The structure came forth from the hands of the artisans with every stone
paid for--with an appeal, not for more money, but for a cessation of the
tide of contributions which continued to flow in after the full amount
needed was received. From every State in the Union, and from many lands,
the love-offerings of the disciples of Christian Science came to help erect
this beautiful structure, and more than four thousand of these contributors
came to Boston, from the far-off Pacific coast and the Gulf States and all
the territory that lies between, to view the new-built temple and to listen
to the Message sent them by the teacher they revere.
From all New England the members of the denomination gathered; New York
sent its hundreds, and even from the distant States came parties of forty
and fifty. The large auditorium, with its capacity for holding from
fourteen hundred to fifteen hundred persons, was hopelessly incapable of
receiving this vast throng, to say nothing of nearly a thousand local
believers. Hence the service was repeated until all who wished had heard
and seen; and each of the four vast congregations filled the church to
repletion.
At 7:30 a.m. the chimes in the great stone tower, which rises one hundred
and twenty-six feet above the earth, rung out their message of "On earth
peace, good will toward men."
Old familiar hymns--"All hail the power of Jesus' name," and others
such--were chimed until the hour for the dedication service had come.
At 9 a.m. the first congregation gathered. Before this service had closed
the large vestry room and the spacious lobbies and the sidewalks around the
church were all filled with a waiting multitude. At 10:30 o'clock another
service began, and at noon still another. Then there was an intermission,
and at 3 p.m. the service was repeated for the last time.
There was scarcely even a minor variation in the exercises at any one of
these services. At 10:30 a.m., however, the scene was rendered particularly
interesting by the presence of several hundred children in the central
pews. These were the little contributors to the building fund, whose money
was devoted to the "Mother's Room," a superb apartment intended for the
sole use of Mrs. Eddy. These children are known in the church as the "Busy
Bees," and each of them wore a white satin badge with a golden beehive
stamped upon it, and beneath the beehive the words, "Mother's Room," in
gilt letters.
The pulpit end of the auditorium was rich with the adornment of flowers. On
the wall of the choir gallery above the platform, where the organ is to be
hereafter placed, a huge seven-pointed star was hung--a star of lilies
resting on palms, with a centre of white immortelles, upon which in letters
of red were the words: "Love-Children's Offering--1894."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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