Article September 18, 1902 Issue

The People's Book

Harper's Weekly

The National Educational Association at its recent annual meeting "resolved" that it would be well if the Bible might be studied in the public schools as literature; the implication. being plainly made that general familiarity with the Bible was decreasing. Had the Association's members consulted publishers and booksellers, whether personally religious or agnostic, instead of accepting the baseless statements made in some public prints, they would have learned that, despite the many millions of Bibles already in existence, the annual demand for the old book is far greater than that for the new novel—no matter which—that has passed its quarter million mark, and that "everybody" seems to be reading.

The past few years have seen far more new editions of the Bible than of any other book, and many more are in preparation, the purpose of each publisher being to provide notes, explanations, maps, pictures, historical references, etc., that shall make Bible reading less puzzling and more informing than it has been in the past. If all the new Bibles are not being read, for what purpose were they bought? They are not thrown away, nor can they be found in the second-hand bookstores.

The only reason for supposing the Bible is less read than it once was, is that Christianity is developing from a matter of doctrine into a rule of life.— Harper's Weekly.

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