Quarter!yJVews

VOL. 28, NO.2 PUBLISHED BY LONG YEAR MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY SUMMER 1991

CAROL NORTON

"Because he represented a noble type of true manhood he was keenly appreciative of the advancing idea of true womanhood, and ever held in the highest reverence our beloved Leader. ... "

From a tribute to Norton in The Christian Science Journal, May 1904

Carol Norton

On the afternoon of December 18, Norton, spoke extemporaneously for and that he handled his subject "in a 1898, an unassuming but earnest over an hour and a half, and "held the masterly manner. " 3 young man, still in his twenties, close attention of his vast audience .... Norton's lecture was presented at addressed an audience of over 3,000 He declared that the philosophy of a time when Christian Science was people at Carnegie Hall in New York Christian Science would stand the test being viciously attacked by the press, City on the subject of Christian Sci­ of time; that it proved its accuracy and this was no doubt the reason that ence. Prominent clergymen were in by its results, and demonstrated its all but one New York newspaper attendance, and a physician of the divinity from the Bible .... " 1 ignored the event in their columns. allopathic and homeopathic schools We cannot know how the distin­ Just six months later, however, it'was was seated on the platform. The only guished audience responded to such a different story. Norton's appearance New York newspaper that reported the statements as: "The restored Church of at the Metropolitan Opera House on event stated that the lecturer, Carol Christ on earth is rising in our midst''; May 28, 1899 was reported by every and '' ... since the days of the Pales­ major newspaper in the city. The New tine Healer and Reformer nobody in York Mail and Express printed the Quarterly News Summer 1991 Christendom or in any other reli­ lecture in full. The Herald, the World, "Longyear Foundation 1991 Vol. 28, No.2 gious world, has gone to the supreme the Times, the Sun, the Tribune, the end of pure Monotheism except Mrs. Daily News, all provided thorough Sent without charge to 2 Members of Longyear Eddy. " But we do know that the lec­ coverage, and most of them under­ turer was "enthusiastically received," scored what must have been a most

423 dramatic moment during the course of of Samuel Longfellow, the author of the lecture: Norton asked all in the many sacred hymns. NEW YORK CITY audience to stand who had been After the loss of his parents, Carol healed in Christian Science. It was lived with an uncle and aunt in New CHRISTIAN SCIENCE INSTITUTE. reported that of the 3,000 people in York City. Completing his formal edu­ attendance, about one-third rose, and cation at fifteen, he entered the busi­ were acknowledged by "a great out­ ness world. Though successful, his 96 FIFTH AVENUE, RooMa 5, 8, 7, a, burst of applause. " 4 The Maj] and heart was still fervently committed to OF"F"ICE, ROOM 1. Express noted: " ... the address of Mr. theological concerns. He never aban­ Norton was such in text and temper doned the strong moral teaching of his CLASSES FORMED MONTHLY. that no honest truth-seeker, be he faith, and his commitment to church friendly or hostile, will care to ignore work and love for humanity led him to For further Information apply to it. ... Mr. Norton has certainly made help meet the spiritual needs of the the strongest presentation of the phi­ young men in his home town. Carol Rev. AUGUSTA E. STETSON, C.S.D., PRINCIPAL. losophy and method of Christian Sci­ spent long hours studying religious CAROL NORTON, C.S., ence that has thus far come to public works in his search for truth. Though A&SISTANT notice. " 5 unsatisfied, he never questioned God's Carol Norton had been appointed by existence or yielded to cynicism. There SCIENCE and HEALTH, by Rev. Mary B. G. Eddy, Mary Baker Eddy to the newly-formed must be, he felt, a divine solution to ilnd all other writinra of the Author, alao all publi· cations or the Christian ScleDce Publlahlnr Society Christian Science Board of Lecture­ life's problems. on a:l.le. ship a year and a half earlier. He had After wrestling with a longstand­ endeared himself to her through his ing physical difficulty which medical gentle, loving nature, strong moral treatment failed to cure, he turned to Page from leaflet published by the character, writing and speaking ability, Christian Science. The first treatment precursor of First Church of Christ, and appreciation of womanhood.l\1rs. healed him. He writes: "I could hardly Scientist, New York City, c. 1891 Eddy was not the only one who found realize it; ... Life to me now had a new Carol to be an exceptional young man. meaning. I was fairly drunk with the the demands of impersonal Christian During his brief lifetime, many felt his new wine of spiritual Illumination. Science upon me at this hour.... [It] influence for good. The revelation was indescribable. " 7 has of course meant much prayer and Born and raised a Unitarian in His eager delving into the theology of fasting, demonstration and prayerful Eastport, Maine, Carol early lost both Christian Science settled for him the thought, and I feel to-day a deeper his parents. As a result, his faith in troubling questions about God's nature loyalty than ever to the cause of God was sorely tested, particularly for which he had long sought satisfy­ Christian Science, its Leader, the Rev. after his father's passing. He writes ing answers. He gave up his business Mary Baker G. Eddy, and the Church of this experience: "My beloved career, and in the words of a lifelong of Christ, Scientist, ... feeling that father became ill, and gradually grew friend, "he renounced the comforts impersonality, liberalism, individual worse .... All this time, with the trust and ease of prosperity for the limita­ spiritual freedom, divine democracy of boyhood, I prayed that he might be tion and privation of a reformer. He ... and equality, consistent compassion­ spared to us. There seemed no good began at the humblest phase of the ate love, purity and chastity of thought reason why, just at a time when his work he could find as a helper in one and unity born of divine love are the young son most needed him, he should of the Christian Science churches. " 8 cardinal and vital demands of Chris­ be taken; but, one evening after I had That church was the precursor of tian Science in this hour.' '11 climbed down out of his loving arms, First Church of Christ, Scientist, New In 1898 Carol was invited to attend he slipped away from his loved ones, York City. At the time Carol united what was to be Mrs. Eddy's last class, and I awoke to two awful facts. I was with it, Augusta Stetson was pastor held in Concord, New Hampshire, fatherless; and, God had not answered of the church, as well as principal of after which he was given the degree of my prayers .... Had God deserted me? the New York City Christian Science C.S.D. Another member of the class, To my regret, my religion threw no Institute. Carol's name first appeared Sue Harper Mims, described her fellow light on the question as to why this in The ChrisUan Science Journal of students: "There were lawyers, phy­ great sorrow should enter my young February 1891 as assistant to Mrs. sicians, judges, businessmen and, life. " 6 Throughout this experience, Stetson. Recognizing his talent and what was to me the most beautiful however, Carol felt that somehow good ability, she gave him opportunities to of all, several young men of twenty would triumph over evil, and this preach, lecture, and aid in the pro­ to twenty-five years of age, who had hope, he later saw, was "the voice of motion of Christian Science. She even given up every kind of business occu­ the impersonal Christ." went so far as to seriously consider pation just to become Christian Sci­ Although Unitarianism failed to adopting him.9 entists .... The sweetest thing to me answer his heart-yearnings, he was Mrs. Eddy, however, foresaw prob­ was to see those young men - just befriended by a minister of that lems arising from Mrs. Stetson's hold leaving all for Christ.' '12 Carol Norton denomination, with whom he walked on her young prote§e, and warned him was no doubt one of those young men "hand in hand the rocky road of the­ of her influence.1 Carol ultimately whose commitment to Christian Sci­ ology." Other Unitarian thinkers had severed his connection with her as ence so touched Mrs. Mims' heart. a profound effect on Carol as well. assistant teacher and as Second Reader In January 1898, Carol-at the age Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his of the church. In a letter explaining his of 2 7 - began his work as one of the brother Samuel were cousins of Carol's action, he wrote: "This step is essen­ first five members of the Board of Lec­ mother. In particular, Carol drank in tially one of individual conviction and tureship. His early lecture engage­ the spirituality inherent in the poems represents my own interpretation of ments kept him for the most part in the

424 middle Atlantic states and Ontario. thanksgiving to the eternal Good for Health: "The author of the Christian The individuals who introduced him the great good that has come to Science text-book takes no patients, were often prominent members of humanity through the career of this does not consult on disease, nor read 15 the community: physicians, editors, God-governed woman. " letters referring to these subjects." ministers, lawyers, judges, mayors, The following lines by Tennyson, Kinter, who felt that the rule should professors, and university presidents, a portion of which Norton used as be disregarded in this particular including Hon. John H. Peck of Rens­ an epigraph for his book Woman's case, was overruled, and he received selaer Polytechnic Institute. A number Cause, were quoted in the Cornell the many wires from Chicago with of Norton's lectures were held near lecture: anguish. Carol Norton passed away academic institutions; and in March without Mrs. Eddy's being informed. 1901 he delivered "A Third of a Cen­ "The woman's cause is man's; tury of Christian Science'' - a strong they rise or sink explication of Christian Science and Together, dwarfed or godlike, defence of its Founder- at Cornell bond or free. University.13 In reading this lecture For woman is not undeveloped man, today, one finds it difficult to believe But diverse .... that it was written by a man whose Yet in the long years liker must they formal education ended at the age of grow, fifteen. The man be more of woman, Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect she of man, of the lecture is Norton's tribute to Distinct in individualities; womanhood. His audience, comprised But like each other even as those largely of young men, would have who love. heard the speaker say: "The present Then comes the statelier Eden age witnesses woman's ascension to back to men; her rightful place as man's equal. The Then reign the world's great bridals, highest conception that man can have chaste and calm. of the divine Being is to think of the May these things be!"16 infinite Motherhood of God as divine Love. Can it not then be truthfully said At about this time, Norton cele­ that ideal womanhood is the scientific brated his own personal "bridal." On expression of this phase of the divine April 9, 1901, the Boston Herald 14 announced the wedding in New York Nature?" Norton's closing remarks Carol Norton included a loving tribute to her whose of Norton and Elizabeth Griffin of exemplification of the womanly ideal Boston.17 The marriage was performed A short time later, Mrs. Eddy learned brought forth Christian Science: "Mrs. by New York Supreme Court Justice of the tragedy in a roundabout way. Eddy is without doubt the greatest Edward W. Hatch in his chambers, the Kinter describes her reaction: "Upon religious reformer of the nineteenth couple letting no one know of their hearing [of Norton's death], she was century and the greatest woman leader plans until after the ceremony. Justice moved to tears, and literally wept in the history of religion .... To know Hatch, whose wife had been healed in copiously, exacting every detail and her is to love her.... Thousands upon Christian Science, had introduced requiring to be shown all the tele­ thousands of men, women, and chil­ Norton at a Brooklyn lecture some time grams .... And now, how shall I con­ dren offer up a perpetual Psalm of earlier. The Nortons resided in New vey any adequate sense of the pathos York for another two or three years, with which she appealed to me to Woman's Cause. then moved to Chicago, which Carol 'follow my own intuitions another used as a home base for his expanding time and let her know things like that, lecture work. Now a . "lecturer-at­ of such moment to our Cause,' con­ What the Work of The Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, large," he was no longer limited to any cluding with 'Dear Carol, oh how I love Discoverer attd Formder of Chri'sti'an Scietzce, particular region, branching out as far him!' .. 1s Has Done for It. west as the Pacific coast. In a letter to Mary Beecher Longyear Late in the winter of 1904, Carol was some twenty-five years later, Norton's crossing Chicago's State Street, when widow referred to the deep affection By the trolley-pole of a street car became that Mrs. Eddy felt for "her young stu­ Carol Norton, disengaged and struck his head, ren­ dent,"19 and many of Norton's asso­ Author of "The New World." dering him unconscious. Because of ciates remarked on this, as well as on the severity of the injury, he was taken the love that he felt for Mrs. Eddy. to a hospital. His wife and Christian Speaking of Norton, an editor of The

First Edition, Science friends stayed with him, and Christian Science journal wrote: a telegram was sent to Mrs. Eddy. "Because he represented a noble type However, according to George Kinter, of true manhood he was keenly a member of her household at the time, appreciative of the advancing idea (_ Published by this telegram and subsequent wires of true womanhood, and ever held in Christian Science Publishing Society, No. 95 Falmouth Street, were kept from her in an attempt to the highest reverence our beloved Boston, Mass. adhere to a rule that appeared regu­ Leader.... " 20 And in a tribute to Nor­ Title page of Norton's book, larly as a notice in the Christian Sci­ ton, Alfred Farlow observed: "Every­ Woman's Cause, published in 1895 ence periodicals and in Science and where he was regarded favorably and

425 affectionately by Christian Scien­ Science: Its Religion, Healing, Therapeutics, tists; ... His clear apprehension and and Philosophy"] is not available. However, elucidation of Christian Science made THE a lecture published in the Journal with vir­ CHRISTIAN tually the same title (cited above) was him an excellent teacher and he was delivered by Norton the following month held in the highest esteem by our SCIENCE in Concord, New Hampshire. Presumably, beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy." 21 MOVEMENT much of the content was the same. But since In a letter to Carol in 1891, she had CAROL NORTON, CSD. it was reported that Norton spoke "extem­ poraneously" at Carnegie Hall, it cannot written: "My heart is always touched R.JlPRIHTED PROM 22 Tim HBW YORK SUN be assumed that the two lectures were by your pure goodness." Clearly, the RIMSW AND ENLARGED identical. John-like attributes of this beloved 3. Harlem Postscript, December 19, 1898, disciple remained with her well after quoted in The Christian Science Weekly, his passing. She had placed on her January 5, 1899, p. 10. "whatnot" a photograph of Carol 4. The New York Times, May 29, 1899, quoted which remained there throughout in the Christian Science Sentinel, Vol. 1, No. 41, June 8, 1899, p. 10. her lifetime, and which may still be 5. The New York Mail and Express, May 29, seen at her home in Chestnut Hill, 1899, quoted in the Christian Science Sen­ Massachusetts. tinel, Vol. 1, No. 41, June 8, 1899, p. 9. Perhaps Norton's most enduring 6. Norton, "From Unitarianism to Christian contribution to the Cause of Christian Science," The Christian Science Journal, Science was as a writer. Twenty-five of Vol. X, July 1892, p. 163. his articles and poems appeared in The Cover of pamphlet containing Norton's 7. Ibid., p. 165. ChrisUan Science journal between article, "The Christian Science 8. Longyear Museum and Historical Society. 1892 and 1904. His style is simple, Movement," published in 1904 and W.G. Jordan, "A Character Sketch of Carol inscribed by the author Norton," p. 4. direct, and warm - but uncompro­ 9. Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The tears of mising and unapologetic. A longtime dead he yet speaketh, for his works do Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and friend -·not a Christian Scientist - follow him. " 27 Winston, 1977), pp. 446- 447. said of Norton, "what he writes he In Norton's own words: 10. Ibid. lives," and praised his "clear, logical 11. Longyear. Norton letter to "Dear fellow worker," November 10, 1897. mind," and "fondness for metaphys­ ''Love knows no cross - 23 12. We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, second series ical thought. " He also expressed The glory of a spotless life unusual humility in, as well as about (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Outshines the darkness Society, 1950), p. 39. his writing, as exhibited in a letter of Gethsemane; 13. The Christian Science Journal, Vol. XIX, to an assistant to Julia Field-King, And o'er life's cross-crested hills, March 1902, p. 728. who was then editor of The ChrisUan As with ancient Calvary, 14. Ibid., p. 739. Science journal: "If Mrs. King will Shines the sunset glory of a life 15. Ibid., pp. 740-741. freely advise changes in this article well lived, 16. Ibid., p. 739. ["Purity"] I will cut with pleasure, that 17. Mrs. Norton entered the full-time practice 24 Which, while telling that the is if she sees fit to use it. " twilight cometh, of Christian Science in November 1901, and In all his writing Norton continually Speaks also, in finer tone, in 1910 became a Christian Science teacher. emphasized the need for purity of She taught classes until1943. Of the New Day coming, 18. Longyear. George Kinter reminiscences, thought and action. The term "sinless Robed in glory all its own. humanhood" surfaces frequently in p. 20. No night is there, no portal 19. Longyear. Elizabeth Norton letter to Mrs. his articles and lectures, particularly But the door of Life, Longyear, December 15, 1918. in conjunction with his inculcation of Whose arch and keystone, 20. The Christian Science Journal, Vol. XXII, the importance of following Jesus' Strong and firm, are fashioned May 1904, p. 117. example- "the divinely human life As the gates of brass - 21. Ibid., p. 118. of ... the Founder of the Christian Of Purity and Love."28 22. See Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The religion.''25 Norton placed this Chris­ Years of Trial (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971}, p. 298. tian demand squarely on his own Kathleen Wagner Starrett shoulders, as illustrated in lines from 23. Jordan, pp. 1, 4. a brief statement entitled "My Life 24. Longyear. Norton letter to Jessie Gorham, April11, 1892. Model": " ... to emulate always the 1. Harlem Postscript, December 19, 1898, Manhood of Christ Jesus, and ever set quoted in The Christian Science Weekly, 25. The Christian Science Journal, Vol. XVII, May 1899, p. 113. the compass of daily life by the North Vol. 1, No. 19, January 5,1899, pp. 10-11. 26. Longyear. Norton collection. Star of Womanhood revealed through 2. Carol Norton, "Christian Science: Its Reli­ 27. Kinter, p. 20. the Revelator of Christian Science; ... gion, Healing, and Philosophy," The Christian Science Journal, Vol. XVII, May 28. Norton, "Real Glory," from Poems and This is to be mllife prayer and per­ 1899, pp. 120, 122. A complete transcript 2 Verses (Boston: Dana Estes and Co., 1901}, petual quest.' ' of the Carnegie Hall lecture ("Christian p.17. Carol Norton pursued this quest with all the fervor of his characteristi­ LONGYEAR FOUNDATION: Board of Trustees: June A. Austin; Robert C. Dale; Graves D. cally loving nature. He left a legacy of Hewitt, Chairman; Marian H. Holbrook; Charles B. Hosmer, Jr.; and Marylou Madigan. goodness that honors both himself and Associate Directors: Alan K. Lester and Loetta L. Lewis. QUARTERLYNEWS is published the Cause he so staunchly defended four times annually by Longyear Museum and Historical Society, 120 Seaver Street, and devotedly served. As his Leader Brookline, Massachusetts 02146. U.S.A. (617) 277-8943. Inquiries about membership and wrote of him after his passing: ''Tho activities are welcome.

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