“Yes. Let us sit here and finish that novel.”
“All right.”
“What have you there?”
“Mrs. Eddy's book,—'Science and Health.'”
Mrs. Evringham made a grimace. “I read part of it once. That was enough for me. Think of the price they charge for it, too. Think of pretending it is such a good thing for everybody to have, and then putting a price on it that prohibits the average pocketbook.” Eloise's smile annoyed her mother. “Weren't you with me the day Nat Bonnell's mother said so much about it?”
“How foolish she was not to try it,” said Eloise. “Such a hopeless, monotonous invalid.”
“Well, some of her friends worked hard enough to induce her to, but when she found out the mercenary side of it, she saw at once that it couldn't be trustworthy.”
“I suppose even Christian Scientists must have a roof and food and clothes,” returned Eloise coolly; “but I've thought a good deal the last few days about the criticisms I've heard on the price of the book. The fuss over that three dollars is certainly very funny, when the average pocketbook goes to the theatre sometimes, has flowers for its entertainments, and rejoices to find lace reduced from a dollar and a quarter to ninety-five cents a yard for its gowns. It eagerly hoards and spends three dollars for some passing pleasure or effect, but winces and ponders over paying the same sum for a book that will last a lifetime, and which, if it is worth anything, furnishes the key to every problem in life.”
“But why isn't it as cheap as the Bible if it is so beneficial?”
“It will be, probably, when it is generally respected. For the present it wouldn't be wise to cast it about like pearls before swine.” Eloise smiled at herself. “You see I'm talking as if I knew it all. My wisdom comes partially from what I have extracted from Jewel, and partly from what is obvious. I haven't reached the place yet where I am convinced, but this book is wonderfully interesting. It came to me in the darkest hour I have ever known, and it has—it has seemed to feed me when I was starving. I don't know how else to put it. I can't think of anything else. Mother, why haven't we a Bible? I was ashamed when Jewel asked me.”