I was much pleased to receive Miss Minnies letterEditorial Note: This letter is not extant. dated Los AngelesEditorial Note: Los Angeles, California June 22nd & know that you are all happy in the enjoyment of the trip & the many places of interest you have been enabled to visit. I am sorry that Netties & her Mama's pleasure should be marred by so small a thing as a lively, skipping, joyful Flea. Is'ntCorrected:Isn't it Shakespeare who say something about its being "better to suffer the ills we bear here, (he meant Denver of course) than fle(a)e to others we know not of."Editorial Note: This is an allusion to lines from Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act III, Scene I in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The lines read: “But that the dread of something after death, / The undiscover’d country from whose bourn / No traveller returns, puzzles the will / And makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others we know not of?”?

Your little group of students met Yesterday afternoon at the residence of Mrs Glaze 91 Grant Ave – Mrs Dr Corey, Mrs Bigler & Miss Clara, being the only ones absent. We enjoyed two hours of very interesting & instructive chat on C.S.Expanded:Christian Science. All appear to be doing well &, are persevering in the work. I was sorry to learn from Mrs Pattie that her patient Mr Gill had passed over– He was buried on Sunday last: She says he fell back &. continued to droop from the day you all left– Another evidence of the blindness of belief– or faith without Understanding. He had not the faith in her that he felt in you, because he was lacking in the understanding of Principle. Old lady Glaze has improved very much & has not been guilty of smoking once since the close of the class. Mrs Root is feeling,- & has felt ever since her quick recovery from the attack she had some two weeks ago, when I visited & treated her twice at her house– unusually well & bright. Miss Belle Heywood's hip fails as yet to respond– It is still "unbending"– relentlessly held by a mere shadow of belief. My boy who is under the belief of ChrExpanded:Chronic Bronchitis, paralysis of the vocal organs etc, while improved in general health & can raise the accumulated mucus without strain or effort, still fails to "speak out" & declare the nondestructability of the faculties created by Mind. I have not seen Mrs Boggs for a week or more, as s they hasve been moved a half mile farther out & my horse's knee being sore I have been unable to use him for some time. I heard from her a few days ago, however through some ladies who went out to see her & they report her much improved. She was looking a great deal better when I last called on her- I give her daily absent treatment. Mrs Noxen & Mrs Wiggins are quite busy & feel gratified over the good work they are accomplishing. Mrs Pattie's patient, whom she was treating for belief of garter around the neck, has she says responded nicely & the thing in belief, has nearly disappeared- I trust it may prove a lesson to the lady in the future, as to the "proper fitness of things," the article in question never being intended to wear around the neck. Miss Belle Heywood had been visited by, or met in company somewhere, a young man who is studying for the Ministry who worried her not a little by asking her questions that she was unable to answer, one of which was, touching our unbelief in drugs, "How do you reconcile the statement in Genesis which says that all herbs were created & given to man for his meat."Gen 1:29 ¶And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. I endeavored to enlighten her upon the subject to the best of my understanding & for the benefit of all; but suggested the better way would be, to not discuss the subject at all with persons whose only desire is to puzzle & confuse & to reply to such by saying that she declined to teach Christian Science until she had taken the proper course of instruction fitting her for the work. This shallow-pated noodle, ambitions to be a saver of souls from the veritable "Lake of fire & brimstone"Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. has not a thought beyond the literal interpretation of the Word. He holds that drugs must be good if created by God for man's meat. He can notCorrected:cannot understand that drugs are good - good as wheat, & even intended to be used as man's meat with no more hurtful effect or limits to their uses- being given him for meat & not for medicine. He can notCorrected:cannot understand that man himself, for whom all things were created goodGen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. & perfect, & placed under his dominionGen 1:26 ¶And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. , turning his back upon the Divine laws given him for his Spiritual guidance & government, has made laws unto himself; & impiously asserting an intelligence greater than the FatherEditorial Note: God, reverses the creations of Spirit & proclaims the good to be evil, the perfect to be imperfect, the Immortal to be mortal or material, the herbs given him for food to be hurtful & poisonous, & that Life must be subject to death. With a presumption of authority that is appalling in its usurpation, to conceive of Mortal Man- this thing of belief- placing himself behind & above the throne of Wisdom, & to make the lie appear all the more as Truth he tries to ignore his own laws, & proclaims his powers to make perfect the imperfect, & right all wrongs, cure all evils, heal all ills, by asserting his ability to separate the good from the evil creations of God & heal the effects of the latter by such doses of the former as he alone has the intelligence to prescribe; always arrogating to himself the powers of judgement Corrected: judgment as to the things that can kill or cure, save or damn.

If Spirit created man capable of disease & caused the earth to bring forth drugs to heal him, He would, in accordance with His great Love & justice, have named the drugs & prescribed the doses for each & every case, type & form, never setting up Doctors as "other gods before Him"Ex 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. endowed with authority & power to say what shall kill & what shall cure - what is meat & what is poison. Oh! Minnie how blind & shallow do these material beliefs of so-called knowledge [?] Unclear or illegible  appear when brought within the focus of Understanding.

The question of treatment was brought up in yesterday's meeting & the mode or manner of argument discussed– Mrs Root feared she was giving too much thought & credit to argument & not enough to Principle– depending too much upon the word, or argument to convince mortal mind of its errors of beliefs & not enough upon Spirit. She thought that with the faith & uUnderstanding in us we should be able to heal without the need of argument. I told her I thought we would be, when we had wholly freed ourselves from the weight of fear & beliefs of error & disease that in the unconscious as well as the conscious mind hold & keep us from the practical understanding of the Science of Being & the ability to demonstrate [?] Unclear or illegible  through the faith that is in usII Tim 1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother
Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. . As yet we are but as the "Entered Apprentice Mason"Editorial Note: The Entered Apprentice degree is the first degree given to a candidate in the Blue Lodge of Freemasonry. to whom is given the theory of the art he would master, together with the proper tools and crude material with & upon which to labor in the exercise of his skill & understanding, until his perseverence Corrected: perseverance is crowned with the ability to transform the irregular & rugged boulders into shapely, smooth, & "square work" ready to the builders Corrected: builder's hand; & for his Master work he receives Master's wages. Can we as entered Apprentices in Christian Science possessing only the theory of Principle expect to do Masters Corrected: Master's work & receive Master's wages? Oh no! we have been given the theory, or understanding; & with the tools of Love & Truth placed in our hands, & mans Corrected: man's false & erring illusions (our own as well) the crude material to labor & exercise upon, we must, with the chisel of Love & mace of Truth persevere in our work until chip by chip these mental beliefs are dislodged which now in their unsightly ruggedness surround. & hide the Master's true & perfect work beneath. Let us be happy in the possessing of the theory & implements, & understand that in their exercise alone can we expect to become skilful Corrected: skillful in their use. Each chip, or belief dislodged, will afford us a clearer view of the bright & perfect interior & give us courage to go on step by step until we have developed in all its symatryCorrected:symmetry & beauty the Masters Corrected: Master's work & have earned for ourselves the Masters Corrected: Master's wages. A remark of Dr Van Ness in his sermon of Sunday last is quite pertinent to this subject: Speaking of the impossibility of a person expecting to change their entire moral nature in an hour through a sudden religious conversion, holding that all progress for good must be of gradual growth & development to be lasting (evidently intended as a hint to the Revivalist, Dr MunhallEditorial Note: L. W. (Leander Whitcomb) Munhall (1843-1934) was a conservative Methodist evangelist and editor of The Methodist, a weekly newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania., at the Rink who guarantees to make any sinner a Saint in an hour) he said "You might as well expect to get a new suit of clothes in an hour – You might of course get a ready made suit, but the chances are many to one that they would not fit you." So with us Entered Apprentices in Christian Science & Mental healing, we must not look to find ready made a Spiritual suit to fit our deformed & shrunk up bodies, we must order it in advance & grow into its requirements.

Mrs Wiggins said she did not try to make any argument & yet was very successful in her treatments. -Hers being more of an appeal to Spirit to heal & destroy pain. This statement somewhat staggered many of the ladies who rather looked upon it as "Prayer Cure". I did not look upon it in any such light. Mrs Wiggins' appeal to Spirit is based upon her faith fborn of her Understanding of the Divine Principle,- Life, Truth, and Love which governs harmoniously all the creations of Mind, "perfect from the beginning". She is convinced of the Truth that man as a Spiritual being was, is & ever will be, perfect & Immortal – that there is no Life a power outside of Spirit, that there can be no sensation in matter, because without Life it can have no intelligence, that Spirit, the perfect & unerring Principle, can notCorrected:cannot be diseased, or suffer pain & therefore man, the reflected image of Mind's sublime & perfect thought can notCorrected:cannot suffer or be diseased– The Principle being whole & perfect, the reflection must be. Having, as I say, the faith & understanding in the Truth of these things, but lacking perhaps the mortal ability or faculty to arrange convincingly words into arguments against the beliefs of Mortal Mind, the power of Mind- or rather Mind itself, in being appealed to, supplyies the want & renders the treatment more effectual than words or argument, however well arranged could do. She rests her faith in the Healing Power knowing that "health is the everlasting fact" & being such, sickness must be a falsehood, an illusion or belief.

We meet again on Wednesday next at Mrs Patties Corrected: Pattie's rooms on Curtis St next door to Dr. Elsner, she having changed from 13th St.

Madam Jerome,- or Mrs Hepworth or Hayworth– has returned to the city & is endeavoring to get up a class to teach C.S.Expanded:Christian Science, She states that she went through the full normal course at the Buswell & Recd Metaphysical CollegeEditorial Note: Heathwood took class with Huldah P. Read and Arthur T. Buswell, both students of Mary Baker Eddy's., Columbus Ave. BostonEditorial Note: Boston, Massachusetts, & is duly qualified & authorized to teach– She held a reception in some parlors a few evenings since, a great many ladies being present, 'tis said, & to whom she delivered a lecture (?) on C.SExpanded:Christian Science, One or two of the ladies present, less enthusiastic than the rest, & not carried away so much by the shallow arguments of the Madam, seeking & desiring instruction rather than amusement asked her several questions which she was unable to reply to; one: "If sin & sickness are unreal, then is not death unreal & an illusion?" It is said, she could give no reasonable [?] Unclear or illegible  or satisfactory answer to so simple a question. Could she have taken instructions in the ScienceEditorial Note: Christian Science or have ever read a dozen pages in Mrs. Eddy's work? This woman is evidently a mere scheming adventures Corrected: adventuress with little thought of the good of C.S.Expanded:Christian Science beyond the money she thinks it may bring her & for such a Science to be taught by such a person would appear "confusion worse confounded"– Error piled on Errors Corrected: Error's head. Poor Mrs Eddy freed from her bodily ills & tortures, & in gratitude & love for the health given & Light bestowed, spends years of labor in reducing to a system the Understanding of Truth imparted to her, in order that all mankind might be benefited & our sufferings be alleviated, is scourged & tortured a thousand times more through the charlatanism of the age– the envy, jealousies, selfishness, spite, hatred & calumniations which are being heaped upon her daily & hourly are punishments she & all who understand & appreciate her must endure. The scornful sneer must be borne. These things cut deeper than the lash & require more strength & fortitude to bear than all the ills that flesh is heir toEditorial Note: Shakespeare, in Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1 has, “the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”.. Not until she has passed away from us will her star shine bright & resplendantCorrected:resplendent & those who now decry her, will feel joy & happiness in worshipping at the shrine of her memory.

It is I believe Madam Jeromes intention to organize classes & teach in all the towns in this state - LeadvilleEditorial Note: Leadville, Colorado will be, P I hear her next victim, then Colorado Springs & so on through. I regret this womans Corrected: woman’s appearance here, or in fact any-whereCorrected:anywhere else, in the character she now assumes & wish that I was qualified & authorized, you being here, to forestall her in the work; but it may not be, & I shall probably suffer the pain of being present at Colorado Springs during her teaching advent at that place. as I have concluded to go there in, say two or three weeks & remain at least until you all return. I wish you could be there to open a class ahead of her – had I but Mrs Eddy's authority to do so, I would write up an evenings Corrected: evening's discourse on C.S.Expanded:Christian Science & through Mrs Helen [*]Archival Note: The following text was later added to the document by another annotator, disrupting the surrounding thought. ⇉ Handshift:Minnie B. Hall De Soto a lovely ScientistEditorial Note: Christian Scientist so True [*]Archival Note: End floating text. ⇉ Handshift:Thomas H. Donehue & her acquaintances send out invitations for a gathering & talk upon the subject; get them interested, & organize a class ahead of Madam Alias. But not having demonstrated a sufficient length of time I am entitled to no such consideration from Mrs Eddy & I shall certainly not assume the authority without. Were you, as I say, here, or rather there, to do it, who are are capable & authorized, with my humble efforts to aid you, I would feel happy & content. [*]Archival Note: The following text was later added to the document by another annotator, disrupting the surrounding thought. ⇉ Handshift:Minnie B. Hall De Soto I will teach the class if that will be better but I think you should be represented first M. [*]Archival Note: End floating text. ⇉ Handshift:Thomas H. Donehue This woman called on Mr. Boyd, said she thought she would take rooms in the block with him & urged him to recommend pupils to her- offering, no doubt, to make it an object to him to do so. I advised him that the proper thing to do, would be to write the woman a [*]Archival Note: The following text was later added to the document by another annotator, disrupting the surrounding thought. ⇉ Handshift:Minnie B. Hall De Soto the rest so long I thought you would not want. M.[*]Archival Note: End floating text.