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

/
told of Charles James Fox that in an
interesting discussion he forgot the
name of town, and its remembrance
being important, in his vain attempts tc
r0calt it the discussion was abruptly
ended. An hour later at dinner liz
startled his guests by suddenly exclaim
ing "Gorcum! Gorcum y which wa:
the forgotten name. This freak or phe
nomenon of memory is familiar to all
as also that one which leads persons t.
tell you the same pet joke or story every
time they meet you. 1t is told of ar
English minister that he preached one
Sunday from the same pulpit the same
sermon he preached the Sunday before
gave out the same hymns, read the
same lessons. made the same extemport
prayer and had not the slightest recol
lection of the repetition. Che of the
most amusing freaks of this sort mem.
DRY once played upon an author of cele
brity; he wrote a learned and vigorous
treatise in defense of certain theory,
and some years after, upon reading it.
instantly wrote one quite as vigorous in
refutation, taking each well advanced
argument in turn. He had com.
pletely forgotten that he was the
original author, and glor ed in what
he thought his opponents defeat. DIR.
Broussonet had a severe attack of apo
plexy. After his recovery he could not
remember name or q noun, but ad.
lectives multiplied and abounded in his
brain. A gentleman who was thor
ough Greek scholar was thrown from
his horse, and afterward could recall NO
word of his beloved Greek. Another
man was kicked over the let eve by a
horse and forgot his Latin. The ques-
ton is an interesting one as to what
would have been the result if he had
been kicked over the right eye. But if
memory can be knocked out she can
also be knocked in. Tie poet Moore,
whose ''songs are sung in every land
and every tongue was once riding in
company with brother poet over ex-
cee1ingly rough roads. In one place
they were suddenly jostled and thrown
off the seat with such force as to cause
them to strike their heads severely
against the top of the cab. Moore, rub
bing the rap dly swelling spot, said:
There, that knocked a word in my
head that l have been hunting for six
months; now | can finish my poem"
Among the most remarkable phe
ncmena of memory is that ofda Young
woman who, lying on bed of sickness,
repeated one Latin poem after anothe or
with aston shing correctness. Not hav-
ing studied Latin her friends could not
account for it, and upon investigation
learned that many years before she
lived in the house where also lived a
fine Latin scholar, and she heard him
daily repeating the poems that she did
not notice or remember at the time, but
that long after came back so strangely.
Another is recorded of a gentleman.
that during convale 3cence from spell
of sickness, talked in language
unknown to his friends or family, and
which was discovered 10 be the pu. est
Span sh. In uiry revealed the factthat
when child he lived in Spain and
knew no language but Spanish. He
left that sunny land, and had COM
pletely forgotten the language until the
perfect rest of body and mind that ac-
companies convalescent recalled it.
Ministers who hear death-bed confess
s ons relate how the minds, of men who
have lived lives of sin and wickedness 90
back to the days of childhood, when at
a mothers side they learned some s M
pie prayer or passage from the Bible.
Goethe gives an excu'sitely beautiful
description of his memory in "Mig-
n0n," where the scenes of her child
hood come back when she takes in her
hand the little book from winch she
learned her prayers at h,r mothers
knee.
Indeed, it may be said that nothing
that is ever heard is forgotten; that GER
tain scenes or things would recall every
event OF words, but the mind retains
most wildly those impress ons
that are deepest, and generally, if the
Judgment he clear and good, beneficial.
An instance in point is that of the
1eath-bed scene of Falstatf, as related
Dy his dissolute companions. One of
hem says, that ''when he saw fiv ON
Bal dolph's nose, he thought it was a
black soul burning in He'll" Dame
quickly says that when she heard him
1abble of flowing waters she knew that
lie must die. BY the waters" she re-
ers to that beautiful passage, Thou
eadest me by still waters Falstaff's
life was one of dissipation and gluttony.
craven and braggart, drunkard, a
,iasphemer, a gambler, a sponge, and
killed in the practice of all the vices of
lis time. Shakespeare intended to con
rey the idea OF the { hrlstian influences
# childhood, that not all of a long life of
dissipation and godlessness can ever
face.
We would have little, perhaps no
knowledge of the past but for the
memory Ct some
men. TIE Bible was for some
ime handed down orally. The twenty
our books of Homer we e thus pre-.
ersed to us. The literature of all lands
vas memorized and handed down from
ather to son, until the invention of
1riting and writing materials. The Ii
rary of one of the King, of Ind a re-
uired in its care one hundred Brah-
aims; one thousand dromedaries were
ecessary to convey it from place to
lace, and twenty yea swere consumed
condensing it into an encyclop dia of
1000 volumes. The greater pa of
his had been memorized and handed
own. So with the vast literature of
nina. Cyrus knew the name of every
older in his army. The Emperor
iadlian could repeat two thousand
Icrds in the order given alter one hear
4 IN ~. roahipor opA Ca,ooo |