Payment in full

  

Original Check For $300 As Payment For Primary Class Instruction, Written to and Endorsed By 

Mary Baker Eddy

This is an original check or draft, signed by Henry E. Hosley, April 20, 1885, made payable to “M.B.G. Eddy” as payment for Primary Class instruction.

This check was drawn on The Freemans National Bank on the day that Primary Class instruction by Mrs. Eddy began, according to the list in Bates-Dittemore, p. 466. $300 was the full price for the class, although many paid less. The check is signed by Mrs. Eddy with a beautiful signature, “Mary B. G. Eddy.” This payment was actually payment for husband and wife, who paid the same price as one pupil.

While I have receipts for some of Mrs. Eddy’s class, this is the only original check I have ever seen that was used to pay for her instruction at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. It is interesting that the payment was to her personally and not to the College. 

If inflation in the ensuing years averaged 3.5% per year, $300 would be worth about $21,300 today. How many today would be willing to pay that kind of money today for spiritual instruction?

Note: the Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity does not have any letters from Mrs. Eddy to the Hosleys.