Article May 15, 1954 Issue

Library Activity

Hymnal Recordings in the Lending Library

Many churches are reporting an increase in the activity of the Sunday School lending library, which shows that our pupils are reaching out for more understanding of Christian Science. Recently some churches have added to their lending library phonograph records of hymns selected from the Christian Science Hymnal which are sold by the Publishers' Agent and The Christian Science Publishing Society. Many Hymnals have been sold as a result of the circulating of the records, and the children are becoming more familiar with our hymns, especially those written by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy.

Truly this is a timely provision, for many of the popular songs that the children hear today are degrading in their influence. If this influence is not counteracted, it could be exceedingly detrimental to our youth. Our Leader's comments about what she calls nauseous fiction might well be applied to much of the popular music of today. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" she writes (p. 195): "Novels, remarkable only for their exaggerated pictures, impossible ideals, and specimens of depravity, fill our young readers with wrong tastes and sentiments. Literary commercialism is lowering the intellectual standard to accommodate the purse and to meet a frivolous demand for amusement instead of for improvement." So it is cause for rejoicing that our children are learning to love our Hymnal, and teachers do well to encourage their pupils to ponder the hymns and to follow the words thoughtfully while they are being sung.

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