Quimby

“ Mr. Quimby's manner of operating with his subject was to sit opposite to him, holding both his hands in his, and looking him intently in the eye for a short time, when the subject would go into the state known as the mesmeric sleep, which was more properly a peculiar condition of mind and body, in which the natural senses would, or would not, operate at the will of Mr. Quimby. When conducting his experiments, all communications of Mr. Quimby with Lucius were mentally given, the subject replying as if spoken to aloud. ”

“ Quimby's idea gave her her opportunity, and the vehemence with which she seized upon it attests the emptiness and hunger of her earlier years. All during her stay in Portland she haunted the old man's rooms, asking questions, reading manu scripts, observing his treatment of his patients. Quimby at first took a decided liking to her. "She's a devilish bright woman," he frequently said. Always delighted to explain his theories, in Mrs. Patterson he found a most appreciative listener. ”

“ Now it did creak. Then there was no sound for some time, unless it was the panting of Quimby's breath somewhere over by the bar. Then the stair creaked again. She must be nearly up.
"Here's matches and the candle," came in a hollow voice from the trap-stairs.
A faint streak appeared for an instant against the dark, then disappeared. Another; but no lasting light. The matches were too damp to burn.
"Jake, ain't you got a match?" appealed the voice of Quimby in half-choked accents. ”

“ The first of these are from Quimby's home town, Belfast. One of these writers says, in part:
“Before we proceed to describe the experiments, we will say that Mr. Quimby is a gentleman, in size rather smaller than the medium of men, with a well-proportioned and well-balanced phrenological head, and with the power of concentration surpassing anything we have ever witnessed. His eyes are black and very piercing, with rather a pleasant expression, and he possesses the power of looking at one object even without winking, for a length of time.” ”

“ Quimby stands, his explanation and his cures go hand in hand. While his senses [intuition] are penetrating the dark mystery of the sick, he is in complete possession of his consciousness as a man. Not fearing to investigate the operation of the mind, he penetrated the region [where] nothing but magicians, sorcerers, witchcraft and spiritualists have ventured, and going far beyond them in his experiments, he arrived at the knowledge of the principle regulating happiness.
Therefore his curing disease is perfectly intelligent and is in itself a new philosophy of life. ”

“ Oh, well, the Lord will provide. If we propose to heat up the great American outdoors, Quimby, I think it's time we had a fire."
Mr. Quimby went out without comment, and left Magee to light his first candle in the dark. For a time he occupied himself with lighting a few of the forty, and distributing them about the room. Soon Quimby came back with kindling and logs, and subsequently a noisy fire roared in the grate. Again Quimby retired, and returned with a generous armful of bedding, which he threw upon the brass bed in the inner room. ”

“ Quimby gave a bounce, and then grew limp in all his joints.
"Is it possible? Personally?" questioned Cyn, with great interest and animation; then glancing at Nattie's face, her tone changed as she added, "He was not what you thought! I understand, poor Nat!"
Quimby straightened himself up. He fancied he saw a gleam of hope ahead.
"Far enough from what I thought!" replied Nattie, with a mixture of pathos and disgust. "Why did he not remain invisible?" then, in a burst of disappointment—"Cyn, he is simply awful! All red hair and grease, musk, cheap jewelry, and insolent assurance!" ”

“ Magee. "I want to be so lonesome I'll sob myself to sleep every night. It's the only road to immortality. Good-by, Mrs. Quimby. In my fortress on the mountain I shall expect an occasional culinary message from you." He took her plump hand; this motherly little woman seemed the last link binding him to the world of reality.
"Good-by," smiled Mrs. Quimby. "Be careful of matches."
Mr. Quimby led the way with the lantern, and presently they stepped out upon the road. The storm had ceased, but it was still very dark. Far below, in the valley, twinkled the lights of Upper Asquewan Falls. ”

“ The bounce of an India rubber ball is no comparison to the agility with which Quimby jumped from his chair at this question.
"Oh! Bless my soul! Wouldn't I?" he gasped.
"I will play it to you," exclaimed Nattie instantly aware of the indiscretion of her question, and she thundered as loud as she could on the piano, while Quimby, with a very red face, subsided into the chair again. ”

“ Here his eye encountered Quimby's, and pulling himself up short, he hastily fell into the wake of his comrade now hastening down the narrow passage to the wider hall in front. Had it occurred to him to turn again before rounding the corner—but no, I doubt if he would have learned anything even then. The closing of a door by a careful hand—the slipping up behind him of an eager and noiseless step—what is there in these to re-awaken curiosity and fix suspicion? Nothing, when the man concerned is Jacob Quimby; nothing. Better that he failed to look back ”

“ Eddy had not dreamed of calling her system of mind cure anything but Dr. Quimby's "Science." She talked of Quimby to every one she met; could talk, indeed, of little else. When she introduced the subject of mental healing to a stranger—and she never lost an opportunity—it was always with that conscious smile and the set phrases which the village girls used to imitate: "I learned this from Dr. Quimby, and he made me promise to teach at least two persons before I die." ”

“ Jake thrust in a quick word. "That was Quimby's move—locking your door. He had some game up. I don't know what it was. I had nothing to do with it."
This denial seemed to influence her. She looked at him and her breast heaved. He was good to look at; he must have been more than that to one of her restricted experience. Hammersmith trembled for the success of their venture. Would this blond young giant's sturdy figure and provoking smile prevail against the good sense which must tell her that he was criminal to the core, and that neither his principle nor his love were to be depended on? ”

“ Quimby is said to have cured cases of chronic disease of long standing and to have secured a worthier reputation than when working wonders with Lucius Burkmar. He now began to travel about New England again and issued circulars advertising himself far and wide as a healer with a new theory. Avidity for the mysterious in the rural mind carried these circulars to the remotest hamlets. ”

“ Quimby stood silent; then with a sidelong leer, and in a tone smooth as oil, but freighted with purpose, "The mother first; we'll look after the daughter later."
Mrs. Quimby shivered; then as her hand spread itself over the precious chain sparkling with the sinister gleam of serpent's eyes on her broad bosom, she grimly muttered:
"How? I'm for no more risks, I tell you."
Jake took a step forward. He thought his master was about to rush upon her. But he was only gathering up his faculties to meet the new problem she had flung at him.
"The girl's a mere child ”

“ Quimby knew it only too well, and sighed as he picked a chicken bone.
"A great objection to dining in the woods is that one is apt to find his food unexpectedly seasoned!" said Clem, as he captured a six-legged bug of an adventurous spirit, that had sought to investigate the contents of his plate.
"Isn't it strange that bugs don't seem half so bad in our food here as they would at home!" said Mrs. Simonson.
"Oh! we can get used to anything, if we only think so!" said Cyn, bringing her cheery philosophy to the front. ”

“ Quimby. I try to think you are not far away. I like to think of that place by you which is mine. I laugh over the “sittings” I had with you, don't you? when I think how dreadfully distressed I was lest you were wanting to cast me out of the way to give room for new friends. How funny that you should know how I felt all the while. How you can understand the feelings hidden within others are entirely ignorant of, appears to me quite mysterious. ”

“ Oh, she has!" moaned the wretched victim of mistakes. "I am engaged! Oh, heavens! engaged!"
"Do you mean to tell me that Miss Rogers has accepted you?" inquired Clem harshly.
This name completely unmanned poor Quimby, and he began to cry like a school-boy.
"Miss Rogers!—No! never—never! but she—Celeste!"
"Celeste!" echoed Clem; "Celeste!"
"Yes! I—oh!—I made a mistake, you know!" explained Quimby, wiping his eyes on the bed-spread. ”

“ Quimby as a man who cures diseases has extended without the narrow limits of his own state, and the sick from various parts have learned to avail themselves of his services. The increasing respect and confidence of the public in his success suggests the day of miracles, and brings up a question as absurd as that of two thousand years ago, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” Can actual disease be cured by humbug? Dr. Quimby effects his cures without the aid of medicine or outward applications, and his practice embraces cases like the above, where all ordinary treatment has failed to relieve. ”

“ But, says Quimby, “if he likes smoking or drinking, he is satisfied and wants no physican. If [he is] sick and I find that liquor is his enemy, then it is my duty to tell him so. If I convince him, he has no more difficulty." Quimby's caution in indulging in any opinion of his own is indicated in a letter, dated April 10, 1861, in which he says:]
An opinion involves more responsibility than I am willing to take. Moreover, an opinion is of no force . . . and it might do a great deal of harm. I always feel as though disease was an enemy that might be conquered if rightly understood. ”

“ But when he forced himself to consider the complacent Quimby he did not know what to think. His aspect of self-confidence equalled hers. Indeed, he showed the greater poise. Yet her tones rang true as she cried:
"You made up one plausible story, and you may well make up another. I demand the privilege of relating the whole occurrence as I remember it," she continued with an appealing look in the one sympathetic direction. "Then you can listen to him."
"We desire nothing better," returned the coroner. ”

“ Patterson in 1862 wrote certain manuscripts for Quimby and gave them to him. She repeated this generous, if unprofitable, act in the early part of 1864, when she spent two or three months in an uninterrupted effort to fathom and elucidate “Quimbyism.” It seems almost incredible that a woman of her intellectual and spiritual development should have devoted so long a period to the struggle of formulating a philosophy out of the chaotic but dogmatic utterances of this self-taught mesmerist. ”

“ Quimby laid down his life in over-sacrifice to those needing to be led into this life of the Spirit. His work quickened a deeply spiritual impetus in those followers who spread his ideas in the world. It is primarily a question of this spiritual impetus, if we would understand the discovery of spiritual healing. His teachings are true if they do indeed contain a Science which inculcates creative humility. ”

“ Quimby has, after years of patient investigation, discovered this new principle in metaphysics, which cannot fail to interest the well, and is of incalculable importance to the sick. But his superior knowledge and skill in applying it to the cure of disease is accompanied by such rare modesty of character that he has never taken any means to make himself known to the world, and therefore he is only known within the limits of the influence which his patients may hold in society. ”

“ Quimby showered her attentions, and when the group rose to seek the station, amid a consultation of watches that recalled the commuter who rises at dawn to play tag with a flippant train, Mr. Magee heard her say to the railroad man in a heartfelt aside:
"I don't know as I can ever thank you enough, Mr. Kendrick, for putting new hope into Quimby. You'll never understand what it means, when you've given up, and your life seems all done and wasted, to hear that there's a chance left." ”

“ Eddy's fundamental and never honestly acknowledged and finally categorically denied indebtedness to Quimby, but the confusion which Quimby's rather striking and original philosophy suffered at her hands. Beginning with his persuasion that health and sickness are phases of belief Quimby discarded mesmerism altogether and addressed himself to the minds of his patients. He had doubtless a keen intuitive knowledge of human nature and its morbid fancies and he was dealing generally with neurotic temperaments over which he exercised a strong and helpful power of suggestion. ”

“ Quimby is a great believer in the guidance of the moment, the inward light which shows where a patient stands, what the needs are, what wisdom is needed to clear away the errors. He emphasizes guidance as wisdom, rather than “power.” He claims no special “power” and maintains that any one can learn to read the original language.
This language discloses man's true identity or inner consciousness. Man, to be sure, has as many identities as he has directions of mind. ”

“ Quimby could in imagination call up the picture of a wild animal, and by concentrating upon this picture and making it as vivid as possible frighten Lucius by means of it. If the operator told his subject during the experiment that the animal was merely imaginary, this qualification made no difference; for Lucius was completely subject to the mental picture, and was unable to draw upon his own reason or entertain an explanation of the experiment. This result led Mr. Quimby to believe that “man has the power of creation,” and that ideas take form. ”