When I first came to Boston for the large gathering at the Annual Meeting, there had to be a time limit set, and only testimonies of healing were asked for. This eliminated a good deal of the talking. After I became First Reader of The Mother Church and the meetings became more normal in their attendance, I at first did not set a time limit. People who were there from all over the world wanted to speak, and they often took quite a lot of time. I remember that a prominent Christian Scientist from the Midwest, who was also a lecturer, once spoke for twenty minutes, and his talk was most interesting and instructive. This was very embarrassing for me, [however,] and in discussing it with the Christian Science Board of Directors afterward, they told me that I should try to cut the remarks short even if the speakers were prominent. Shortly after that, a time limit of five minutes was set, but still every now and then people would talk about all sorts of subjects which ran into little preachments or sermonettes and involved teaching instead of healing, although sometimes remarks of that kind are helpful.

When I began as First Reader, I was told that a lady would get up very frequently to speak and always end her testimony with telling how she cooked cabbage. This happened only once after I began conducting the meetings, and after that she kept to the legitimate subject. Another lady got up regularly, not every week but about every two weeks, and reeled off a number of Scriptural selections which were put together so as to make a coherent story on some more or less interesting point. These she memorized and reeled off with a great deal of earnestness and persistence. She was popularly known as the “Scripture Lady.” I  ● ● ●