It is a pleasure to recall that First Church of Christ, Scientist, Roxbury, Mass., had its beginning in a loving response to a request from Mrs. Eddy to make room in The Mother Church for the ever-increasing attendance. The members of The Mother Church who were residents of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain, met at a private house in Roxbury, Jan. 20, 1899, and organized this branch with one hundred charter members.
Fauntleroy Hall on Wenonah street, Roxbury, was engaged as the most suitable place to hold the services, and the first meeting was well attended, although inclement weather prevailed that day, and The Mother Church, so dear to all, was much more accessible to many in this large district. Those, however, who were privileged to be present at that first service, remember with joy the sweet sense of God's nearness and tender love for all His creation, and the Scriptural assurance, "My presence shall go with thee," with its promise of guidance and protection in every upward, onward step taken in obedience to Principle.
The business meetings were held at the homes of various workers for the remainder of that year, and the first business which is recorded is the forming of a Sunday school, which held its first session Feb. 19, 1899. In January, 1900, a reading-room was established in a central location, and as the work progressed another room was added. The room then in use was the only suitable one available at the time, the connecting room being occupied by the oldest tenant in the building with no prospect of its being vacated. As the need for another room became more and more evident, the voice of Truth always whispered to consciousness, "Leave it with God; Love will open the door," and each time with greater assurance. Love did open the door, for when the time came that it seemed necessary that the matter be decided, the neighbor next door, in the most natural way, moved to a room better adapted to the work in hand, and again the proof had been vouchsafed that "divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health, p. 494). These rooms are still used as reading-rooms and for the work of the committee on literature distribution.
