An unusual thing has happened. Among the newsboys'...

Spectator

An unusual thing has happened. Among the newsboys' cries of "Extra!" was heard this one: "Here's the Spectator! All about"—What do you think? All about a lecture on Christian Science! And the strangest thing about this unusual happening was that the newsboys who handled last week's issue of the Spectator sold more copies of it than were sold of any daily in the city. It is doubtful if in any other city in the country the newsboys could make a paying "Extra" of a lecture; and it is more doubtful if in any other city in the world the newsboys could make a successful "Extra" of a lecture on Christian Science. The lecture on Christian Science that the Spectator published in full, and of which the newsboys made an "Extra," was delivered in First Church of Christ, Scientist, and was heard by between four and five thousand persons, while many others could not gain admittance to the church. Such was the interest, that the Spectator had to publish two extra editions. The sale on the streets was extraordinary. At the news stands the usual supply was soon exhausted, and newsdealers were all calling for more papers before noon. Orders are pouring in for the Spectator from Walla Walla, Hood River, Spokane, Medford, Tacoma, and Seattle.

It is pleasant to know that it is not necessary to print stories of war, flood, murder, sudden death, accident, or scandal to make an "Extra," and that newsboys and newsdealers find profit in selling a paper that contains a lecture. It is good, too, to know that many thousands of persons in Portland have thought and inclination above the shock and shame and horror that are obtruded on us through a press that pretends it is printing the unprintable because the people demand it. Probably if the papers consulted the wishes of their readers they would find that the demand for the horrible is neither so great nor so insistent as they think it is.

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February 13, 1915
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