THE
FAITH DOCTOR
A STORY OF NEW YORK
BY
EDWARD EGGLESTON
AUTHOR OF THE HOOSIER SCHOOLMASTER, ROXY, ETC.
THIRD EDITION
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1891
Copyright, 1891,
By EDWARD EGGLESTON.
All rights reserved.
PREFACE.
Though there is no life that I know more intimatelyand none that I have known for so long a period as thatof New York, the present story is the first in which I haveessayed to depict phases of the complex society of themetropolis. I use the word society in its general, not inits narrow sense, for in no country has the merely "societynovel" less reason for being than in ours.
The prevailing interest in mind-cure, faith-cure,Christian science, and other sorts of aërial therapeuticshas supplied a motive for this story, and it is onlyproper that I should feel a certain gratitude to the advocatesof the new philosophy. But the primary purposeof this novel is artistic, not polemical. The bookwas not written to depreciate anybody's valued delusions,but to make a study of human nature under certainmodern conditions. In one age men cure diseasesby potable gold and strengthen their faith by a belief inwitches, in another they substitute animal magnetism andadventism. Within the memory of those of us who arenot yet old, the religious fervor of millenarianism and theimitation science of curative mesmerism gave way tospirit-rappings and clairvoyant medical treatment. Nowspiritism in all its forms is passing into decay, only to[Pg 4]leave the field free to mind-doctors and faith-healers.There is nothing for it but to wait for the middle agesto pass; when modern times arrive, there will be morecriticism and less credulity, let us hope.
The propositions put into the mouth of Miss Bowyer,though they sound like burlesque, are taken almost verbatimfrom the writings of those who claim to be expoundersof Christian science. While Miss Bowyer wasdrawn more closely from an original than is usual infictitious writing, I am well aware that there are professorsof Christian science much superior to her. There are,indeed, souls who are the victims of their own generousenthusiasm; and it grieves me that, in treating the subjectwith fidelity and artistic truthfulness, I must givepain to many of the best—to some whose friendship Ihold dear.
For the idea of a novel on the present theme I am indebtedto an unpublished short story entitled An IrregularPractitioner, by Miss Anne Steger Winston, whichcame under my eye three or four years ago. I securedthe transfer to me of Miss Winston's rights in the subject,and, though I have not followed the lines of her story, itgives me pleasure to acknowledge my obligation to herfor the suggestion of a motive without which this novelwould not have had existence.
For the comfort of the reader, let me add that thename Phillida should be accented on the first syllable,and pronounced with the second vowel short.
Joshua's Rock on Lake George, September, 1891.
CONTENTS.