When the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, with its golden revelation, was first brought to our island shores in 1890, "the light that never was, on sea or land," illumined the horizon of Coronado. Gradually it kindled into a morning of healing. With the spiritual dawn heralded by this book, there was chimed in hearts and homes a waking note. In 1896 a copy of Science and Health had been left in the small public library.
In the spring of 1898 the Quarterly Bible Lessons were read for about six months, with selections from Mrs. Eddy's other writings, on Sunday morning and a mid-week evening, when sometimes ten beneficiaries of Christian Science met in a private home. In March a Scientist had come from the East and was called on to practise. The books of our beloved Leader, Mrs. Eddy, were informally loaned and copies of the Journal and Sentinel were occasionally contributed to the hotel and library reading tables.
By January, 1903, there were five Scientists from eastern cities at Coronado, and small gatherings from house to house one afternoon of each week were started. In June the Sunday morning services were reopened and the mid-week afternoons were devoted to testimony meetings Within a few months, namely, Jan. 17, 1904, Christian Science Society of Coronado was organized, and it is recorded that in February the Rice Cottage was rented and converted into Christian Science Hall. This was the first public step. Here in March the reading-room was opened, equipped with the works of Mrs. Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and the literature of The Christian Science Publishing Society. Subscriptions to the Journal and Sentinel were now readily accepted at the library and filed at the hotel. In June the parents of two children who had been healed at Coronado desired to have them taught. To meet this need the Sunday school was established, and soon evening testimony meetings were held, as in each foundational step healing preceded public work.
