The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-04-02
MEMORY SPURS.
Dlfrersas Ways of Keeping Thiugs
Mind.


Mind.
az hope you won't forget that" said
one friend to another, referring to a
commission which the second was to
execute
80 no." said the other; don't have
any fear about it."
well" remarked No /, ~ thought
there would be no harm in gentle re-
minder."
"But a memorandum is better than a
reminder" answered No. ., with smile.
80, that's all right" said No. l. 81
guess that is n good habit Now, do
you know that l have a method of re-
membering things which | don't want
to forget, but the trouble is that it
doesn't always work"
What is that?" inquired No. ..
"Do you see this ring2" 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
special thing that / 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 corre-
spending finger of the other hand.
Now, doesn't that strike you as an ex-
ceedingly simple method of bracing
and fortifying ones memory? used
to think so. l don't now as much as
| did. For often-times now | have n
whole world of trouble in trying to re-
L. L. "A = Al. 4
member. 1t isn't always that way but
it is sometimes OF course the unac-
customed feeling of the ring on the
wrong finger reminds me that there is
something on my mind: and SO on some
occasions the burden becomes positive
| ly heavy. | have worn that ring on my
right hand for two or three days at a
time, now and then, vexing my braiu
all the time to find what l may perhaps
term the missing link. It's no fun, l
assure you"
Your experience is very interesting"
said No .. 'I have never adopted any
such method as you describe, though
often consider 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 l wish to keep 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 improving
the memory which various professors
give instructions in, though, not having
actually tried them, l may not do them
full justice. The fact is that my mem
ory used to be good deal better than
it is now. When | was 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 l could cram
easily and remember all that the books
contained. Then, when l went into the
prize examinations, it was easy work
for me to write out the answers to all
the questions But my business after
leaving college has been such that il
has been necessary for me each day to
deal with an entirely new set of facts,
and large number of them. Each
days accumulation was showed aside
by the following days, and thus the
mind, or the memory, if you please,
lost it's grip as it were. AS this went
on for years, my memory became per-
manently impaired, and l have no hope
of ever recovering it 1t is only i'm
portant matters that | can now keep in
mind, or else matters that have a special
personal interest. For details l have
no capacity or retention for more thar
few days. And, as ! said, when there
is any special thing that | must attenG
to outside of the regular course of bust
ness l make use of my memorandum
book. IN. Y. Tribune.