I'm actually quite willing to believe that Silas remembered it because (he thought) it proved his theory.

Not really. I remember it because it's fun watching people try to explain it away -- I get a new answer every time for why the highest cultural achievements get utterly ignored, at that must be a problem on the beholder's side.

The detail I remembered most was how children would stop with interest, only to be dragged away by their hurried parents.

Is that the standard you really want to go by? What children like?