St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-02-16
TRAINING THE MEMORY.

TRAINING THE MEMORY.
New to Widen the Realn q the Pssal1ls
In Practical KaowIedge.
il is true in a sense that memory is
. gift. 1t Is just Is true that it is 40
quired. The memories OF Wallis. Ma
poleon and Shakespeare may be &C
counted for on the ground OF special
natural endowment Yet even these
marvellous natural memories were bet
ter because of the use which their
owners made of them. Music also Is
Q gift which in some measure is pre-
sented to every human being. Few are
endowed with the genius Of Wagner
or a MendelssOhn; but small indeed,
must be the natural gift OF the person
who is unable to carry ''Old Hundred"
or yankee Doodle" Tho charge Of
inability to sing or remember lies not
SO often at the door Of nature as at the
door Of inoxcusable neglect Good raem-
cries should be the result of proper
use and consequent development Of
moderate natural power. Surely
here is opportunity for the much
needed plea in behalf of memory
training. No one need be alarmed
by the fear Of OverdevelOpment
Of this particular faculty to the exclu-
zion Of others Of equal importance.
The proper training Of memory nec-
essarily involves the development Of
mind as such. for it brings into use
the laws by which all mind really
acts. Some one asks about the menu
DRY of the ancient and the savage.
These had no system. and yet their
memory is proverbial. This Is quite
true. The ancients. as rule, did
possess good memories. Poems con-
tanning thousands of verses were hand
ed down in memory through many
generations. The Indian says: God
gave tire white man note book be-
cause he knew he could not rcmem-
ber." Now, there is more than one
explanation for these exceptional
memories. One reason lies in the
fact that fewer things occupied tho
mind. Neither the ancient nor the
savage busted himself about SO many
things in q week rs the average
modern thinks OF in day. One i'm
pOrtant principle in remembering is
to think Of but two things ut once.
while the majority Of persons in
these days seem to find it necessary to
think Of about twenty things at . time.
1t is true, moreover, that many of the
helps Of to-day are injurious to the
memory. Our forefathers knew the
Bible by heart We refer to the con-
cordance when we wish to find pas
sage of Scripture. The Indian does not
recognize the fact that the pencil and
We notebook are largely responsible
for the white mans poor memory. No
uncompromising warfare is declared
against the notebook. Ithas its place.
but it is used entirely too much out Of
its place. We should write to impress,
not to remember. Napoleon. We are
told. wrote on slip of paper the name
he wished to remember and then threw
the paper away. He wrote to get the
impression through eye and hand, as
well as through ear. He threw the
paper away SO that his memory would
be given the responsibility of repro
duction. Memory is rightly jealous of
distrust, and she feels sighted when
the notebook is rcsortcd to in the most
trivial affairs Memory the queen. yet
our servant If VIC will, has been too
long displaced by notebooks. alarm
clocks, and various other mechanical
contrivances. We must ask her par
don. We must assure her that there
has been no malice in our hearts. We
must take her into our confidence.
treat her properly. and she will be
true to US. The great secret Of strength
Of memory in the savage and the
ancient lay in the use of the faculty.
This was not an intelligent use. 1t
was a necessary use. If you had asked
him how he remembered he would not
have been able to tell you. We should
use our minds intelligently. The realm
Of the possible in knowledge is con-
tinually widening, The realm Of the
possible in memory culture is surely
squal to the realm OF the real in the
past. It's believed to be Vastly more
extensive.-Prot: WuJcrt ". White, IN
Caaut0uQMdn.