It is significant that our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, ever cognizant of mankind's needs for spiritual advancement, established Reading Rooms very early in the growth of Christian Science.
From "Historical Sketches" by Clifford P. Smith we learn that in 1889 there were rooms open daily "for the reception and treatment of patients by Christian Science Mind-healing," as well as for the lending and sale of Christian Science literature. How natural, then, when Mrs. Eddy wrote the divinely inspired Manual of The Mother Church that she should devote a specific Article to Reading Rooms—Article XXI, Section 1 of this Article reads, "Each church of the Christian Science denomination shall have a Reading Room, though two or more churches may unite in having Reading Rooms, provided these rooms are well located."
These words bear considering. They indicate that our Leader deemed Reading Room activity essential to church progress. She saw that there must be a room, well located and supplied with the Bible and authorized Christian Science literature, where the student may "attend upon the Lord without distraction" (I Cor. 7:35).
