● ● ● work on Moral and Physical Science, that I shall submit to the public as soon as it is completed.”109
Her chief purpose in moving out to the Sims’ house in Peabody a little later was to get ahead with the writing of the book. Before the final break with Kennedy on May 11 she had completed sixty pages. This was the beginning of Science and Health.
The uproar that accompanied Kennedy’s departure put an end to further work on the book for several months. An appalling letter at this time from Wright to Mrs. Glover began:
It is evident to me that you desire Dr. —— [Kennedy] (the malpractitioner) to leave the city, and I think, also, it would be for your interest to accomplish this end. . . . He thinks that I am your greatest enemy, and favors, if either, his side. Let him continue to think so; it will do me no harm. For my part, I [would] rather a person would come out boldly and fearlessly, as you and I did, facing each other, than to sneak like a snake in the grass, spitting his poison venom into them he would slay. I have said I owe Dr. —— on an old score, and the interview I had with him last evening has increased that debt, so that I am now determined, if it be your object also, as two heads are better than one, to drive him from —— [Lynn].110
Here was “chemicalization” with a vengeance!
The fact of their communicating must be kept secret, Wright added, “as a friend in the enemy’s camp is an advantage not to be overlooked.” Mrs. Glover, who saw Kennedy’s overt or covert influence behind the letter, replied evenly that she hoped Wright would always do right; but as to getting Kennedy out of Lynn, she recommended that he leave that to God: “If defrauded, and set at naught, God will one day justify his children.”111
Further consultations between Wright and Kennedy were reported to her; rumors flew back and forth; suspicions grew. From this atmosphere of petty intrigue and accusation Mrs. Glover fled once more ● ● ●
109 [Mary M. B. Glover, “To the Public. Moral Science and Mesmerism,” Lynn Transcript, 3 February 1872, p. 2.]
110 Eddy, Science and Health, 3rd ed., vol. 2, p. 12.
111 Eddy, Science and Health, 3rd ed., vol. 2, pp. 12–13.