"Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity," Mrs. Eddy writes on page vii of the Preface to "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." This truth has come to us through many avenues, among others that of The Christian Science Monitor, which is daily helping to establish the ultimate harmony of mankind. The influence for good wielded by this newspaper can hardly be overstated or even approximately estimated. It reaches out into all departments of daily life, blessing all those who are fortunate enough to be numbered among its readers. It is a growing inspiration to many of the educators of this country, who are finding in its pages constant funds of information hard to secure elsewhere. I believe that there are few progressive schools where part of the faculty at least do not read our newspaper, with admiration and respect.
Several years ago the writer heard a well-known educator say in a lecture before an audience of his own profession, "There is only one newspaper in the country to-day which I think is fit to be put into the hands of children, and that not only because of its lack of sensationalism, but for its pure diction, literary value, and its clear, dispassionate way of handling subjects. And that paper, ladies and gentlemen, is The Christian Science Monitor." In the schools of which this man is the head this paper is taken so that the pupils may prepare their current events topics from it. Its literary value is unique. Only recently a man deeply interested in all educational work said to me that the editorials in this paper are more than mere editorials, that each one is a polished essay, worthy to rank with the essays of Carlyle and Macaulay.
In my own work as a teacher of English and European history I find our newspaper a great help. Very few days pass in which I do not find something therein which I can use to advantage in the classroom. Often there are articles which I cut out, mount on stiff paper to preserve them, and tack on the wall at the back of the room. Sometimes it is a full page article, well illustrated; sometimes a picture; occasionally, just a few paragraphs. Whatever it is, however, it is sure to be received with absorbing interest by the pupils. Between classes I often notice little groups gathered around something I have just posted, and they always seem reluctant to leave until they have finished examining it thoroughly. Pupils from other departments often stray in and gather around these excerpts. A lad said to me one day, "I never see anything connected with what we study in other papers, but your paper is just full of interesting things, and it is not hard to read, either."
