The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-11-19
scENE-Exerywhere. TIME-AIways.

SCENt--ENeTyWncTc- ttmE-AiWayS.
JONES-i am so forgctfui of names, you
know. 1t is very strange, but can remember
faces and not names.
SMITH-Indeedi How remarkable that we
should be both afflicted with the same weakness
II see face once never forget il, though I'm
the poorest hand in the world to remember
names.-COnledy Of COnanionpIaces.
Have Smith and Jones really such good
memories Tor faces?
Let US see.
You have probably heard one of these
Smith-JoDes dialogues, for they are as COM
mon as weekdays and OF more frequent
occurrence. Indeed. the man who will not
confess TO a penchant for remembering
faces is a curiosity that even Barnum never
found.
1t is true that we all remember faces
better than names-whieh is saying little
enough for our memory Of faces-and the
reason is quite simple.
What we see through the visual organs
becomes photographed on our brain just as
we see ii, and when we desire to recall a
face or scene we have only to dive into
the corners of our memories and bring
before our mental vision the mental photo
graph.
Sometimes mental pictures fade and grow
dim with age, and sometimes they remain
vivid ana natural for all time. though never
retOuehed by second comparison with the
original. The latter is the more unusual.
AS a rule, despite our boosted remem-
brance of faces, our mental photographs of
most persons are weak and uncertain, and
the most that can be said for them is that
Iad
An exception proving this rule is found
in the phenomenal memory Of the famous
negro porter at the Grand Pacific Hotel in
Chicago.
He has charge of the hatrack connected
enters for the first time. hands the negro his
hat. and passes in to dinner. An hour later
be comes forth in company with half dozen
others.
The negro has not tagged the hat, nor in
any mechanical way marked it, yet be hands
it back TO its owner and seldom or never
makes g mistake.
lie does this every day In the year, and to
every one of the COO or more guests day.
and earns by it many a rich tip from
wealthy men who for the first time are
struck with the porter's rare memory for
faces and hats.
Yet it is very doubtful whether this re-
markaole negro could describe in words the
faces Of the owners of the hats left in his
charge.
You may already have noticed that sell
dom or never do two or more men, though
equally familiar with Ii, describe the same
thing exactly alike; but you have never
seen this truth more forcibly illustrated. I
fancy, than Ii is in the succeeding personal
descriptions of Adolph Sutro.
1t is this inexplicable difference of de-
seriptiOn that so puzzles the detectives and
courts OF law when hearing testimony from
many witnesses TO the same thing.
And as the number of witnesses Is IN
creased so the confusion of their testimony
becomes the more manifest.
Why is this?
Perhaps George Eliot has partly an
swered the question in declaring that our
thoughts become adulterated as they are
framed into words.
This is true enough. Man cannot give
full expression TO his mental images and
deepest thoughts. Shakespeare's best was
never coined into words. and the least gifted
of us fail most in saying what we mean.
But all this hardly explains why two men,
equally familiar with the subject and of
equdl lDLeiIlReHc6. sDOnlu give Such widely
divergent descriptions as those herein re-
corded of Adolph Sutro.
Everybody knows Adolph Sutro. His is
striking, picturesque countenance, and
one chat would be likely to stamp itself in
delibly upon the memory-especially if seen
very frequently.
Yet for the life Of you yon can't de-
scribe that countenance accurately. Men
who have seen and spoken to him every
day for years. even members OF his own
household, cannot do it.
From his private secretary to his Oldest
friend, all failed in some important particu-
lar Only general description was sought,
and the answers were as varied as the
number Of inquiries made.
One saw Sutro as a grizzly bear, one as a
kind, benevolent old man, one as a slow
and easy-going person and one as a tower OF
strength and determination. Some gave
him fun beard, some no mustache; some
said his whiskers were gray. others cor
rectly said white; some said blue eyes,
others brown, No two men described him
the same, and often those who were most
certain were the least accurate.