"Annie! Why, what's got into you?" Hilda flushed with shame of Anne's rudeness, but Mrs. Welles did not seem to notice it.
"I don't suppose you know much about Science, do you? Have you ever read 'Science and Health'?"
"No. But would I have to read a book claiming the moon was made of green cheese, to know it wasn't?"
"Certainly not. Long ago the moon was proved not to be made of green cheese."
"And long ago, farther back than that, it was proved that human beings—except a few insane ascetics—are not happy when everything worth while in life is snatched from them and they have nothing left to make the fight worth while."
"No power in heaven or earth can snatch everything from one. It is impossible to be left with nothing. There is no such thing as a spiritual vacuum, because Love is everywhere."
"Like the poor!"
"No, because there are no poor who cannot escape from their poverty if they will. They remain poor because they do not understand Love. They do not grasp it as a force, a greater force than any so-called natural force that material science has ever discovered. Love is the magnet that draws worlds together. No star, no earth, no planet can oppose it. The poor, the ill, the unhappy remain so because they do not, will not Love. They shut themselves off, insulate themselves against the power of Love by their small, physical desires. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.' Christ understood."
"Without Mary Baker Eddy?"
"Anne! If I were Mrs. Welles I wouldn't explain another thing to you."