The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-08-02
Cultivating the Memory,

There is no occupation that 1 would
more strongly advise my young readers
to pursue than that of learning by heart,
and depositing upon "the silent shore of
memory images and pyecious thoughts
| that shall not die, and can not be de-
| stroyed."
1t is said that in our schools this exer-.
else is not as regularly kept up as ID
used to be, and, when we consider the
deterioration of memory, in the present
| day, it is much to be feared that this is
| the case.
We read of men thirty years ago who
found no difficulty IN learning books of
paradise Lost" and of Dante}S Infer
| no" by heart, and we 90 to recitations
now of only couple of hours duration,
and hear the audience coming away. en-
claiming: "What a prodigious memory
that man has!n
Yet that prodigious memory is, be-
lieve, within reach of every child who
reads these pages, if they will but take
the trouble to acquire it, and a little
thought on the subject will show them
that learning by heart is one of the most
elevating and useful studies they can
pursue, besides being one of the most
easily cultivated,
1t does not require any SPECIAL taste
for its pursuit, like most other studies.
for the faculty is born in each one of
us. All knowledge is either learned or
discovered, and it is principally ac-
quired in the former way. We can
trace it in every stage of life. from the
baby child, learning to lisp the words
papa and mamma" to the student,
in the prime of life and intellect, eager
ly stretching his brains to grasp knowl-
edge, ''the appetite for which grows by
what it feeds on" and then on to the
wrinkled old man, failing slightly in in
tellect, but still porting over his daily
paper, from which he learns the history
and politics of the day.
And what is it that during those years
makes mans mind capable of holding
glorious knowledge and truth? Simply
learning by heart, and exercising the
memory with the understanding.
But although this faculty is born in
all Of us, our respective special tastes
may be brought into use in exercising
It, by choosing those works to commit
to memory which we like best, and
which, in consequence, can be learned
with least effort and most profit; and
surely among all the great works that
have been written there must be authors
capable of awakening in each of us the
electric chord of sympathy.
Again, it is study adapted to spare
moments, as it does not require any
preparation, and the tools for working
at it are always within our reach q do
not contemplate the possibility of my
readers living in an atmosphere of such
mental barrenness as not to have stand
ard authors perpetually about them1,
and having learned even line or two
by heart is sure test that those pre-
cous spare moments, snatched as they
are unexpectedly from the duties and
hustle of the day, have not been wasted.
We have something to show for them.
We have made Il successful mental ex-
ertion.
Then, again, if we wish to make 9TH
ers feel and admire passages from au-
thors that we feel and admire ourselves,
how mich more impressiveiy we can
quote or recite them than we can read
them! In reading them there must be
a certain amount of mechanical work
with the eyes. In repeating them by
heart we can throw the whole mind
and soul into them; we can pour them
forth as if they were our own words,
and for The time being we have made
them our own words. They come from
the depths of our own hearts, and to
quote a contemporary author: what
comes from the heart goes to the heart,
if there be a heart present for it to go
to- Golden DayS.