The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-03-21
Consolation for a Defective Memory.

So far from writing, az you seem to ex-
pect me to do, a letter of coincidence on the
subject of what you are pleased to call your
miserable memory" feel disposed rath'
to indite a letter of congratulation. 1t is
possible that you may be blessed with
selecting memory, which is not only use.
ful for what it retains, but for what it re-
jeSts. In the immense mass of facts which
come before you in literature and in life,
it 10 well that you should suffer from as
little bewilderment as possible. The ma
ture of your memory saves you from this
by unconsciolsly selecting what has inter-
ested you, and letting the rest 60 by. What
interests you is what concerns you.
Ia say iDg this, l speak simply from the
intellectual point of view, and suppose you
to be an intellectual man by the natural
organic alton of your brain, to begin with.
In saying that what interests you is what
concerns you. l mean intellectually, not
materially. 1t may concern you, in
the pecuniayy sense, to take an in
te-est in the law; yet your mind {,
left To itself, would take little or no interest
in law, but an absorbing interest in bot
any. The passionate studies of the young
% :he, in many different directions, al
ways in obedience to the predominant in-
terests of the moment, are the best exam :
Piles of the way to which great intellect,
with remarkable powers of acquisition add
liberty to grow in free luxurlance, sends
the constituents of its sap. AS q student
Of law, as a university student even, he
was not of the type which parents and pro-
fessors consider satisfactory. He neglected
jurisprudence, he neglected even his col.
lege pursuits, but took interest In SO many
other pursuits that his mind became rich
| indeed. Yet the wealth which his mind
acquired seemed to have been due to that
| liberty of ranging by which it was permit
ted him to seek his own everywhere, &C.
| cordipg to the maxim of French law,
| "Chacuu prend son bien on il lie trouve."
Had he been poor student, bound down
to the exclusively legal studies, which did
not greatly interest him, it is likely that
no one would ever have suspected his i'm =
mense faculty of assimilation. In this
way, men, who are set by Others To load
| their me IN cries with what is not their proper
intellectual food, never get the credit of
having any memory at all, and end by
themselves believing that they have none.
! These bad memories are often the best,
they are often the selecting memories.
They seldom win distinctions in examina-
tions, but in literature aud art. They are
quite incomparably superior to the mlscel-
laneous memories that receive only as
boxes and drawers receive what is put into
them. A good literary or artistic memory
ia not like a post oH ce that takes in every
thing, but like a we'll edited periodical
which prints nothing that does not harmon
izs with it's Intellectual life. A well-known
anthor gave me this piece of advice
take as many notes as you like, but
when you write do not look at them
what you remember is what you must
write. and you ought to give things ex'
actly the degree of relative importance
that they have in your memery. If yor
forget much it is well, it will only save be
fore hand the labor of erasure." This ad
; vice would not be suitable to every author
an author who dealt much in minute facts
ought to be allowed to refer to his memor
anda but from the artistic point in ltera
ture the advice was wise indeed. In paint
ing, our preferences select while we are il
the presence of Nature, and our memory
selects while we are away from Nature
The most beautiful compositions are pro
duced by the selecting Office of the memery
which retains some features, aud ever
greatly exaggerates them, while 1t dimin
ishes Others, and often altogether omit
them. An artist who blamed himself TO
these exaggerations and omissions woult
blame himself for being an artist.