The Portland daily press., 1896-07-24
''The Household Outfitters,''
Hooper, SON 80
N u Dc LEICHTOn
fy24d1
GASES OF UNUSUAL MEMORY.
Some Politicians Who Memorize Their
Speeches.

| An extraordinary development of the
faculty of memory is noted in the person
OF the Rev. William Cullen Hicks q re-
vlvalist, who is at present holding meet
ings In the country districts of Ken
tucky, says the Rochester Democrat and
Chronicle. Mr.. Hicks is only 28 years
old, but his familiarity with the Scrip
lures is something phenomenal. He al
ways draws large crowds. being an at
tractive and foroible speaker, but his
greatest reputation rests on his ability to
recite with absolute correctness eY cry
chapter and verse in the Bible, with the
exception of the Psalms. He CAD start
at the beginning, middle or end, and go
backward or forward, or can repeat any
chapter of any book of the Old or New
Testament without halting or hesitating.
Reports from Adair county, Kentucky,
where he is now sojourning, say that his
performances are amazing.
| Another case of unusual memory,
which is attracting much attention, is
the recent achievement of Secretary Car.
Isle in Chicago. MIR. Carllsle's speech
on the finances, which would fill eight or
ten columns of q newspaper, was de-
livered without manuscript, and the
| speaker referred to his notes only two or
| three times during the whole of his ad-
dres IS. AS he gave many figures and
statil tics referring to this and other
countries, the performance must be set
down as % noteworthy one. 1t has, how
over, been equalod or surpassed by other
men prominent in our public life. Ed
ward Everett, Charles Sumner, Roscoe
| Conkling and james G. Blaine were IA
| nous for oratorical efforts which had all
tho force and attraotiveness of extempore
| deliyerancts, but which had been careful
| ~ prepared and memUrized. Mr.. Conk-
ling had special gifts in this direction.
| 1t was often difficult for mis- hearers to
persuade themselves that his flights of
eloquence, flashes of wit, yolleys of in
veetive and appropriate gestures were
not inspirations of the moment, when,
in fact, they were the finished product of
laborious preparation, and in some cases
OF private rehearsal. His great speech in
| New York In the Garfield campaign was
a wonderful achievement in memory and
| in the oratorical art that oonoeals art.
Mr.. Blaine also generally knew precise
| ly what ne was going to say and just
how he was going to say 1t before de-
livering an important speech. 1t long
| ago ceased to be secret that On the
occasion of his last appearance in Roches-
ter he secured the attendance of au ex-
| pert short hand reporter in his priyate
| room. The reporter seated himself at a
table, with paper and pencil, and Mr..
Blaine, slowly pacing the room. delibor-
ately tboughttont and dictated speech. A
typewritten copy Of the reporters notes
was Immediately taken to the newspaper
| Offices, and few hours later Mr. Blaine
delivered the speech, word for word. to
| large Assem- blage of people. Between the
| dictation and the delivery Mr.. Blaine
had many callers, and his thoughts were
diverted in other ways by the events of
the day, but his memory did not fail
| him. Although this was by no means
ono of the most important mental efforts
of his life, it was peculiar and impress
| sive ono.
Some mental philosophers have con-
| tended that there is no such thing as
pure memory-that what is called NOM
| mory is merely an intellectual bent in a
certain direction For example, one
student may have genius for history
and another for the languages, each be-
| ing "dull" except in his own speciality,
| and the historian may wonder at the
| linguist's poor memory of names, events
and dates, while the linguist may accuse
the historian of deficient memory be-
cause the latter is baffled by definitions.
declensions and conjugations The local
politicians mind may be a storehouse of
election returns and perfect blank in
| certain other directions. from which it is
clear that he has good memory for the
| kind of statistics that interest him. Yet
| if he forgets one of a dozen articles which
no should order at the grocery his BETTER
half will reproaoh him for having poor
memory. while she herself may not re-
member who were candidates for MAYOR
at the last election. From all of which
some people argue that memory, as an
Independent faculty, does not exist, but
is merely the manifestation of different
channels of thought IN which some
minds habitually travel
The correctness or error of this theory.
however. may be left to the metanh ysi
oians and psychologists. We see and
hear OF what seem to be extraordinary
cases OF memory, and the term will CON
rinue to be "a good enough definition in
the popular mind of phenomena of the
kind to which brief reference has been
made.