The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-07-04
THE MEMORY's GALLERY.

| Young people are usually much admonished
as to the necessity Of storing the memory
with useful knowledge. In obedience to this
Injunction they spend many industrious years
over elementary and other books, often over.
tasking mental powers and converting the
memory into depot Of unarranged collec-
tons rather than we'll ordered store-house.
During all this period Of accumulation their
eyes have been fixed for large part Of each
day upon white paper and black ink. The
information acquired is for the most part
useful, but in many cases the acquisition is
not worth the cost.
By what process the lenses, the humors,
tissues, nerves and veins Of the little organs
Of vision receive and retain all the pictures
presented to them. is a secret which science
may never disclose. The organ that takes
cognizance of shapes, dimensions, shades and
colors of things beyond reach Of the hand is
. miracle. The dead mirror will reflect q
million pictures, retaining none. while those
which are received upon the little retina are
transferred to some mysterious gallery where
the memory may always revisit them.
After travelling for days up some great river
and taking in a panorama Of mountains and
valleys, forests aud waving fields, huts, cot
tages and stately residences, thrifty farms
and wild rocks. the wayfarer after reaching
his home in the crowded, noisy and noisome
city, can shut his eyes and at will recall the
pictures which the noble and varied scenery
has impressed upon his memory. Or if he
spends many years in journying through
many lands, his memory will be full of these
true and living pictures which time cannot
obliterate or distort Msmory's mirror is trae
in colors FORMS shades and dimensions. He
who looks with patient thought and earnest
feeling studiously and long upon what is
beautiful, will imprint it upon his memory,
and so make it his own that
he can recall it at any
time. If one is for many hours surrounded
with a profusion of beautiful. flowers, they
will paint themselves upon his memory. II
he spends some time in the company of some
very beautiful child, its portrait will be inn
printed upon the mysterious tablets of the
mind. If ne dwells long by the shores of the
ocean and looks much upon its colors
changes and motions, he will carry the sea
picture with him to the desert. What is seen
with careless eye may fade and seem to be
forgotten, but every form Of the beautiful,
gazed upon studiously and intently. with all
the earnestness Of the mind and all the fervor
of the heart, will belong to the honest and
loving student as his own. There are eyes
which look lightly at the beautiful and carry
away nothing, and there are eyes that look so
ardently that the image remains forever.
This is the store of knowledge which we
could join in commencing to the young. As
they go from year to year, let them fill their
fresh, receptive and strong memories as full
as possible with impressions of the beautiful
and the noble. Whenever they come across,
in nature or art, anything perfect and beauti-
full in Its kind, let them study it until they
make it their own, and carry it away with
them as permanent possession. Such
treasures will yield as much enjoyment as
any facts or quotations remembered from
books or taught in schools.