Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-03-30
A MEMORY SPUR THAT OFTEN FAILS.

One Man Transfers His Ring While An
other Depends on a Notebook.
II hope you won't forget that" said one
friend to another, referring TO a commission
which the second was to execute
"Oh, no." said the other; don't have
any fear about it."
"Well," remarked No. l, 81 thought
there would be no harm in a gentle re
minder"
But memorandum is better than a re-
hinder" answered No. with a smile
"Oh, that's all right" said No l. 81
guess that is a good habit Now, do you
know that l have a method of remember
ing things which / don't want to forget,
but the trouble is that it doesn't always
work"
''What is that" inquired No. 2.
do you see this ring?" pointing to a
plain gold band on the little finger of the
left hand
A nod was the answer.
well, you see, | habitually wear it on
my left hand, but when there is any spe-
cial thing that l wish to remember-as, for
instance, some errand that my wife has
asked me TO do ON my way down town-it
is my custom to take the ring off and put
it on the corresponding finger of the other
hand. Now, doesn't that strike you as an
exceedingly simple method Of bracing and
terrifying ones memory? | used to think
So | don't now as much as | did, FOR
oftentimes now | have whole world of
trouble in trying to remember what it is
that l want to remember. 1t isn't always
that way, but it is sometimes. OF course
the unaccustomed feeling of the ring on
the wrong finger reminds me that there is
something on my mind, and so on some oc-
casions the burden becomes positively
heavy have worn that ring on my right
hand for two or three days at time, now
and then vexing my brain all the time TO
find what may perhaps term the missing
link. It's no fun, assure you"
Your experience is very interesting"
said No. 2. Il have never adopted any such
method as you describe, though often con
slider myself blessed-or the other thing
with what Mr.. Beecher used to call a good
forgettery." The only safe rule with me
is to make a note Of what | wish to keen in
mind, and then, as | frequently refer to my
notebook, | usually manage to get along
without any bad blunders. | never had
much faith in the methods Of improvinp
the memory which various professors give
instructions in, though not having tried
them | may not do them full Justice The
fact is that my memory used to be a good
deal better than it is now When / wa, in
college | had an Al memory. 1t was the
wonder Of all my classmates / took more
prizes than anybody else had ever done up
to that time largely because | could cram
easily and remember all that the books
contained. Then when | went into the
prize examination it was easy work for me
to write out the answers to all the QuCs-
tions.
But my business after leaving college
has been such that it has been necessary
for me each day to deal with an entirely
new set Of facts and a larger number Of
them. Each days accumulation was
showed aside by the following days, and
thus the mind or the memory, if You
please lost il, grip, AS IL were. As this
went on for years, my memory became per
manently impaired, and have no hope OF
ever recovering it. IL is only important
matters that / can now keep in mind, or
else matters that have a special personal
interest. For details / have no capacity
Of retention for more than a few days
And, as | said, when there is any special
thing that / must attend to outside Of the
regular course Of business ! make use Of
my memorandum book. New York Trib-
une.