Achieving Their Object
[Note: Extracts from librarians' reports to the Reading Room Division. Reports of similar progress are always welcome.]
Interest in our new ground-floor Reading Room has been steadily increasing since its opening in July. Its location has been called the heart of this community of approximately eleven thousand population. It is on one of the busiest streets in the business district. Children as well as adults stop to read everything displayed in the large, well-appointed show window. Sales continue to result from window displays, as do inquiries about Christian Science.
One who knew nothing about Christian Science attended the Reading Room opening and after looking around with interest inquired of an attendant how to study the Bible Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly. Later she returned to purchase a copy of the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. More recently we learned that she had asked for help in Christian Science when a member of her family was ill.
A window reader came in one day to see if we carried for sale the Readers' Bibles with especially legible type, such as we use in the display of the Lesson-Sermons. The Hymnal, opened to an appropriate hymn, is displayed with the Bible, Science and Health, and Quarterly, and on several occasions young people have been seen and heard singing the selected hymns.
In the evening, floodlights illumine the books in the window display. Many who pass it during those hours only have thus the opportunity to read, and do so.
Our town with a population of approximately forty-five hundred does not boast of many suitable sites for a ground-floor Reading Room. You can imagine how happy we are that an excellent location has been obtained, one with a large display window with its flooring already at a good height for the exhibiting of reading matter. The healing message of Christian Science will be called to the attention of many now unaware of its significance for them.
The reason for relocating our Reading Room in its present excellent ground-floor quarters was to present Christian Science more effectively to the public. We are very grateful that since this move was made not only our sales activity has increased considerably, but the number of readers using our study room is steadily increasing.
We have inquiries about Christian Science from men and women who stop to read at our display window and then come into the Reading Room for this purpose. In addition to affording us opportunities to answer questions about Christian Science accurately and authoritatively, these inquirers give us the privilege of showing Science and Health, our beloved textbook. Several copies have been sold in this way.
Our display window is well lighted day and night, and an attractive neon sign adds to its invitation and ready identification.
We realize more than ever before through this experience that by making our Reading Room more accessible and inviting, not only are we increasing its activities, but we are also truly building our church.
Six months ago we opened a new jointly maintained Reading Room on the ground floor of a building on a busy downtown street. The growth and progress experienced in this short period have been most gratifying. The curtains at the rear of our display window have been pulled back so that window readers, strangers to Christian Science, will feel no hesitancy about coming in. Because of this, many strangers have come in to buy Bibles, Bible concordances, and Bible dictionaries. Others have come in to ask questions about Christian Science and have borrowed Science and Health from the lending library, which has been very active. The number of our visitors and the total sales figures indicate how rewarding this work is. The librarians rejoice in their privilege of serving our movement in this way.
The uniting of the branch churches in this city is bringing greater harmony into the entire field. Great gratitude has been expressed for the tireless work of the Reading Room committee, through whose efforts the establishment of the new Reading Room was effected, for the appropriateness of the room itself, and for the convenience of the lending library.
Because this Reading Room is located on a public street in a city of some size, we have the opportunity to present Christian Science to the general public. As we do so, we are knowing that we are healing prejudice and ignorance. It is seen also that these words from Jeremiah (31:34 ) are true: "They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord."
To those who have charge of the window displays, the advertisements for Science and Health in the local newspapers are a source of inspiration, giving foundations on which to build interesting displays. In addition to this, there is a sense of great unity in this aspect of the work, and we know that this feeling is of value to the movement.
The number of borrowers of the textbook has increased during the past three months. These have been new students, of course, but we have also seen a quickening of interest in Christian Science Reading Rooms among church members in the past few months and feel that this indicates progress.
Window readers sometimes become borrowers before they become purchasers and students. Their many questions are answered In references to the textbook.
