Article August 14, 1909 Issue

THE DETECTION OF EVIL

WILLIAM W. PORTER

To the Christian Scientist this query is quite sure to present itself, sooner or later; to wit, If evil is unreal, and has no power, why should it be necessary to guard against its supposed reality?

The attitude of the Christian Scientist with respect to the claims of evil in this connection is relatively that of the receiving teller in an institution of banking. The essential qualifications of the receiving teller have been inculcated through long, arduous, and progressive years of service, wherein the individual has demonstrated his fitness and ability to discharge the duties of the position. Among the duties of the bank servitor is that of attending to those who desire to deposit funds in the bank, and in the discharge of this duty he is expected to exercise constant and searching vigilance, alertness, and discernment, to the end that bad or counterfeit money be not accepted along with and under the guise of good money.

So expert becomes this officer of the bank, that he instantly detects and throws out a counterfeit piece of silver or bill as soon as it is seen or touched. The ability to do this is an essential qualification for the office, as a failure to detect the counterfeit upon presentation may subject the teller to the expense necessary to protect the bank from loss. In any event, such a failure is evidence of carelessness, and similar repeated instances show a lack of fitness for the important work under consideration. It is interesting to know that the teller has attained his remarkable ability to detect bad or counterfeit money through instant and constant alertness and watchfulness, which in time becomes, in a degree, an intuitive process of thought. The teller having been engaged by his bank to receive, to handle good money, his integrity, protection, and retention depend upon his receiving only good money; therefore he is constantly alert to detect and repudiate, and stamp the counterfeit or bad money as such, when it is presented to him under the guise of perfectly good money.

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