Article October 20, 1923 Issue

The Home Forum Page

BEATRICE CLAYTON

On page 353 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mrs. Eddy explains her object in naming each one of the Christian Science publications. Knowing that she always used words in their exact signification, and that those who planned the various departments of The Christian Science Monitor at the time of its inception had the privilege of her instructions and advice, the writer felt it was worth while to study the title selected for one page, The Home Forum.

Home, in a generally accepted sense, implies limitation,—four walls inclosing a little family group. Forum, on the other hand, signifies the market place, the public square, which in almost all ages and among almost all peoples has been the general rendezvous for dwellers in cities, the place where they gathered to hear events of general moment discussed, as well as to exchange among themselves news and opinions. When the first issue of the Monitor came to hand, The Home Forum seemed to say that the communal interests of home were to be set forth, as were those of the larger community in the public forum. After a while, the lesson seemed to be that it is impossible to divorce the interests of one tiny group of the human family from those of the rest. But there was still more to be discerned.

Home is such a familiar word that we seldom pause to define it; but for our present purpose we may find a dictionary definition very helpful. It reads, "One's own house or abode; the place where one habitually lives." Having learned in Christian Science to resolve "things into thoughts," as Mrs. Eddy says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 269), we remember that the place where we habitually live is essentially mental, and that it is our duty carefully to cleanse this home, to purify its atmosphere, and to furnish it with the utmost care, selecting only those thought-forms which represent true substance, beauty, and value. Before we had The Christian Science Monitor, most of us felt compelled to read one of the daily newspapers; and the mental furnishings derived therefrom were frequently undesirable, containing little that was substantial upon which one might profitably reflect. Why did our Leader write in the Sentinel of November 21, 1908, "My desire is that every Christian Scientist, and as many others as possible, subscribe for and read our daily newspaper" (Miscellany, pp. 352, 353)? Obviously she wished us to read it because she knew it would help us worthily to furnish and adorn our mental home; and she had planned that this help should come to us as a regular daily supply.

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