Article June 24, 1922 Issue

In a recent issue of your paper I observed a bank teller...

Theodore Burkhart,

Astoria Budget

In a recent issue of your paper I observed a bank teller joke, in which a wife is represented as saying, "Now, Henry, if you want a dinner fit to eat this evening you'll have to leave me a little money. I can't keep this house on Christian Science." I appreciate the joke, for I was once a bank teller myself; and, moreover, a Christian Scientist can enjoy wholesome humor as well as any one else, even though the joke may be at his own expense, and when the jokester's intent as in this instance was evidently innocent.

The remark, however, illustrates a rather careless and common conception of Christian Science, implying as it does that Christian Science is an impractical theory, and not a reliable agency for supplying one's everyday needs,—a belief somewhat prevalent among many who know nothing about the subject, or may have only a smattering of knowledge concerning it.

One who understood something about Christian Science would have said just the opposite: "I couldn't keep house without Christian Science;" for that one knows Christian Science is eminently practical, and in little things as well as in big. A religion that reforms the sinner, heals sick folk, comforts the sorrowing, and makes its followers more happy and prosperous is certainly practical, and not the less so because these results are attained by spiritual means rather than by material. Christian Science is doing all that; and not the least of its accomplishments is the overcoming of poverty, or limitation.

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