Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-09
VALUE OF A GOOD MEMORY.
Men and Women Who Never Forget a
Face or Fact.

Face or Fact.
From the Philadelphia Times
Phil Armour, the great Chicago pork-packer,
Is said to have remarked that a good memory
Is necessary to one who wishes to succeed.
There is no lack of evidence to support the
statement. Armour himself is an example of
what good memory can do.
He is as wonderful in his time as Cardinal
Mezzofanti was in his. He is said to carry the
smallest detail of his immense business in his
head He can remember the date as well as
OF small business transactions. He knows the
names of pretty nearly all of his army of en-
ployes. After the building of the addition to
his great establishment in Chicago he aston
ished circle of friends by rafting off-hand
the number of bricks, carloads of sand feet of
timber, &c, &C., that were used in the con-
structlon. Armour's gift is natural one. He
has never cultivated it, but the demands of his
business have unquestionably kept his powers
OF memory in active training.
"Old Hutch" as the imperturbable 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 remem-
bers everything that he wants to remember,
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
hgures and authorities when debating. but in
addition he has faculty for remembering
names and faces that is little short of the mar
vicious. and many are the stories told of his ex-
pioits in this line.
In the domain of figures Samuel J. Randall
when well. stood almost prominent. His long
service on those committees in Congress that
controlled the finances of the nation gave him
an immense knowledge of such matters which
he retained without an effort. 1t was no I'M
common thing for him to make long speeches
without using notes. He juggled figures run
nlng at one time into millions of dollars and
then into fractions of a cent without tripping
as most men, however able would have done
1t was the same faculty that made Gladstone
80 successful chancellor of the English ex-
chequer.
Roscoe Conkling was a man of wonderful
memory. Whether dealing in figures. in legal
argument, or quoting from the early English
poets, he called forth, seemingly without effort
and without previous thought, the right thing
at the right time.
Congressman Sam Cox has also a remarkable
memory. especially for things literary, and this
has stood him in good stead in debate in Con-
gress, for his opponents never know when the
genial jester Is not ABOUT to double them I'D
with something from Shakespeare, 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 able to do this in
running impromptu debate.
Among actors retentive memory or good
study" Is of course important But it is not so
necessary now in the time of combination,
when the same company plays the same piece
for a season. In the old days of stock compa-
MIR ~ -,
edy, and tragedy all in one night, and to
change the bill nightly, good memory was an
absolute necessity. No actor can succeed with
out 1t, for it was no uncommon thing for play
to be put on at a few hours notice. Lester
Waiiack, IN his recollections of the stage. at
tributes much of his success to the fact that he
possessed remarkable memory
Edwin Forrest was wonder in his prime. He
would read over a page of a book and at once
recite it f-hand.
The elder Booth studied everything and re-
membered 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 the French tragedy
''Oreskf' in New Orleans some time in 1851 and
to do it in French too.
Thos. L. Hamblin, who in his time played
anything from farce to tragedy: Jno. Brougham,
happy John Drew, j. w. Wallack, G. L. Fox,
who thought nothing of playing three or four
parts IN the course of a night, and at short no.
tice, too; Mrs. Shaw, afterward Mrs. Hamblin,
and host of others were also renowned for
their memories. E. l.. Davenport had mar
veious degree of retentiveness, and Fanny
Davenport has inherited the gift
or the actors still on the boards. nearly all
those who were trained in the old school have
carefully-trained memories. capable of obey
ing any reasonable call upon them
Edwin Booth was known as great study"
but as he now plays the same parts continuous
ly he has no need to exercise his ability in this
direction. His partner, Lawrence Barrett en-
joys the same reputation. So does that old
time tragedienne, Mrs D. P. Bowers; so does
that veteran. J. b. Studley, who has played
everything from Roila to melodrama; so has
Mary Anderson. So have John Gilbert, Mines
Levick, j. II. Stoddard, Mrs. John Drew. Joe
jefferson was in his day called great study
by his fellow actors, and Dion Boucicault has a
similar reputation.
There are any number of the 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 gives them
ample opportunities to prepare for a new play
before they are through with the old