The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-07-30
A MAINE Boys MEMORY.
Extraordinary Powers OF a Lad of Tel
Bangor Mel Commercially

EXTRAORDINARY Powers OF Lad of Ten
Years.
Bangor (Me.) Commercially
There is in this city one of the most re-
markable boys in the world, probably. He
is son of Colonel Fuller, ex-postmaster of
Bangor, and is now 10 years of age. His
intellect is perfectly wonderful, and almost
goes beyond belief. The first that his
friends noticed of his precocity was about
year ago. when they accidentally discovered
that he was almost infallible on any date he
had ever seen or heard. He was out West
with his parents at the time, and as he was
walking in company with some relatives, in
a cemetery, they observed that he would
look at tombstone, read the date of the
death recorded, and the exact age of the per-
son buried there, and then glance up and
tell what day of the week the dead person
was born on. This happend on several oc-
casions, and but little attention was paid to
it. Finally, however, one of his relatives
took pains to look into an old almanac COW
ering some of the dates that he had mention
ed, and found that the day of the week had
been given correctly in every instance. This
caused them to ask him questions, when it
was discovered that he could almost instant
! ly tell the day of the week on which any
date within the, last IS years fell Only
yesterday the writer gave the lad dates from
| 1872 to 1S40 and in every case Charlie THAT
is his given name, gave the day of the week
corresponding to that date and gave it cor
rectly, The longest time occupied in any
one case was eight seconds, and the shortest
was three seconds, the average being about
five seconds. 1t should be remembered that
| while he answered, there was no book or any
article near him from which he could get
any aid
If he has once heard the date of birth,
marriage, or death of any of his friends he
remembers it, and, of course, from what has
| been said above knows on what day of the
tweek the date fell. If one calls his attentio
to any person and informs him that the in
dividual was born on certain day of the
week and month, he will, on seeing that per-
son months afterward, speak up and say that
that mans birthday falls on certain day,
which is the date he was casually told so
long before. Not great while ago he walk
ed up to one of his relatives and informed
him that it was so-and-so's birthday, the date
of the persons birth having been told him
long ago. For curiosity, the relative took
Charlie by the hand and walked to the place
of business of the friend mentioned
Charlie" remarked the relative to the
friend, ''says this is your birthday; is it,"
"Wcll, didn't think of it before replied
the friend, sbut he is right; this is my birth
day."
He never forgcts date that he has once
fixed in his memory, and is almost invalu-
able as statistician. He remembers when
every president of the United States was
born. when inaugurated as president, and
how long he served, and when he died. Any
of these datas he gives with scarcely a sec
and thought, as well as hundreds of Others of
a like nature. Once in while he makes a
momentary mistake. but corrects himself
almost instantly, never proceeding till he is
absolutely certain of what he has already
said.
A still more remarkable fact is that he rec
objects everything that he does, remembers on
: what day he did it, where he was at the time,
and what were the circumstances that led him
to do it. For instance, he will tell you where
he was on any day within the past two years,
and what he was doing. Further, he remem-
bers and can tell everything that his friends
have done, providing he has seen them do
it, and tell on what day of the week they
did it.
In mathematics it would be difficult to find
boy of nearly twice his age that can equal
him. He computes the most difficult
fractions in his head, and will add, subtract
multiply, or divide them without difficulty
This is all the more wonderful, considering
that he has.never been taught anything ex-
cept how to read. One evening about tea
time he was informed that the double of two
is four. He was informed that the process b
getting that result was called multiplication
and that it was all given in the arithmetic
He Immediately got an arithmetic into hi
hands, found the multiplication table, and
5 had all of it by heart at the breakfast tabl,
} the next morning
: The most remarkable test to which hi
4 memory has yet been put is OF
the Bible. He repeats i the nam,
, of every book in the Old and New
!. testaments in regular order, beginning will
v Genesis; tells how many chapters each bool
S contains, and how many verses in each chap
: ter of several of the books; and on any por
t ton of the Bible he has read-and he ha
S read nearly if not quite all-will tell the sub
e stance of any particular verse in any chap
ter of any particular book. He tells at one,
, where any particular event is described il
a the Bible, also where the name of any char
: acter mentioned in the Scriptures can b,
: found. He not only knows the Bible thor
e oughly, but can tell without hesitation OF
t what page any particular hymn in Watts O.
5 Moody's and Sankey's hymn-books can b,
found. 80 fHt
Not long ago he greatly amused some q
Q his friends by correcting an almanac.
!. lady wished to-try him on the days Of tn
: week on which certain dates man,
t years fell She gave him a dat
: and asked him on which day i