Announcement

Board of Trustees The Christian Science Publishing Society

During the early years of the Christian Science Sentinel, its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, insisted that its format be like other weekly publications of her time.

Many up-to-date covers of that day were architectural and symmetrical in design. In 1906, Mrs. Eddy suggested two facing statuelike draped figures to illustrate "a lady with a lamp"—an excerpt from a Longfellow poem. She also indicated that she thought the effect of that cover would be more artistic if the cross and crown design were omitted. And she said the cover should be colored.

But there is no evidence that Mrs. Eddy wanted this design, or the lady, to remain on the cover forever—or that she felt the cross and crown emblem should never be used again.

As time moved on, the large magazine size was reduced. Before long, the cover's architectural design became outdated. Then in 1957, the cover was redesigned and one of the two figures was dropped. Later the remaining figure was moved to the inside front cover, where it has been because many of us have felt that the Sentinel would not be the Sentinel without the lady.

Mrs. Eddy has presented a strong injunction in the Manual of The Mother Church regarding the timeliness of the Christian Science periodicals (Art. VIII, Sect. 14): "It shall be the duty of the Directors to see that these periodicals are ably edited and kept abreast of the times."

After careful review of good contemporary design practices, we believe the time has come to remove the remaining lady with a lamp and to update the cover to keep the Sentinel "abreast of the times"—as did Mrs. Eddy. These changes will be effective with the issue of April 7.

Board of Trustees The Christian Science Publishing Society

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