ncher:

"The candidates be elected by a majority vote of the First Members
present."

That is the aristocracy, the aborigines, the Sanhedrin. It is Mrs.
Eddy's property. She herself is the Sanhedrin. No one can get into the
Church if she wishes to keep him out.

This veto power could some time or other have a large value for her,
therefore she was wise to reserve it.

It is likely that it is not frequently used. It is also probable that
the difficulties attendant upon getting admission to membership have
been instituted more to invite than to deter, more to enhance the
value of membership and make people long for it than to make it really
difficult to get. I think so, because the Mother. Church has many
thousands of members more than its building can accommodate.

AND SOME ENGLISH REQUIRED

Mrs. Eddy is very particular as regards one detail curiously so, for
her, all things considered. The Church Readers must be "good English
scholars"; they must be "thorough English scholars."

She is thus sensitive about the English of her subordinates for cause,
possibly. In her chapter defining the duties of the Clerk there is an
indication that she harbors resentful memories of an occasion when the
hazy quality of her own English made unforeseen and mortifying trouble:

"Understanding Communications. Sec. 2. If the Clerk of this Church shall
receive a communication from the Pastor Emeritus which he does not fully
understand, he shall inform her of this fact before presenting it to
the Church, and obtain a clear understanding of the matter--then act in
accordance therewith."

She should have waited to calm down, then, but instead she added this,
which lacks sugar:

"Failing to adhere to this By-law, the Clerk must resign."

I wish I could see that communication that broke the camel's back.
It was probably the one beginning: "What plague spot or bacilli were
gnawing at the heart of this metropolis and bringing it on bended knee?"
and I think it likely that the kindly disposed Clerk tried to translate
it into English and lost his mind and had to go to the hospital.
That Bylaw was not the offspring of a forecast, an intuition, it was
certainly born of a sorrowful experience. Its temper gives the fact
away.

The little book of By-laws has manifestly been tinkered by one of Mrs.
Eddy's "thorough English scholars," for in the majority of cases its
meanings are clear. The book is not even marred by Mrs. Eddy's peculiar