New York World in launching the "Next Friends Suit," "Now we will show them what a good newspaper can do." And in the editorial she wrote for the first issue of the Monitor Mrs. Eddy said that its purpose was "to injure no man, but to bless all mankind."

However, Gottschalk does not cite the source for the story of Eddy's comment to her student. He continues:

Though she made no direct reference to the World, the contrast between her intentions for the Monitor and the journalism represented by the World was clear enough. And it was made even cleared when in 1910, the Monitor sponsored a series of clean journalism meetings to attack the "yellow" press, as well as advertise itself. Yet certainly the Monitor had not been founded solely in response to the World's attack.

The concept of a lengthy period of gestation is embedded in the following passage from the opening editorial in a collection of newspaper editorials marking Eddy's passing:

Of the many achievements worked out this way, none was more remarkable than the foundation of the daily paper known as The Christian Science Monitor. It is a story which the world would describe as a romance, but Christian Scientists as an instance of practical Christianity. For twenty-seven years Mrs. Eddy had planned this paper (author's emphasis), in the columns of which all sensationalism was to be eschewed, which should never give to party what was meant for mankind, and which should contain no paragraph which should not be read by any one in the families of its subscribers; and for all these years she had waited, with calm deliberation and patience which were so characteristic of her, for the right moment to give it to the world.

Another biographer, also in a church-published biography, stated, "She had long felt the need of such a paper, a paper which should take its place amongst the leading newspapers of the world, whilst upholding a higher standard than any yet attained."

THE TIMES, THE ATTACKS AND THE LAWSUIT

The end of the nineteenth century was the era of "yellow journalism," the journalism of sensationalized crime, scandal, gossip, disasters, sex, sports and the like. Newspapers were filled with scare headlines, sensational pictures and photographs, stunts and faked stories, comic strips, features and crusades. Newspaper barons -- especially Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst -- created journalistic empires through aggressive promotion. Pulitzer developed the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and then bought the New York World in 1883. In less than a decade, he built circulation from 20,000 to 374,000. Hearst, given the San Francisco Examiner as a gift from his father, bought the New York Journal in 1895 to compete with Pulitzer. The crusading element of the fierce circulation wars between the newspapers fueled the rise of "muckrakers," investigative reporters such as Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell and Samuel Hopkins Adams. The reporters "raked the muck of society," to use Theodore Roosevelt's expression, to expose graft and corruption. Newspaper owners benefited with the sale of more papers.

One of the curious aspects of the reporting of Eddy and the Christian Science movement was the absence of sensational reporting in the Hearst papers. Peel claims that Hearst issued strict orders that no Hearst paper would attack Christian Science. According to Peel, the "phenomenon arose from the overnight healing of Hearst's baby son by a Christian Science practitioner after the 'best doctors in the world' had been unable to keep the infant from wasting away 'to an actual skeleton.'" The account of the healing was published many years later in the Los Angeles Examiner. Hearst's account adds: "The child is now a little over six feet tall, weighs 180 pounds, and runs a newspaper considerably better than his father can." The story is also reported in at least one of Hearst's biographies. Winkler's biography explained more of the growing relationship between Hearst and Christian Science, as a result of "the miracle -- if miracle it was...":

The miracle -- if miracle it was -- was indirectly responsible for what the late Arthur Brisbane often cited as perhaps his finest piece of reporting: his interview with Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy in her Concord, New Hampshire, home June 8, 1908. Mrs. Eddy and her cult were under attack in McClure's magazine and Hearst assigned Brisbane with instructions to defend her. Afterwards Hearst, born an Episcopalian, and his wife, a Catholic, demonstrated a friendly interest in the faith which they believed had healed their son by sending him and two of his brothers to a Christian Science Sunday school.

Carlson and Bates, in their biography of Hearst, reported: "[W]hen in 1907 the New York World committed the mistake of belatedly trying to muckrake Mary Baker Eddy, the Hearst papers came to the old lady's assistance,...establishing a permanent and highly useful entente with the Church." Mott, in his multi-volume history of American magazines, reported that Hearst's Cosmopolitan published a "much discussed series...on Christian Science (1907-1098), which was initiated by articles written by two Scientists, the playwright Charles Klein and the Earl of Dunmore."

According to Canham, "The motivation of the New York World in promoting the Next Friends suit against Mrs. Eddy is obscure, and whether Joseph Pulitzer himself had authorized the action is dubious." There is no mention of Christian Science, Eddy, the Next Friends' suit or the various people involved in the suit in the various Pulitzer biographies. There are several explanations for the "attacks," as church members view them. The first was the general antipathy, then as now, toward Christian Science. One of the most famous critics was Mark Twain. Twain's (or Samuel Clement's) attitude and relationship to Christian Science was complex. His satire, criticism and compliments are documented in numerous letters, articles and books. Clement's most biting sarcasm is found in his book Christian Science. However, at one point, Clements may have turned to Christian Science, and his daughter Clara became a Christian Scientist.

Second, Eddy had just survived a very public libel suit brought against her by a former student and religious rival, Josephine Curtis Woodbury. Woodbury's proclamation of an immaculate conception to explain an illegitimate child, among other actions, estranged her from Eddy. By the end of the 1800's, she was openly and viciously attacking Eddy in the public press. Woodbury believed that Eddy's 1899 annual message to The Mother Church constituted libel and filed suit. Amidst extensive media attention, the case came to trial on May 28, 1901 and was dismissed in Eddy's favor on June 5. Frederick W. Peabody, Woodbury's attorney, made extensive use of the press as a litigation technique and went on to become Eddy's chief critic. Peabody was one of Clement's sources of "facts" about Christian Science and influenced Georgine Milmine Welles to rewrite what was to have been an article favorable to Eddy for McClure's.

Third, Eddy had retired from Boston to her home at Pleasant View in Concord, New Hampshire, where she led a secluded life. Her refusal to grant press interviews had led to speculation, rumor and apocrypha about her very existence. Was she still alive? Was she being impersonated in her daily carriage rides? Was she drugged or enfeebled? Coupled with allegations of hidden wealth, Eddy and The Mother Church were suitable targets for the crusading investigations of the New York World and McClure's magazine. Lyon's flattering biography of S.S. McClure described the owner/editor's task with the magazine bearing his name: "At first McClure had, to intrigue his readers, only what he had inherited: a file full of fiction and two bulky typescripts that promised to afford interesting features. One concerned Mary Baker Eddy and the new religion, Christian Science." McClure's accepted the revised, critical articles "painstakingly assembled" by Georgine Milmine (as she was known professionally) and assigned still-unknown Willa Cather to research and rewrite them. The final coverage ran fourteen lengthy installments. The series appeared between December 1906 and June 1908. The first article in the expose was illustrated with a full-page photograph of Eddy, which turned out to be of a Mrs. Sarah Chevaillier. Warnings about the error, spotted in advance publicity, were ignored. The magazine also referred to Eddy's first, deceased husband (George Glover) as a "bricklayer" when he was a Mason, a Freemason. Although Cather minimized her role in the process (and subsequent book), Lyon insisted that Cather deserved full credit: "[H]er hand is evident in every line; she deserves much of the credit for a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman." In the caption accompanying her picture, Lyon wrote: "Willa Cather wrote the study of Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science for McClure's but it was published under another writer's name." In correspondence toward the decline of McClure's career, Lyon reported that Cather admitted: "[S]ome of the chapters in the series about Christian Science...she had not been able to write in the way he would have liked best."

The Next Friends' Suit was a two-pronged attack on Mary Baker Eddy and her church. The first was the media coverage of Eddy. The second was the lawsuit itself. As the situation developed, the coverage and the suit were symbiotic. The New York World led the attack on Eddy. Its coverage began on October 28, 1906, based on an investigation of two World reporters sent to Eddy's home in Concord the prior month. Two days later, on October 30, Eddy appeared before the press.

The suit was filed on March 1, 1907. Subsequently, Sibyl Wilbur published a series of articles in Human Life, which eventually resulted in a favorable biography of Eddy. On June 8, Hearst's correspondent Arthur Brisbane interviewed Eddy which was published in the August issue of Cosmopolitan. In the midst of the controversy, Lyman P. Powell, an earnest Episcopal rector, published a scorching book in which he claimed to corroborate all of Milmine's accusations. Harper and Brothers, which had refused to publish Mark Twain's series of articles in North American, changed its mind and decided to publish them in book form.

Three specially appointed court masters interviewed Eddy on August 14 and filed their report confirming her competency. The complainants dropped their suit on August 21. Before the suit was ended, more than seventy-five articles, editorials and letters appeared in World over the ten months of the lawsuit, many on the front page. The opening salvo set the tone of the campaign to expose the perceived corruption and conspiracy within Eddy's household and church. The October 28, 1906 story was headlined:

Among the headlines that followed:

"Mrs. Eddy and Frye Invisible; Denials Galore" (10-29-06, p. 1)

"Mrs. Eddy Fails to Show Herself and Prove Health" (10-30-06, p. 1)

"Exhibition of Mrs. Eddy Proves a Pitiful Farce" (10-31-06, p. 1)

"Exit Mrs. Eddy" (editorial, 11-01-06, p. 8)

"Under Oath, He Swears healer Leonard Lied" (11-2-06, p. 20)

"The Truth about Mrs. Eddy" (11-02-06, p. 6)

"X-Science Healer Admits He Erred" (11-3-06, p. 6)

"How Rev. Wiggins Rewrote Mrs. Eddy's Book," two-part article (11- 4-06)

"Eddyism and Hearstism" (letter, 11-07-06, p. 8)

"Mark Twain's Suppressed Book on Mother Eddy" (11-11-06, p. 4)

"Ministers see a Trick in 'Attack Upon Mrs. Eddy'" (11-12-06, p. 4)

"Editorial Comments on World's Disclosures at Mrs. Eddy's Home" (11-12-06, p. 4)

"Eddyism is Bunco, Says a Clergyman" (11-16-06, p. 5)

"Relatives Sue to Wrest Mother Eddy's Fortune from Control of Clique" (3-2-07, p. 1)

"Glover Says His Mother Talked of Murder Plot at Concord Interview" (3-2-07, p. 3)

"Accused men confer at Home of Mrs. Eddy" (3-3-07, p. 3)

"Lost Her Reason While Confined in Healers' Care" (3-4-07, p. 16)

"Chandler Hints at a Big Surprise in Eddy Mystery" (3-5-07, p. 1)

"Counsel for Eddy Kin Plan Startling Move" (3-7-07, p.1)

"Physicians May Pass on Health of Mrs. Eddy" (3-8-07, p. 3)

"Mrs. Eddy Tried to Get Mesmeric Art Enjoined" (3-9-07, p. 4)

"Letters to Son Prove Mrs. Eddy's Mental Condition" (3-10-07, p. 1)

"Mrs. Eddy to Son: 'You Would Have Been President'" (3-11-07)

"Strange Story Told by Adopted Son of Mrs. Eddy" (3-12-07, p. 18)

"To Test the Mental State of Mrs. Eddy" (6-11-07, p. 5)

"X-Science and Race Suicide" (letter, 6-24-07, p 8)

"Chandler Bares Mrs. Eddy's Fear of Evil in Court" (8-14-07, 1)

"Alienist for Kin to Test Mrs. Eddy's Sanity" (8-17-07, p. 3)

"May Abandon Eddy Case to Attack Anew" (8-21-07, p. 3)

"Eddy Suit, Its Purpose Gained, is Withdrawn" (8-22-07, p. 3)

At least one article was heavily dependent on criticism aired by others. The March 7, 1907 article, "The Laying on of Hands" (p. 8), quoted extensively from Milmine's articles in McClure's. A number of the articles focused on the failure of Christian Science treatment to heal, particularly children. The last article did not involve Christian Science or Christian Science parents.

"Scientist Patient Dies of Paralysis" (3-2-07, p. 1)

"Science Healer Tried to Heal Boy by Telephone" (3-20-07, p. 18)

"Boy's Death Brings Scientists to Bar" (6-1-07, p. 3)

"Called no Doctor, Child Died of Fever" (6-12-07, p. 1)

"X-Science Did Not Save Pony That had Colic" (6-18-07, p. 2)

"X-Science Healer Whose Child Died Found Guilty" (6-29-07, p. 16)

"Child Dies as Parents Pray, Refusing Aid" (8-20-07, p. 3)

The first New York World article included this account of the original interview with Eddy:

Mrs. Eddy looked more dead than alive. She was a skeleton, her hollow cheeks thick with red paint, and the fleshless, hairless bones above the sunken eyes penciled a jet black. The features were thick with powder. Above them was a big white wig.

Her body was pitifully emaciated, and her throat, on which sparkled a horseshoe of brilliants, was shriveled.

Her weakness was pathetic. She reeled as she stood clinging to the table. her sunken, faded eyes gazed helplessly, almost pleadingly at her visitors. The air of the room reeked with the odors of powerful stimulants. In a corner, as though hastily pushed aside, stood a galvanic battery with its surgical basin half full of water and a sponge wet from use.

To every eye it was clear that the unfortunate old woman had been doped and galvanized for the ordeal of identification. But it was equally clear that the utmost stimulation could not beep the tortured woman upon her feet much longer.

...Her listless eyes were fastened on Prof. Kent as he stepped toward her....

"My - dear- dear - pro-professor!" she cried in the high crackling voice of extreme age. "H-h-how glad I am to see you. Let me co-congratulate you on getting back-your position. I-I am so glad that you are at the head of our sc-school again."

It was the senseless chatter of senility. Prof. Kent years ago severed all connection with the Concord school.

As he stammered out a reply and gently freed himself from the quivering fingers, Mrs. Eddy turned reeling again to the table and clung to it for support. Her fictitious strength was almost gone.

Turning to the others for the first time she gasped:

"I-I-I ca-cannot understand your in-interest in poor me. B-But I ca-cannot be interviewed."

She had just strength enough left to extend a palsied hand to each visitor and motion appealingly to Strang. The interview was at an end. It has lasted only three minutes.

As the visitors were hurried from the room, Mrs. Eddy, surrounded by attendants, was sinking helpless into a pillowed chair.

Eddy agreed to meet with a pool of reporters on October 30, but requested that the interview be conducted by Sibyl Wilbur O'Brien (who went by the professional name of Wilbur) of the Boston Herald. Wilbur had interviewed Eddy in May 1905 and would later write a series of favorable pieces and a favorable biography. In her biography of Eddy, Fleta Campbell Springer summarized the diversity of reporting on the meeting between Eddy and the reporters from various newspapers:

The eleven different reports that appeared in the newspapers the following day might have led the world to believe that eleven Mrs. Eddy had made their appearance in that door. She "bowed low and with ceremonial precision, reminding one of the entrance of a great diva before an audience made up of fashion and wealth"; "shaking and trembling, she tottered forward, clutching the curtains with palsied fingers and paused, swaying in the door"; "her eyes, large, dark and lustrous, sough out Mrs. O'Brien, whom she greeted with a smile"; "her faded, lusterless eyes roamed vacantly in space above the heads of the crowd"; "her feebleness seemed only consistent with her great age"; "she stood before them shaking with palsy, a physical wreck, tottering, pallid, like a vision from beyond the grave"; "she stood before them erect and upright, nerved for the ordeal"; she wore a black cloak; she wore a cape of white ermine....She was supported and half carried down the steps to her waiting carriage by the nurse, Miss Shannon, by Calvin Frye, by Lewis Strang; and she walked with firm and unfaltering step out of the door and down to her waiting carriage which she entered unassisted.

According to Meehan's history of the lawsuit, the World was strongly condemned by papers around the country for its initial article. Meehan suggested that the paper may have instituted the suit in order to counter the criticism and show that it reported the truth. Meehan wrote:

From the yellow journalistic standpoint, the story was undeniably a record-making one, and those interested felt that they must not allow the success achieved in telling it to be converted into failure and defeat...; it is easy to believe that The World was the real party in interest; that it employed the counsel and instructed that counsel to secure clients, and that it was The World money which paid all bills that were paid by the counsel thus secured, up to the time of the dismissal of the suit.

In his book, Meehan reprinted editorials and commentaries from over sixty newspapers either condemning the coverage by the World or celebrating the ultimate dismissal of the lawsuit. Among the unexpected was the reaction of Pulitzer's flagship paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The paper did not mention the World but instead challenged "the recent conversations between the court masters and Mrs. Eddy [as] suggestive of the inquisition...with this clumsy attempt to discover the processes of her mind."

The World may have already been planning to initiate a suit, for the October 28 article concluded: "Legal action to ascertain the full truth is practically assured." The following March, the World reported that "public-spirited citizens" had decided that "legal proceedings of the most dignified character were vitally important to establish the truth" about Eddy's condition. The link between the newspaper and the plaintiffs was exposed in a letter to James Slaght, the World reporter responsible for pursuing the expose of Eddy, from ex-U. S. Senator William Chandler, who wrote:

I consent to act a counsel concerning certain questions which arise in connection with Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy. It seems clear that there is serious doubt about several points. 1. Mrs. Eddy may be detained in the custody of strangers against her will. 2. She may be so nearly worn out in body and mind....Yours truly, William E. Chandler.

To counteract the attacks by the World, Eddy granted three interviews to journalists in June of 1907. Arthur Brisbane, then editor of the New York Evening Journal, stated, "Mrs. Eddy's mind is clear, her health is good for an old lady of eighty-six, her will is strong...." He summarized his lengthy June 8 interview with Eddy: "It is quite certain that nobody could see this beautiful and venerable woman and ever again speak of her except in terms of affectionate reverence and sympathy." On June 15, Edwin J. Park of the Boston Globe conducted a 40 minute interview with Eddy. He reported: [H]er brain is keen and active, and there never is a moment of hesitation in replying to a question or delay in framing the phraseology in which she answers." Park's article was reprinted in The Christian Science Journal. The third journalist, William E. Curtis of the Chicago Record-Herald, wrote: "I have never seen a woman of eighty-six years of age with greater physical or mental vigor."

The suit in equity was filed by "next friends," including George Glover (Eddy's natural son), on behalf of an allegedly incompetent Eddy, hence the reference as the "Next Friends" suit, against the trustees of her estate, including Calvin Frye. Among the paper's attorneys was William Chandler, a former U.S. Senator, and ubiquitous Frederick Peabody. Eddy was represented by Gen. Frank Streeter (two of his law partners were appointed to the state supreme court) and Edwin Eastman, the attorney general of New Hampshire. The essence of the suit was to determine Eddy's mental state and her ability to manage her own financial affairs. The court appointed a three-person panel, including an "alienist," to interview Eddy and report on her mental condition. They reported that she was in good health and in complete possession of her faculties. Streeter, Eddy's attorney, arranged for her to interviewed by other alientists. One highly respected alienist, Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton, had testified against Christian Science in a 1901 New York case. He publicly summarized his report in an influential interview to The New York Times:

I must confess that I approached this conference with Mrs. Eddy in a decidedly prejudiced state of mind. I had read the current abuse of her that one finds in the magazines and newspapers, and from this reading had become imbued with a distinctly adverse feeling toward Christian Science and its chief exponent. But when I saw and talked with the latter, and read and analyzed her correspondence, I experienced a complete revulsion of feeling, and this to such an extent that I have now become candidly of the opinion that Mrs. Eddy is not only sincere in all she says and does, but I believe also, that she unselfishly spends her money for the perpetuation of a church which, in her estimation, is destined to play an important part in the betterment of humanity....For a woman of her age I do not hesitate to say that she is physically and mentally phenomenal....In this country everyone is entitled to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she may choose; and this being so, there seems to be a manifest injustice in taxing so excellent and capable a woman as Mrs. Eddy with any form of insanity.

The Next Friends, realizing failure, petitioned to drop their suit on August 21 before Eddy and the defendants could demonstrate her sanity and legal capacity. The Masters' report was formally presented to the court on September 30, 1907, and the judge dismissed the suit the same day. Costs for the suit and the Masters' report were assessed against the plaintiffs. The final article in the World, however, implied victory:

Eddy Suit, Its Purpose Gained, is Withdrawn

With the Aged Woman's Fortune Revealed and Safeguarded, Next Friends Are Planning to Bring New Proceedings to Determine Her Sanity Without Reference to Business Sagacity....

Under exceptional conditions the suit brought by "Next Friends" to prove Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, aged founder of the Christian Science cult, insane, ended abruptly to-day....

Something of the kind -- an agreement or compromise -- had been expected for several days. It was known that Gen. Frank Streeter and his associates for the defense had been exerting every effort to bring about a settlement and save Mrs. Eddy from being visited by alienists. Senator Chandler, however, in the motion for withdrawal made it plain that every offer of compromise had been refused by his clients.

Between the lines every lawyer in the crowded court-room read the true purpose of the change of front. It was to put an end to a cumbersome, expensive action, which had already accomplished its real purpose -- discovery and safeguarding of Mrs. Eddy's great fortune. With that accomplished, the "Next Friends," without jeopardizing the financial side of the case, can safely begin proceedings to establish the true facts of Mrs. Eddy's mental condition. (Aug. 22, 1907, p. 4)

The Next Friends never initiated subsequent proceeding nor was any "great fortune" discovered or safeguarded. Meehan documented the proceedings and published 5,000 copies. Although favorable to her, Eddy requested that Meehan withdraw the book from distribution and she bought all the copies.

Six months after the suit, on May 3, 1908, Eddy drafted a letter to Archibald McLellan, the editor of the religious periodicals and a church director, and Allison V. Stewart, another church director and the agent responsible for publishing Eddy's writings. The letter, which was never sent, stated:

The time has come when we must have a daily paper entitled Christian Science Monitor. Allow no hesitation or delay on this movement. I will loan you all the money I can raise to help do it. When I proposed having the weekly Sentinel students held back at first; they may hold back this time but I in the name of God direct you to do this. Answer me immediately.

Canham believes that Eddy's failure to send the letter was explained by the next correspondence she wrote about a newspaper, a handwritten note addressed to Stewart and dated July 3. Like the earlier note, it was not sent. It stated:

I am impressed to write what must not be named before the debt of our Publishing House is paid -- and it is this.

We should have a daily newspaper it is very important to our cause and the bulk of the cause demands it.

I hereby state that so soon as said debt is paid I will head a subscription list for this purpose with $100 subscribed and I ask that you entitle this newspaper The Christian Science Monitor. Please keep silent on this matter till our Church debts are paid. I want to name it to you and hear from you on this subject.

On July 28 the church directors finally heard from Eddy in the a handwritten note: "Notice: So soon as the Pub. House debt is paid I request The C.S. Board of Directors to start a daily newspaper called Christian Science Monitor. This must be done without fail." On August 10 (almost a year after the end of the lawsuit), the trustees of the Christian Science Publishing Society received their formal, historic instructions from Eddy. Less than 100 days later, the church had a newspaper.

EVIDENCE

Gottschalk lists three pieces of evidence suggesting that Eddy had been thinking of a starting newspaper prior to the World's attacks and lawsuit. The first was a March 1908 proposal to establish a church newspaper, coupled with a 1898 proposal to establish a Christian Science paper outside of the church structure. The second was 1902 correspondence from Eddy discussing the hiring of Archibald McLellan as editor of the religious periodicals prior to establishment of a "widespread press." The final evidence was the nature of the secular news found in The Christian Science Sentinel, which was already ten years old in 1908.

Eddy was aware of the power and influence of the mass media, then predominantly the newspaper press, when the church was still in its infancy and before she established any of her publications. Eddy wrote in 1878, in the second edition of her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:

We have not a newspaper at our command through which to right the wrongs and answer the untruths, we have not a pulpit from which to explain how Christianity heals the sick, but if we had either of these, the slanderer and the physician would have less to do, and we should have more.

Five years later, in 1883, Eddy wrote about the need for a church organ in the first issue of The Christian Science Journal:

An organ from the Christian Scientists has become a necessity.

After looking over the newspapers of the day, very naturally comes the reflection that it is dangerous to live, so loaded seems the very air with disease. These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon the body. This error we shall be able in a great measure to counteract, for at the price we issue our paper we shall be able to reach many homes.

Eddy revised this article in 1896 for inclusion in her collection entitled Miscellaneous Writings. She changed the word "organ" to "newspaper," "-- a word clearly inapplicable to the monthly denominational Journal," according to Peel.

On March 12, 1908, John L. Wright, a Boston newspaperman and Christian Scientist, proposed to Eddy the creation of "a general newspaper owned by Christian Scientists and conducted by experienced newspapermen who are Christian Scientists." He also recommended that the words "Christian Science" not be used in the title. On her copy of Wright's letter, Eddy attached the following undated note:

Beloved Student:

I have had this newspaper scheme in my thought for quite a while and herein send my name for our daily newspaper

The Christian Science Monitor.

This title only classifies the paper and it should have departments for what else is requisite.

According to Canham, there is no record that the note was ever sent to Wright, who was later hired as the Monitor's city editor and then editorial writer. He served the paper from its founding until 1922. Also, according to Canham, this was the first use of the title, the first "explicit declaration" that Eddy intended a daily newspaper, and the first documentary reference to the specific newspaper. And, "there is no record of any earlier verbal reference." While Wright's letter evoked the name and stated plan, "it did not give Mrs. Eddy the idea of a daily newspaper."

Ten years earlier, in 1898, a group of Christian Scientists proposed to Eddy that they buy control of a major daily Boston paper. They did not suggest any specific paper. According to Canham, a member of Eddy's household recollected the purpose of owning such a paper -- to give an accurate and impartial version of world affairs. Eddy disapproved of the idea in a letter to Judge Septimus J. Hanna, then editor of the religious periodicals.

The second piece of evidence Gottschalk cites was a letter in which Eddy discussed her decision to appoint Archibald McLellan as editor of the church religious periodicals as successor to Judge Hanna. The letter, written in 1902 to Mr. and Mrs. Edward A. Kimball, stated: "Until I start a widespread press, we should have in Boston a born editor." The implication is that, as early as 1902, Eddy was considering publishing a secular newspaper or "widespread press."

Gottschalk's final evidence concerns the content of the Sentinel, founded in 1898, the same year of the original proposal by members to buy a paper for the church. The weekly religious magazine included several pages of news items in each issue. Robert Peel, in his officially-sanctioned three volume biography of Eddy, wrote: "From its inception in 1898, immediately following the Spanish-American War, the Sentinel devoted space to the consideration of public affairs, a function which would later be carried on more professionally by The Christian Science Monitor." Judge Septimus J. Hanna, the first editor of the magazine, explained to Eddy why he felt the magazine should carry secular news when he sent her a dummy of the proposed publication:

You will observe that we have given some space to current events. It occurred to me that perhaps it would be well to have a newspaper containing items of general interest, sufficient possibly to keep the workers somewhat informed thereof. I thought, too, that our publication might be more apt to reach the outside world if it met it somewhat on its own plane, instead of confining itself exclusively to Christian Science matter.

The implication is that Eddy was considering some sort of secular news periodical at least ten years prior to the creation of The Monitor. Thus, an examination of the early Sentinel is useful. A content analysis was undertaken of the issues of the first month of publication, September 1898, and every subsequent September through 1910. Additionally, a analysis was undertaken of the content of the Journal for its first year of publication, 1883-84 (Vol. I) and the three years encompassing the Next Friends' suit, 1906-07, 1907-08 and 1980-09 (Vol. XXIV through XXVI).

CONTENTS OF THE EARLY RELIGIOUS PERIODICALS

The first church periodical of a newspaper or magazine nature was monthly The Journal of Christian Science, later named The Christian Science Journal, established on April 14, 1883. The original subtitle was "An Independent Family Paper, to Promote Health and Morals." This was misleading in that the Journal was more truly a magazine than a newspaper. The original eight page magazine was filled with religious articles, poems, sermonettes, Bible lessons, letters, questions to answers from readers, quotes from a diversity of sources -- from Eddy to Emerson to Darwin, and ads for Christian Science activities and services, called "professional cards." The second issue included quotes from Hugo and Hegel, while issue four included a joke for Christian Scientists: "Ah!" said the pastor, "your father is dead, then; did he have a doctor?" "No sir," said the boy; "he died himself." Another issue recited the joke about a professor of psychology who asked: "Can we conceive of anything as being out of time and still occupying space?" The "musical student" responded thoughtfully: "Yes, sir; a poor singer in a chorus." Issue five had a column of "Gems," including "Who cannot keep his own secrets ought not to complain if another tells it," and "The greatest truths are the simplest, and so are the greatest men." "Gems," "Humorous," and "Selections" from other periodicals were regular columns. This style suggests a forerunner to Reader's Digest, filled with pleasant, uplifting stories, lots of quotes and quips, useful hints and tips, with religious articles added.

By the twenty-fifth year of publication, the middle of the Next Friends' litigation, the Journal had grown to 64 pages per issue. The religious nature of the magazine had become more pronounced, with religious feature articles, poetry, testimonies of healing through prayer, denominational editorials, and church notices. Although secular quotes and selections from secular periodicals were still included, the magazine had lost much of the folksiness and developed a more serious religious character. During this period, the Journal documented the church view of the litigation. It printed Eddy's notice of appointment of the trustees, reprinted the Boston Globe's interview with Eddy and a Boston American editorial condemning the suit, published "Editor's Table" articles on the collapse of the Next Friends' suit, and made reference to Arthur Brisbane's interview with Eddy in Cosmopolitan. However, the Journal did not cover secular news in any regular or systematic manner. This task was left for the weekly Sentinel.

The Christian Science Sentinel was originally entitled The Christian Science Weekly, although the initial dummy sent to Eddy was called the Christian Science Messenger. The first issue appeared on Sept. 1, 1898. The concluding idea of the "Salutatory" or editor's note stated: "It will be a feature of the Weekly to supply, in each issue, a brief synopsis of the current events of the world, sufficient, perhaps, to keep the busy workers fairly well informed as to the more important facts of general interest." The eight page issue contained a page and a half of such news items. The items were quite short, from five paragraphs to one sentence. The balance of the Weekly, with 9 1/2" by 12 1/2" pages, contained general and specific religious articles, testimonies of healing, poems, announcements, and church-related advertising. A single copy sold for two cents and a year subscription was one dollar, mailed second class postage.

The news in the Sentinel consisted primarily of news briefs. The following is statistical description of the topic or content distribution of the news items during the first year of publication.

The September 1899 issues averaged 37.75 items per issue, with a similar distribution of subjects. Beginning in 1900, the news briefs were categorized into four subject categories: political and government, foreign news, industry and commerce, and general news. The following is a summary of the distribution of news items for the first few years of the twentieth century.

* 9/1/98

Most of the items concerned the recently concluded war with Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. One item noted, "The colored troops at the battle of El Caney are reported as having fought with a bravery equal to that of any of their white fellow soldiers." Another noted, "'Old Glory' now waves officially over Hawaii." An editorial from the Boston Herald regarding Pres. McKinley's handling of the war was quoted and another item reported the resignation of the Secretary of State. The last piece was simple: "Judge J. M. Hobson, father of Lieut. Hobson, has been appointed postmaster of Greensboro, Ala."

* 9/8/98

Already, some items were starting to lengthen. The news included stories about Emperor Nicholas of Russia, "the great Fair at Omaha," promotions of officers who participated in the capture of Manila (including Arthur MacArthur), a new Anglo-

German alliance, the move to grant Dreyfus a new case in France, the opening of the Boston subway system, and a fund-raising campaign started by two Maine school boys to build a new battleship.

* 9/15/98

The news items included a list of McKinley's appointments to a commission to examine abuses in the War Department, status of the Dreyfus case, results of the Republican primary in Vermont, appointment of George N. Curzon as Viceroy of India, Pope Leo XIII's encyclical to the people of Scotland urging them to return to the church, Turkey's disclaimer of responsibility for "losses sustained by Americans in the Armenian massacres," and the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

* 9/22/98

The news items included reports on the annual meeting of the Odd Fellows and "a notable meeting of the almost extinct Afro-American League of the United States," the parting of Col. Roosevelt from his Rough Riders, the French cabinet crisis over the Dreyfus affairs, the current cash balance in the U.S. Treasury ($300 million), results of the Republican primary in Maine, and "Stephen Chase's P.O. Box is now 56 instead of 136."

* 9/29/98

The news items included updates on the Odd Fellows convention and McKinley's commission to investigate the War Department, the resignation of the Emperor of China in favor of the Dowager Empress, the upcoming Canadian vote on prohibition, research on typhoid fever, arbitration between Argentina and Chile, a memorial to the late daughter of Jefferson Davis, "a disastrous storm" in the West Indies, the centennial of Middlebury College, and "Mount Vesuvius is again in the state of eruption. The spectacle is said to be terrific in its splendor."

By this point, The Weekly was including a column entitled "Concord Items," consisting of light news and features "clipped" from the Concord Monitor, and nearly a page devoted to "Miscellanies." Most of the Miscellanies, usually of a features or commentary nature, were reproduced or summarized from other publications, or were quotes and sayings. The Sept. 22 edition of The Weekly reproduced items from the Waterbury American, The Church Economist (New York), The Review of Reviews, Outlook, the Boston Herald, the Christian Register and Leader. The Sept. 29 edition included quotes from the Boston Herald, Bishop Hopkins and Ruskin. Most of the items were of a religious or spiritual nature.

* 1899

Each issue of the September 1899 Weekly included a page of 37-38 news briefs (entitled "Items of Interests"), a page of "From the Religious Press" and "Miscellany" (8 to 10 items each issue), and three to five pages of lengthy secular feature articles or commentary. The articles in the Sept. 7 issue were all about activities in and around Concord, N.H., Eddy's home. Most of the articles in the Sept. 14 issue were about the upcoming "Hebrew New Year." The Sept. 28 issue featured a series of articles on what we now call the "right to die" issue. Most of the issues included a sprinkling of quotes. The Sept. 21 issue had quotes from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Leo Tolstoi and Seneca. The page of religious news and "miscellany" did not involve Christian Science, unlike the rest of the 16 page magazine. One Miscellany section had a secular poem and a literary parallel between the trial scene in Alice in Wonderland and the Dreyfus trial in France.

* 1900

The Sept. 1900 issues, now established at 16 pages, placed a full page of "Items of Interest" inside the front cover and a half page of religious news, clippings about other religions from other periodicals, near the back. The "Items of Interest" were now grouped into four categories: political and governmental news, foreign news, industry and commerce, and general news. Among the foreign news was a statistic on the German-language newspapers in Russia (42 out of 279). The Industry and Commerce section stated, "Siberia now exports butter to Denmark." The Sept. 20 "Items of Interest" included the first multi-paragraph story. These issues continued to include several longer feature or commentary pieces, including groups of stories about the State of Oklahoma and electric railways. The feature stories in the Sept. 13 edition were generally about Eddy.

* 1901

The Sept. 1901 issues continued the same format from the prior year. The 16 page magazine included the secular "Items of Interests" inside the front cover, 1/2 to 3/4 page of non-Christian Science religious news gleamed from other papers, and two to four pages of secular features, including poetry. The Sept. 5 edition reprinted Vice President Theodore Roosevelt's speech to the American Bible Society and had articles on "direct sun power." The next issue had articles on the rise of the "Zionistic Movement" and "Palestine for Jews," while the following issue had articles on "English as World Language" and wireless technology. The Sept. 12 edition reported the shooting of President McKinley, and the following edition reported his death and a three paragraph story on the new president, Teddy Roosevelt.

* 1902

The Sept. 1902 issues continued the established format, with a full page of news briefs grouped in the four categories, 3/4 page of non-Christian Science religious news, and the features, although there were fewer of the latter. The Sept. 4 edition reported on rice farming, while the Sept. 25 edition reported on "Macauley's English."

* 1903

The Sept. 1903 issues evidenced a major substantive change. While the inside-cover news briefs continued, the religious news page was retitled "From Our Exchange," though the substance of the items was no different. Changed, however, was the nature of the longer feature articles. From this point, these longer pieces were either news or commentary about Eddy, Christian Science, The Mother Church, or other denominational topics and issues. The articles were not necessarily theological, though they discussed topics of specific interest to church members.

* 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909

The Sept. 1904 issues continued the change in substance. The title of the full page news briefs was changed from "Items of Interest" to "Brief Mention of Important Events." The Sept. 24 edition had a lengthy (for the section), five graph story on the economies of Hawaii, Philippines and Alaska. The 1/2 page of non-Christian Science religious news, under the title "From Our Exchange" also continued. There were no more lengthy feature or commentary articles on secular or non-Christian Science topics. By this time, the Sentinel had settled into the format that would take it through the founding of the Monitor. With the exception of the news briefs and 1/2 page of religious briefs, the content was aimed at members of the denomination. All of the lengthy pieces were of a religious or quasi-religious nature. There were shorter religious or metaphysical articles, testimonies of healing, copies of correspondence to Eddy, religious poems, staff editorials, reprints of articles and editorials in the public press expressing support for the denomination, and reports of church and denominational activities around the world.

The Sept. 1907 issues of the Sentinel maintained the established format and content. The Sept. 7 issue included a lengthy article on a visit to Eddy by a noted "alientist" or doctor, and reprints of seven editorials favorably endorsing the dismissal of the Next Friends' suit in Eddy's favor. The next issue, Sept. 14, reprinted ten more similar newspaper editorials. The editorial masthead now included a note: "Take no notice of startling reports on Mrs. Eddy." The news briefs inside the front cover were still being published in Sept. 1909, nearly a year after the establishment of the secular newspaper. Even though the September 4 issue had 32 items (10 political, 12 foreign, 9 industry and commerce, 1 general), the Sentinel was functioning as a church newsletter, rather than a public magazine. Mott, in his massive study of American magazines, described the Sentinel as "a doctrinal and literary weekly newspaper."

CONCLUSION

Eddy's and the church's critics claimed that The Christian Science Monitor was founded in response to the attacks of the New York World, McClure's and other periodicals, and the "Next Friends" suit. The simplest way to rebut the criticism is evidence that Eddy was considering such a paper prior to the attacks and the suit. There is such evidence in her writings and in the types of material published in the other, earlier church periodicals. However, there is evidence to suggest that the timing of the establishment of the Monitor was precipitated by the lawsuit. Logic and common sense lead us to conclude that Eddy had been considering some sort of secular publication, as opposed to a church organ, prior to the attacks, but that those attacks precipitated the establishment of the specific secular periodical in 1908. The very nature of the newspaper, as defined by Eddy, in direct opposition to the nature of the yellow press of the opening years of the century, also suggests a direct reaction to the attacks. Erwin Canham, the paper's most famous editor, acknowledges that the Monitor was a reaction against the yellow press. He goes further in his history of the paper, stating: "In its early years, the Monitor preached the doctrine of 'clean journalism' almost as much as it practiced it."

One might argue, as Nenneman suggests, that God-inspired action and human circumstances are not necessarily at odds. Eddy apparently spent time over the prior decades considering the religious and secular role of publications within her church structure. She considered secular news for "family health and morals," as opposed to yellow journalism, twenty-five years before the Next Friends' suit. One cannot deny that the litigation and press coverage related to the timing of the publication of the Monitor. However, the cumulative evidence contradicts the simple assertion of Eddy's critics that the paper was only a reaction to the crisis.

Furthermore, the stated intentions of Eddy and her editors as well as the actual practice contradict the claim that the Monitor was designed to proselytize Christian Science or to shelter Christian Scientists from the rest of the world. The religious element of the paper has been assiduously limited to the title and one daily religious article. Eddy was clearly interested in providing an alternative to the current yellow press. The Monitor is noted for a unique brand of journalism that presents the world in a manner quite different from the norm.

On the other hand, just as Pulitzer's paper did not cover his own sins and Hearst's paper did not cover his sins, the Monitor has been accused of failing to cover matters involving Christian Science. The most recent example is the current crisis within The Mother Church. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Eddy intended the paper to be impartial. Both the proposed and actual Sentinel news items were straight forward. Likewise, the initial suggestions for a paper -- in 1898, 1902 and May 1908 -- all proposed a secular, impartial, balanced mainstream periodical. Discussions of a church organ or religious press were implemented through the Journal and, eventually, the Sentinel.

The Monitor, its existence and its tone of journalism were the result of several decades of contemplation and inspiration by Mary Baker Eddy. The idea of a publication for secular news antithetical to yellow journalism existed within the Christian Science movement before the Joseph Pulitzer's crusade against Eddy and her religion. However, the timing of the publication of the daily newspaper with the title of The Christian Science Monitor was probably a direct response to the circumstances of 1907 and 1908.

ARCHIVES AND DOCUMENTS

Letters and Miscellany, 99 volumes, Archives of The Mother Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts

BOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS

Barrett, James Wyman, Joseph Pulitzer and His World (New York: The Vanguard Press, 1941).

Bates, Ernest Sutherland and John V. Dittemore, Mary Baker Eddy: The Truth and the Tradition (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1932).

Beasley, Norman, Mary Baker Eddy (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1963).

Bent, Silas, Newspaper Crusaders (New York: Whittlesey House, 1939).

Brisbane, Arthur, Mary Baker G. Eddy (Boston: Ball, 1908).

---------- What Mrs. Eddy said to Arthur Brisbane: The Celebrated Interview of the Eminent Journalist with the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science (New York: M.E. Paige, 1930).

Burgdorff, Peter, Public Attacks on Mary Baker Eddy and the Christian Science Movement 1895-1910 (Elsah, IL: Principia College, 1973).

Caldwell, Sallie, Mary Baker Eddy (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1942).

Canham, Erwin D., Commitment to Freedom: The Story of The Christian Science Monitor (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1958).

Carlson, Oliver & Ernest Sutherland Bates, Hearst: Lord of San Simeon (New York: The Viking Press, 1936).

Chalmers, David Mark, The Social and Political Ideas of Muckrakers (Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 1964).

Christian Science Publishing Society, Editorial Comments on the Life and Work of Mary Baker Eddy (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1911).

Clements, Clara, Awake to a Perfect Day (New York: Citadel Press, 1956)

---------- My Husband Gabrilowitsch (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938).

Clements, Samuel, Christian Science (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1907).

D'Humy, Fernand Emile, Mary Baker Eddy in a New Light (New York: Library Publishers, 1952).

Dakin, Edwin Franden, Mrs. Eddy: The Biography of a Virginal Mind (New York: Blue Ribbon Books, 1930).

---------- Mrs. Eddy (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1929).

Daniels, Jonathan, Thy Will Be Heard: America's Crusading Newspaper Editors (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965).

Dickey, Adam Herbert, Memoirs of Mary Baker Eddy, reprint of 1927 edition (Pasadena, CA: The Bookmark, 1985).

Eddy, Mary Baker, First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany (Boston: CSPS, various ed.).

---------- Manual of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, 89th ed. (Boston: CSPS, 1895).

---------- Miscellaneous Writings (Boston: CSPS, 1896).

---------- Science and Health, With Key to the Scriptures (Boston: CSPS, various eds).

Gilman, James F., Recollections of Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, as Preserved in the Diary of James F. Gilman, reprint of 1893 edition (Freehold, NJ: Rare Book Company, 1970).

Gottschalk, Stephen, The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life (Berkeley, CA: University of California)

Johnstone, John W.C., Edward J. Stawski & William W. Bowman, The News People (Urbana, IL: Univeristy of Illinois Press, 1976).

Johnston, Julia Michael, Mary Baker Eddy: Her Mission and Triumph (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1946).

Juergens, George, Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966).

Kennedy, Hugh Anketell Studdert, Mrs. Eddy: Her Life, Her Work and Her Place in History (San Francisco: Farallon Press, 1947).

Lord, Myra Belle, Mary Baker Eddy: A Concise Story of Her Life and Work (Boston: Davis & Bond, 1918).

Lyon, Peter, Success Story: The Life and Times of S. S. McClure (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963).

McCrackan, William Denison, Christian Science: Its Discovery and Development, reprinted from The Great Events from Great Historians (New York: National Alumni Association).

Meehan, Michael, Mrs. Eddy and "Next Friends": The Authorized History of the Celebrated Court Trial "Next Friends" v. Mary Baker G. Eddy (Concord, NH: Rumford Printing Company, 1908).

---------- Mrs. Eddy and the Late Suit in Equity (Concord, NH: M. Meehan, 1908; Cambridge: University Press, 1908).

Milmine, Georgine, The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science, reprint of 1909 edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1971).

Mott, Frank Luther, A History of American Magazines, Vol. II & IV (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957).

Nenneman, Richard A., The New Birth of Christianity: Why Religion Persists in a Scientific Age (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991).

New York World, Articles on Mary Baker Eddy, 1906-1907 (New York: New York World, 1907).

Peel, Robert, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966).

---------- Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971).

---------- Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977).

Powell, Lyman Pierson, Christian Science: The Faith and its Founder (London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907).

---------- Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1950).

Ramsey, Emily Mary, Christian Science and Its Discoverer, 3rd ed. (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1955).

Reiger, The Era of the Muckraker (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932).

Robinson, Henry, A Biographical Sketch of Reverand Mary Baker G. Eddy (Concord, NH: People and Patriot Co., n.d.).

Schudson, Michael, Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers (New York: Basic Books, 1978).

Seitz, Don C., Joseph Pulitzer, His Life and Letters (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1967).

Silberger, Julius, Mary Baker Eddy: An Interpretive Biography of the Founder of Christian Science (Boston: Little, Brown, 1980).

Smith, Clifford Peabody, Historical and Biographical Papers: Sketches from the Life of Mary Baker Eddy and the History of Christian Science (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1934-36).

Springer, Fleta Campbell, According to the Flesh (1930).

Tomlinson, Irving Clinton, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy: Recollections and Experiences (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1945).

Wilbur, Sibyl, The Life of Mary Baker Eddy, (Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1941).

Wilson, Harold, McClure's Magazine and the Muckrakers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970).

Winkler, John K., William Randoplh Hearst: A New Appraisal (New York: Hasting House, 1955).

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