The Dickinson press., 1889-03-16

hand the number of bricks, car loads of sanu,
feet of timber, etc, that were used in the
construction Armour's gift is natural
one. He has never cultivated it, but the dc
mands of his business have unquestionably
Kept his powers of memory in active training.
"Old Hutch, as the imperturbablc Chicago
wheat manipulation is called, is another man
gifted with an extraordinary memory He
needs no books to carry his transactions in,
although, of course, he uses them. With
him, too, retentiveness is natural gift. He
remembers everything that he wants to re-
member, but says frankly he doesn't know
how he does it. He also possesses the gift of
not remembering things he does not wish to
remember. But then that gift is not rare
The professional memory men say that
among public men and speakers for good all
around retentiveness James G. Blaine leads
all the rest, for he can not only remember
dates, figures and authorities when debating
but in addition lie has faculty for rcmem
bering names and faces that is little short of
the marvellous, and many are the stories told
of his exploits in this line.
In the domain of figures Samuel j. Ran
dali, when well, stood almost pre-eminent
His long service on those committees in con-
gress that controlled the finances of the nation
ters which he retained without an effort 1t
was no uncommon thing for him to make
long speeches without using notes He Jug
Gled figures running at one time into millions
of dollars and then into fractions of cent
without tripping as most men, however able,
would have done. 1t was the same faculty
that made Gladstone SO successful a chancel.
lor of the English exchequcr
Roscoe COnElinu was man Of w0D1nrf,,l
memory. Whether dealing in figures in
legal argument or quoting from the carly
English poets he called forth, seemingly with.
out effort and without previous thought. the
right thing at the right time
Congressman Sam Cox has also rclnark;-
bic memory, especially for things literary,
and this has stood him in good stead in de-
bate In congress, for his opponents never
Know when the genial jester is not about to
double them up with something from Shake
speare, the Koran. Burns. the Bible or some
Old hymn book 1t is to his memory alone it
is due, and of course his wise study, that he
is ablo to do this in n running impromptu de.
bate
Among actors Il rctcntive memory, or u
good study" is, of course, important. But
1t Is not SO necessary now in the time of COM
blnatlon, when the same company plays the
same piece for Il season. In the old days of
stock companies it was common to present a
farce, comedy and tragedy all in ono
night and TO change tho bill nightly A good
memory was an absolute necessity No actor
can succeed without it, for it was no uncom-
mon thing for play to be put on at few
hours notice. Lester Wallack, in his rccol-
lections of the stage, attributes much of his
success to the fact that he possessed a remark
able memory
Edwin Forrest was a wonder in his prime.
He would read over n page of book and at
once rccite it of hand He did it frequently
for amusement as well as practice In his
later years lc lost this faculty to some extent
The elder Booth studied everything and re-
mcinbered everything that he studied. The
only language that he was unable to conquer
was Russian. The great actor did learn
French well enough to play in tho French
tragedy ''Oreski, in New Orleans some timo
in ls3l, and to do it in French, too.-Phla
delphia Times