The Life and Legacy of Myrtle Fillmore
Who Will Take Care of the Children?
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore wanted to share what they were learning about the spiritual principles of prayer and healing, so in 1889 they began to write and edit a magazine—Modern Thought, now Unity Magazine®—an endeavor that grew into a major publishing operation that has produced thousands of books, booklets, pamphlets, and magazines, including the well-known Daily Word®, begun in 1924.
Myrtle, who had spent so many years as a schoolteacher, created a magazine for children called Wee Wisdom®, which became the longest-running children’s magazine in America. Myrtle was its first editor from 1893 until 1922 with help from her boys. Financially, the timing seemed bad to start a new magazine, but Myrtle heard a voice within ask, Who will take care of the children? And it answered, You are to take care of the children; this is your work. The mission was “not to entertain the children” but to teach Truth to children in pictures, poems, and stories. In particular, Myrtle wanted to be sure children learned the “Prayer of Faith” by Hannah More Kohaus. Myrtle believed “the child’s mind accords perfectly with true ideas.”
Beloved but never profitable, Wee Wisdom magazine was discontinued by Unity in 1991, having been in continuous publication for 98 years.
Wee Wisdom, Vol. XIII, No. 8, March 1908 With Myrtle Fillmore Edits
