The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-04-02
MEMORY SPURS
The Note Book the Only Thing to De
pend Upon.

pend Upon.
81 hope you won't forget that" said
one friend TO another, referring 10 a COM
mission which the second was to exc
cute.
"Oh. no." said the other; "don't have
any fear about it,
.'Well,'' remarked No. /, 81 thought
there would be no harm in a gentle re-
minder."
but memorandum is better than a
reminder" answered No, ,, with a smile.
"Oh, that's all right" said No. l. Il
guess that is good habit. Now, do you
know that l have method of remember
ing things which L don't want to forget,
but the trouble is that it doesn't always
work.
'sWhat is that?" inquired No. 3
"Do you see this ring?' pointing to a
plain gold band on the little nnger 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 GRAND 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 tortltylng ones
memory. / used to think so. L don't
now as much as | did. For oftentimes
now L have whole world of trouble IN
trying to remember what it is that | want
to remember, 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 positively heavy.
have worn that ring on my right hand
1 ~, - i 4
| then, veXing my brain all the time to find
what l may, perhaps. term the missing
| link. It's no fun, | assure you"
Your experience is very interesting''
said No. z. Il 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 good forgotten The only safe
| rule with me is to make a note Of what |
wish to keep i'll mind, and then as L fire.
quently refer to my notebook L 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, /
may not do them full justice. The fact is
that my memory used to be q good deal
better than it is now. When 1 was in
college l 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 examinations, it was easy
work for me TO write out the answers 10
ali the questions. But my business after
leaving college has been such that it has
been neces sary for me each day to deal
with an entirely now set Of facts, and a
large number OF them. Zach days accu-
mutation was showed aside by the follow
ing days, and thus the mind, or the
memory, if YOU please, lost its grip, as it
were. AS this went on for years. my
memory became permanently impaired,
and / have no hope of ever recovering it,
1t is only important matters that / can
now keep in mind, or else matters that
have a special personal interest. For de-
tails I have no capacity OF retention for
more than a few days. And, as l said,
when there is any special thing that
must attend to outside OF the regular
course OF business L make use of my
memorandum book