The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-06-21
MEMORY.

There is no faculty of the mind 81
wonderful and mysterious as memory
The ancienUs called it the mother of the
muses. and the fountain of thought, anG
held that the term creative minds il
select and combine. Memory is the
handspring of thought for thought is
but the comparison between experience
and remembran @. 1t may, like mus.
cular force, exist without any other fac
ulty being especially developed, and be
carried to such perfection as to seem
supernatural. 1t is held by some that
the process of remembering all things,
small and great, is injurious, since there
is always SO much that is neither help.
full nor nutritious. But it is absolute
that he who is successful in literature
law, medicine, politics, the ministry, OIL
in anything that wins fame and name,
must have, does have, fine memory
tor foundation.
Montaigne says with wisdom that to
know by heart is not to know. Ger
tanly there are these who after one or
two readings can repeat whole chapters,
or long poems, word for word, and vet
who comprehend not the smallest part
OF the matter mem orized. There are
Others, again, who, though unable to
recall word, will yet comprehend and
remember the full meaning. There are
others still who combine both. They are
apt to develop into literary machines, in
whom all originality of thought and
feeling is lost. As memory varies In
degree so it varies in kind, belonging
IN nnn OF tho nthoY, Of fuyo
classes: memory of sense and memory
OF reason. Henry Clay seldom forgot a
face, but could never repeat or recall
a line of anything he read. A meta.
physician of celebrity would remember
every word or point in an argument,
but invariably forgot names in whatey-
er connection used. A gentleman
prominent in belles-letters had. no sort
of memory for dates, even forgetting
the date of his own and his oh Idren s
birth, yet he perfectly remembered ev-
erything else, VIII lie his brother had a
memory only. for dates, and was never
known to forget one.
There are persons who read so much
and so rapidly that they have no time
TO remember, and so it happens often
that although witty and obliging in
conversation, they relate things, histor-
ical and terary, so vaguely and incom-
pletely that they annoy rather than in
struct or entertain. In grasping or
conquering knowledge of any k nd, time
is the all important factor, else the new
ideas that come to us can not be Joined
TO or harmonized with those already in
our m nd, or in use. This rapid read
erS seldom realize, although occasion
ally you meet pc son peculiarly giuod,
who viii comprehend a rapidly as he
reads. 1t is often wise to forget. Say,
in the introduction to his Political Econ
omy, says that he studied "all books re-
lating to this theme, and then took time
to forget what he read before beginning
to write.
Memory is capricious, by turns kind
and full of malice, forcing us toremem-
Der much that is painful or sorrowful,
to the exclusion, sometimes, of happier
themes; for as Cicero says, some sor-
rows are mellowed by age, while otL ers
grow keener day by day, as one thinks
of the misery of the present, and looks
back on the days that are past. Ibis
thought, by the way, anticipates and
perhaps suggested Dante's idea after
ward expressed by Tennyson in Lock-
ley Hall: "a sorrows crown of sorrows
is rememt or ng happier things"
The "un ound majority" claim that
treasures more readily that
which is pleasing than that which is
painful. All the lappy events of our
lives, sweet sounds, grand music. beau
tiful pictures, fine scenery, and eloquent
oratory are remembered, while d scord-
ant sounds, unpleasant scenes and incl |
dents and unhappy events are forgotten
or remembered but vaguely. Yet it
would seem that great deal depends
upon ones present. condition. Per-
haps, too, if past sorrows were remem-
bared more acltely, present sorrows
might seem by comparison less cruel
and less like burdens.
Memory with some people is what
oratory was with Artemus Ward; he
had it but it was .'never about him
v hen wanted. Who has not suffered
intense modification through some ca
price OF memory, and at the most excit-