(slightly P) dynamite and Christian Science

[Michael Bailey]

(dynamiting as inappropriate and counterproductive response, that's
why I think it's relevant to AtD)

so, Mary Baker Eddy founds the church and somebody builds her this
wonderful monument...then they blow it up!  ....

http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/csresources/pyramid.htm

The Concord Evening Monitor of December 24, 1918, contained an
interesting article regarding the project of a lone Christian
Scientist.

"On the old Mark Baker farm at Bow, New Hampshire, now owned by James
F. Lord, of Boston and near the site of the ancient house in which
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science Church, was born
in 1821, has just been completed a unique monument in the form of a
great pyramid-shaped monolith. It is cut from one of the largest
pieces of granite ever quarried and handled. The block, taken from the
quarries of the New England Granite Works at North Concord, weighed in
the rough over one hundred tons and was over eleven feet square. This
block was first moved about seventy-five feet from where it was
quarried, to a convenient place for rough cutting, where thirty or
forty tons of surplus stone were removed, and the work was then
started of shaping it true to the exact dimensions. When placed upon
its concrete foundation of the bow plateau overlooking the Merrimack
valley, it will measure seven feet, nine and one-eighths inches
(7'91/8") in height, including its granite base, the actual dimensions
of the pyramid are: base, 10' 10-9/16" square; height, 6' 11-1/8"
angle 51 degrees, 51 minutes, 14.3 seconds. It is placed in exact
orientation.

"Upon each of the four sides will be a tablet made of Benedict nickel
which is the only bronze alloy known which will not corrode or tarnish
with the weather.

....

"In 1962, the Board of Directors voted to demolish the pyramid marker
at the site of Mary Baker Eddy's birth in Bow, New Hampshire. After
Mrs. Eddy's passing, James F Lord had acquired the property of the old
Baker homestead. The house had burned to the ground some years before,
and it had grown up with weeds. He improved the site, erected the
monument, and donated the property to The Mother Church in 1927. His
efforts had never been viewed with favor by the Directors, and the
monument was never included in notices of historic sites occasionally
listed in the Journal. A photograph, however, was included in the
book, "Landmarks from Bow to Boston." The precisely carved granite was
the largest single piece ever quarried in New Hampshire, and despite
its official lack of approval, it attracted many visitors over the
years since its dedication on the centennial of Mrs. Eddy's birth of
July 16, 1921.

Workmen at the site had prepared to blast the monument with dynamite
as instructed by the Directors. At the last minute, L. Ivimy Gwalter,
a memeber of the Board who did not want it destroyed, persuaded her
fellow Directors to postpone the destruciton , and word was
immediately sent to New Hampshire. But the message arrived too late,
and the destructive deed was done. The fragments were buried somewhere
to prevent souvenir seekiers from getting any of the pieces.

This was in keeping with the Directors' policy established with the
destruction of Mrs. Eddy's home at Pleasant View when every fragment
of the house was taken away and secretly buried to thwart those who
wanted some tangible rembmembrance.

The rumor spread that the Directors waited until the death of Mr.
Lord, the donor of the property, before ordering the destruciton of
the pyramid marker, but this could not be confirmed through research.
When asked why the marker was destroyed, one of the Directors
reportedly said that people were writing on it."

------------------------ Because people were writing on it!  talk
about overreaction to graffiti...