Polar Bear Column Contained Inaccurate Information

Re: John Herbert's column, "Endanger Polar Bears? Doesn't Make Sense" in the May 27 issues of Hernando Today:

I appreciate your article about the polar bears as published in the May 27 edition of Hernando Today. However, your comments about Mary Baker Eddy in the last two sentences are incorrect and a bit perplexing as I cannot see how they are relevant to the story.

John Longyear was not husband to Mary Baker Eddy. The Longyear family experienced healing as a result of Mrs. Eddy's Christian teaching and, out of gratitude for this, his wife, Mary Beecher Longyear, helped to keep a historical record of the early Christian Science practitioners and of Mary Baker Eddy. Because of Mrs. Longyear's foresight, there is today a museum near Boston called the Longyear Museum. Your readers might want to visit the Web site at www.longyear.org/mbl.html in order correct what was originally printed in this article. You might also want to e-mail the Longyear family at info@jmlongyear.com for more specific details about this family. Or you might contact Longyear Museum for more particulars about the relationship between the Longyears and Mary Baker Eddy.

Also, there would be no requisite for a Christian Scientist to set aside their religious beliefs in order to carry a gun in the High Arctic or in any other circumstance where the law of the land permits it. Thousands can testify to the effectiveness of her teaching and do not set that aside. They have found Christian Science treatment effective even in the most adverse of circumstances or environments. Christian Science treatment can be effective with collective problems, like the environment and the economy, as well as in its excellent record of healing individual health problems.

I am curious, however, as to where you got this tidbit of incorrect information concerning Mr. Longyear. I would appreciate the opportunity to correct whatever was the source of this incorrect information.

Linda Jo Beckers

Venice