The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-21
TO HELP MEMORY.
Sensible Advice to school Children
and others.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch. !

From the Pittsburg Dspatch.)
II hope some of my United States his
tory will come back 10 me tomorrow"
said the boy.
What seems to be the chief dificulty?''
l asked him.
Things get muddled and mixed UP" he
said.
Precisely; and TO remember anything
clearly you must start with a perfectly
clear impression. If any point isn't quite
Clear in the book make IL clear for your
self and then you will never forget IL.
Make your own tables and write out your
own statements if you find it necessary.
With some people the act of writing any
thing down fixes it in the mind almost in
deiibly. A former Speaker of the House
of Representatives used 10 write out on
scraps of paper whatever he wished to
commit to memory and then Immediately
threw away the paper; he had no fur
Their need of it. Unless you write with
wide-awake. intelligent attention 70 what
you are doing, however. you will get no
good results. Mere mechanical copying is
worse than useless. Don't attempt too
much at one time. Make sure that YOU
have an absolutely distinct outline before
you try 10 fill in the details. Go over
your work until this outline is as familiar
as the face of the clock, but never run
over either books or notes inattentively.
This doesn't mean that you are apt TO
skip nothing, especially at first. To skip
wisely is a splendid exercise OF 1udg-
ment-I sometimes think 1t is half the
art of learning-but it is only by alert
attention that you can know what 70 SKIP
And while some repetition Is necessary.
learning V,y rote is the stupidest of all
methods, and learning by fully UNDER
standing the connection of things IS the
hest and most interesting. Finally, you
must trust your memory ii you wish 10
he Trustworthy Make up your mind
never 10 plead the baby act
The boy drew long breath. Ihat
sounds about right" he said. but how
would YOU set TO work If you had de-
clamation to learn by heart?
We'll" l answered. this is the way
used to do it. 1 first read the piece
aloud with all the eloduence could
muster. giving all my attention TO the
meaning and to expression. When had
done this a number of times. 1 found
that l had learned most of 1t without
the least effort If there remained a few
passages where I was likely 10 faItef
| gave them special attention The rest
was simply rehearsal; and one advantage
of the method was that l had no dron-
ing. parrot-like habits of infection TO get
rid of. such as result from learning
words by rote-"
''TIl try that" he exclaimed. Il guess
that's a good scheme, and it won't be
such an awful bore"
ut may help YOU ! added. ito write
the catchwords of the principal sections
on card. Those are the places where
you are most likely to hesitate
Dates are the worst, though" he
complained. 81 don't see how you can
n Ike dates easy or anything but stupid.
1 never could see any sense in them
you must put sense in them" l said.
Taken separately they are almost
meaningless. but taken together and
studied in their natural relations to each
other. they are full of meaning.
II don't see it, he said. Dates are
just figures. and the more there are of
them the worse they get"
ION the contrary, the more dates you
learn the easier they get. provided they
belong together and you pay attention
to their meaning.
''1f they've got any," he interjected,
doubtfully
''You know what 1776 stands for?"
ooh yes l know that much"
Franklin was born in 1706. and this
date shows us at once that he was about
10 years old when our independence was
declared. The next year, III. he was in
France, where, after the surrender of
Burgoyne, he secured for us the French
alliance and that was the turning point