The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-03-15
charged that his memory trips some
times. In the fishery debate last win
ter he ran in this queer verse:

=
ter he ran in this queer verse:
Ye monsters OF the briny deep,
Your Masters name upraise;
Up from the sands ye codlings creep,
And wag your tail always
Some one interested ia the verse
looked it up and found it in an old
English hymn book, but insisted that
the following was the correct copy:
Ye monsters of the briny deep,
Your Masters praises shout,
Up from the sands yc codlings creep,
And wag Your tails about
There was row over it, and which
was the best and most correct version
has not been settled. So Cox's memo
ny may have been all right.
Chauncey NJ. Depew has a retentive
mind. Bourke Cochran surprised
even the staid judge of the court of
appeals by the glibness with which he
ratified off former decisions and argu-
ments when arguing in the Jacob
Sharp case, and almost without notes
and at comparatively short notice. Jo-
seph Ii. Choate, ex-Attorney-Genera
Russell, Elihu Root, John Z. Parsons
are other lawyers who possess wonder
full memories that have been improved
by constant training.
Henry George can quote political
economy of the past and present by
the yard without reference to their
books, and his one-time friend, DR.
McGlynn, has an almost equally good
memory. DR.. Talmage goes around
continually with few sermons, a
lecture or two, and probably a mag
aY.fi 11a IN, l, i F,-r4 u i
DRY is such that he stores each away
in some subdivision, and they come out
all right. '.s..----
These men frankly admit that good
memory is invaluable.
Among actors a retentiye memory
Is necessary or a "good study as
the veteran assistant secretary of the
Actors Fund, Ben Baker, has it. But
1t IS not SO necessary now in the time
of combination, when the same COM
pany plays the same piece for a sea-
son. In the old days of stock COM
panies when it was common to pre-
sent farce, a comedy and tragedy
all in one night, and to change the
bill nightly, good memory was an
absolute necessity. No actor can sue
CCth " lt44Oub IL 4OE IL - no ulNOLlLlOl
thing for a play to be put on at few
hours notice. :
Lester Wallack, in his recollections
of the stage, attributes much of his
success to the fact that he possessed a
remarkable memory.
T. L. Davenport had marvellous
degree of retentiveness and Fanny
Davenport has inherited the gift.
John r Swift, who, after Forrest, was
the greatest Rolla who ever trod the
boards, possessed the same faculty;
so did John Henderson, one of the
favorite tragedians of the Old Bowery;
so did William F. Burton, the great
comedian; and so did John Mccullough
before his memory gave way, and so
did Frank Barry, who is still above,
but who has fallen out OF sight of
theater goers. OF the actors still on
the boards, nearly all those who were
trained in the old school have care
fully trained memories capable of obey
ing any reasonable call upon them.
Edwin Booth was known as a "great
study" but as he now plays the same
parts continuously he has no need to
exercise his ability in this direction.
His partner, Lawrence Barrett, enjoys
the same reputation. So does that
old-time tragedienne, Mrs ID. p.
Bowers; so does that veteran, j. B.
Studley, who has played every thing
from Rolla to melodrama; so has
Mary Anderson. So have John Gil
bert, Miles Leviclz, Mrs. John Hoey,
j. II. Stoddart, Mrs. John Drew,
whose Mrs. MalapTOp is even now de-
lighting our public. Joe jefferson
was in his day called q great study
by his fellow actors, and Dion Bouci-
cault had similar reputation. There
are any number OF younger actors who
possess the same faculty that was SO
useful to the older members of their
profession. but they are not called
upon TO exercise it, owing to the long
runs of plays. which give them ample
opportunities to prepare for new
play before they are through with the
old.
In almost every walk in life a good
memory is valuable. There is a head
waiter in an uptown hotel who can
carry score of complicated orders in
I'D gu Oii0 'iiii0' anu 10 iis1o NV oI
been known 10 make a mistake in car
rying them into execution There is a
laundryman in Brooklyn, Scotch
man, who docs a large business, and
who has never adopted the heck sys-
TEN in vogue with Chinese laundry
men. He relies entirely upon his
memory, and yet makes no mistakes.
He claims TO have no private mark,
and never gives his customers any
mark. How he does it no one knows.
He says he doesn't know himself
Instances of the possession of this
gift might be multiplied Those cited,
however, are enough TO show that a
good memory is good thing to pos
sess--N. Y. Mail and Express.