Scattered here and there through the stacks of unpublished manuscript which constitute this formidable Autobiography and Diary of mine, certain chapters will in some distant future be found which deal with รClaimantsรรclaimants historically notorious: Satan, Claimant; the Golden Calf, Claimant; the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, Claimant; Louis XVII., Claimant; William Shakespeare, Claimant; Arthur Orton, Claimant; Mary Baker G. Eddy, Claimantรand the rest of them.รEminent Claimants, successful Claimants, defeated Claimants, royal Claimants, pleb Claimants, showy Claimants, shabby Claimants, revered Claimants, despised Claimants, twinkle starlike here and there and yonder through the mists of history and legend and traditionรand oh, all the darling tribe are clothed in mystery and romance, and we read about them with deep interest and discuss them with loving sympathy or with rancorous resentment, according to which side we hitch ourselves to.รIt has always been so with the human race.รThere was never a Claimant that couldnรt get a hearing, nor one that couldnรt accumulate a rapturous following, no matter how flimsy and apparently unauthentic his claim might be.รArthur Ortonรs claim that he was the lost Tichborne baronet come to life again was as flimsy as Mrs. Eddyรs that she wrote Science and Health from the direct dictation of the Deity; yet in England near forty years ago Orton had a huge army of devotees and incorrigible adherents, many of whom remained stubbornly unconvinced after their fat god had been proven an impostor and jailed as a perjurer, and to-day Mrs. Eddyรs following is not only immense, but is daily augmenting in numbers and enthusiasm.รOrton had many fine and educated minds among his adherents, Mrs. Eddy has had the like among hers from the beginning.รHer church is as well equipped in those particulars as is any other church.รClaimants can always count upon a following, it doesnรt matter who they are, nor what they claim, nor whether they come with documents or without.รIt was always so.รDown out of the long-vanished past, across the abyss of the ages, if you listen you can still hear the believing multitudes shouting for Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel.