Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-10-03
A Maine Boys Memory.

AAAOSs
remarkable boys in the world, proba-
bly,. He is the son of Col. Fuller, ex.
Postmaster at Bangor, and is now ten
years of age. His intellect is perfectly
wonderful, and almost goes beyond be-
lief. The first that his friends noticed
of his precocity was about year ago,
when they accidentally discovered that
he was almost lnfallible on any date he
had ever seen or heard. Ee was out
West with his parents at the time, and
as he was walking in company with
some relatives, in q cemetery, they OBJ
served that he would look at q tomb
stone, read the date of the death re-
corded, and the exact age of the person
buried there, and then glance up and
tell what day of the week the dead per-
son was born on. This happened on
several occasions, and but little atten-
ton was paid to it. Finally, however,
one of his relatives took pains to look
into an old almanac covering some of
the dates he had mentioned, 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 seventy five
years fell. Only yesterday the writer
gave the lad dates from 1912 to 1910,
and in every case Charlie THAT is his
given name) gave the day OF the week
corresponding to the date, and gave it
correctly. The longest time occupied
in any one case was eight seconds, and
the shortest time was three seconds, the
average being about five seconds. It
should be remembered that while he
answered there was no book or any
other 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 week the date fell. If
one calls his attention to any person,
and informs him that the individual
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 long
ago he walked up to one of his relatives
and informed him that it was So-and-
SOS 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, Essays this is your birthday;
is it ?" "Well, 1 didn't think of it be-
fore" replied the friend, "but he is
right, this is my birthday"
He never forgets o date that he has
once fixed in his memory, and is almost
invaluable as statistician. He remem-
bers when every President of the
United States was born, when inaugu-
rated as President, and how long he
served and when ne died. Any of these
dates he gives with scarcely seconds
thought, as we'll as hundreds of others
of like nature. Once in while he
makes momentary mistake, but cor
reefs himself almost instantly, never
proceeding until he is absolutely Ger.
tain of what he has already said.
A still more remarkable fact is that
he recollects 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
where he was on any day within the
past two years, and what he was doing.
Further, he remembers and can tell
everything that his friends have done,
providing he has seen them do it, and
tell on what date and 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
inost 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 except
how to read. One evening, about tea.
time, he was informed that the double
of two is four. He was informed that
the process of getting that result was
called multiplication, and that it was all
given in the arithmetic. He immedi-
ately got an arithmetic into his hand,
found the multiplication table, and had
all of it by heart at the breakfast table
the next morning.
The most remarkable test to which
his memory has yet been put is on the
Bible. He Irepeats the name of every
book in the Old and New Testaments,
in regular order, beginning with Gen.
esis; tells how many chapters each
book contains and how many verses in
each chapter in several of the books;
and on any portion of the Bible The
read-and he has read nearly, if not
quite all-will tell the substance of any
verse in any particular chapter of any
particular book. He tells at once where
any particular event is described in
the Bible, also where the name of any
character mentioned in the Scriptures
can be found. He not only knows the
Bible thoroughly, but can tell without
hesitation on what page any particular
hymn in Watts or Moody and Sankey's
hymn-book can be found.
Not long ago he greatly amused some
OF his friends by correcting an almanac.
A lady wished to try him on the days
of the week on which certain dates,
many years ago, fell. She gave date