Article August 26, 1905 Issue

A Plea for our Literature

ALBERT E. MILLER.

IT is a self-evident proposition that if our Christian Science publications were more widely distributed, our churches would be attended by more people, our Board of Lectureship would be greeted by larger and more frequent audiences, and, last but not least, our Publication Committees would be called upon less frequently to correct published misconceptions of Christian Science; thereby giving the committees opportunity to present original articles to the reading public through the columns of the daily press,—quite a large demand for which has already appeared.

Strange as it may seem, a great many seeds of prejudice have been sown in the public mind against Christian Science by the very large number of books in our public libraries which contain more or less vicious attacks on our faith and its noble Founder, and which at the same time embody the name Christian Science in their titles in a way which invites perusal upon the part of good people who visit the libraries with the intention of gaining some general information on the subject. This condition of affairs was noticed in Philadelphia some four years ago, and a committee was formed to care for the situation. Gradually the works of our Leader were placed in the more important libraries, along with the Christian Science periodicals,—displayed in regulation library covers,—and later the smaller libraries were served in the same way. Not content with simply placing the literature, the committee organized a plan for the systematic visitation of the libraries, to see that the books and periodicals were properly displayed and the supply maintained in sufficient numbers to meet the demand.

As time went by, certain libraries were found to have an insufficient number of our text-books on hand, and the number was then increased, until to-day all the larger libraries have several copies of Science and Health in constant circulation, and in one of them seven copies of the text-book of Christian Science, as well as a number of copies of the smaller works of our Leader, are now in constant use.

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